Scope that can see 22 caliber holes at 100 yards

[HogKiller]

Splatter burst targets make it easy to see .22 at 100
Seriously though it is very easy to see.22 holes at 100 with my Arken epl 6x24 at $329 right now it is a steal

Both of my Arken's work well, I use orange paper for targets with my small target simple circles so I can see the hits. Bright green works well too.

View attachment 30-Yard Challenge Target.1654254248.pdf

 

[Mycapt65]

I'd get a spotting scope if I were stuck using black regulation targets. I don't like overloading a nice rifle with a giant scope. I typically shoot worse with higher magnifications. I sometimes shoot better when I can't see my other hits. My POA gravitates to the other shots, thus opening my groups. Might be a blessing to not know where they are.

My normal MO for targets is cheap Walmart white card stock and 3/4" round colored sorting stickers. I can easily pick out 22 caliber holes at 100yds with fairly inexpensive 3-9x40 scopes. 17 can be a little tough but doable.

 

[beerthief]

Thanks for the continuing feedback guys. Still haven't ordered anything. I noticed last time at the range that my Vector Sentinel 8-32 has noticably less clear glass than even my West Hunter 4-16X and certainly worse than my Athlon Talos 6-24. With the other scopes I could sometimes see my holes but not consistently. All are priced around $200 so they're much different than what you're telling me I need to do what I'd like to do. I can see the target with the Vector well enough to aim the rifle but I can't ever see the holes. I'd noticed earlier that I can shoot just as well with the Athlon despite 8X less magnification.

I will buy something but I'm still not sure I shoot enough at 100 or more to justify the kind of scope I need to see the holes. May just have to use spatter burst to get my aim point or adjust the scope, shoot the target with my lesser scope, and then go down range to see how I did. It works but maybe I'll treat myself to something like the Athlon Ares that might be enough better glass I'd know more before going down range.

I make a full sheet of bright poster board DIY shoot & see and use to see first shoots a new / used scope @ 30 yards. IF i need to !

 

[JimD]

Well it isn't really intended to fulfill my "seeing holes at 100 yard" requirement but I bought an Arken EPL4 6-24. Should be here Saturday. I wanted something nicer for my most accurate PCP, my P35 in 22. I may need to use some of your suggestions to see bullet holes but I am hoping it is noticably better than my normal ~$200 scopes. My biggest concern with it is seeing the reticle at 6X. It's FFP and I like to use 6X when hunting/pesting. Might have to turn on the illumination or go up to 8X. We'll see. Thanks again for the input. It won't be my last scope purchase but it probably will be for a few months, at least.

 

[Revoman]

You can likely see the main cross hair, but the rest will be too small to see the hash marks.
In my experience, 10 power is most likely the lowest that you will use.
Mike

 

[Dairyboy]

You should enjoy the Arken. I have a 4-16x50 SH4 Gen 2 on my Tikka T1X .22lr and 4-16x44 EPL4 on my Airacuda standard prototype. I regularly shoot behind a 4-20x50 Helos BTR Gen2 on my Evol and I really like that scope. I shot the Airacuda yesterday for the first time in a few months and was instantly impressed with the glass and how it looked. I might be putting it on my Evol instead of the Athlon. I only wish it had a Christmas tree reticle but the rest of the scope is very impressive I might still use it.

 

[Lewis]

Looks like Sightron SII is well under $1000 but it's a fixed 36X target scope.

Anybody try a Vector Continental? It is Vector's top scope and is supposed to have German glass with Chinese internals. The SFP 5-30 is less than $600.

I have a couple of them. I can't recommend them enough. They are the only scopes that I have seen in that magnification range with glass this good AND focus to 10 yards! I have 2 of the 34mm tube models that are a bit larger and more expensive but have much better turrets, zero stop, popup rev counter and are FFP. Outstanding for the price.

 

[drpietrzak]

A Longshot camera has resolved these issues for me.

 

[Trucker3573]

I second the different target or backstop. Not long ago i was shooting 98 yards with a crappy UTG 4-16 and on a splatter burst type target had no problems seeing them.

 

[marflow 777]

whenever i shoot at 100-200-300 yds long ago i would simply take my Bausch & Lomb Discoverer 15-60X60 mm Zoom Spotting Scope
i would do the same thing now if i shot at that distance again
you can find them on Ebay at very good prices and they sold for 300.00 in 1980

 

[.20calguy]

I just ordered an Element Optics Helix, 6X24X50 SFP scope, and that is they're budget model. For $350.
I also have an Athelon Helos 6X24X50, FFP, but I haven't shot longer than 75 yards with it as yet.

I bought the cheapest 6X24X50 that I could find for my Gauntlet2. Its an AIM.
Im looking forward to comparing the glass.

 

[Caliber 22]

Light colored plastic lids painted black makes a " splatter" type bulls .

100y and .177
View attachment 381898
Lol...

Good idea. And the pellet holes are nice and small for accurate measuring, better than the splatter burst type targets.

On the topic of scopes. I do wear prescription, multi focal glasses and with that my eye sight is very good. I use mainly Hawke scopes on my air rifle as well as the PB from .221LR to .308 and .50 inline ML. It is SFP 2-7x32, 3-9x40, 4-12x40 and one other scope I tried on a PCP, a Discovery 3-12 HD FFP. On all the 12 magnification scopes I can see the .22 holes in paper at 100 meter unless the light is very bad. The Discovery is OK but I don't like the "crismas tree" reticle, I dial for elevation and all that dots obstruct what I want to see.

I did shoot with high end scopes on other peoples rifles and there is a difference, they are much better. It is a fact that the better scopes are more expensive, but for my application I am not going to pay all the extra money for a nicer picture. If I was going to shoot extreme long range I would buy better scopes but I don't. For hunting, I rather use a high end binocular to clearly see what I need to see. So, one high end bino and budget scopes on all my rifles.

 

[JDGriz]

You could use a cheap digital camera with good zoom, on a small tripod. You can get 60x optical zoom for as little as 150 USD.

 

[steve123]

For the money I doubt any other variable rifle scope would do as well for seeing 22 holes at 100Y as the new Athlon Heras 10-60. Reports from others state that the IQ is as good or better than the Ares ETR 10-60.

 

[Mycapt65]

I can see 22 cal holes in white card stock paper at 100 yards with any half decent 3x9. And I normally wear glasses. In decent lighting I can see 177 at 100 yards.

The trick is using the right target colors for contrast and learning how to properly focus a scope. I make my own targets out of cheap Walmart card stock and 3/4" colored sorting stickers. Properly focusing a scope just requires a little YouTube. Spending a couple of days a week at the range has taught me that probably 75% of people don't know how to properly focus their scope. Too many people use magnification to replace clarity. I've seen people at the range with high end rifles an 500 dollar Leupolds complain about clarity when they simply didn't know how to focus the scope properly.

Here's a sample of my homemade targets. Some times with the dark red stickers a hit in the red is hard to see but it's really the misses I need to see. Those are easy on white.