Rifle Scopes 22LR Benchrest Shooters - Scope Recommendations

[powerspc]

Just acquired an Anschutz 1710 HB AV, now I need glass. Will be benchrest shooting only with it, out to 100 yards. I’m thinking a Leupold Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44 mostly for two reasons, 1) I can’t see needing more than 18x and 2) I can get a Fed/Mil discount on them. That said, the rifle wasn’t cheap and I’m definitely not looking too cheap on the scope. Recommendations?

 

[koshkin]

I see people benchresting with nice 22LR using very high powered scopes all the time. It is a personal preference of course, but for 100 yard shooting, I do not think it makes a ton of sense to pay extra for FFP and compactness of Mark 5HD.

I would probably give a real close look to Sightron S3 scopes: 6-24x50 and up. For the money, it is hard to do better for target shooting.

I've seen people using fixed power 40x scopes for this. I would probably just put my Delta Stryker 5-50x56 on it.

ILya

 

[spife7980]

For bench I would want more than an 18x scope. On my big ass 22 for 100 yard competition Im currently using a 27x with a second focal scope. It subtends to .025 mils at 15x, so at 27x its ~.014 mils or so (covers about bout 1/16" of the target at 100, we have 1/8" center dots on the targets). I still wouldnt mind it being a bit thinner and more zoomy.

 

[powerspc]

I see people benchresting with nice 22LR using very high powered scopes all the time. It is a personal preference of course, but for 100 yard shooting, I do not think it makes a ton of sense to pay extra for FFP and compactness of Mark 5HD.

I would probably give a real close look to Sightron S3 scopes: 6-24x50 and up. For the money, it is hard to do better for target shooting.

I've seen people using fixed power 40x scopes for this. I would probably just put my Delta Stryker 5-50x56 on it.

ILya

Thanks Ilya, although I know you by reputation only your opinion carries great weight with me. I thought about a fixed power but there are matches where you are limited to 9x (honor system on a varaiable power scope) so had to rule that out. I’ll take a look at the Sightron, that wasn’t even on my radar; one of the benefits of belonging to this venerable forum!

 

[powerspc]

For bench I would want more than an 18x scope. On my big ass 22 for 100 yard competition Im currently using a 27x with a second focal scope. It subtends to .025 mils at 15x, so at 27x its ~.014 mils or so (covers about bout 1/16" of the target at 100, we have 1/8" center dots on the targets). I still wouldnt mind it being a bit thinner and more zoomy.

Thanks! What maker?

 

[Mr.BR]

Rimfire benchrest you are looking for lots of magnification and 1/8 moa clicke , folks use more or less fix power 36x scopes , that Waver and Sightron offer at sub 500$ , middle ground is coverend by 1000$ scopes at 40-45x fixed magnification and and higher end variabiles like NF 15-55

1710 is not realy a Benchrest rig is actualy a great gun for shoting practical stuff like NRL22 .

 

[spife7980]

Thanks! What maker?

Athlon midas btr. Its not fancy but it was solid this past schuetzen season. We dont twist the turrets a whole lot and the image suffers at the top end compared to the rest of its range. But its still plenty clear and held zero and the little bit weve adjusted it to stay in the center ring has run true. Probably not the best choice for tactical shooting to 1k yards or 22s to 400 for nrl22 matches. For 100 yard paper its fine.


You dont need a high powered scope, I shot my first and thus far only 250 (perfect) with a 14x ffp. But it sure does make it easier to see when you are perfectly centered up. Sightrons are an awesome value, I wish I had bought a fellow club members 36x target dot when he was selling it for 300 bucks.

If youre not going to actually be benchresting it though then the 18x would be a great choice. The high mag scopes are a real bitch to shoot and maintain your sanity with when you dont have a super solid rest.

 

[powerspc]

Rimfire benchrest you are looking for lots of magnification and 1/8 moa clicke , folks use more or less fix power 36x scopes , that Waver and Sightron offer at sub 500$ , middle ground is coverend by 1000$ scopes at 40-45x fixed magnification and and higher end variabiles like NF 15-55

1710 is not realy a Benchrest rig is actualy a great gun for shoting practical stuff like NRL22 .

So for pure benchrest what are folks using? Also, is March worth discussing?

 

[oneforall]

for pure benchrest , 22lr 50 yards to 100 yards. if you are on the cheap, get a mueller 8-32x44, the turret is mushy, but glass is good. a little more $, weaver T36 or sightron 36x( glass is better than mueller, turret is better as well), more $, then get a leupold 36x with dot( no better than T36 for my eyes). spend any more money is like piss in the wind.

 

[phantomskittles]

Weaver T36 is nice for benchrest.

 

[beetroot]

For a pure target rifle I'd look at the Sightron SIII range, either 8-32 or 10-50, these are very popular with F class and fullbore benchrest shooters.
There are also the fixed 24x and 36x Weavers which are popular.
Many 22lr shoots make use of extremely small targets, which is where the high magnification comes in handy.

I'd personally want a variable optic and stick with SFP for a dedicated 22lr bench rifle.
I have a CZ which I'm looking to make a full time target rifle, and think the SIII 8-32 would be the way to go.

 

[DXT_Shooter]

I had a SIII 8-32 and sold it as the parallax is 40 yards and I just could not get use to it so I sold it and got the SIII 10-50 and it is way better and can adjust down to about 10 yards. I am happy I made the switch and figured I would at least let you know so you don’t end up buying and selling and losing a few bucks.

 

[Rlb40x]

The vast majority of 22 BR shooters use 36x on the low end. The field is filled with nightforce compition or Nightforce BR, a few march, leupold compitions, a few sittron and the old cheap sleeper the 36 weavers that can be had for under $400.
This is for sanctioned ARA, and unlimited IR 50/50. Since the old game "ultra 100" has gone, we all shoot 50 Yds and the dots are the size of a pencil lead or smaller. When the guns shoot in the low 1s you need the extra power for very small hold offs. Hope this helps.

 

[powerspc]

The vast majority of 22 BR shooters use 36x on the low end. The field is filled with nightforce compition or Nightforce BR, a few march, leupold compitions, a few sittron and the old cheap sleeper the 36 weavers that can be had for under $400.
This is for sanctioned ARA, and unlimited IR 50/50. Since the old game "ultra 100" has gone, we all shoot 50 Yds and the dots are the size of a pencil lead or smaller. When the guns shoot in the low 1s you need the extra power for very small hold offs. Hope this helps.

Yes it does; then would you look at something like the March 10-60? Also, curious what you're using for a rifle.

 

[Skok3y]

For what it sounds like you are saying, and you are looking at bench only or shooting small, you do want the higher magnification and small adjustments as mentioned previously. You don’t want the lower power scopes and PRS style scopes.

I would have mentioned the Sightron 10-50 like a couple others as it is extremely popular, but you mentioned the need for 9x cap for some events. That changes things.

The range of quality scopes that have the high power and low end below 10 is pretty tight. Koshkin mentioned the Delta 5-50 and I know he is high on the Delta, so I trust his judgement. March comes into play, but you would need the 8-80 I think to meet your full requirement list, and it is $1k more than the Delta. March does have 5-40 and then some new scopes coming out from Shot last week. That Delta is probably the least expensive of the ones I know of and would trust.

 

[powerspc]

For what it sounds like you are saying, and you are looking at bench only or shooting small, you do want the higher magnification and small adjustments as mentioned previously. You don’t want the lower power scopes and PRS style scopes.

I would have mentioned the Sightron 10-50 like a couple others as it is extremely popular, but you mentioned the need for 9x cap for some events. That changes things.

The range of quality scopes that have the high power and low end below 10 is pretty tight. Koshkin mentioned the Delta 5-50 and I know he is high on the Delta, so I trust his judgement. March comes into play, but you would need the 8-80 I think to meet your full requirement list, and it is $1k more than the Delta. March does have 5-40 and then some new scopes coming out from Shot last week. That Delta is probably the least expensive of the ones I know of and would trust.

Good stuff, it’s all a little overwhelming at first but I think I’m starting to get a foothold. Sounds like top end magnification is a must and the more the merrier. I saw that March 8-80 looks interesting. I’m guessing to actually use all that you’d have to be locked into a pretty solid rest. Lots of options.

 

[spife7980]

I havent seen you say it explicitly but you are for sure going to benchrest this rig full time? Because google turns up this image, doesnt exactly look like a benchrest rig...

Shooting it off a table at the range and benchrest are not the same thing.


What rest are you going to be using?

I just dont want you to buy a bad ass benchrest scope only to find out its borderline unusable for what you are going to be doing. Lots of people have made that mistake before.

Another thing to think about is the range youre going to be shooting. Some of these are only capable of dialing parallax down to 50 yards, for 22s sometimes you want it much closer than that.

That said you are discussing some awesome scopes that anyone would be envious of.

 

[powerspc]

I havent seen you say it explicitly but you are for sure going to benchrest this rig full time? Because google turns up this image, doesnt exactly look like a benchrest rig...
View attachment 7014814

Shooting it off a table at the range and benchrest are not the same thing.


What rest are you going to be using?

I just dont want you to buy a bad ass benchrest scope only to find out its borderline unusable for what you are going to be doing. Lots of people have made that mistake before.

Another thing to think about is the range youre going to be shooting. Some of these are only capable of dialing parallax down to 50 yards, for 22s sometimes you want it much closer than that.

That said you are discussing some awesome scopes that anyone would be envious of.

Yeah I was talking to one of the sales guys at Anschutz today and he basically told me the same thing. I guess I was thinking a Sporting rifle would give me some added versatility but still get the job done as a benchrest rifle. I may have to start with a clean sheet of paper. If you were starting today from zero, benchrest was the goal and you wanted to keep it simple with a factory rifle where would you start?

 

[spife7980]

Yeah I was talking to one of the sales guys at Anschutz today and he basically told me the same thing. I guess I was thinking a Sporting rifle would give me some added versatility but still get the job done as a benchrest rifle. I may have to start with a clean sheet of paper. If you were starting today from zero, benchrest was the goal and you wanted to keep it simple with a factory rifle where would you start?

Benchrest and a factory rifle... I’d start by removing the factory part of it if pure benchrest is really your goal.

I shoot an old win 52b from the 40s, it’s awesome. But it’s stock has been replaced with a chunk of aluminum that goes from muzzle to butt and has wood wrapped around it that’s 3” wide. Has a worked over trigger, basically just the barrel is factory. The barrels in a 22 can last forever. You’re going to want something with a flat bottom that’s wide if you’re wanting to put it in a bench rest, otherwise you’re going to be fighting it more than shooting it.

An old 40x would be nice (I’m partial to the old 22s)

The Annie’s are awesome, those triggers are
An old Ballard or bsa martini would be good.

For straight benchrest look into some aftermarket to build your own as well.


That said if you want a sporting rifle that just shoots good then the possibilities are endless. Just don’t go throwing the Hubble telescope on top of something you’re going to want to carry around.

 

[Rlb40x]

Yes it does; then would you look at something like the March 10-60? Also, curious what you're using for a rifle.

The 10-60 March would be fine for a full blown BR rig.
With the rifle you described the weaver T36 would work fine, they do very good for the money. Also the NF BR scopes work well, I used one for over 15 years, it's on a 40X now.
The rifle I'm using now is a Stiller Trident action with a flavio fare trigger set at 1oz in a McMillan straight line edge stock and a Broughton 5c barrel finished at near 27". I've been trying a 10-60 vortex golden eagle as of late, it's okay but I'm not crazy about it.

 

[brianf]

get a march high master (their best glass), kahles 10-50, nf comp, nf br, sightron III, vortex GE

youll need 40x or more and a very fine cross hair or dot ret with 1/8 clicks, and 99% a SFP scope

the color doesnt really mater and neither does ca, because you using the exact center of the scope, your not holding off very far.

benchrest winds up being a small field with view high magnification and small aiming ret.

you cant have a 1/4 moa ret when trying to shoot groups smaller then 1/4 moa.

when practicing or just playing with my kahles 10-50 at the range ill find left over stuff on the target and use that for a aiming point.

ill usually find a left over staple and aim at the corner of the staple, dial up a moa or so and shoot from that aiming point.

then when i get bored ill start shooting the staples and left over crap off the target board.

i cant do that with my regular "tactical 20x" scopes

havnt walked down to put up or change a target at that range in a long time.

actually going to buy a march 10-60 high master later on today.

 

[koshkin]

In terms of bang for the buck Sightron S3 8-32x56 is a really nice option. Delta 5-50x56 and similar Trijicon 5-50x56 will probably get you the most versatility for the money. I use the Delta and I am quite happy with it.

All of these give you 9x that you need and pretty good high end magnification.

March makes several shoes of this type also, but the price is getting up there.

Ilya