Topic: The Best Rimfire Scopes of 2022 (Read 37 times)
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Why It Made The Cut
There’s not much innovative or surprising here, just a basic duplex reticle inside a straight-ahead scope with decent turrets and a durable build. Backed by an excellent warranty.
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If simplicity is the pathway to versatility, then the Vortex Crossfire II is at home on a small-game bolt rifle or a fast-shooting AR. It might not have the chops for precision work, but the duplex reticle is fast and reliable. The controls are a little mushy, but the eye relief and eye box are both forgiving and the fixed parallax makes it a great plinking scope. Basically, any tin can or cottontail inside 50 yards is in trouble.
Why It Made The Cut
This is a fun-sized optic with excellent controls and glass and a bright, light, and durable scope that’s a good fit for a rimfire or ultralight bolt-action build.
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Excellent glass, velvety controls, and a reticle that offers just enough holdover references for precision work, this is a scope that’s at home on a lightweight mountain rifle or a bespoke squirrel sniper. The RS.2 is available in either a bold duplex or SHR reticle—I reco*mend the latter for more references (three elevation holds; no wind holds). That probably has more utility for big-game hunters than for .22 shooters, but the holdovers are pretty handy for making shots beyond zero range.
At about $550, this direct-to-consumer optic is a little pricey for a basic second-plane rimfire scope, but Maven brings elegance, brilliant Japanese glass, and sweet turret controls to the game. The low-profile objective and the magnification range make it a very good choice for a special rimfire rifle.
Read Next: The Best .22 LR Rifles
Why It Made The Cut
This was the most fun scope in our test. A quick, precise, extremely nimble low-power optic, it gets on target quickly but has enough reticle references for longer-distance work.
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This is the scope that small-game hunters have been waiting for. It’s fast, keeping up with running rabbits, and its “Dot Drop” reticle in the second focal plane pops against just about any background. The Trophy Quick Acquisition has a very precise illuminated center dot for precise bullet placement or for fast target acquisition, and its holdover references (there’s a hash every 2 MOA) allows you to drop bullets into targets at a distance. The 1-6-magnification handles just about any shooting situation, from close-in game and steel to out-there targets. Besides its technical attributes, it’s simply fun to shoot. The controls are responsive, the glass is good enough, and it mounts low enough that bringing it to your eye is as intuitive as pointing your finger. Best part: It’s priced under $200.
Why It Made The Cut
A purpose-built rimfire scope, the second-plane reticle features a MOA-based dot for precise aiming solutions.
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Tract’s 22 FIRE series has a full series of scopes for .22 and .17 shooters, but this AO model (it stands for Adjustable Objective) is the most versatile scope in the line from the direct-to-consumer brand. The duplex reticle features a fine crosshair with a .25 MOA center dot, which allows for full view of the target and precise bullet placement, which co*petitive bullseye target shooters will appreciate. The adjustable objective enables precise focus for targets inside 10 yards all the way out to infinity, a feature you don’t often see on rimfire-specific scopes. The objective focus is a little clunky co*pared with the side parallax of most modern scopes, but it works well and further enables precise shooting. At about $275 it’s not a cheap scope, but the glass is good, the controls are some of the best in the business, and the precision it allows also makes it a killer squirrel scope.
Why It Made The Cut
This second-plane middle-of-the-road scope isn’t built for any specific task. Instead, it does a pretty good job at any shooting situation, whether mounted on a center-fire big-game rifle, a rimfire, an AR, or even a mid-range platform like a straight-wall carbine or slug gun.
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Priced at about $450, this Athlon has more features than most scopes at this price point. Its best attribute is side parallax control that brings targets as close as 10 yards into sharp focus, a feature that’s useful for rimfire shooters who are often engaging close-in and far-out targets. The illumination is also worth a look. The second-plane scope is available with a standard duplex reticle, but opt for the BDC 600A reticle, which gives shooters holdover hashes out to 600 yards when the scope is on its highest power. The glass in the Argos HMR isn’t the best, but for most shooting situations, it will provide a decent image and capably guide bullets of just about any caliber. The best attribute for a rimfire shooter is that this scope can easily be swapped out to just about any other rifle, making it a good all-around optic.
Why It Made The Cut
A big, serious precision scope with attributes for any long-distance target work, whether rimfire or PRS center-fire rifles.
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Okay, I realize this isn’t your standard rimfire optic. It’s purpose-built for the 1,000-yard-and-longer center-fire steel-plate crowd. But the Strike Eagle has an extremely useful reticle for almost every rimfire co*petition, from punching paper at known distances to engaging steel silhouette targets and all the crazy shooting situations in the NRL22. Attributes that make it a worthy rimfire consideration: close-focus to 15 yards, a nicely illuminated first-plane reticle, holdover hashes at every MOA and windage dots out to 24 MOA, and nicely indexed turrets. All this for well under $1,000. The best argument for consideration: learn to shoot this reticle on a cheap and fun rimfire trainer, then graduate up to a center-fire chassis rifle.
Why It Made The Cut
A ton of scope for almost any rimfire co*petition, it’s a great training platform to take this optic to NRL and Precision Rifle shoots.
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Go back and read the rationale for this scope under the Vortex Strike Eagle spot. All those arguments go double for this big, serious precision scope from a new direct-to-consumer brand. The main argument for a rimfire shooter is that if you can learn to shoot well and quickly with this first-plane reticle on a .22 trainer, then you’ll be miles ahead of your peers when you strap it on a long-distance center-fire precision rifle. The Blackhound has fine glass, very tactile low-profile turrets, and a side focus control that brings targets as close as 10 yards into crisp focus. It’s pricey, around $1,150, but there’s a whale of a lot of value in this scope that has a magnification range that is way more useful than the standard 5-25-power of most precision target scopes.
Why It Made The Cut
The rare long-distance precisions scope that retails for under $400, this feature-packed option from Sightmark will get shooters of just about any budget and caliber ringing steel.
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