Friend of mine is looking for a varment gun for shooting ground hogs around his home. Max distance would be 75 yards. I offered to build a ar 15 but due to neighbors he did not want the noise to be a issue. Now that he is a bit older he would be looking for some type of scope.

Honestly if max distance is 75 yards and noise is an issue I would skip the .22 mag entirely and just go .22 LR. The .22 mag really has a crack to it.

Options:  .22LR, .22 mag, .17 HMR.

.17 HMR will be the most effective.  .22LR will be the most quiet. Pick which is most important to him.

A Savage MK II FV (.22 LR) will run around $250 out the door, the 93R17 FV (.17 HMR) might run $30 more.  Both will give him a heavy barrel.  If he doesn't need the heavy barrel, The "F" version (instead of "FV") will have a lighter barrel, and cost about the same.

He could get the "FV-SR" version of either and a suppressor, but that's another $600 or so for the can + stamp.

CZ 452/455.

The Ruger American Rimfire is a good option. The CZs are great but a little over the $400 mark. Savage has some good options and there are plenty of older used models from Marlin, Mossberg and others that still work fine.

I have a marlin 983stainless that is a laser.
Tube fed goodness

I tend to agree though, for under 100yds, .22lr would be sufficient
You could get a .22lr + a suppressor for $700. lol

Had a Marlin 882 SSV long ago. It was a great shooting rifle. Wish I had another one.

This

RAR 22lg with 1/2 x 28 FACTORY threaded muzzle. Good reviews, uses 10/22 mags. Great price point.

This is from an earlier post of mine about Dicks Sporting Goods. I love my Savage. Sub MOA at 100 yards with Hornady 30gr Vmax.

Occasionally they will have a "Dicks Exclusive" that's worth the money. For a bit over $200 I got this Savage 22mag with their "Exclusive" OD stock and fluted barrel. One of the most accurate rifles I own. This bean eater was shot in the head at 105yards with a Hornday Vmax. Didn't even move. Scope is a Nikon 22 BDC that I added. Sighted in at 50 yards. Dead on at 100 yards with the second hash mark in the scope. Shot another smaller one at about 20 yards. Pretty much gutted it.

I have a Ruger 77/22 chambered in .22 WMR.    24 inch barrel and a nice Volquartsen trigger sear makes it a scary accurate critter getter out to 125-150 yards.

Inside 100 yards, it's certain death on Coyotes, Fox and Crows.   Things get a bit more difficult past my self-imposed limit of 150 yards.    Beyond that, the bullet starts dropping pretty quick which makes things more difficult for getting quality hits.

As said before, the .22 WMR is significantly louder than a .22 LR.     If 75 yards is the max range, your neighbor might be better served with a .22 LR rifle simply because of the noise.