That Taurus 3-18 scope mentioned above looks suitable. The only negative I can see about it is that it seems to be a $800 scope in Australia, but you can get it for under 300 Euro in Europe (sorry Don in the post above
) so I wonder if there is an Australia factor on it which wouldn't apply another brand.
Anyway, it has the features I'd be looking for such as:
- First focal plane (FFP) illuminated reticle; the reticle will scale with the zoom, so it is always correct. The downside to FFP is that the reticle can look too small at low zoom power, however illumination gets around that problem.
- Milrad subtensions (you can also get MoA; personal preference) rather than some kind of bullet drop reticle.
- Exposed turrets that you can dial easily, that Taurus scope has low profile turrets. Low profile or high turrets don't really matter for target but low profile can be important for game shooting where tall turrets can get caught on bushes, scrub etc. That Taurus doesn't have a zero stop, but you will be paying extra if you want that in a scope.
- Reasonable elevation range; look for at least 17 milirad in a budget scope, or at least 25 millirad if you are throwing some bigger $$$ at it.
- Parallax down to 13m..... This will vary by scope but 20 metres is the lowest you should accept on a rimfire scope.
Personally, I run a Primary Arms GLx 4-16x50 on my T1x. Simple cross reticle with milrad subtensions. 100 metres is the furthest I can see a .22LR bullet hole on a standard paper target. 200 metres on a splatter paper target. I have shot it out to 450 metres on painted steel targets; you will see the paint splash with a 16x scope at that range though. If I had my time over again I'd have put a flat rail on that rifle and used the Burris rings to add elevation. As it is I have flat rails and Burris rings on my other rifles and a 20 MoA rail with standard rings on the rimfire. This means I cannot put my other scopes on this rifle without a lot of flaffing around. I'm thinking of changing the rail to a flat one and the rings to Burris rings so I can easily swap scopes when I want to do extended long range (400++ metres) with it.
IMHO the scope is the single biggest thing which will affect your satisfaction with your shooting - more even than the rifle itself.