No problem I try and help everyone when I can.

I asked the other commenter this as well: in your opinion, is 4-16x overkill for a .22 airgun?

Not at all. Thing you have to keep in mind is that with a scope if it has magnification it’s a luxury so to speak. If you want to be able to see what your shooting this is a perfect starter for you. However the further you zoom in your POI may change at distance give your scope is second focal plane as opposed to first. I can tell you from personal experience that your scope glass is amazing to look through and Hawke quality speaks for itself.

I’m considering switching to Vantage Riflescope 3-9x40 AO, 1”, Mil Dot (Wire) instead of switching the rings to high.

Don’t take short cuts! A higher ring height is necessary for your scenario given your mounting directly to a flat receiver direct on the gun. Now if you mounted the scope on a riser or if your gun came canted with a riser then yes mediums would have worked. I must have went through 3 pair trying to figure out what rings worked until I got it right…lol.

Stick with etched glass NOT wire. Going wire is just a downgrade by comparison. Plus 3-9 is going to give you limited range…not to say low power is bad because some people may not need higher magnification. If you take this gun to an outdoor shooting range start taking shots at 50 yards your target paper is going to look mighty small at only 9x zoom vs a scope with 12x. And if you peppered your paper while trying to figure out where you hit to sight in the scope your going to have one heck of a time finding your last shot without a spotting scope. Just saves you time from 30min line breaks if you don’t have yards at your disposal at home.

What you got was a decent reliable scope with a basic generic mil dot reticle nothing too fancy to keep things SIMPLE. And its got an IR (illuminated reticle)! So you can shoot at night or if your cross hairs are over a dark background flip that baby on. And before you start questioning yourself “did I make the right choice?” I will just say you made a safe choice. However for $10 more a Vector Optics Veyron 4-16x44mm may have been a better choice for $259 if your not so concerned with IR plus it comes with scope rings for a picatinny rail. So you would be saving alot of money you can dump into Crosman Premier Hollow Points or other things.

And for $269 Vector Optics Marksman 6-24x50 mm First Focal Plane (FFP) 1/10 MIL…😱 which I would get if I was in the market for another scope. Again comes with rings and everything your going to need to get started.

There is alot of scope info that will give you a headache.