What's your Scope type for longer range work?

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popcan

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Looking for opinions on what style of scope you like for hunting out to max 500 yds.


1. Leupold CDS... Such as VX-R fire dot CDS

2. Target turret style scope, with FFP TMR reticle.... (Or what type of reticle?)

3. BDC type scope such as Zeiss rapid Z style?
 
A scope that can be dialled in and then returned to the pre-set zero is a huge benefit... Leupold CDS is one example of this.
 
First off, 500 yards isn't particularly long as far as modern long range shooting goes, and almost any scope with a magnification close to 10X is suitable when mated with an accurate rifle that's chambered for a relatively flat shooting cartridge. I've come to believe though that a scope that has hold offs in the reticle is quicker and more accurate in a dynamic shooting environment than correcting for wind and range by cranking on the scope turrets. There is no mechanical error in a hold off reticle such as a Horus style or even a Boone and Crockett, and you don't have to loose your sight picture to make corrections.
 
I prefer a ballistic reticle over moving turrets for hunting. Just make sure you're used to the reticle and you know what magnification to use it with and it's a pretty simple system. I prefer the Zeiss rapid Z style where the reticle marks are every 100 yards and you input your load into Zeiss's ballistic calculator and it will tell you what magnification to put your scope to and have those hash marks be correct.

I find it easier to memorize a single mag setting than to use full mag and have to memorize what yardages all the hash marks are.

Whatever your system it us important to make sure that you confirm the ballistic calculator matches real world shots.
 
I use ballistic reticles, CDS and target turrets on different rifles for different purposes. Theres plenty of overlap.

For zero to 500, or maybe 600 with a few calibers ballistic reticles are the way to go. You'll have your deer skinned before the turret guy finishes reading his stock chart. 500 yards just isn't that far. It may be past the holding ability of the shooter, but its well within the capability of a ballistic reticle system.
 
I use the Vortex Viper 4-16x Long Range with half MOA turrets w/ zero stop. Great optics, reliable and good value. I also use a Vx3 w/ CDS and it works well but limited to 15moa of elevation only
 
You can hold over and shoot accurately out to that distance and further with many different reticles like a mildot etc., depends on the cartridge.

It's still nice to have repeatable accuracy of the turrets so you can dial the wind and hold over for elev. or different combinations.
 
I have Leupold CDS scopes, target turret scopes and ballistic reticle scopes. Honestly, I have never used any of the "toys" when hunting. (Always 500 yards or less)
I quick guess the range, based on previously ranged landmarks, hold over, and/or off for the wind and shoot. Afterwards, every time I think, hmmm I guess I could have looked at the reticle, or dialed the scope. In the moment I never think of it, just make the shot, go gather up your kill. Taking the time to mess with the toys may cost you the shot opportunity.
That's my experience.

Edit,
Look at ballistic charts for most hunting cartridges. Zero'd at 200 yards, hold 6-8" over for 300, 18" over for 400 and 40" at 500 yards. Most hunting cartridges will make a kill shot on deer sized game (or larger) with the same values. (check your cartridge for sure, but generally with the exception of 500 and out, the numbers will put you in the chest of a deer)
 
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The Rapid Z system really is the way to go for it's pure simplicity when you have your load/magnification set.The reticle is also nice and fine.

Range , judge wind , aim and shoot.

All I do is go over the white magnification settings/marks with a blue or purple marker so I can return the ring to the proper magnification if I do decide to change my power settings.

Why do you want to turn dials ?
 
Ballistic reticles only work if your load and your chambering is very standard. If something is not 100% right (and it wont) you will start having errors. Moreover the experience of BDC is not that you might think. Let's say you are using zeiss rapid Z just mentioned above.

First of all the scopes with rapid Z, and in fact practically ALL other scopes with ballistic reticles on the market are second focal plane. In short this means that the reticle only works on a very specific magnification of the scope and can not be used on all other magnifications. Such that if you didn't set it up to the appropriate magnification your reticle marks will be WAY off.

Ok, back to the rapid Z, so you mount it on your rifle and you go to the website with zeiss ballistic calculator as the manual tells you.
http://www.zeissrapidz.com/
( it is slow as hell by the way ) and you put in all your information. And it say that your for example 2-10 power scope has to be set to 8.24 magnification to MOST hold overs to be CLOSE to the numbering.

If you don't want to put you 10 power scope to 8.24 (how you can even dial it with such precision I don't know) you can't use the BDC reticle or you have to recalculate to the one magnifications you like but the reticle will have different ranges (your 3 mark will mean say 278, your 4 mark will mean 392).

This is true for ALL ballistic reticles in second plane variable magnification scopes regardless of brand, just has to be due to optics and mechanics. Under 300 it is not a problem, but then you don't need a BDC reticle, but the more range goes further or your load is not matching your magnification or you didn't set it to the appropriate intermediate magnification margin of error goes up dramatically. If you shooting is way worse than that error it won't matter anyway, but when again - you should not be shooting that far with this skill anyway. But you have to understand that most of the time BDC reticle will give you a very approximate hold over and only if you did everything right. Don't buy into hype that it will somehow work instantly without any thinking in the field on itself.
 
I have several Leupolds with the B&C reticule.

I still sight my rifles as I always have. [+3" @ 100], then shoot to check actual impact at the other horizontal lines.

With most of my hunting rifles, this means no fiddling out to or a bit past 600, as far as I shoot at game, for sure.

Some of my hunting rifles wear the excellent 6x42 Leupold, which has just conventional dual-X crosshairs.
Mounted on my 308 Norma Mag, starting a 180 Accubond at 3100 and pennies, it looks like this out to 500: +3"; +3.9"; -.3"; -9.5"; -25". It's not particularly hard to put one in a deer's [or moose or Elk]vitals out to 500.

Regards, Dave

Regards, Dave.
 
To continue my BDC rant, there are also BDC reticles which do not have numbers, but only lines and you have to have a piece of paper with the ranges you will look up. This is particularly the case with Swarovski BDR.

I'll spare you the experience of swaro calculator and you can just look at the following results:





You will not have the numbers in the scope, you will have to write them down and you will have to look at your numbers and when count the lines in the scope. So say your game is at 476 yards - look at the pictures imagine there are no numbers of the reticle and tell yourself where you should hold over. And with all that, don't forget that it has to be at the 10 magnification exactly, if you left it on 9 or 8 - it all goes out of the window.

I personally think that variable magnification second focal plane BDC reticles are the biggest misrepresented feature in optics. It is not easy, it is not convenient and is not precise in any sense. This point applies way less to fixed magnification and first focal plane scopes, but I somehow don't see much upscale optics with BDC, I wonder why )
 
In planing my hunts I take into consideration the range I expect to shoot then pick the appropriate gun from the locker. For short ranges like 500 yards I usually use a Elcan Specter Dr with a ballistic reticle.
If I plan on long range I use a Sightron SIII 6-24 x 50 first focal plane with trajectory compensated turrets from Kenton Industries, range target, dial elevation to range, adjust or holdover for wind, bang.
 
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