After the recent MYGAWDS I've been re-evaluating my thoughts on 22 scopes.

I have 2x and 4x Bushnell 22 scopes, meaning close focus and 22mm objectives.  For the noon-attendees, this was very different shooting for me.  I usually hunt tree rats with a 22 and plink, so ranges are close and targets are easy to spot.

But the ranges varied from 25 yards to over 150 yards, I actually hit one in the throat at 125 yards (first shot) and ripped its head off.  But overall I wasn't satisfied with my scopes.

They lacked Field of View and even keeping both eyes open as the rifle was raised, didn't always mean I could find the critter in the scope quickly or at all.

What are your thoughts on 22 rifle scopes???

get a better one.....I too thought my choice of scope lacked enuff field of view most times.....it is a Sightron Rimfire scope 3-9x w/33mm obj lens.....not really "nuff" & it seemed to be a bit lacking in brightness too.  Jason's scope was a 3-9x?mm....nearly 25yr old TASCO rimfire scope but it appeared to have better FOV and brightnesss. 

I guess I'd head for a larger Obj lens for starters to gather light and one with more FOV ability. 

Then again maybe it's our elderly eyes.....Adam seemed to do quite well with his scope and so did Jason.  I did look thru some of the other's scopes and they were not the rimfire versions and had more FOV and brightness for the most part compared back to my Sightron rimfire scope.  Reticles with dots or lines to help with various range estimations & windage adjustments would be a boon also.

Fella's;

And now it comes to light why I've been preaching A/O mil-dot scopes for gopher shooting.  Yes, they do cost more money.  However, for the type of shooting that stalking the wiley gopher entails, I haven't found anything better so far.

The glass will be centerfire oriented & therefore should certainly be durable enough to live on a .22 rimfire.  The A/O is necessary for the close shots, as most centerfire scopes that aren't A/O have the parallax set at 150 yards.  The close stuff, and believe me there are some real close shots at times, gets blurry if you don't have the adjustment.  Also, the glass is generally better, better coatings, better FOV from something like a 44mm objective, and the mil-dot reticle is way better for rapid field estimation of distance & windage.

900F

I now know what you meant a few months ago.

What brand you using CB?

Instead of the dot Jaz,  couldn't you just use those things that stick out of the side of the tube for elevation????  

Bear;

How did Kingpin hack into your post?!

 900F

The topic is "22 scopes"

2x and 4x Bushnell's will cover 90% of all .22 shooting and hunting situations unless...You hunt gophers in the flat land or do a lot of 100yd target shooting. The question is more ".22 gopher scopes". As far as brightness goes I don't think anyone was complaining about scope brightness on Fri., Sat. when it was very sunny. The best gopher hunting is when it's sunny unlike deer hunting when the best hunting is half an hour after sunset and you need a bright scope. A hold over device or reticle is something that is needed though. The "point blank" range of a .22 on a gopher that is flat-not standing is probably 40 yards maybe less if you include really close shots around 15' or so. The field of view issue is also range related. Normally if you can see your target with your plain eyes you can point your weapon in the general direction and find it quite easily. Our situation was less than perfect visability (snow), lack of direct sunlight, and targets that could only be seen with the use of the scope in many cases. We were using our optics as spotting scopes much of the time.  I did not have a need for an A.O. with my rifle scope. I will say that if all the shots were going to be 40yds or less a different parallex setting would have worked better. I'm just saying I had no problem other than the closer shots weren't as perfectly clear as they could have been. If I'm target shooting I want a A.O. but for hunting it can be as bad a problem if it's set wrong as having your scope's power cranked all the way up when you jump a deer or?  I don't know how you guys liked your equipment on Friday since I wasn't there but I don't recall any complaints (other than lack of ammo capacity and over heated barrels). My ramblings here are just to suggest some observations that I had. For almost all my shots I used 4.5x even though I had 9x available. I had range dots (not mil dots) in my scope and and knew the ranges/trajectory of the dots and practiced at gopher sized targets at those ranges. My set-up worked well for me.

DD

.......there yuh have it fellers straight from the gophers mouth so to speak.......DD admits he practiced B4 coming to the shoot..I could just tell there was sumting aboot him............

.....anyone else care to fess up to practicing afore coming to the great MYGAWDS?  Not drinking practice youse guys But...Rifle shooting practice....fess up now...there is a rumor that WM may have dun some practicing too B4 coming.....watch to see if HE fess' up.

Irish Bird Dog wrote: .....anyone else care to fess up to practicing afore coming to the great MYGAWDS?  Not drinking practice youse guys .

Youse guys???  Pssst.....Careful IBD your Midwestern Bohemie accent is showing. They might not invite you back out there again. There's already these misconceptions about your ability to drive in the snow.   RD

I did practice. I drank beer every night for several weeks before MYGAWDS. I think I got pretty good at it.

OH, after re-reading the last post I see you guys are talking about practicing shooting. I didn't do that. I brought a gun, but didn't really think we were going to shoot. I thought we were just going to drink beer and talk about shooting.

Fella's;

I also am given to understand that the glass "The Elitist" has on his .22 rimfires starts around 20X & goes up from there.  That's fine for paper-punchin', but I'll hold my breath till I see how well it works in the field.  I've found a good top-end magnification for gopher work to be in the 12-16X range.  It's that field of view thing that I believe Bear mentioned.

900F