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The Savage 220 is one of the most unique types of firearms on the market, offering an interesting mix of good ol’ rifled shotgun slug shooting and the tried and true action of a bolt rifle design. Like most weapons for firing at longer ranges, it needs a scope if you want to maximize its heavy bullets’ performance.
At A Glance: Our Top Picks For Best scope for savage 220
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Scopes for a Savage 220 have several uses for hunters. Here are two of the top benefits.
The primary use for a scope on a Savage 220 is for improving accuracy when you’re firing at longer ranges. While this gun isn’t a real long-distance weapon, it can still shoot far enough that scopes are beneficial.
Outside of improving accuracy, scopes on the Savage 220 are particularly useful for scanning the environment. This includes checking the footing ahead of you, looking for trails, spotting deer, and otherwise gathering information. Scopes with varying magnification can offer significant utility in this role.
No. Savage 220 rifles do not come with universal mounts, and what’s more, the mount may vary depending on who you buy the gun from. With that caveat in mind, many if not most Savage 220s ship with a weaver-style mount.
Weaver mounts are a good option when you want a low profile. Notably, this is a well-established mounting style, and many scopes can mount on both Picatinny and weaver rails. That means the Savage 220 is close to universal, but you may occasionally find parts that don’t match.
For most owners, it’s better to replace the scope mount than the scope. The scope itself has the largest impact on your performance, and you shouldn’t compromise on that. Changing the mount, if needed, is always a better solution.
Buying scopes for a Savage 220 isn’t quite like buying scopes for traditional rifles and nothing like buying scopes or sights for traditional shotguns. Here are some features to look for.
Anodized finishes offer several benefits for Savage 220 owners. Making the scope non-reflective helps reduce the chances of spooking your target, but the real benefit comes from its improved durability. This finish usually makes a scope shockproof, which is useful for hunting in the wild and absorbing the recoil from firing this heavy gun. Also, never estimate the aesthetics and compliments you’ll get from having a color matched scope on your slug shotgun.
As a slug gun, the Savage 220 shoots bullets that are significantly heavier than what traditional rifles use. This means that shots will drop faster, reducing accuracy unless you compensate for that. A ballistic drop correction feature is vital on a Savage 220 scope because it makes it much easier to land your shots at any range.
I’d say that this is an essential feature to look for.
Savage 220s perform well when you have a scope with a variable magnification range instead of a fixed range. As a short-to-mid-range gun, the Savage 220 does exceptionally well with 1x to 4x scopes. Anything beyond that is too much magnification for this type of firearm that can’t go much past a hundred yards.
Remember that the Savage 220 is not a precision rifle like the Savage 110. It packs so much of a punch that all you truly need to do is hit your target and the weight of the slug and force behind it will do the rest. Anything more accurate than that is just a bonus to save meat.
Here are our top scopes for the Savage 220.
Buyers agree that this is a great scope overall, holding true after multiple shots. It also offers crisp imaging at all of its magnification ranges, as well as impressive turret adjustments. Vortex is a top brand, so these comments are in line with our expectations.
This product stands out thanks to its excellent blend of price, durability, and performance. Slug guns have different needs than traditional rifles, so this scope’s focus on fast, short-range performance makes it significantly more useful than a scope with longer magnifications.
This scope is also waterproof, shockproof, and fog proof, with general weather resistance on top of that. It won’t last if you submerge it for too long, but you can expect it to hold up under all normal use conditions.
This is a great scope overall and the first product to look at if you’re in the market for a Savage 220 scope. Its excellent magnification range is a particularly nice touch, while its durability ensures you can get a little rough without worrying.
Buyers like this scope’s performance, reporting excellent clarity at all of its magnification ranges. It also comes with a lifetime warranty from Vortex, which is an added layer of protection for owners. Buyers also feel that while it’s not the best in its magnification range, it’s an excellent scope for the price. This is also a good option for when you are looking for a scope for your 243.
This scope stands out to us because of its utility for mid-range hunting, by which we mean hitting targets somewhere between 100 and 200 yards away. It’s easily a top choice in that range, with enough magnification to let you zoom in and check a target before you get ready to fire.
However, while this is a good scope for that range, it’s only useful for that range on a Savage 220. The base magnification is too high for practical use at less than 100 yards, so it’s not quite as flexible as our top choice. That makes it a little harder to recommend for real-world use, despite the overall quality here.
This is an excellent choice for longer-range shooting with the Savage 220. It performs exceptionally well in that role, but only in that role. In other words, your targets and hunting environment should determine whether this scope makes sense for you.
Buyers generally like this rifle’s performance, but some people report issues getting it to mount correctly on their rifles. That won’t necessarily be a problem on the Savage 220, but budget scopes are more likely to have production issues, and even small errors can significantly impact the performance of a rifle scope.
This scope stands out because it offers generally reliable performance at an excellent price point. 3x magnification is a little high to start with for a Savage 220, but it’s still low enough to work within the gun’s useful range.
Notably, the ability to scale up to 9x magnification is great for examining targets and terrain. 5x and higher isn’t a great magnification to shoot at when you’re using a Savage 220, but visuals alone are useful.
This is an excellent scope for the price. It’s not quite perfect, especially with its higher starting magnification, but it’s easily a top choice if you want to cut costs as much as possible while still getting decent performance.
Buyers like this scope, but not quite as much as most of the other options on this list. It’s clearly a budget scope, although its magnification range is still good, and that’s the kind of thing you’ll notice when looking at the glass or other components. Most buyers agree that it’s a good scope, but not a great one.
This scope stands out as an excellent alternative to our top budget choice. While it’s not a high-performance model, it has a great magnification range for the Savage 220, and it’s durable enough to hold up under more challenging conditions.
The finely-engraved reticle is useful, too, although a little rare on scopes in this range. Since the reticle is sharp, it’s easier to land an accurate shot when firing at longer distances.
Overall, this is a great backup scope if you can’t find anything better. It’s good enough for most people in most circumstances, but buyers looking for a high-performance scope should get something else.
Buyers agree that this scope is best for shooting deer and turkey, often with a shotgun instead of a slug gun like the Savage 220. It works best at closer ranges, although you can try firing it at longer ranges if you want to.
This scope stands out as a fixed-magnification option for buyers who want the simplest possible scope for a Savage 220. 4x magnification is the sweet spot for firing with the Savage 220’s effective range. This isn’t a great scope by any stretch of the imagination, but it does get the job done for closer-range use.
This is the most affordable option on our list. You can get noticeably better scopes for paying just a little more, so we can’t call this a top budget model. That said, it’s reasonably durable and suitable for hunting deer with a slug gun, which is all some buyers want.
There are several noticeable advantages to getting a high-quality scope for a Savage 220 beyond the general usefulness described above.
Outside of general lifetime use (see below), quality scopes for the Savage 220 also have better durability in the field. This means that getting smacked around by bushes or branches won’t hurt them, and you can even use the scope in fog or rain without hurting it.
Most of the better scopes are completely waterproof, too, so you can drop your rifle in a pond without breaking everything. They may not last forever underwater, but the extra protection for your investment is a great touch.
Higher-quality scopes last significantly longer than budget scopes. Ultimately, investing in a good scope can save you a lot of money in replacement costs, decreasing the total cost of ownership for as long as you use your rifle.
Some scopes for the Savage 220 have more magnification than you need to land a good shot. The Savage 220 isn’t a precision weapon, so too much magnification hurts instead of helping while you’re shooting. However, the ability to zoom in and check the target or terrain is beneficial and can help you plan routes or estimate distances more effectively.
While there are plenty of scopes for rifles out there, only a few have the right balance of power and performance to be great options for the Savage 220. The Vortex Diamondback 1.75-5×32 scope is accurate, durable, and easy to use, making it the top choice.
Here are some of the most common questions people ask about the Savage 220 and its associated scopes.
A Savage 220 can shoot effectively at up to 200 yards and deliver more force at that range than competitors like handguns or traditional rifles. It performs especially well at up to 100 yards, where it offers significantly better minute-of-angle accuracy. This is because of the 20 ga slugs that the Savage 220 shoots.
We believe the best scope for a Savage 220 is the Vortex Diamondback 1.75-5×32 rifle scope. That scope offers an excellent balance of price, performance, and features for the shooting environment you’ll be firing a Savage 220 in.
Joseph Fox writes on a variety of topics ranging from reloading ammunition to gun cleaning. He has been featured on various publications like thetruthaboutguns, Sofrep & many more. Joseph is also the founder of Gunloading, where he reviews different types of reloading & firearm products available on the market.
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