Scopes.... up to $200ish with high magnification and hold zero well

Whatt

Whatt

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So whats out there???? here is what it is and what I will use it for:

ruger americian in .17hmr, used for 50 & 100yard benchrest at my local club.
we are fairly relaxed on the rules (is it a rimfire..... are you safe... k toss a buck in for each target and lets shoot), so for scopes, bags, bipods etc its all good....

i got a wally world 4-16x40 on it now. And I cant complain about it for the price. Its downfall though... thick crosshairs and a small dot in the middle. It's great for
knocking golf balls and neco waffers at 100yds, but put up a target with X ring of 1/4" at 100yds or a 10ring with a 1/32 dot in the middle for an X at 50yards and the
crosshair/dot combo covers most of it up. (not to mention at 100yds unless i hit a line or a number i cant see the damn holes)

So looking for suggestions for either a fixed or variable power scope in the 30-40ish power range. with a good rep for holding zero well and a fine crosshair.
hopefully under $200... did a lot of searching over the last month, but without holding/looking through them in person, going on some of NES's suggestions will help narrow it down i hope.
 
You need to find out what the crosshairs and any "dot" may be in size. Generally listed as MOA.
I been trying as many scopes as possible. There are a good amount of bench shooters at my club.
Most of them have scopes with .125 moa dots or just really fine crosshairs. I think the one I looked through last Sunday had .01 moa cross hairs.
Sadly most are much more than 200$
 
the only thing i can find on it as far as the dot/reticle size is that it is more or less a standard mil dot...

thinking most will have thicker x-hairs in the price range i'm looking in... i figure anything that goes 30x power and up will at least let me see more of the center of my bulls... at the least see inside the scoring ring for them... then it will just be keeping everything even around the center for what i can see....
 
Whatt said:
the only thing i can find on it as far as the dot/reticle size is that it is more or less a standard mil dot...

thinking most will have thicker x-hairs in the price range i'm looking in... i figure anything that goes 30x power and up will at least let me see more of the center of my bulls... at the least see inside the scoring ring for them... then it will just be keeping everything even around the center for what i can see....
Click to expand...

Oh, didn't see the 30x requirement - think it'll be tough to get decent 30x optics and fine crosshair under $200.
 
Whatt said:
the only thing i can find on it as far as the dot/reticle size is that it is more or less a standard mil dot...

thinking most will have thicker x-hairs in the price range i'm looking in... i figure anything that goes 30x power and up will at least let me see more of the center of my bulls... at the least see inside the scoring ring for them... then it will just be keeping everything even around the center for what i can see....
Click to expand...

I contacted the owner of the one I tried last week. It's a Weaver T36 it's fixed MagX with a 1/8 moa dot . The dot will cover a 22cal hole at 50 yards. As for getting close to your price range he said the Mueller is the cheapest you will find http://muelleroptics.com/mu83244td.
His only complaint on the T36 is he should have bought the side focus model.

Mil dot scopes IMO are to busy for accurate 22lr shooting. To start 1 mil is 3.6" @ 100 yards.
Your standard mil scope is calibrated on 10x or fixed to be 1 mil between dots. The dots themselves can cover 1" @ 100 yards. There are finer mil dots but I think you will find a good mil dot scope is more than you want to spend. I was looking at one of these http://www.hawkeoptics.com/sidewinder-8-32x56-20x-dot.html it's 1/2 mil at 20x but the reticle is very busy. I have a few Hawke brand scopes/re dot and all have performed well.

The only thing I can say about the super fine cross hairs is sometimes they are hard to pick up quickly.
 
thx for the info... i'll check them out.

as for picking up quickly, this is just a benchrest rifle. i'm to big to be stealthy to hunt and cant sit still that long w/o something going bang =P
 
If you can try some of the 1/8 dot bench rest scopes. The lines are very fine vs your standard duplex style cross hairs. They sometimes vanish on me enough to have to refocus.
I guess it comes down to how your going to shoot also.
Most of the bench guys I see at the club do a rapid 5 shot group thing and measure group size vs score?
I have not seen any info on formal matches these 10 guys just seem to hang out every weekend and shoot. Some have the barrel bolted to a slab of wood and have right eject left loading ports other just have 22s on basic rifle rest. One thing they all seem to have in common is they all like fixed mag
Good or bad I don't know enough to decide on fixed or adjustable.
From talking with these guys fixed mag X scopes you can get a higher quality lens vs adjustable?
? For me it's a toss up between the Mueller or Weaver that will go on my fun 10/22 for friendly bull shooting? I don't like how so many scopes I have cover so much of the target....fine for cans and other objects your just trying to hit but not so much for tight groups.

I hope you keep us updated on what you find.
 
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welp went and ordered the mueller 8-32x44.... little more then i wanted to spend, showed up today (after my shoot of course)...

just looking through it in backyard, it should fit the bill nicely. nice thin x-hair and very clear.

thought i had a set of 30mm rings in the house (between all the crap my dad and to brothers keep/store/forget here) but the were all 1" and it was late enough that the local shops were closed.
just have to remember that i need to get rings for a weaver style rail or so 3/8 dovetail rings that will be high enough....

got a 100yd shoot next weekend and should have it together by then and will try to do a write up after that.
 
target model 8-32x44 mu83244td

and my rings should be in by the end of the week so i should be able to use it this coming saturday =)
 
I have med height weaver style and 3/8" dovetail med height rings coming. Will loose fit to see which I like better. At least with the dovetail machined into the receiver I know it will be straight. When I put my weaver bases on I needed to make a slight adjustment to one... Ie push n hold the right as I tightened it. Then it lined up right. Pretty sure though it is the base and not the tapped holes. I tried switching front n back and had to do the same thing with the problem one.
 
yup... the parallex difference will make everything very fuzzy... having and an adjustable objective/parallex lets you fine tune everything to your eyes to get things in focus.
 
Parallax is tough to understand.
Most shooters don't realize or catch the paraellex shift.
It depends on your scope.
Most "rifle" scopes are fixed @ 100 yards. Rimfire scopes can be fixed at less yardage also. "Fixed" = where the front objective is set in its sharpest focus per factory specs.
When your shooting minute of deer parallax is not much of a issue or when your shooting at fixed distance all the time.
Parallax finds its home when trying to shoot small objects or groups at various distances.
Such as ground hogs. Or if your into pellet guns the field target games are almost always equipped with parallax adjustable scopes. You can also use them for rough range estimation.

I will add that most shooters I know including myself will cause more error in my shot groups than parallax. Also if your very consistent in your head position parallax is less of a issue also.
Unless your scope really sucks most scopes will have less than 1moa shift. That can be the difference between a hit on target and a X though.
Want to have fun with your scope. Zero your scope at your favorite distance on lowest magnification. Then adjust you magnification up each notch and look for a shift in point of impact vs point of aim.
Scopes are fun and frustrating. Most of my scopes are zeroed for one distance. Set and forget adjusted. I been learning more about scopes as my eyes are getting worse. My only AO scope at the moment is my Hawke Air max . It took a testing to find its quirks and get it just right on my air rifle. Now I want that on my next scope for my AR.
 
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ok got everything mounted and somewhat sighted in.....

shot from a ruger american rimfire .17hmr with a bag on a towel in front and a bag in the back... need to find something a little more stable, but it is comfy =)
anyway first is a 5shot group with my preferred ammo hordany vmax .17gr 2nd with no adjustment to scope or hold over10shot with the new cci .17gr "optimized" for the new savage rifle.... both at 50yards. i'll do more fine tuning tomorrow when we shoot our 100yd benchrest...

WP_20150612_003.jpg WP_20150612_004.jpg
 
Whatt said:
ok got everything mounted and somewhat sighted in.....

shot from a ruger american rimfire .17hmr with a bag on a towel in front and a bag in the back... need to find something a little more stable, but it is comfy =)
anyway first is a 5shot group with my preferred ammo hordany vmax .17gr 2nd with no adjustment to scope or hold over10shot with the new cci .17gr "optimized" for the new savage rifle.... both at 50yards. i'll do more fine tuning tomorrow when we shoot our 100yd benchrest...

View attachment 139381View attachment 139382
Click to expand...

Cool...
 
got out to the 100yd line, after a qik barrel warmup and minor sight in. kept the groups the size of a 1/2 dollar. i need to come up with a better rest setup to help steady the gun. and a shoulder or recoil pad wouldn't hurt either... keep watching the x-hairs move with my heart beat.

only real downside to the day... my phone decided to get knocked off its charger last night ( i really blame my cats) so no pics today.
 
Whatt said:
got out to the 100yd line, after a qik barrel warmup and minor sight in. kept the groups the size of a 1/2 dollar. i need to come up with a better rest setup to help steady the gun. and a shoulder or recoil pad wouldn't hurt either... keep watching the x-hairs move with my heart beat.

only real downside to the day... my phone decided to get knocked off its charger last night ( i really blame my cats) so no pics today.
Click to expand...

recoil paid wont help the heart beat.....shooting coat or at least a heavy sweat shirt. Tough in this warm weather. I watch the crosshairs pulse myself.
I wear a creedmoor hardback when I want to minimize the pulse seen in the front sight. Also this is where getting to know your rhythm helps. mine goes a bit down and right. I did ok at the range today and found some nice loads to work with.

its not the best but i have the caldwell lead sled plus....its ok. im not sure if I will spend the money on a better rest?
 
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Speaking of the pulse..... Here is a group I shot with my varmint build. 77gn nosler CC with 24 gn Varget. the shots out to the right are 2 and 5 and I know it was from my pulse. This is exacrlt what happens shot goes goes to right ( I shoot lefty) shot this group prone on bipod. Someday I will get sub moa with 5 shots. I know the ammo and rifle can do it. TgtGfx.jpg

Found a nice powder charge for my 55gn fmj and surplus W844 powder also
 

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