SmallCaliberCentral

What's too much scope for a 10/22? I have finally started my 10/22 project. My barrel should be here tomorrow and I've been looking around for a scope. My barrel is silver so I'd like a silver scope. I've been looking at a leupold VX-1 3x9x40. Would a 3x9 be too much power and make the close shots blurry?

Whatever scope you decide on, make sure it's for a 22 RF. Had an older Leupold 4 power that took a dump after being fired on my 10/22. Knocked the cross hairs out "two" times.
Leupold fixed it but it was stated (by others) that the problem of the cross hairs coming loose was from the recoil of the 10/22??? Still find that REAL hard to believe.
That was the last Leupold scope I'll ever own. Warranty or no warranty, just not worth dealing with.

The Ruger 10-22 is noted for the heavy bolt causing "recoil" damaging to scopes.....seen it myself. BUT, I've got two custom 10-22's, both wearing VX2 3-9's for many years, both have fired literally thousands of rounds at ground squirrels, and both scopes are still running strong; never had any issues with either of them.

During a very good rat shoot this year, "Helga", my 'heavy' gun that wore a VX3 2.5-8X for a few years w/o issues, now wears the 3-9X discussed:



And "Lola", my light rifle with her 3-9X EFR:



Any Leupold scope marked "EFR" for Extended Focus Range, is suitable for air rifles that really hammer a scope with 'reverse' recoil. These scopes are perfect for the battering of a 10-22 bolt. JME

Mikie: Sorry to hear of your experience. What are you using now on your 10-22 that has a better warranty and performs better than Leupold?

Rick:
I'am a big fan of cheap scopes. My thoughts? If the rig should get knocked over or fall off the bench, a cheap scope isn't that much of a loss compared to a Nightforce, March, Leupiold or some of the other big name and more expensive scopes. I know for a fact that there are a LOT of good scopes out there, Leupiold being one for sure but I just got soured after my experience. Have really considered a Leupold fixed 36 for bench work.
Most folks think the BSA, Tasco, Simmons, TruGlow and a few other lower priced scopes are junk but so far, I've had real good luck with them. Most are 32 to 36 fixed for bench work. I like being able to see my bullet holes on paper without guess work.
Maybe I should slap one of my TruGlow 36 fixed powers on my 10/22 and see how it holds up? Might be in for a big mind change?
I always thought that the deal with recoil from the 10/22 doing damage to the Leupold scope was BS but if other folks have seen and had it happen to their's, maybe I'am be wrong in my thinking? I figured Leupold was just trying to get off the hook for poor quality control or building a piece of junk.
I think it's been at least a year or more since I've shot my 10/22. Been concentrating on bigger center fire stuff that I can reload and tune to get the best accuracy out of. 22 BR, 6 BR, 20 VT, 20 VT "short" .221 Fireball, 6.8 SPC, 6.8 BR Wildcat, .223 and .308 for my gas guns. It's all fun.
I'am kinda old and set in my ways but in the long run, I can be shown the error of my ways. You guys got me hooked on the 20 VT didn't you?? Mike.

Also, let me add, I've got no problem with the warranty from Leupold. They fixed the scope twice with no problems. Even tho the first time they fixed it, they installed the wrong cross hairs. When it broke the second time and I sent it in for repair, I mentioned the mix up with the cross hairs on the first repair and they got that squared away. Just the fact that it needed repair the second time made me wonder.

RIO what kind of scope mounts do you have on your Rugers? The factory mounts don't impress me and I was looking at leupolds.

sboy: Both my 10-22's wear Leupold bases and ring sets.

Here's the crew's 10-22 collection on display at the Rat Hilton during a peppy rimfire squirrel shoot last year:



Not sure if you can see, but three out of five wear Leupold 10-22 mount systems; extremely ridgid and withstands the constant battering of the 10-22 bolt (and all but one wear Leupold scopes too......and the holdout is changing his this year too ).

Nor Cal Mikie wrote:Rick: I'am kinda old and set in my ways but in the long run, I can be shown the error of my ways. You guys got me hooked on the 20 VT didn't you??

Yeah, same here Mikie.....old dogs and new tricks ya know.

As for the 20VT thing, sorry. Wait, no I'm not. I bet you're happier shooting that little rifle than any of your others, including your 204! Am I right?

Savageboy: Sorry for the hijack, but it WAS related to the 10-22 thingie......

Rick:
Funny thing is I've never fired a long barreled .204 Ruger. Got a deal I "couldn't refuse" on a rear grip Neal Cooper pistol stock and a 16" Benchmark straight pipe SS in .204. Thought it would make a fun shooter but, the recoil was bad enough that I got rid on the barrel. Built it on a left hand Savage action. Tried all kinds on combinations to tame the recoil but just couldn't get it to my liking. Should have done more researsh before hand. The .204 is based on the .222 Mag. That should have been the giveaway!
Set that barrel back to 20 VT, even added a brake but someone wanted it more than I did so it went "down the road". My main objective is seeing hits on the targets. Close range? NO WAY!! Longer distance was better but not exactly what I wanted.
Got interested in the 20 VT "short". No recoil and turning out to be pretty accurate. (so far) Hits out 100 yards can be seen and it still has longer range accuracy. Still working on accuracy loads.
Something that's caught my intrust is the 22-22LR Super Stinger. That would be a fun project for a HEAVY bench gun. Something like a Martini?
Still can't reload them like a center fire but still fun. Cost and availability of rim fire ammo might make things a little tough??
As far as the recoil doing the number on the Leopold scopes from the 10/22 platform?, maybe a little research into different recoil buffers might be a good thing? Anything that tames the BANG of the bolt would help. And thinking back, it took a LOT of fired rounds to brake the scope so they must be tougheer that I thought?
Give it to Mikie. He'll try anything.

Here's a few photos of my "build" so far

Stock photo

The new tube

Tube mounted

Started as your basic black/synthetic 10/22. Ordered a green mountain 20" stainless bull barrel from midwayusa. That's a start. Now to order up a stock get a nice leupold scope with some new rings.

sboy: Nice so far, but you'll be much happier in the accuracy dept. if you remove that barrel band. That's the first thing to go down the road if you expect any decent degree of accuracy out of your new 10-22 build. If you cruise the net looking at other 10-22 builds, you won't find a single one on any of those rifles. Just sayin' ..........

Barrel band? In the stock photo? I couldn't wait to remove that ugly thing from day 1. The bottom photo is how she sits currently

Perfect. You had me worried there for a minute. You're on your way to some good rimfire fun in the near future.

Rick in Oregon wrote:Perfect. You had me worried there for a minute. You're on your way to some good rimfire fun in the near future.

What's a factory 10/22 barrel worth? Less than 100 rounds down the pipe.

I've used scopes from cheap to moderate on mine, and never had a problem.

However, parallax is an issue: Centerfire scopes have their parallax set for a longer distance than that at which you usually shoot .22lr, and that can lead to issues. Rimfire scopes tend to have the parallax set at shorter distances.

If you decide to use a Leupold 3-9X, if it's marked "EFR" (Extended Focus Range), it's entirely suitable for rimfire use. If it's not marked as such, the factory will recalibrate it to rimfire parallax (75 yds) at minimal charge.

In all the years I've dinked about with 10-22's (since 1967), I've never had one of my Leupold's go south from being on a 10-22. Can't say the same for many friends who found out their cheap scopes on their 10-22's blew apart after some frisky outings on squirrels and jacks. I had one personal experience with a Simmons scope on one of my early rifles that didn't make it through one rat shoot. But sometimes you just get lucky.