Does .17hmr require a rimfire scope?

[Little Dutch]

Probably a dumb question, but does a scope for a .17hmr rifle need to be a rimfire scope?
When I google it all I get are advertising articles listing ?10 best scopes for .17 hmr?. Some of which are specifying rimfire scopes, some which are not.

[Sawin]

Require?
Why would something so soft shooting require a rim fire scope? It can certainly be zeroed with any scope and it won’t jolt something out of zero, that’s for sure.

If you’re talking about the reticle having hold over hash marks for .17, then .22lr isn’t going to match the trajectory so I’m not quite sure what you’re thinking about from that angle either.

Just get a decent scope with the appropriate combination of magnification, clarity, and cost that suits you and call it good.

[Little Dutch]

Yep, thanks. Just verifying it won't actually wreck a non-rimfire scope.

[UncleDave]

My .17 HMR has a regular Vortex scope. Works fine.

[Little Dutch]

Excellent, thanks.

[mb504]

My understanding is that rimfire scopes with fixed parallax are adjusted to 25 or 50 yards, whereas a center fire fixed parallax would be adjusted to 100 yards.

[Little Dutch]

Well then. I thought there was more of a difference than that, and you had to use a centerfire scope for .22LR, and possibly other rimfires. I appear to have fallen victim to believing heresy without corroboration.

Thanks folks.

[FoxtArt]

The biggest scope consideration in the direction you are thinking is actually from recoil/inertial shock taking them out of zero or otherwise causing permanent damage. Mounting a rimfire scope on a 22 magnum may not last long, but mounting a vortex 5.56 scope on a 17 HMR would be bulletproof, because it's designed for 5.56 recoil.

Second to that, features may not match (parallax, BDC, etc.) but there wouldn't be a damage concern. And of course, some rimfire guns are not made to take regular scope mounts, so there is that, but people might have adapters for 1" tubes or whatever, they just may not be strong mounts.

The most amusing combinations is when you hear about people putting over the counter centerfire rifle scopes on rifles like a 50BMG. Oops, ruined.

[sportbikeco]

Spring airguns are what need special consideration for scopes as their "recoil" is more of a forward shaking motion and can even spin the glass inside the tubes.

17hmr won't be harmful to a scope, use whatever you like, something with a simple bdc and decent magnification should be fine for the effective range of that round.

[Delfuego]

No such thing as a "rimfire scope". A scope is a scope until you mount it on a rifle. Then it's a rimfire scope. My "plumber's screwdriver" works the same way. It's marketing.

At Hoser's 22 match yesterday there were scopes from $400-$4000. They were all rimfire scopes technically.

[Sawin]

No such thing as a "rimfire scope". A scope is a scope until you mount it on a rifle. Then it's a rimfire scope. My "plumber's screwdriver" works the same way. It's marketing.

At Hoser's 22 match yesterday there were scopes from $400-$4000. They were all rimfire scopes technically.

Actually, there is.
The primary distinction in my experience is how close you can be to the target and still adjust the focus sufficiently.

I have several Leupold fixed 24x and 25x power scopes for silhouette but only one of them is suitable for my smallbore rifle (.22lr) because it needs to focus at 40m.

My other highpower scopes don’t get nearly as clear inside 60m, which makes them inadequate for smallbore only for that reason. They all can handle the recoil of .22lr (or .17hmr) as well as my 7mm-08, but there are some slated specially for rimfire by various manufacturers.

[Delfuego]

The ability to focus down to 10y-25y has nothing to do with rimfire. Can it be beneficial? Sure. Do certain S&B and 7-35x NF scopes have this feature? Yes. Do people run these $3k+ scopes on rimfire rifles? Most certainly. Does that make them rimfire scopes? I have a Vortex Razor on my 22lr, 33y focus, 120 moa elevation travel, great 22 scope for me. A scope is a scope, marketing is marketing.