Henry Rifle Forums

I recently ordered a Frontier 17HMR and am in the process of waiting to it to be delivered. I may or may not scope it. I am interested to hear suggestions and experiences you guys have with different rimfire scopes.

I have a 3-9X40 Vortex Diamondback Tactical on my 308 Long Ranger and really like it.

I'm not suggesting this but I took a Marlin Micro-view 4x off a 1958 39a and put it on my H001TV and it's still more fun in a rifle than anything else I have.

I've put three different Leo VX Freedoms on different centerfires, including the 2-7X33. This is the rimfire version of that model. May or may not be the best price out there, but it's a really fine line, great warranty and value...

https://www.amazon.com/Leupold-VX-Freed ... 1-fkmrnull

What are the best scope rings I should get for my 17HMR Frontier? Leupold, Talley? Is there much difference between good dovetail rings, and cheap ones?

Like a lot of component questions, there's no "right" answer, but I'd recommend checking out Warne in your research. A lot of it will get to the interaction between your scope's objective bell diameter, the height of your rail and the height of your rings, since you ideally want the scope to be as low on the rifle as possible without having the scope touch the barrel.
I've used Warne's "Contact Us" portal a few times and a guy named "Sean" (if I remember correctly) has always been very sharp and responsive. He seems to really know the different combinations of rail/scope/rings, so it''d be worth your time to check them out.

For the two "long-range" rimfires (the 17 HMR and the 22 mag) that you may switch back and forth between up close shooting and 100 yard plus shooting, I like a small scope with an AO. That gets you a perfect focus no matter how close or how far you are shooting. Leupold now makes a Freedom 3-9x33 AO, a rimfire scope with an AO that is still small and compact enough to not overwhelm a small centerfire rifle. Use one of my little Browning SA 22, which is even smaller than a Henry 22.

+1 on Warne rings. That is all I ever use anymore after fighting with cheap rings for years. I have never lost zero with Warne rings and bases, even when my hunting rigs had some pretty hard bumps and knocks

I did end up with the Warne 1" medium rings. I got a Leupold 3.5-10X40 VX-3i scope to put on the 17HMR. I seriously considered the Leupold with the Adjustable objective, but decided to stick with the 100yd paralax. I have a Vortex Diamondback tactical 3-9X40 on my Long Ranger 308. Depending on which of these scopes I like best, that scope will end up on the Long Ranger, and the other will reside on the 17HMR. I'll be taking the 17 out with us this weekend bow hunting and working on deer stands. Hopefully a grouse or rabbit will find its way in my crosshairs too.

If the bigger scope looks too out of place on the little Frontier 17HMR, I probably will look around for a smaller scope. but then I will have to find another bigger rifle for the extra scope...

Pudsky, I have the exact scope on my main deer rifle, Tikka, and it is a great scope. In bright light there is no glare at all and in low light it is awesome. There is one stand I hunt where the sun sets behind me and the ravine it over looks gets dark fast. With the bright light behind me and really shaded area in front I could not see a thing with a cheaper optic. With the VX3 I can easily up to legal shooting time.

Pudsky, don't worry about that "problem" of needing to buy a rifle for your scope, I've done that very thing (bought a NIB FX 6X Leupold at a gun show, then got it a Henry .243 single shot ) I favor smaller scopes for rimfires, both in size and weight, mostly for balance. I fit a Burris compact 3-9 x 32 on my CZ 452 .17 HMR, for one example. It works fine.