Scope for 22WMR

[Space Cadet]

G'day fellas,

I know there's been about a million posts of this nature, but I'm in struggle town at the moment. In around a month I'll be looking at picking up a 22mag for some local bunny shooting. I've pretty much settled on which rifle, but am really struggling to select which scope to chuck on top.

I know I want a variable magnification starting between 3-6x and going up to anywhere from 16x onwards. A standard plex is the idea for recticle. Budget of around $400 but for a good deal I may be able to stretch the budget.

Any help would be ace.

Cheers!

[Camel]

What you gunna use the rifle for mainly ? X16 plus seems a lot for a magnum. I reckon a 3-9 or 4-12 would be more than you need.

[Space Cadet]

Rabbits and the odd fox, Mark. And any other little feral critter that walks in front of it.

I want something with a bit more magnification because on the off occasion when I take my 300WSM topped with a 3-9 leupy, out bunny shooting, I find around and after the 100m mark, headshots become pretty difficult. I figure the more I can see, the better off I will be. I just figured I could turn the magnification down to be honest. What're the downsides to having a scope with "over-magnification"? Just More expensive? Weight? Less light transmission?

[Camel]

Taking into consideration of the range and accuracy limitations of the 22 magnum, anything over 150m max would be not a good choice as it doesn't have much energy life out that far, and generally drops like a lead fart. Yeah sure, it can be done but how often, I suspect not as often as is bragged about.
Personally I find that a reasonable quality scope, with the parallex set properly, focused for your eyes properly, is more important than extra magnification. A 50mm objective is great for gathering more light.

Its not that many years ago that anything over 12 power was considered to be extreme even when on varmint rifles in things like 22.250 etc. Now it seems that anything under is not good enough.\

Even though all my scopes go above 12 power, some x14 others x20, is still just use them on 10, only time I go above this is to identify what Im looking at.

[Space Cadet]

Before I say anything, I'm not being an argumentative smartarse, just genuinely interested in your answers.

Personally I find that a reasonable quality scope, with the parallex set properly, focused for your eyes properly, is more important than extra magnification. A 50mm objective is great for gathering more light.

Why not have both?

Even though all my scopes go above 12 power, some x14 others x20, is still just use them on 10, only time I go above this is to identify what Im looking at.[

A fair whack of the shooting I will be doing will consist on setting up the rifle on a bipod and smacking bunnies as they come out of their warrens. This could be into the 150m you mentioned earlier, so the extra magnification would certainly come in handy finding ears in the grass and bunnies amongst rocks.

What's the reason for you shooting at 10x if you have the capability of more magnification? Is it personal preference or an old bushmans trick that I'm unaware of?

Given what you've said so far, what scopes would you recommend?

[Camel]

Before I say anything, I'm not being an argumentative smartarse, just genuinely interested in your answers.

Personally I find that a reasonable quality scope, with the parallex set properly, focused for your eyes properly, is more important than extra magnification. A 50mm objective is great for gathering more light.

Why not have both?



Indeed, why not. Not really sure, never thought about it that much. I suppose the extra magnification isn't going to wear out if its just sitting there not being used. I guess one answer would be that if you are using so much magnification at the distances of a 22 magnum, you may come to rely on more mag. at other times, and find that you are not happy with anything less, and that in turn could lead you to try and shoot at stuff that looks close in the scope, but is really too far away to kill it quickly and efficiently. I dunno, maybe its just me, its not a major concern and it hasn't stopped me using scopes with more magnification than I use. My 22 work rifle would be a classic example, it goes up to 14x and I just use it on 8x.

Even though all my scopes go above 12 power, some x14 others x20, is still just use them on 10, only time I go above this is to identify what Im looking at.[

A fair whack of the shooting I will be doing will consist on setting up the rifle on a bipod and smacking bunnies as they come out of their warrens. This could be into the 150m you mentioned earlier, so the extra magnification would certainly come in handy finding ears in the grass and bunnies amongst rocks.

What's the reason for you shooting at 10x if you have the capability of more magnification? Is it personal preference or an old bushmans trick that I'm unaware of?

Given what you've said so far, what scopes would you recommend?

Given that 90 percent of my shooting is night time, I don't find the need to go higher in power than that. I could probably find some reason technically about less field of view, harder to pick up the target and that stuff. No old bushmans tricks or anything like that, I just find it an easy power to use.

As to recommendations, I wont go into that too much, its best if you look through them and find what suits you. There is a fair age difference and your eyes will be better than mine. I haven't looked much through anything other than a Zeiss for a long time, so am pretty biased towards them. They are way over your budget of 400 bucks, not bragging or slagging other brands, its just the way I see it.
I wont use Leupold, even though I have one sitting on my 308, its just for day time hunting and I find they lack clarity of the European scopes at night.

I haven't really given you a proper answer, sorry about that. But its probably the best I can give, given my personal preferences and bias.

[Space Cadet]

Yep fair enough, I'll take all of that on board! Cheers Mark.

[frakka]

You could do worse than thinking about a VXIII 4.5-14x40 AO varmint reticule, I believe there may be one in the for sale section that could be separated

(despite the Euro-centric opinion they are a good honest brand)

[johno1]

Been down this road and pretty much agree with the humpy one, 50m paralex I think would be ideal.

So made up my mind to get the conquest 3-9x42 rimfire scope, only to find its now discontinued

Johno

[McDave]

I've got a 3-9 x 32 simmons on my 22wmr and find it ample in the daytime for my purposes (bunnies & foxes). From memory I bought the scope off someone on the forum for $50. It's no good once the light starts to fade, but will do the job under a spotty.

I've recently mounted a nitesite to it and the picture was excellent (nitesite actually suggest using a cheap scope!). Yet to test that combo in the field, but happy to report back if you're interested.

I bought my 22wmr on the cheap just to see if I like the calibre, so it's no laser, and as a result I'm not really prepared to take shots with it out past about 75-100m. Obviously there are more accurate rifles out there and you may be a better shot, but if you're wanting to shoot out past 150m then I'd be looking at something with more legs. That said, the 22mwr is a hell of a lot quieter than a CF.

[MISSED]

Some good advice Spacie so I have little to add but for mine I would go a 3-10x40.The 40 mm objective will allow you to get the scope nice and low for those times an of the shoulder shots presents.3x for whistleing Reynards in the daytime where close up shots can happen and the rest to adjust to suit what you are doing.
Nikon Stirling have been rated fairly highly by some members so maybe look at one of these and you can quiet often come across them in the bargain bin at most gunshops.

[fenring]

For your budget I'd go with one of these;

http://theopticzone.com/products-page/r ... lex-matte/

[Space Cadet]

Yeah okay, cheers blokes. Lots of options to look at, I'll get started on some reading.

Cheers Fenring, I'll check it out!

[McDave]

+1 on Fen's Burris. A mate has one on his 17hmr and is happy with it.

[The Raven]

Been looking at Nikon scopes myself recently, but then I should probably get the rifle first....

Found these whilst doing a quick search, and these fit the budget nicely.

Not sure how competitive the price is though, but Google is your friend.

Nikon Prostaff Target EFR 3-9x40 AO Rifle Scope $289.95 - I have one of these on my 22LR and love it.
Nikon Prostaff 4-12x40 Nikoplex Matte Rifle Scopes $314.95
Nikon Monarch 3 4-16x42 Side Focus Matte Nikoplex $461.00
Nikon M223 4-16x42 Nikoplex Matte Riflescope $587.00 - I was looking at one of these and realised it's the same as the Monarch 3 just with target turrets.