Which 3x9 for hunting bolt 22? Willing to cry once

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Baron

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Hey all - missed a shot today because the GARBAGE scope I have on my Savage bolt 22 failed to hold zero. Never again.

Some pest hunting is legal at night here in Tennessee, and I've come to appreciate the importance of decent light gathering that comes with good glass. That said, the rifle was $300 so I don't want to go crazy expensive on the scope.

My good buddy who has hundreds of kills under his belt recommended a 3x9, so I'd like to do that.

Would be immensely appreciative to hear your recommendations on good deals out there now!

Many thanks, all.
 
Leupold has changed their line.
Gone are the classic looking stuff of VX1,2.
Now it's the "Freedom" VX.
I got the 3-9X EFR from my local shop for 290 out the door.
It aint the prettiest scope, kinda ugly. Adj objective goes pretty close, for airgun type shooting I reckon.
32mm front, so at 9X the exit pupil around 3.6.
So back it down to 6X when it gets kinda dark.

:)
 
They make a rimfire 2-7X and 3-9X regular in the Freedom line.
But those have some busy type of reticle.
To get a reg fine duplex, standard...........have to get the EFR model.

Now here's the rub....................you could just buy a reg Leupold used and send it in for parallax adjustment to 50 yards for rimfire stuff.
I might yet do that to my VX1 2-7X.
Cost is $25 plus shipping.
 
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FWIW I did most of my squirrel hunting shooting offhand. There a 4x is hard to beat.
2-7X..............yup, 4 is about in the middle of one of those ;)
 
If you're looking to stay on the cheaper end but still good quality, I'd look at these:

https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-PROSTAFF-RIMFIRE-3-9X40-BDC150/dp/B00SMX95IA

https://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-633941-Optics-Riflescopes-Turrets/dp/B00T9N4BQS

I'd also give the Leupold mentioned in an earlier post a good long look if it's in your price range. If you'd be willing to consider 2-7 scopes as well, I think you'd have an even better selection. My Marlin 795 wears a Bushnell AR Optics 2-7 scope for squirrel.
 
Hopefully a 3-9x*mm not a 3x9mm. . . 9mm is an awfully small objective lens.

My scope buying practice is to find a good condition used Leupold on fleaBay. I've never gotten a bad one, and if you do Leupold will fix it.
 
I've got a Ruger 10-22 and a 77-22, both wear Leopold VX3 3-9x36 compacts with the thin duplex reticles.

Both are more than adequate for squirrels. The thin duplex combined with 9x at top end makes headshots easier.
 
I have the bushnell that @BigBL87 mentioned and I'm happy with it so far. I spent 2 full days from sunup to sundown squirrel hunting thick woods and the scope held zero after being banged and clarity was pretty good for the price.
 
I have a Sightron S1 3-9X40 Mil Dot on my .22, its been on it since 2007 and I've never had an issue with it. I've had to adjust the zero twice, each time was related to removing the action from the stock to replace all the mag well parts and once to play with the trigger.

I have a Nikon Buckmaster 3-9X42 on my 20 gauge slug gun that has really clear glass and holds its zero well. Each scope should be able to be picked up under $200, in my opinion it would be hard to beat either one of them.
 
My choices would be:
Leupold VX-Freedom EFR 3-9x33

Clearidge Ultra RM 3-9x32 A/O
Weaver Rimfire RV-9 3-9x32mm A/O

Nikon ProStaff P3 Target EFR 3-9x40 AO

I’ve heard the Weaver and Clearidge are the same scope with the Clearidge being less expensive. I have the Clearidge.
 
Should be a good scope for what u want.

I have a VX-3 4-14x40 on my target.22. Above what u wanted to spend, but Leupold makes some great glass

Never makes sense to me that guys will spend $500 on glass for a rifle that very rarely gets used but get the cheapest thing they can for a .22 that’s gets used a lot
 
My old setup ....Vari XII 4-12X AO (friction knob).
It now wears a Freedom VX 3-9X EFR
Its just a hunting gun, not a target rig. It did do .4" for 5 shots at 50 yards.
Good enough for me :)

Had the 4-12X on my 700 .243win . It now wears a reg 3-9X Leupold (yote/deer rifle).


View attachment 822971
 
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Several excellent suggestions given. Take your choice and you shouldn't regret it.

No matter the cost of the rifle, 30, 300, or 3,000 dollars it's worthless if you can't hit anything with it. You can take a chance on a cheap scope and have it pan out or not or you can just buy a scope from a maker of known quality and have an excellent chance of never having problems with a warranty to take care of you if you ever do. How's that for a run-on sentence? I like Leupold because of their supposedly excellent warrant. I say supposedly because I've never had to use it.
 
My current '71 sporter 10/22 is wearing a VX1 2-7X not parallax adjusted.
I should zero it tomorrow.
Since I bought a new Freedom VX EFR............I could use that box to send back the VX1 and get it adjusted ;)

But I might just go w an arched logo M8 4x or old 2-7X. Have not found any bargains on Fleabay. Not on those scopes anyway.

Did score a mint 4X compact there last yr, advertised under handgun scopes.......which it wasn't. $175 shipped. It's on my .35 rem Remington 760.

Silly, but it's zeroed in and the crosshairs straight.......I could pull it and put on my fingergroove. Put the 2-7X on the 35 rem. Dunno WTH it is anymore, but getting X hairs level is a real PITA. Have set up a lot of scopes (owned a fair amount of stuff, moved scopes/experimented.......and worked in a shop). Nowadays I can't do it for diddly. Wonder if astigmatism or something popped up.

Whatever it is...........once set I'm pretty much slave to leaving it now.
 
Forgot to add in my first post, this isn't 3-9 but actually has a little extra range on both ends (2.5-10). It really is a nice deal and the side parallax is especially nice for shorter range rimfire uses. Biggest negative is it is a little on the heavy side, but I guess that's a tradeoff for features at the price point. I have one on my Savage 10 in .308 at the moment.

https://www.natchezss.com/weaver-ka...ntLink&utm_medium=40661&utm_campaign=55097-NA
 
Leupold is compact and light with a good warranty. But (at least on the low end of scopes where I live) they are disappointing both optically and mechanically. If you don't need the small form factor, I like Weaver, Nikon, and vortex better. My 2 22lr scopes are a Weaver grand slam and a Mueller apv. Both are better optically than my vx1, or freedom, and the Weaver is a lot better than the fx2 I have.
 
greyling22 said:
Leupold is compact and light with a good warranty. But (at least on the low end of scopes where I live) they are disappointing both optically and mechanically. If you don't need the small form factor, I like Weaver, Nikon, and vortex better. My 2 22lr scopes are a Weaver grand slam and a Mueller apv. Both are better optically than my vx1, or freedom, and the Weaver is a lot better than the fx2 I have.
Click to expand...

OP bought a Leupold. My experience with anything Leupold above the Rifleman is the opposite of yours.
 
Hookeye said:
Another rig, shot the little bugger at 4X. Parallax not adjusted, was reg big game scope but worked.

View attachment 822975
Click to expand...
Nice. I have one of those (it's Revolution, right?) and adjusted the parallax-free setting to about 55 yards. It works well as a .22 LR scope at that setting. Also did the same on a Sightron SII 3-9x42, also makes for a good fixed-parallax .22 LR scope. I prefer A/O or side focus, but if you adjust the fixed parallax down the the about middle of your normal shooting ranges, they can work well in the big majority of applications.
 
The Pride Fowler “rapid reticle” 3-9x is one of my favorite ones for .22’s.
 
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