Scope suggestions for 100-200yard 22lr

Sportsman's Warehouse has the Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44 on sale for $249.95. A decent scooe for a decent price. 30 mm tube, side focus to adjust parallax down to 50 yes, a little short on eye relief ( a non-issue on a rimfire). Plenty of magnification for .22 cal. holes at 100 yards, sufficient at 200 with a shoot and see type target. My son runs one on his custom 10/22, while mine sits on a Stag Model 6 heavy barrel AR for ground squirrels and prairie dogs.

Both of my current long-for-22LR firearms right now have optics which top out at 18x, and my 17WSM tops out at 12x. Most days when I am shooting, I wish they had a little more - EVERY DAY for the WSM. I CAN (have, and do) shoot longer ranges with lower magnification, but with a $1000-1500 budget, I wouldn’t make concessions which I’d regret at the range.

A Bushnell Nitro 6-24x FFP MOA or Vortex Viper HSLR 6-24x FFP MOA would be my first glance here, saving a little money. In the price range, the Bushnell Forge 4.5-27x and the DMR II have my full attention.

^the package deal in the second link above with the Kestrel included is CRAZY CHEAP! Even selling the Kestrel as used for $300, that’s $700 for a DMR II. Ridiculous prices!

Do you have a spotting scope? Seeing the target well enough to get a repeatable sight picture and seeing the bullet holes to correct windage/elevation on paper are two entirely different propositions.

I have a 3-9x40 burris FFII on my marlin bolt action .22 and the last time we had it out we worked backwards to 165 yards on steel plates. Lining up on plates down to 3" in diameter wasn't a problem but seeing where the misses went wasn't possible.

I think if you want to shoot paper at a public range where you can't walk down to the target every couple shots, you will want higher magnification available just for the sake of checking groups. You won't necessarily have to shoot with the scope cranked all the way up, but when you want to stop and check your progress, being able to dial it up to 16x or more would be very helpful. If you have a spotting scope it can serve that role, but if you don't I would continue shopper the higher magnification scopes.

desidog said:

I like the Mueller on my 10/22. At 200 I kill soda cans consistently.

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I also use a Mueller on my 540XR but I don't shoot beyond 100 yards.