by meawls » 24 Jul 2019, 8:03 pm
A lot probably comes down to pricing mate, and whether you have the time/inclination to fiddle with turret dials. We have two Bushnell Rimfire Optics in the family - a 3-9 on son’s CZ and a 3-12 on my Lithgow. Both rifles are in 22LR. The son’s not that fussed on long range stuff, but I’ve done a bit of experimenting with the Lithgow, and have been pretty impressed with the outcomes. The Bushnells use a custom elevation dial - they come with 22LR and .17HMR in the box. You simply sight using the standard dial at an arbitrary range as specified , then swap out the dials. Then you dial up the range, there are settings for 75, 100, 125 and 150 yards. I shot a cracking 1.75” group at 150 yards using el cheapo Federal 745’s that the rifle likes within an inch and a half of bullseye, but I’ll bet I’ll never be able to repeat it. 150 yards is the longest range we’ve tested it at. If you dial down below the 75 yard setting and ignore the 100 in front of the 150 and 125 yard range, the settings are reasonably useful then at 50 and 25 yards respectively, but if you do this you’ll need to remember whether you’re sighted at say 50 or 150 yards! The Bushnells have focus/parallax adjustments, and optical clarity is pretty good for the money. Don’t get me wrong, we are very staunch supporters of the Leupold brand, but I reckon for the $ these are pretty good. As others have mentioned, you need to find sighting references on the reticle for the Leupold that hopefully match your ammo, in the apparent absence of a rimfire CDS system for the Freedom model. This may well be much quicker, but perhaps not as precise. Incidentally we bought both scopes for well under $200 on special. I’m sure you’re well aware of the Leupold’s pricing.