Rifle Scopes Varmint Scopes for .22-250

[AJenke]

Hey All,

I have a Remington 700 in .22-250 with a 26" bbl. I have done some work on it, and it is a tack driver with my hand loads. Now this rifle is one of the Dick's Sporting goods packages and came with a junk 4-12 scope on it, and I need some thing different. Prairie Dogs disappear at 300 yards. So my question is what scope do I go with for a varmint rifle? I plan to shoot prairie Dogs out to 300 yards, and Coyotes to 500 yards max. Any input would be appreciated I have been looking at Leupold's 4.5-14 with their varmint retical. Any experience and advice to how well that retical works with a .22-250 would be great.

Thanks

 

[jpspeeddemon]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Do you have a budget in mind?

 

[AJenke]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Yes and No. I am willing to spend the money to get the performance I want, but on the other hand I'm not into wasting money just for a name brand or the "cool factor".

Looking at $700-$800 for the Leupold and would put a max at $1000 for sure.

 

[varmint slayer]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Do you want external turrets or does that matter to you?

 

[Shooter45]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

I'd go with a Vortex over a Leupold. I think it's more scope for the money, and the Vortex is on clearance and very cheap. I've switched my hunting rifles to the Viper series and think it's a major improvement over Leupold Vari-X III that I was using. Here's a link to what I ordered on my Remington 700 243 that I used for prarie dogs, coyotes, and mule deer.

http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/vortex.pl?page=vortexviper6-20x44

 

[jpspeeddemon]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Sightron SIII, i've looked thru several at Bemchrest Matches and they have very very good glass. Tracking is reported to be rock solid.

 

[tylerw02]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x would be an excellent choice.

 

[jpspeeddemon]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

+1 on a ziess conquest, forgot about those

 

[AJenke]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

I have turrets on my target rifle, but this will be a hold over mentality for quick shots. So external turrets would not be needed.

 

[AJenke]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

I will check out the Conquest, and Sightron for sure. I have never heard anything about the sightrons... The vortex seems like a hyped up scope to me. I looked through one at Sportmans Warehouse, and the glass seemed ok, but the reticals were way to thick for what I am after.

How is the Zesis for retical thickness?

 

[jpspeeddemon]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Sightrons aren't mentioned much on this site becasue they are not geared toward tactical use as much as Vortex, but they are good scopes for the money like Vortex.

 

[JAAM12]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

The leupold and Sightron will have better glass than the vortex.
The Leupold is made in the US except for the glass, and the Sightron is made in Japan. I have a couple of viper vortex's I put on some 1022s, they are ok. The M4 will be the toughest of the three. I like leupolds and Sightron due to their glass. The vortex is ok, and it would be my last choice even if it is on sale.

John

 

[jdgray]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

I've got an older Vari-xIII 6.5-20x50 on my Rem700 VS 22-250, 250yrd zero, 1" high at 100, 3" low at 300. Haven't missed anything I've shot at yet. You can pick these up for $500 used. Awesome flat shooting platform!

 

[2Shots]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Never missed!!? You are either really good or not shooting very far! But I agree the leupold is good glass for the money.

 

[jdgray]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 2shots</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Never missed!!? You are either really good or not shooting very far! But I agree the leupold is good glass for the money. </div></div>
Just in September, 2 doe 335yrds & 250yrds, coyote 300yrds, woodchuck 125yrds. Not far shots I guess, cause I'm not the best shot on the block.

I just got the rifle in September

 

[varmint slayer]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

Well if you don't need to make any adjustments and are just going to hold over then I would just get a VX-II or III Leupold in 6.5-20 or 6-18 and call it good. I have several 6-18 Leupolds with fine duplex reticles on my varmint rifles and they work just fine for just about anything inside 400 yards. Just my .02.

 

[holy cow]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

I have and do a lot of varmint hunting. The 2 scopes i like best for what i do are the older varix 111 Leupold scopes in 4.5-14 or larger and you can run across them at very good prices. I prefer them over the VX3 Leupolds. I think they are a better scope but some may disagree. The Zeiss Conquest line are excellent scopes. If you have a 1000 to spend you can get a 6.5-20 or a 4.5-14 and they are hands down better than the Leupold. Camera Land has demos alot of times and they are priced good and they are like a new scope. I got a Leica 3.5-14x44 demo from them that is perfect in the box with warranty for 975.00 for a varmint rifle that is the shit. Don't be in a big rush and check out all the places, you will find something nice. BTW if you can spend 1000.00 or near it get the Conquest and not Leupold, you will be very happy with it.

 

[varmint slayer]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dan Tucker</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have and do a lot of varmint hunting. The 2 scopes i like best for what i do are the older varix 111 Leupold scopes in 4.5-14 or larger and you can run across them at very good prices. I prefer them over the VX3 Leupolds. I think they are a better scope but some may disagree. The Zeiss Conquest line are excellent scopes. If you have a 1000 to spend you can get a 6.5-20 or a 4.5-14 and they are hands down better than the Leupold. Camera Land has demos alot of times and they are priced good and they are like a new scope. I got a Leica 3.5-14x44 demo from them that is perfect in the box with warranty for 975.00 for a varmint rifle that is the shit. Don't be in a big rush and check out all the places, you will find something nice. BTW if you can spend 1000.00 or near it get the Conquest and not Leupold, you will be very happy with it.</div></div>

+ 1 on that

 

[azslayer]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

My prairie dog rifle has a Burris signature select 4-16 with a ballistic mildot as they call it. If I want to hit a P dog at 400 yds just put the third line down on him and the elevation is dead on. I can do this out to 500 yds without a problem

 

[pdogsbeware]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

While I'm a fan of zeiss glass, amazing! They didn't have a reticle I liked. I went with a Nikon Monarch with the fine crosshairs (personal preference) Solid tracking so far, and I turn the turrets alot. I'm horrible at guessing holdovers so I taped masking tape around the turret and just wrote the ranges the gun shoots that day/temp/alt/such. Just as quick and more precise as holdovers. Anyways, the Monarchs reticle selection is limited, but the prices are great for the quality of glass you get. Just below Zeiss Conquests. I got the 24x Monarch (only one with fine xhairs) and it's too much mag for prairie dogs IMO. The conquest at 14x would be perferct. And get it on sale, great price if you can get the target turrets.

 

[Garvey]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: AJenke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hey All,

I have a Remington 700 in .22-250 with a 26" bbl. I have done some work on it, and it is a tack driver with my hand loads. Now this rifle is one of the Dick's Sporting goods packages and came with a junk 4-12 scope on it, and I need some thing different. Prairie Dogs disappear at 300 yards. So my question is what scope do I go with for a varmint rifle? I plan to shoot prairie Dogs out to 300 yards, and Coyotes to 500 yards max. Any input would be appreciated I have been looking at Leupold's 4.5-14 with their varmint retical. Any experience and advice to how well that retical works with a .22-250 would be great.

Thanks </div></div>

I shoot prarie dogs in the Texas panhandle, and coyotes all year. After having a MIL reticle, MIL turrets on my .308 I had to have the same features on my .22-250. I put a Millet 4-16 x 50 that worked for a while. But I had to run my reticle at 10X since it's second focal plane. Even on 16X I had trouble seeing the prarie dogs to 500 and beyond. In the end I put that scope on a rifle I purchased for my wife and mounted a Bushnell Elite 6-24 x Mil/ Mil ffp on the .22-250 that matches the one on my .308 My home range is at about 500' elevation, where I shoot prarie dogs is at 4200'. That makes for two different dope charts for the rifle.

Make your holds in MILs and you'll be good to go.

 

[tylerw02]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

I have both the Z-Plex and a mil-dot. The Z-Plex works quite well on varmints. Its slightly thicker than a Leupold Fine Duplux, but thinner than a Leupold Varmint Hunter reticle or mil-dot.

 

[Joop]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

My neighbor had the Leupold 4-14x on his Tikka T3 in .22-250 and just upgraded, this year, to the 6.5-20x50 (works better on Pdogs), both had the varmint reticle. We hunt prairie dogs and coyotes together and I have shot his rifle with both scopes. For prairie dogs, I personally prefer a mildot reticle, but he seems to do fine with the Varmint reticle. For coyotes, I think that's where this reticle really comes into it's own.

 

[HOGGHEAD]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

I have a safe full of varmint rifles and varmint scopes. Last year I purchased a new Cooper 22-250 and wanted to use the rifle out to 600 yards for ground hogs. Like you I had about $1,000 budgeted for the scope. But I really wanted to try a Night Force scope. So I waited until I found a really good deal on a used 3X15X50 NF scope with Mil-Dot reticle for $1,100.

Man am I glad I waited. I own a bunch of great quality scopes(Leupold, Zeiss, Swarovski, and S&B). But I am happier with this NF than any other "Varmint Scope" that I have ever bought. Please notice I said "Varmint Scope". The glass on my Zeiss, Swaro., and S&B's are better than the glass on the NF. But the NF is just a better overall scope for what I wanted to do.

For me 15X is more than enough power to 600 yards. And mirage is no problem for scopes up to about 15X or 16X, It can be a problem over that power.

What I like the most about the NF was the fact that it just seems to eat up the sun. I don't know what the proper term is, but I can shoot a ground hog at 6:00 o'clock when the sun is at 7:00 o'clock with no blindness from the sun. The scope just seems to look through the sunlight. It does not reflect all that light into my eye and blind me. Now I am not talking about looking directly into the sun, but pretty darn close.

A Second reason I like the NF is because it has tracked perfectly. Not off a single click. I can go from 300 to 600 and back to 400 without a single hiccup in the dials. I am very satisfied with that also.

Look for a good used NF in 3X15 and I bet you will be very happy with the scope, and you will be glad you waited. You said your budget was $1,000. But for about $1,100 I have seen a few 3X15's go through the classifieds. I bought mine used from Schryver. And the condidtion was near 100%. Exactly what he said it was going to be.

I am now looking for another one in 2.5X10 for a new 22 Hornet I am putting together right now. I will find a good deal on one. I have 6 months to find one, and the cash is already in place. So be patient and you will be rewarded with a good deal. Tom.

 

[khall540]

Re: Varmint Scopes for .22-250

+1 on the Winchester 40 round value pack 45grain JHP ! That's all I shoot through my 22-250