Scope choices for Rimfire and Centerfire

[TWR]

Put em on backorder, you might be surprised.

And check the Sample List, they pop up there from time to time.

[Crow Hunter]

I have gone far down the 22 rimfire rabbit hole. I shoot from around 25 yards out to 350 yards and beyond.

A Tikka T1x is a good rimfire choice. I have friends with them that also shoot long distance.

It seems you mostly want a hunting rifle. You might want to learn about Maximum Point Blank Range if you want to continue with a duplex reticle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-blank_range

I mostly shoot from a bench and use FFP scopes with side adjustment parallax, reticles with hash marks and 5-25 power. You should probably look through a bunch of scopes before you buy. I would think you would want a lower power than me for your hunting scopes.

Yes, primarily hunting but also informal target shooting. Meaning, "Hey, (insert friend/relative name here), think you can hit that? You missed, here, hold my water." No NRL or PRS type stuff. More for competing against myself than anything and personal growth as a rifleman.

I have limited time to shoot so when I do, even if it is just plinking, I would like to be using it gaining more "reps" on something as close as possible to my primary hunting gun.

I am definitely not "married" to the duplex reticle. That would be one of the other benefits of finding something else in that it might have a reticle more conducive to using something other than MBPR which historically has been all I have ever really used along with Kentucky Windage.

[BN]

Yes, primarily hunting but also informal target shooting. Meaning, "Hey, (insert friend/relative name here), think you can hit that? You missed, here, hold my water." No NRL or PRS type stuff. More for competing against myself than anything and personal growth as a rifleman.

I have limited time to shoot so when I do, even if it is just plinking, I would like to be using it gaining more "reps" on something as close as possible to my primary hunting gun.

I am definitely not "married" to the duplex reticle. That would be one of the other benefits of finding something else in that it might have a reticle more conducive to using something other than MBPR which historically has been all I have ever really used along with Kentucky Windage.

A common rule is that you want to spend at least as much, if not more, on your scope as what you spent on your rifle. You might want to consider a scope with illumination if you hunt early or late in the day. There are so many options on scopes available now.

[Skinner Precision, LLC]

Athlon, Vortex, Bushnell, Leopold, Trijicon, SWFA, Burris all have "better than gas station tier" with a wide variety of features and price points. (There are other brands with much higher price points, and some of the brands mentioned go into those price points but chances are if you want a $1500+ scope you already know more of what you want....)

Before narrowing down brands and models , Picking the important features based upon use is helpful. Can you flesh out use some more - that will help determine sfp vs ffp, square range NRA targets are all MOA based but you go to other venues it varies as to if a spotter or squad mate is going to speak in Mils or MOA, how important is it to speak their "dialect" can matter. A reticle that may be geat for certain competitions may not be the best hunting live targets at dusk. The range you will be shooting at factors in, so does the type of shooting (dialing vs hold over).Weight can matter depending on use

Be happy to help flesh out choices here or via PM

[TOTS]

Caveat emptor - I’m a FFP non-hunter. But when I think about what I would want for the roles you discussed I usually recommend the Nightforce SHV or Vortex Razor HD LHT for hunting and the Vortex Strike Eagles and maybe the Bushnell DMRII/3 that focuses down to 25 yds for .22 work. I’m leaning more towards a ffp if I’m looking for more of a crossover than a hunting scope.

All the above focus down to 25 (or 20 for the Vortex stuff). I would ask what your old scopes are not doing for you and pick one of the above that fills the void. Maybe sell whatever you can and use whatever is left. An option I always told myself I would exercise is purchasing the best scope I can afford and mount it with a quality QD mount (LaRue in my scenario). Id zero for the rifle I would use the most and then track the dope to correlate to the other rifles.

Cant get much more identical than using the same scope on all your rifles!

[Crow Hunter]

Athlon, Vortex, Bushnell, Leopold, Trijicon, SWFA, Burris all have "better than gas station tier" with a wide variety of features and price points. (There are other brands with much higher price points, and some of the brands mentioned go into those price points but chances are if you want a $1500+ scope you already know more of what you want....)

Before narrowing down brands and models , Picking the important features based upon use is helpful. Can you flesh out use some more - that will help determine sfp vs ffp, square range NRA targets are all MOA based but you go to other venues it varies as to if a spotter or squad mate is going to speak in Mils or MOA, how important is it to speak their "dialect" can matter. A reticle that may be geat for certain competitions may not be the best hunting live targets at dusk. The range you will be shooting at factors in, so does the type of shooting (dialing vs hold over).Weight can matter depending on use

Be happy to help flesh out choices here or via PM

Hunting from squirrels up to helpfully Elk "out West" one day (caliber appropriate to game). However primary environment would be West Tn hardwood forests with occasional cut over/field use. Dawn through dusk shooting hours no night hunting.

Target shooting would be printed off targets pasted on stand no more than 400 yards away (length of my field) just me shooting by myself occasionally buddies might come over and "compete" for bragging rights.

Going down to the river and plinking at whatever. Junk floating by/armadillos/rats other targets of opportunity.

I would like to have as similar as possible scopes between rifles so when shooting at a squirrel in the tree or an armadillo on a river bank or at a paper target on the farm I am not only building familiarity with the operation of my rifle(s) and marksmanship fundamentals but also the operation of the scope with similar sight picture and operation.

I got interested in this originally after missing a couple of big fat red squirrels with my Marlin 39a several years ago when I pulled the trigger and got a click instead of a bang because I had left the safety on and I thought I had a dud. So I cycled the lever and did it again. I also did a similar thing on a muskrat when I kept pulling the trigger and nothing happened on a Marlin bolt .22 mag and I couldn't find the safety while it was swimming off because I had been shooting my lever action.

I don't/didn't have that problem with ARs so I decided to just change over to all ARs for everything and sold all my non AR rifles and setup a .22, .223 and .308 AR for hunting separate from my self defense oriented rifles. Then I found out that there is a reason that people still buy bolt action rifles, even though ARs nearly the apex of self defense rifles. They are comparatively heavy and kind of chubby in all the wrong places vs a good bolt rifle.

So now I am back to bolt actions and I have the "platform" nailed down (thanks to several on here that helped convince me) the only thing up in the air is how to get them as close as possible while still being useful reasonably light weight hunting rifles.

If that is possible or even a good idea. Maybe it isn't.

(Someone must have typed verbose on a command line. &#128513

[TWR]

The lighter the rifle, the heavier the scope you can get away with.

I’m a fan of light weight rifles and impromptu shooting matches. The Tikka’s should do well but I wouldn’t fret keeping the scopes all the same except stay MIL or MOA if you’re gonna dial. Both work but don’t mix them. I literally blanked out when trying to convert MOA for a friend. All my brain would compute was MIL’s. Also stay away from a MIL reticle and MOA adjustments. It’s so nice to be able to read the windshield and make adjustments that coincide.

[frozentundra]

If that is possible or even a good idea. Maybe it isn't.

I think it all depends on what you actually wind up trying to do with each specific rifle. Most things with optics are a compromise, so if you make the exact same compromise with each scope, and then wind up trying to do wildly different things with each rifle, you may be working at cross purposes. If you want to optimize for a certain set of things, and then try to have all the rest of your shooting support that narrow set, it may be a good idea.

The SWFA 3-9 is a pretty interesting 'Jack Of All Trades' hunting and FFP plinking scope for a decent price at only 19 oz in weight. I've heard the turrets track well. It doesn't have adjustable parallax, but it is reasonably similar to the fixed 6x or 10x scopes that do adjust down to 10 yards for a .22 application. Sometimes you can find deals on used SWFA scopes on the various gun forums. The SWFA SS scopes have a fully transferable lifetime warranty, and historically have been pretty popular with guys who really shoot a lot. Not all the bells and whistles of some of the stuff coming out the last couple years, but all rated for .50 and pretty darn rugged and functional on a budget.

I am a sucker for lightweight rigs, so that tends to influence the way I think about these things.

[TWR]

I have the 3-9 HD SWFA on my 22-250AI and the 10x Classic SWFA on my 10/22. Same MilQuad reticle and similar knobs. It’s a good pair though if I was concentrating more on 1000 yards, I’d opt for the fixed 10x with rear parallax/focus. It made a huge difference on my 6.5 Needmoor when I switched scopes.

But this is a Kimber Montana wearing the 3-9 and it’s a hunting rig not a 1000 yard target gun. It just does everything I need it to do and does it well. Like the day I was asked to shoot steel at 600 yards with my puny 22-250AI. I dialed it up, plopped down and put 5 in the head of the silhouette. What more do you need from a sub 7 lb scoped rifle?

[Skinner Precision, LLC]

From what you describe, a "mid-range" variable is the general category I would be looking at 3ish power max on the low end. FFP / SFP in this range category isn't that big a deal to me (like it but dont have to have it) but is a BIG deal to some- have you had a chance to look through a FFP scope on low and High powers? The SWFA 3-9x that others have mentioned is a solid choice (and can usually be picked up second hand on the 'Hide cheap) in this category , non-illuminated, fixed parallax, Japanese Glass, light, has target turrets which makes it a no-go for some hunters.

How is your budget?

A athlon 2.5-15 HMR (capped, Illuminated SFP, decent glass for the pricepoint) might be my lower end pricepoint suggestion. If you can find used (discontinued) bushnell 3-12 LRHS or LRTS scopes they would be solid choices in the FFP hunting category at a mid range pricepoint with NF 2.5x10 at a high end for a price point (even though I would probably personally buy the bushnell over the NF).

Other scopes to consider the aforementioned SWFA 3-9, Burris XTR 2-10, used Weaver 2x10 tactical (discontinued), the trijicon 2-10 credo that is based upon the weaver lineage (if I had to guess), and Vortex PST 2 2x10. All the scopes I listed have a decent reputation for tracking, matched reticle /turrets, some illuminated and some not, some with parallax / some without, and a whole lot of reticles to choose from....There are certainly lighter weight more hunting centric scopes I didn't list but for more of a jack of all trades target/hunting combo rig I like the features more "tactically oriented" scopes offer...