Have a Savage heavy barrel 17 Mach2 on order and to be delivered in next few days.
Shooting will be paper and small(obviously) varmints under 125 yards MAX.
Now the question, what to top it with-not so much what brand but how much scope to drive tacks up to 125 yds.?
Open for all and any suggestions-costs not really a factor but I really don't see the need to put a Leupold or Zeiss that costs 1200 on a 250 dollar setup
Thanks for your thoughts.
Gary

Normally, I recommend a compact like the line Leupold makes for rimfires for most rimfire applications. However, your HB configuration and desire to use the gun for little-bitty targets as far away as practical makes the compactness of the scope irrelavent.

The most cost-effective route in a higher performance scope would likely be the Leupold VX-I 4-12x at something like $250. I have a couple of these on centerfire varmint guns and they are about 98% as effective as the 18 or 20 power scopes I have costing three times as much. Twelve power is plenty at the maximum range of 125 yards, and there's really no need for an adjustable parallax for shooting between 50 and 125 yards. Besides, if for some reason you don't like the Leupold, you can sell it for most of what you paid originally and try something else.

I use a 3-9 x 40 on an accurate .22 and a 6.5 - 20 x 44 on a .17 Ackley Hornet.

I too have a brand new 17HM2 and am about to mount a 4-16 x 40 on it in quality mounts and bases.

My experience is that a good scope with plenty of magnification helps with accurate varmint shooting.

I would rather have a $1000 scope on a $100 rifle than the other way round!

Regardless of what you pay for the scope remember you couldown the scope for a lifetime and perhaps move it onto other rifles in future.

Top quality today is still excellent tomorrow.

Just my opinion!

http://www.muelleroptics.com/products/MU852550IGR.html Check this one out. Drives tacks at a decent price. If this is to much power this is a good scope for the money. http://www.muelleroptics.com/products/MAPV451440.html I have the first one on a Savage 17 and love it. The second one is on a 10/22 I have tricked out and love it, too. Had real good experience with there service department. Got moisture in one and returned it and had a new scope in a week.

I put a Leupold VX I 2-7 on my Kimber Classic Varmint in 17HM2 and find that it's perfect for my application, which is shooting little critters out to 150 yards. Lou

quote:

Originally posted by Kiwi Vince:
I use a 3-9 x 40 on an accurate .22 and a 6.5 - 20 x 44 on a .17 Ackley Hornet.

I too have a brand new 17HM2 and am about to mount a 4-16 x 40 on it in quality mounts and bases.

My experience is that a good scope with plenty of magnification helps with accurate varmint shooting.

I would rather have a $1000 scope on a $100 rifle than the other way round!

Regardless of what you pay for the scope remember you couldown the scope for a lifetime and perhaps move it onto other rifles in future.

Top quality today is still excellent tomorrow.

Just my opinion!

vince, you heard of tracy short from levin?

the thing about the $100 scope and $1000rifle are what he thinks. he says a $1000scope on a $100rifle make more sense than a $100 scope on a $1000 rifle.

afterall if u cant see it you cant shoot it!

Paul, I know of Tracy Short from the NZ gun press and his shop but have never met him.

Tracy seems to be a fan of Nightforce scopes but I have to say an NSX Extreme is a bit of an overkill on an HM2!

My cousin believes in budget stuff, has short arms and deep pockets. He has 4 main rifles, 2 cheap .22's (Stirling and an old Sportco) and a .22-250 BSA and a .30-06 BSA.

All with cheap scopes.

Last year he missed 2 deer at about 20 - 30 metres, 1 with each centrefire. Later at a range both were several inches off point of aim. Interesting that both had been sighted in the previous year and stored in a locked box since and untouched since sighting except for cleaning. Both BSA's are free floated and have reasonable mounts.

He is a crack shot and never misses if all is well.

I reckon the cheap scopes zero changed in storage.

My Leupold LPS never changes on my Weatherby from year to year. I always check it but never need to touch it.

His .22's have scopes that would have cost less than NZ$100 (say US$60) and again they seem to shift zero in between sighting.

It seems a cheap scope can be sighted in and at that point is capable of shooting good groups. Until it is taken out next shooting trip.

This doesnt happen to me so I am sticking by my theory of best scope you can buy in best mounts.

Just my opinion based on experience.

yeah he is a big fan of nightforce, i was in the shop one day and he tried to sell me one. i was like ah mate cant afford that.

with some cheap scopes they can change zero when you change the power.


"This doesnt happen to me so I am sticking by my theory of best scope you can buy in best mounts." good theory to live by.