Scope power for 17hmr @ 100-125 yards?

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

A new Cabela's opened up in Columbus, Ohio. Not expecting to purchase anything, I went anyway. The ONLY rifle I would have been interested in is rather specific....especially being left handed:

Savage model 93 left handed bolt
17hmr
wood stock

And wouldn't you know it...they had one in stock!!! So I had to get it. (stood in line for over an hour in the gun viewing line...then stood more than another hour in the background check line.)

Now I need to get a scope for it. My purpose of this rifle is groundhog head shots around 100 yards (+/- 25 yards). What power scope do you think I should get?

I think a variable up to 9 power isn't quite enough....I'm thinking a 14 power. I don't think I need to go up to 20-25 power...I've got a 223 for that.

 

[fr3db3ar]

I'm a fan of side focus. I'm very happy with my Nikon Buckmasters 4.5 - 14. Clear vision in all powers and the turrets seem to track well.

 

[Larryh128]

The real answer is to put on it what you want. 9 is more than enough for a short range rifle but there is no doubt that the better you can see the target, the easier it is to hit it. I generally shoot pretty high magnification on my rifles but truthfully, most of my hunting rifles could be used with a 4-6x. You just aren't going to shoot bug holes in paper.

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

I'm a fan of side focus. I'm very happy with my Nikon Buckmasters 4.5 - 14. Clear vision in all powers and the turrets seem to track well.

I looked them up. OUCH! Let's keep it under $150. I feel like I'm splurging with a $130 scope. (A Mueller 4.5x14x40mm)

I'm sure there's a nice $75 scope out there for me, but I'm just not familiar enough with cost/benefit of scopes these days.

 

[itchyTF]

Sightron has a good reputation for, at least, their SIII and SII Big Sky lines. I have 5 or 6 SIIIs. I have never seen or used an SI model so I can make no comment but they are in your price range.

 

[fr3db3ar]

you could also try the Centerpoint from Walmart. Made by Crossman, lifetime warranty.

First one I bought to go on my nighttime rimfire, 4-16 AO IR.

this one turned out to have an almost impossible to turn IR knob and it was blurry past 12 power.

I contacted Crossman and they sent me another and told me NOT to send the old one back. New one is fine.

 

[sdneil]

I have had a 4 to 12 on my .17 hmr about 6 yrs now--have shot PDs out to 165 yrds with it , fine cross hair, is a personal choice if possible

 

[johara1]

I have a left hand CZ that i did a lot of work on and it shoots in a 1/2" @ 100 yds. and the scope is a 6 x42 Leupold.... can't see the need for more ....... jim

 

[Ackman]

You're shooting a target that's about the size of a tennis ball, with a gun that has no recoil/muzzle jump. Scope power is your friend. Use enough power to make the target as big as you want.

 

[SS427]

On my two 17 HMRs I tried 3-9x, 5-20x and settled on a 4.5-14x. 9x wasn't enough and at the distances and target sizes I shoot at, more than 14x was over kill. My favorite 4.5-14x for the caliber was a Burris Fullfield with the ballistic plex reticle. I liked the additional aiming points for longer distances. Right now I have a Sightron 4.5-14x w/o an adjustable objective. Don't like the duplex reticle as well, but not having to mess with the AO is a huge plus. I hunt sage rats and they tend to pop up at 25 yards when you have the AO dialed in for 150.

 

[fishin-goat]

I put a 3-12 bsa sweet 17 on mine. Its not a bad scope for $60, I have had it for over six years with no problems and killed many ground squirrels out past 100 yds. I cranked the turrets to 200 yds and was dead on.

 

[tjtjwdad]

I have three 17 HMR's and IMO. those little Burris 4.5-14x42 Fullfield II w/ballistic plex is tough to beat. AO or SF doesn't matter to me but in all honesty keeping the range from 100-150 yards it probably won't matter. The other two have 4.5-14.40 Nikon Buckmaster (AO) and a Nikon Maonarch 2.5-10.

HTH

 

[johara1]

All these big scopes on a light little gun, to shoot less than 150 yds. it makes them so top heavy. When you can cross a 1" dot at 100 yds. with a 6 x 42...... jim

 

[GrocMax]

We shoot PD's to 100-150 all the time with 17 HMR and lower power scopes, 2x-7x or 3x-9x usually dialed back to 3x-4x. 150-200 yds with the wind blowing gets to be challenging, along with short range running dog shots. High magnification isn't necessary unless you want to read a newspaper at 50 yds or see 17 cal holes in paper at 100-150.

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

thanks for all the replies. I'm sticking with the Mueller 4.5x14x40mm. It fits in the middle. Bigger than the 3x9 of my 22, smaller than the 8x25 of my 223. The scope on the 223 is also a Mueller & I'm happy with it. Seems to be decent performance/quality for the money.

 

[johara1]

I can make the holes out at 50 but i can make out the group at 100...... jim

 

[argoboy]

On my .17HMR I have a 2-7x 32 low cost Bushnell scope and it seems to work fine for small varmints.

 

[tjtjwdad]

All these big scopes on a light little gun, to shoot less than 150 yds. it makes them so top heavy. When you can cross a 1" dot at 100 yds. with a 6 x 42...... jim

On calm days, I'll shoot a 17 HMR out to 250 yards and it's pretty deadly on those sage rats (ground squirrels). On critters that small, a little extra power is nice w/o using the max zoom setting. When the wind picks up then the range is significantly reduced and the power can be reduced accordingly.

HTH,

 

[Webster]

I now have a 2-7X Leopold on my 22RF ($231). A 3-9X might be better. I have a fixed 15X on my 6BR. Once you start getting up to about 15X it's hard to quickly find the target because of the small field of view below 100 yrds. You almost have to get on the target by sighting along the barrel then go to the scope. I had an old Bushnell Banner 3-9X on my 22RF. At 9X it was good enough with no wind to shoot 1" groups at 50 yrds. It's an Anshutz Model 64 $99 in 1979. Almost all of your non-target scopes have a fixed parallax setting. They make scopes made just for rim fire rifles. If the scope is made for a 22RF the parallax is set for either 50 or 60 yds. at the highest mag. The parallax is off at any other distance or scope mag. At 100 yrds. the parallax might be more than the width of a GHs head? If you want to minimize parallax you probably need to set the scope at the highest mag for all distances and keep your eye well centered in the eye piece. Without checking I would think scopes intended to be used on a center fire rifle have the parallax set and fixed at 100 yrds. I don't know how much error you would have at 50 yrds. It depends lot on how well your eye pupil is centered on the eyepiece.

 

[Ohio Varmint Shooter]

I now have a 2-7X Leopold on my 22RF ($231). A 3-9X might be better. I have a fixed 15X on my 6BR. Once you start getting up to about 15X it's hard to quickly find the target because of the small field of view below 100 yrds. You almost have to get on the target by sighting along the barrel then go to the scope. I had an old Bushnell Banner 3-9X on my 22RF. At 9X it was good enough with no wind to shoot 1" groups at 50 yrds. It's an Anshutz Model 64 $99 in 1979. Almost all of your non-target scopes have a fixed parallax setting. They make scopes made just for rim fire rifles. If the scope is made for a 22RF the parallax is set for either 50 or 60 yds. at the highest mag. The parallax is off at any other distance or scope mag. At 100 yrds. the parallax might be more than the width of a GHs head? If you want to minimize parallax you probably need to set the scope at the highest mag for all distances and keep your eye well centered in the eye piece. Without checking I would think scopes intended to be used on a center fire rifle have the parallax set and fixed at 100 yrds. I don't know how much error you would have at 50 yrds. It depends lot on how well your eye pupil is centered on the eyepiece.

Thanks for all the info..the Mueller scope that I purchased has a parallax adjuster on it.