Would this scope be appropriate for a .22 caliber rifle? CZ-452 Trainer in my case. Not a precision rifle per-se, but it’s very accurate and has a decent trigger job. It’s certainly capable.
It’s on sale this month, and I don’t have my own glass. This is why I ask.
Or is there some rule that rimfire guns should only have rimfire scopes?
I figured it didn’t matter too much, but I wanted to double-check.
It’s a fantastic scope for the money, but of course depends on what and how you want to shoot. You may run into problems with parallax at short ranges, i.e., 25 yards.
I use a 4.5-14x44 Mueller AO scope on my 452 to deal with the parallax. However, I no longer use it for anything closer than 50 yards and typically am shooting 22LR 100y+.
The 452 can very well be a precision rifle with minimal modifications.
One more point- If you’re considering using the 452 for precision work or longer distances and can spend a little more, take a look at the Vortex HS Tactical 5-15x44. Lots of good reports on these from rimfire folks.
I probably won’t be shooting closer than 50 yds with this.
Reason I wanted this glass was because it has mil/mil but still has a 1" diameter tube.
The Vortex is nice but a little too rich for me at the moment. I want to see if this Weaver is worth it (so I could take advantage of its being on sale currently).
I just want to ensure I’m not buying a total piece of shit.
For now, uses would include offhand rimfire silhouette and target shooting. So far, I’ve been making do with a big ass Bushnell Banner loaner.
As you can see, it barely fits.
That is a big ass scope! Obviously you would be better off with a pic rail and weaver/pic rings.
The Weaver GS is definitely not a piece of shit. It’s likely the best variable optic buy under $400. At $299 it’s an amazing deal, however, Midway seems to offer this discounted price about every other month or two. Take a look at Sniper Central’s review.
I got one of these for my 40x trainer and have had it out to the range only two times. Focus down to 25yards. Has seemed pretty repeatable. Seems a pretty popular 22 scope due to the short foucs distance, which I know you don’t care as much about.
In my experience, adjustable parallax is critical in a precision rifle scope.
If you can’t get the parallax perfect, you can’t have the confidence in your shot placement that you need to call your shots.
Lack of parallax adjustment to the range you are shooting at makes a scope a no-go for me.
Very important.
I’ll confess that I’ve read the “US Optics” article on the parallax, and it still doesn’t click in my head.
Looks like I need to go back and try to read it again.
In essence, it’s just about focusing the scope, correct?
Yeah the scope your link goes to has no paralax adjust- id guess it’s set at 100 yds. That would be a deal breaker for me on a rim fire scope. You wouldnt be able to use it much closer than 50yds and it would still be little blurry inside 75yds on anything higher than 6x or so. Trust me I had a cheap pos 4-12x non paralax adjustable scope on a 22lr once- its just not ideal.
The ss10x is a good scope for 300$, weaver v-16, some good deals still around on older bushy 3200 and 4200s. Natchezss has a sale on a bunch of weaver scopes. I’d get on that focus down to 25yds for a rim fire. I wouldn’t worry about trying to find a mil/mil scope for 300ish dollars- you don’t need mil/ mil, you do need an AO or SF or some way of adjusting parallax on a vari-x scope.
No, there is more to it.
The image needs to be in focus, and parallax free in order to be most effective.
If the image is in focus, but not parallax free, then the reticle will move based on the position of your eye behind the scope. Unless you are inhumanly precise in achieving your cheek weld, you need parallax adjustment in order to keep the reticle in the same spot in relation to the target even if your eye is not perfectly behind the scope.
Off topic:
Should I never buy glass that isn’t adjustable, regardless of caliber being shot?
Learning and understanding scopes and long distance shooting is like the last frontier when it comes to marksmanship for me.
There are instances where not having parallax adjustment is fine.
Most hunting scopes are set parallax free at 150yds. In that application with low magnification (4x) scopes… there isn’t really a need for adjustable parallax.
However, on a wide range variable, such as a 4-16x or something… not having an adjustable parallax will definitely cause your crosshairs to move from your intended POI.
If you lock your rifle down so it doesn’t move, and sight at something, then move your head/eye very slightly up/down or left/right you can check for parallax error. If the crosshair appears to stay dead steady, locked on the original target… then you are parallax free. If the crosshair moves, you have parallax error.
With a rimfire this is especially important. Try to shoot 1/2" dots at 25yds with a 4-16 with a parallax set to 150yds, and you will understand the meaning of the word “frustrating.” The higher the magnification, the closer the distance, the more important an adjustable parallax is.
NO!
It is about having the reticle in the same position on target in relation to where the barrel is pointing.
If you have parallax error, your reticle is not in the same place that your barrel is pointing.
So, if you are aiming in the same place, your barrel is not pointing in the same place.
If you are not pointing the barrel in the same place, the bullets don’t go to the same place.
Pointing the barrel in the right place is the single most important factor in precision rifle shooting besides having a precise rifle that sends the bullet where the barrel is pointed.
I’m gonna throw out an arguement here.
I’m not disagreeing with what you are saying, but I’m adding more to it…
Focus is not as important as parallax.
Some scopes will be parallax free at a different setting than where they are best in focus.
(I consider this poor QC, but that’s another topic)
Obviously, we want the parallax and the focus to work in conjunction, but let’s just leave it to fact that they are NOT always working together.
Parallax is MORE IMPORTANT THAN FOCUS!
If your objective is to be as precise as you can, and you are forced to choose between parallax and focus, go with the parallax being adjusted better than the focus.
You can shoot tighter groups with a slightly de-focused image that’s parallax free than you can with a sharply focused image with slight parallax error.
If you have focus problems, you might also try turning down the magnification.
Here is an example I use when trying to teach people that more magnification does not necessarily give you better precision:
If you are dividing up the big black bullseye, it really does not matter what the magnification is.
What’s most important in precise shot placement is the precise pointing of the barrel.
That brings us right back around to why parallax is so important…
Hence why I said you need both to be “most effective.” 
However, I completely agree. You can have a mildly out of focus image with zero parallax error and be more effective than if you had a perfectly in focus image with parallax error.
The issue of people being more accurate at low powers vs high powers has a LOT more to it than just increased parallax error at high powers. The biggest reason for this isn’t the parallax, as most manufacturers can produce a product that is in focus and parallax free.
Instead, I believe the biggest reason for reduced accuracy at high magnification among new shooters is the fact that they see every little movement they make, right down to their heartbeat… and they try to fight it, resulting in thrown shots.
^^
That actually fucked me over at my first rimfire silhouette match. I shot it with the scope currently on my rifle, which was at 18x the whole time, and when it came to hit the 40m chickens, I only hit one of 15. Too much wobble.
I guess I shall look again for a more suitable scope–or just keep borrowing this one until he needs it back. Saving money is never a bad thing for me.
Weaver makes an excellent 3-9X scope with parallax adjustable objective. They have good Japanese glass and as a bonus they are airgun rated which means the lenses have extra retainers.
I got mine from Natchez. I think they are in the Weaver “V” series. I paid around $200 for mine.
The description says the parallax is set at 50yds but that is wrong because it is adjustable unless they mean with the objective set at infinity.
Depends a lot on the range you plan to shoot at. I shoot air rifles a lot and often close range, 10 meters or so. A typical rifle scope has a lot of parallax at close ranges. See for yourself. Observe some target at close range with the rifle on a rest. Move your head around and observe the relative motion of the crosshairs on the target. Even a low powered scope at close range has a lot of parallax. I use the Leupold airgun extended focal range scopes, the 6.5-20 are a bit much for general use but I use them anyway. The 3-9 is probably more practical and a lot cheaper. The Nikon should be o.k.
http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSearchQuery=efr
I think I’ll go home and kill some Cuban lizards. I haven’t killed anything all month. Gettin lazy.