Scope Choice for Bolt Action Rimfire

[vintagearms]

I have the simmons 22mag scope on my 10/22 and can tag squirrels with bullseye head shots using subsonic Aguila at 100-150 yards very accurately.

Factory rifle? Any mods done?

[Izzy43]

Consider a Nikon 3-9x EFR, 3 times the cost of the Simmons but worth 5 times as much when you look thru it. 3-9x is about the least magnification I would use for 50yds for casual target shooting (bullseye targets) while a 4-16x would be better. I use a 8.5-25X for best accuracy.

Suggest you think about whether you might eventually want to shoot out to 100yds then a 25X is the minimum I would want at that distance.

Mueller makes a nice scope, APV that's 4.5-14X and can be had for around $100 on the rimfirecentral.com Marketplace.

Good luck with your choice but buy as much scope as you can afford and quality outweighs magnification every time. Hard to buy good glass for a cheap price.

[Army]

You cannot have too much scope power for .22's. I run a 10X-24X50 on my Browning T-Bolt. It rarely goes below 20X.

[Cheap Shot]

I had the same center point 4-16x40 AO on my .22 for a while. I moved it to my .30-06 when the bushnell scope on that rifle died. Everyone likes shooting the my .22 with iron sights better, so I have left it scopeless. Bushnell replaced their scope with a better model and it lives in the box in the closet. I like the center point better so far.

[G21Shooter]

A very good option for a rimfire scope is the Nikon BDC150 3-9.

Even if your shooting targets at 50 yards, having 9x is nice. Dial it down to 3x for plinking fun.

[Squidward]

Depending on what you're shooting at a red dot may work. Otherwise, a 1.5x4 variable would be a nice choice. Weight of the optic/mount may also be something for you to consider.