Scope for a 17HMR.

[Va varminter]

Has anyone tried one of the Pine Ridge scopes from Cabelas for the 17 HMR? My dad just bought a new 17 and wants a "better than tasco" scope to put on it. It would be his only varmint gun. I read some good reviews about the the Cabelas Alaskan scopes. He is not near as serious about shooting as I am, so a Lupy, nikon, or even B&L 3200 is out of the question.

[Captqc]

I haven't tried one myself but have read that they are nothing special. I would say that it's a "you get what you pay for" situation. I'd go with a 3 x 9 Bushnell if it were me going low cost. Gary

[crazy2medic]

On my savage 93r17 I have a bsa 4-16x mil dot, I'm not real fan of bsa but the scope has been on the rifle for two years now and works great! my 2cents

[YoteSmoker]

For what you described, I would look hard at the bushnell banner line or look at a used higher quality scope. A fine duplex is very nice for small varmints.

[foxwhistler]

One of my friends bought my old cz,and put a BSA sweet seventeen on it.It doesn`t really rock my boat,as i`d rather use holdover than bullet drop compensation,but my friend swears by it and i must admit he doesn`t seem to have any trouble connecting with rabbits!

[VarMitt]

I have not tried the Pine Ridge, but have used the Cabela's Alaskan Guide. I have the Alaskan Guide 10x42 binocs. and love them, great for eye glass wearers The A.G scopes are a good low cost scope, especially now; since they are being discontinued and replaced by the Alaskan TX line. I have the A.G. 4.5x14x 44 with side focus on a Savage 17HMR and have no complaints (good eye relief) . In fact last week I bought my son the Alaskan 4.5x14x52x30mm tube with side focus for his 40th B-day(hard to believe he is that old!). I paid $204.83 (using the shipping promo). Normally that scope sells for $380. This is a great price for a good scope, especially when you have Cabela's generous return policy. If you're interested in the A.G. take a look in Cabela's Bargain Cave Optics section. Don't wait too long, they are selling fast.

[glenn asher]

I have a Burris FFII 3-9 with the Ballistic Plex reticle on my HMR, and it's the ticket, bar none. The "hash marks" are almost dead perfect for the drop of the HMR, all the way out to 300 yards, which no sane person would try (ahem ) with an HMR, anyway. I can honestly say it works very well out to 250 yards, though, on PDs, at that. Of course, an HMR isn't really too effective past about 175 in my book, as it runs out of steam around there on PDs, but it'll hit 'em, if you can get the wind to cooperate.

[agross]

Since the 17hmr isn't that effective out way beyond 150 yds i put a leupold rifleman 4 x 12 x 40 on my ruger stainless. i just hold a little high since the trajectory is fairly flat throughout that range. Last year i was consistently dropping starlings from my deck out to 135 yds. Plus the rufleman is a nice little scope lite weight and seems to hold its zero good.

I previously bought the sweet 17 from bsa but i can't imagine anyone dialing in on a target of any significant size and i just didn't like the look of it.

[WY-NEvarmints]

VV, I too have the Burris Fullfield II 3x9x-40mm with Ballistic Plex on my 17 HMR and have found the same results as Glenn Asher as to the 'hash marks' for the 17 HMR 'Drop Chart' (that come with the scope) to be accurate. There are 30 total, pull and peel, stickers for an array of calibers from 17 HMR to 338 Win Mag, and a two for muzzle loaders, included with the scope to aid in bullet drop compensation. These stickers are size appropriate to be stuck to your rifle stock if you so choose. The 17 HMR sticker shows a zero of 150 yards but has hash marks for 100 yards, 150 yards, 250 yards, and 300 yards if shot with the 17gr VMax. Mine was purchased from Cabelas as a package deal along with the Burris Landmark 8x32 Bino's (currently $239.99), but I see they currently have the same scope in a combo deal along with a Garmin eTrex GPS for $209.99. The scope is very clear, as have been all my experiences with Burris optics, and lightweight, a real pleasure to use. As you probably know the Cabelas website has a customer review for each product, on the product definition page, and I see that this item has quite a few reviews wrote for it. Also, it does take out Pdogs out at the 250 yard mark, not aggressively, but it will roll them off the mound.

Dean

[Ryan S Albright]

Two scopes that I like that have power are the Bushnell Banner 6x18x50AO For about $109 on sale I have this on my 17HMR and I can hit squirrels as far as I can see them with this scope set at 18 power which is way past 150 yrds the 17HMR is a great shooting rifle just put the wind to your back or in your face. Also the Simmons White tail that Midway sells for $99 dollars 6x20x50AO I have three of each of these scopes and use them day and night a good value for your buck.

[WaltherP99]

Two scopes that I like that have power are the Bushnell Banner 6x18x50AO For about $109 on sale I have this on my 17HMR and I can hit squirrels as far as I can see them with this scope set at 18 power which is way past 150 yrds the 17HMR is a great shooting rifle just put the wind to your back or in your face. Also the Simmons White tail that Midway sells for $99 dollars 6x20x50AO I have three of each of these scopes and use them day and night a good value for your buck.

+1 on the Banner ! I would pass on the Simmons however !

[glenn asher]

The Simmons WTC 6-20x50 are good solid scopes, though they don't get the "good press". A buddy has three of them, with no issues, and he's had them for years, mounted on various .25/06s for literally thousands of rounds (yeah, and a couple of barrels, too ) He thinks highly of them, though the crosshairs are a bit coarse for my tastes.

[jwc41]

I bought the BSA Sweet 17 (which the Cabela's Pine Ridge 17 is modeled after) in 2-7 when they first came out and mounted it on a Clark-converted 10-22 mag. The elevation turret adjustments were dead on with the 17HMR's drop, so with a laser rangefinder and a quick twist of the elevation turret I had great fun on PD's and gophers for a couple of years. However, two nagging issues finally caused me to get a Burris 3-9 FFII with the Ballistic-Plex reticle. First, the lenses on the BSA were not that great, causing me some mild eyestrain if I looked through it for more than 10-15 seconds at a time. Second, the scope is rather large, with tall turrets, and weighs more than a pound (the models 3-9 and up are bigger and weigh a lot more). The Burris is much lighter, less bulky and--despite also being made overseas--has excellent glass. I can carry the gun easily as a walking rifle, yet can sit for hours over a gopher patch knowing the secondary aiming marks on the reticle are dead-on within the 17's practical limits.

I put the BSA on a heavy-barrel NEF/H&R single shot for my kids (they don't even notice any eyestrain). It remains useful for shooting off a rest. If that will be your use and you've got young eyes, the $60-70 cost for either the BSA or Pine Ridge isn't a bad value. As for the Burris, if you look carefully and are patient, it can be had off the Bay for about $150.

[crazy2medic]

My son's bsa on his Rem 597, the reticles are as best as I can describe it are bleeding, they are no longer crisp round dots but seem to be smearing, kinda hard to discribe, but looking at replacing with a bushnell legend 5-15X mil dot scope!

[Vartarg]

Weaverf