Too Much Scope!

| Rimfires |
0
Rimfire Optics May Be Better Then They Used To Be,
But They’re Bigger Than They Need To Be. But The
Problem Is Being Neatly Addressed.

By Holt Bodinson

I’ve seen a tremendous change in optics for rimfires over the last few decades, some good, some not so good. Rimfire optics got a slow start beginning mostly in the 1930’s with names like O.F. Mossberg, Marlin, Malcom, Lyman, J. Stevens Arms, W.R. Weaver and Winchester, but the Depression kept the optics trade fairly restrained. About 99.9 percent of the rimfires owned by average Americans back then carried plain, factory-mounted, open iron sights, and your marksmanship credentials were judged on just how well you could use them effectively.

Beginning in the early 1950’s, rimfire riflemen began seeing the development of really affordable scopes suitable for rimfires. The game changers were Mossberg’s 4X models 2M4 and 4M4 and Weaver’s 4X models B and G. Both brands sold for $9.75 to $9.95. They had straight, 3/4-inch tubes with internal adjustments, but you had your choice of reticles—just as long as it was a simple crosshair.

Rimfire rifles of that era didn’t sport the grooved receivers we enjoy today, so mounting a scope usually meant making a visit to the nearest gunsmith (unless you bought one of the factory mounted packages from companies like Mossberg or Sears). The dominant rimfire mount of the day was Weaver’s N-model side mount, a $2 steel stamping that required drilling and tapping four screw holes into the left receiver wall of your .22. It wasn’t pretty, especially if the mount was removed at a later date, but it worked.

Typical of that class of early rimfire scopes is the 4X Bushnell Banner on my Feinwerkbau Model 300 air rifle. The Bushnell cost me exactly $9.95, and it has stood up to the double-shuffle of the Feinwerkbau’s recoil system for thousands of rounds without complaint. I originally mounted it on a Winchester Model 69 where it served for years as a perfectly acceptable small-game scope. While they were cheap and simple and may not have featured the most refined lenses, those little scopes were matched perfectly in size to the rimfire rifles they rode.

RF-0315-1

Which scope is better proportioned to a rimfire? In Holt’s view, the oldies
(left) are the goodies, although things seem to be changing.

Slim Down!

If I have one criticism about many contemporary rimfire scopes, it’s scale. Current manufacturers seem to have no sense of proportion. The scopes aren’t being matched to the slim, trim lines of the average rimfire used for plinking or small-game hunting. Unless rimfire metallic silhouette or some other rimfire target game is being pursued—where variable power, large tubes and target knobs are a competitive advantage—the contemporary rimfire scope should go on a diet. Tube diameters should be reduced from 1 inch to 7/8 or 3/4 of an inch. Objective and ocular bells dimensions need to be slimmed, overall lengths shortened and weights shaved.

The last elegantly proportioned rimfire scope I can recall was Redfield’s 2-3/4X and 4X Sportster model. Leupold would be smart to revisit the Sportster line under their Redfield label, as well as reintroducing the Alaskan 4X, their limited-edition copy of the old Lyman Alaskan big-game scope, except built to rimfire proportions.

Recently, I’ve been working with two new rimfire optics packages from Sun Optics USA and Majestic Arms, Ltd.

If you go to Sun’s website, you’ll find the firm offers an extensive line of optics, lasers, mounts and firearm accessories. One model in particular fascinated me. It’s the Tri-Rail Tactical scope.

The Tri-Rail Tactical design features a solid, 1-piece tube with three Picatinny rails and a mounting system integral with the tube. The scope mount will fit a standard Picatinny rail or Weaver-type slotted base. By flipping the two clamping side rails of the mount, the Tri-Rail will fit a standard 3/8-inch grooved rimfire receiver. That’s ingenious engineering at its best!

There are 10 models in the Tri-Rail Tactical scope family sporting objective diameters from 28mm to 50mm. Power options range from 4X fixed to 6-24X variable. All models feature a mil-dot reticle, and selected models offer an adjustable, illuminated reticle (IR) in both red and green hues.

The scopes are parallax-adjusted for 100 yards, and the windage and elevation adjustments are 1/4-MOA. All Tri-Rail Tacticals also feature fast-focus oculars and nitrogen-filled, fog-proof tubes.

RF-0315-4A

RF-0315-4B

Sun Optics’ Tri-Rail Tactical scope is a great match for Colt’s M4 rimfire carbine.
Those bare Tri-Rails (inset) just begged for the addition of a flashlight and laser.

I had been looking for a tactical scope for the Walther-made, Colt M4 rimfire carbine. The 2-6x28mm Tri-Rail scope with a length of 8.5 inches, a weight of 14.5 ounces and an eye relief of 3.7 to 2.95 inches worked perfectly. With all those bare rails staring at me, I couldn’t resist adding a Streamlight, Model TLR-3 tactical LED flashlight and a LaserMax rechargeable “Genesis” green laser to the top and side rails of the Tri-Rail. The combination looked cool and functioned well. Suggested retail on the 2-6X model is $141.99 and pricing for the complete, 10 model Tri-Rail line ranges from $105.99 to $165.99.

After having had the opportunity to examine three different models of the Sun Optics Tri-Rail Tactical line, including the 3-9X IR model, I am impressed with their ingeniously robust design, overall quality and versatility.

The second optical package I have been working with is Majestic Arms’ new red-dot combination platform, customized for Ruger MkIII pistols and 10/22 rifles.

To build the platform, Majestic has taken one of their proprietary Picatinny rails, added two quick-detachable rings and then lapped those rings in for a perfect—and repeatable—fit. The red-dot model Majestic selected to complete the platform is Bushnell’s Trophy 1x28mm, red or green dot which offers 11 brightness settings and four reticles—a 3-MOA dot, 10-MOA dot, a 3-MOA dot within a circle (my favorite) and a conventional crosshair. It’s a tough optic with a lifetime factory warranty.

RF-0315-5A

RF-0315-5B

Majestic Arms’ new red-dot optics platform simply screws on to a MkIII Ruger pistol.
Quick-detachable rings (inset) facilitate the use of iron sights while retaining
the zero of the red dot.

The final step in building the Majestic platform is to bore-sight the Bushnell Trophy model so it will be on the paper at 25 yards when mounted.
What you get from this setup is a complete optics platform you simply screw down on an existing Ruger pistol or rifle using the factory-drilled screw holes. The neat part? The Bushnell unit can be quickly removed to allow full use of the factory open sights, and—because the rings have been lapped in—the red/green dot unit will return to zero when remounted on the rail.

I have the new package installed on a Majestic-customized Ruger MkIII, and it performs perfectly. For most purposes, red-dot optics make more sense to me than a scope on a handgun. The Majestic Arms platform makes it easier than ever for the shooter to switch back and forth between optics and iron sights while retaining a repeatable zero.

With a price tag of $199, the new Majestic platform is one of the soundest values in the rimfire world.

Majestic Arms, Ltd.
101A Ellis St.
Staten Island, NY 10307
(718) 356-6765
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/majestic-arms-ltd/

Sun Optics USA
3606 S. 135W
Alvarado, TX 76009
(817) 783-6001
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/sun-optics-usa/

Bushnell
9200 Cody St.
Overland Park, KS 66214
(800) 423-3537
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/bushnell-outdoor-products/

LaserMax, Inc.
3495 Winton Place, Bldg. B
Rochester, NY 14623
(800) 527-3703
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/lasermax-inc/

Streamlight
30 Eagleville Rd.
Eagleville, PA 19403
(800) 523-7488
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/streamlight-inc/

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