Varmint Rifle Scopes

Practical Options for Long-Range Shooting

- Patrick Meitin

My varmint shooting passions developed as a teen and only grew with the passing of more than 40 years. Initially, I wasn’t so much obsessed with varmint shooting in and of itself as I was looking for any excuse to shoot centerfire rifles. I was blessed to have grown up in the West, to have had quick access to wild places, and during a historical spike in raw fur prices. This allowed access to an enviable array of big-game opportunities, and also provided the funds necessary to purchase quality rifles and optics of my own.

Varmints – eastern New Mexico jackrabbits and prairie dogs mostly – were approached as practical warmup for the big-game hunting that ultimately drove me. Predators – called in or encountered coyotes, bobcats and grey foxes – were viewed as dollars and cents. I didn’t own a true varmint rifle (unless you count a .243 Winchester, also used to tag mule deer, pronghorn, elk and aoudad sheep) until released from the confines of formal education.

As my passions moved irrevocably toward bowhunting, I began trading my big-game rifles for true varmint guns. No longer finding the need for dual-purpose rifles, my optics slowly became as specialized as the rifles themselves; swapping light sporters ideal for trekking steep mountains for heavy-barreled, blocky-stocked creations made to shoot from atop portable benches or steady bipods while shooting tiny targets at extended yardages.