Help Us Choose Scopes

All the dope on risers, rings, scopes and optics.
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jrsdws
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Help Us Choose Scopes

Post by jrsdws »

Hello all and happy 4th of July. Today is my youngest son's birthday (15yrs old) and he'll be opening his first new rifle soon....a Savage Mark II FV 22lr. It's going to be a fun day!!

I grew up plinking with my dad's old 22s and shooting squirrels and such but haven't done a lot of rifle shooting for many years.....nothing more than trying to control the starlings and blackbirds every spring. Anyway, we've grown to enjoy shooting together in the last several weeks and now with the new rifle (which I'm sure will go through several changes in the coming months) we both need some decent optics. He is young and has good eyes....me not so much anymore. :(

I'll be settling in with my recently acquired CZ452 Varmint with a Boyds thumbhole stock (the kid has been shooting this one) and then, of course, he has the Savage.

I have always been a scope cheapie because I never had a serious need or demand for anything different. I'd take a cheap 3-9x40 off a shotgun and slap it on a 22 and go with it. I just bought a Leupold 2-7 VX-1 rimfire scope for my Remington 597 plinker/hunter and I now see the light....so to speak.

Right now we are shooting paper at home....and spinner targets. We're only shooting at 25 yards now, but our goal is to keep practicing and moving out further and then enjoying some local silhouette matches called "buffalo shoots". At these buffalo shoots, depending on shooting position, we could have shots from 25 yards to 125 yards. With the cheapie scopes we have we're already seeing that they won't cut it.

So with that being said, I'm shopping for a couple of scopes. They could be the same or we could try two different ones to see what we like the best. I'm thinking variable power, something ballpark 4-16 or 6-24....adjustable objective....good glass. For me, I really like the forgiving eye box of the Leupold rimfire scope as compared to the cheapies. I'd want something similar to that "forgiving" eye placement as much as possible.

We have no brand loyalties whatsoever so no concerns there. Please make some recommendations for us to consider. Budget wise I'd sure like to spend under $500 each.....if that's possible.

Some I've been looking at:

Sightron Sii Big Sky 6-24x42 AO SIL I'm not sure I like the center dot in the reticle but I found a good clearance sale on these at $360
Sightron Sii 4-16x42 or 6-24x42 with Mil-Dot
Various Vortex - I'm not sure if the better models (Viper) will do well at the closer distances
Weaver V-16 and V-24 V-24 with Mil-Dot reticles are being dumped everywhere online and can get one as low as $250. Worried about eye relief and size of dots, though.
Leupold - I'm not sure our budget can handle it.....Maybe VX-2 6-18x40 if I can find any around
Weaver Super Slam 4-20x50 side focus Sale $390

I appreciate everyone's opinion and advice! Thanks in advance.
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dustinflint
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Re: Help Us Choose Scopes

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I don't know anything about the Buffalo Shoots but if you're trying to set something up that will work well for silhouette, I'd go with a dot reticle and at least 20X, preferably 24x. Most people like 3/8 min or 1/2 min dot reticles for silhouette - stay away from mil-dot reticles. Sightron Big Sky scopes are great, as are Weaver for smallbore, although Weavers tend to have shorter eye relief. Of course Leupolds are good. Also look into Bushnell Elite scopes. If you can find a used Elite 4200 6-24X you can save some $$ on a great variable power scope.

I shoot fixed 24X scopes with 1/2 min dot reticles - I have Weavers and Leupolds and they are excellent. I also have a Bushnell Elite 2400 6-24x with a 1/4 min dot. It's great too but due to the small dot I only shoot it in air rifle where I always have a good backstop to keep from losing the dot.

Good luck.

Dustin
jrsdws
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Re: Help Us Choose Scopes

Post by jrsdws »

The Buffalo shoots are local club silhouette fun shoots with varying size targets. The farthest 125 yard silhouettes are 10"-12" high and 4"-5" wide. They are some hard plastic and you have to knock them off of a rail.
jrsdws
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Re: Help Us Choose Scopes

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I'm curious why you say to stay away from mil-dot reticles? It seems a good way to "adjust" for yardage and wind to me?
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dustinflint
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Re: Help Us Choose Scopes

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A mil-dot reticle is too busy for silhouette. Shooting offhand is a timing discipline and the last thing you want to be doing is adding an additional element of remembering which of many dots you are currently using.

Dustin
jrsdws
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Re: Help Us Choose Scopes

Post by jrsdws »

Yeah I get that....so a well made scope with target turrets that can handle being adjusted often is necessary. So much to learn!!! I appreciate the info.
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dustinflint
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Re: Help Us Choose Scopes

Post by dustinflint »

This is a longish post I wrote a couple of years ago on choosing a silhouette scope:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8180&start=15

Might help you out some.

Dustin
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