Best Red Dots for the Ruger 10/22

The Ruger 10/22 is a classic.

 

Many people enjoy the simplicity and reliability of Americas favorite rimfire rifle. For many people, myself included, the 10/22 was their first rifle. Nothing was quite as exciting as grabbing your own gun, heading down to the range, and plinking pop cans until there were no more 22 shells swimming around in your jean pockets!

However, after a few years those ole trusty iron sights can get a little hard to see. Maybe it is that critter that got away a little too close to dusk or maybe it is just time for some cool. It is time to upgrade and you are eyeballing a red dot.

Here are three great optics picks to put on top of your Ruger 10/22!

1. Best Value Pick: Vortex Venom

The Vortex Venom has a lot of great features and some of them really blend well with the Ruger 10/22. First off is the 3 MOA dot. There are a lot of differing opinions on what size of dot is best but it is generally aggreged upon that large dots are easy to pick up with the eye and smaller dots don’t cover up small targets quite so bad as a large dot. With a rifle the math changes a bit. It is a lot easer to line up your red dot with your cheek on the but stock of the 10/22. This makes the 3 MOA dot of the Vortex Venom much easier to center on a smaller target compared to a red dot 6 or even a 9 MOA dot.

The second useful feature of the Vortex Venom is the easily replaceable battery. This red dot has a easily accessible battery compartment on top of the optic where a dead battery can be replaced without the need for removing the sight and thus needing to be re-zeroed. This is one of those features that you would not notice unless you didn’t have it!

The third feature of this optic that lends itself to the 10/22 has to be the price. While there definitely are some tricked out 10/22 rifles out there for most people this rifle serves a more utilitarian role. At $250 this optic brings a ton of functionality to the table with very little weight. The Vortex Venom is like the 10/22 in many ways. All of the functionality and less of the fancy. While the Venom may not have all of the bells and whistles your average 10/22 doesn’t either. That is why you can’t go wrong with the Venom!

2. Best Budget Pick: Vortex Crossfire

The Vortex Crossfire Red Dot is simple. No extra features. No extra frills. This optic is pure function and durability. Want an optic that won’t break the bank and will still stand up to all that bouncing around behind the back seat of the pickup? Look no farther then the Crossfire.
 
The dot size of the Crossfire comes in at 2 MOA making this sight ideal for getting more distance out of a 1X magnification optic. The smaller dot size makes it easier to pick out those smaller targets at longer ranges.
 
What the Crossfire lacks is a good sight picture. The dot is crisp and clean but the window size is much smaller compared to the Venom. The housing is also very bulky and takes up a lot of down range field of view. For magnified optics this is not so much of a problem but with a 1X magnification scope it is a lot more noticeable.
 
What the Crossfire lacks in bulk and weight it makes up in price. This optic can be purchased for only $150 which makes it a hard option to pass up on considering its durability. While it may not be the flashiest the Vortex Crossfire Red Dot serve well for many years just like your 10/22!

3. Best Tacticool Pick: Trijicon SRO

Now not all of us can settle for value or budget. Sometimes nothing but the best will do and when it comes to red dots there is not much cooler than the Trijicon SRO.
 
The Ruger 10/22 is a light weight and durable gun and those two attributes sum up the Trijicon SRO perfectly! First off, for the size and weight the SRO has a very large window. This allows for a very wide field of view. It also makes it very easy to pick up on the location of the dot once you have the rifle shouldered. Housing around the window is also relatively thin making it easy to have an unobstructed view downrange even while looking through the optic.
 
The SRO has a lot of different features that make it one of the best lightweight red dots on the market. The battery is accessible from the top so you do not need to remove the optic to change the battery. The brightness can be set to automatic so that is dynamically changes with your surroundings. The SRO can be purchased with three different dot sizes. 1 MOA for precision, 2.5 MOA for balance, and 5 MOA for speed. 
 
Of course the elephant in the room is price. With all technology and innovation comes a pretty hefty price tag. The Trijicon SRO will set you back around $550 but you definitely won’t be disappointed by the performance of this optic!

The Ruger 10/22 is a great rifle.

 A lot of its appeal revolves around its ability to function in harsh conditions, its light weight, and its value. All three of these optics complement these attributes of the 10/22 rifle by keeping weight to a minimum and providing a ton of functionality for the price!