Scope Magnification, reticle. Could be recomended out to 250 yards

[john444334]

Hello,

Looking for new scope, For vermin out to 250 yards with .222 rem

Q1. What magnification would be recommended or is thought enough for this distance?

With some load I would have to adjust for bullet drop for the last 100 yards on smaller quarry.

Q2. What type of reticle would be recommended to save to much fiddling with turrets?

I would like side parallax or adjustable objective. And with a budget under £500.

Q3. Is there a scope that anyone is currently using Or could be recommended to do the job?

All thought Welcome

Many thanks

John

 

[mereside]

i really like my burris ballistic plex very simple and good for further out when foxing ,i have now got two sightrons with a similar retical and i am loving those as well ,lifetime warranty and cristal clear at night foxing, my burris is 3-9-40 same with one sightron and the other 6-24-50 but thats on the winmag but happy with the 9x even at further ranges atb wayne

 

[night stalker]

On my 222 I use a 5-15x40 Bushnell legend with a mill dot reticle. I've used this combo with 40 grain v-max to shoot rabbits out to 287 yds and my longest fox was just shy of 250.

You can pick up a mint second hand front PX legend for about £120 or one of the new side PX ones for £350. You also won't go far wrong with one of the Elite 3200, 4200 or 6500 series scopes all new for under £500

http://www.swillingtonshootingsupplies.co.uk/store/category/23/108/Bushnell/

Rick

 

[Dodder]

Hi John,

I currently have a Bushnell Elite 6-24x50 Mildot on my Steyr .222 and this is pretty good for daylight use, but not so good in the evening (particularly at the higher mags) as the light drops. I used to have an S&B 8x56 and an S&B 3-12x50 which both had much better optics but insufficient magnification and too thick a reticle for accurate bullet placement on crows, magpies, rabbits, etc at ranges out to 250yds. I have a Swaro Z6 5-30x50 with a fine Plex reticle on a .17Rem which is much better, but big money.

Personally I like a scope with up to 24x mag, even if you only ever use the highest mag from a bench or rock steady rest. I use mine typically on around 16-20x for 200-250yds. My advice is to always buy the best you can afford and I would always go Swaro, S&B, Zeiss etc, but do beware as you dont want too thick a reticle for long(ish) targets.

While my Bushnell has diallable turrets and a mildot reticle but I dont often dial or even use the mildots as I carry the following laminated on a card with me for my favourite homeload, 40 Sierra Blitzking over 21grns Reloder 7 at around 3400fps. Once I've ranged the target I find it generally good enough to aim off for upto 250yds - hope this helps!
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[bewsher500]

I had a 6.5-20 Leupold with a fine, "Varmint" christmas tree reticule.

To be perfectly honest I never utilised the hold off dots or lines even when it was on my HMR.
I used it on a .243 and it sat on about 8x mag when stalking
under a lamp the reticule was too fine. had it been the fire dot version it might have been of use

I had a variable scope on my .222 but found that the combination of faffing around with magnification and parallax and a scope light and keeping the target acquired was a pain in the proverbial

I ditched it for a 7x50 and loaded to accommodate a 225yd point and shoot MPBR.
As above, a 40-50gr Vmax clocking 3200-3400fps is only dropping outside a 3" target zone when it gets past 225yds

I find it a lot easier to pick up a target and adjust point of aim accordingly by an inch, or two, or three, although personally i have never shot a fox past the range that needed holdover.
foxes dont sit still in my neck of the woods. often running towards or away. fast change is required that holdover dots or turret twiddling wont allow

 

[User00035]

I've got a Meopta 3-12 X 56 with a 4B ballistic reticle on my triple. I shoot rabbits and foxes and this scope works fine. 12 power I find more than enough to 250 yds rabbits, in fact I'm usually on 10 X. There's no parallax adjustment but I don't find it an issue at all until I get beyond 300 yds which is rare. The light gathering of the Meopta is extremely good, easily a match for any other European glass up to and often above the £1000 mark. The reticle isn't as fine as I would like but I have no problem shooting rabbits in low light. The ballistic markings are an irrelevance really. I'm zeroed at 200 yds with Federal 40 grn Vshok. I haven't put these rounds through a chrono but they are shooting an inch flatter at 300 yds than the makers claim, which suits me just fine. The idea is that the triple takes over where the HMR runs out of reach, so on rabbits its point and shoot from 130 to 250 yds and holdover at 300 is too small to require milldots or other such marks. For foxes its just point and shoot full stop.
I started off with a Duralyt when I bought the triple, but I think the Meopta is the better scope. The Duralyts have lovely fine plex reticles but the turret increments at 1/2 moa @ 100 yds are too big for a 200 yd zero. The Meopta's are 1/4 moa which makes zeroing more precise.
I really don't think you need more than 12 X mag to shoot out to 300 yds. Possibly a very little more might be useful on corvids in full light, but I find 10 X quite enough to explode 200 yd pigeons and crows. When shooting rabbits you're going to be working in low light, so you'll have dialled the mag down to gather the light anyway.
You'll get a S/H R1 plus rings well inside your budget. If you go for one don't be put off by the 1st focal plane reticle. It looks odd in a shop when you're playing with it but put it on a target and you never notive.

 

[swarovski]

For precision shooting around 20 mag,target turrets and quarter moa clicks,milrad ok too,250yds a little hold over would be ok if you know exactly how much drop is.

 

[ejg]

I can't really understand the sense of a second focal plane scope and hold over recticle. Recipe for a cock up.

A bit of reading up, some testing and one has understood dialing in of drop or windage.
My favourite vermin scope is a 6.5-20x50 Zeiss Conquest with target turrets and plex recticle. This scope is very light
and we've shot crows well over 400m with a 223. I have a second 6.5-20 Conquest on one of my stalking rifles
and thinking of getting a third for my sons 243.
edi

 

[Rake Aboot]

Meopta 7x50


kills em all