Why? Adjustable turrets on BDC reticles?

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3030AT30

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Hey all,

Rookie question, but what is the benefit of having exposed, adjustable turrets on a scope with a reticle such as a BDC? I thought this style of turret would be more suited to MOA or MilDot reticles for dialing in ranges.

If one had a BDC, wouldn’t one just aim with the reticle to account for range?

Thanks in advance for your opinions and knowledge.
 
3030AT30 said:
Hey all,

Rookie question, but what is the benefit of having exposed, adjustable turrets on a scope with a reticle such as a BDC? I thought this style of turret would be more suited to MOA or MilDot reticles for dialing in ranges.

If one had a BDC, wouldn’t one just aim with the reticle to account for range?

Thanks in advance for your opinions and knowledge.
Click to expand...

I guess you would still have to zero the scope.
 
Exposed adjustable turrets give you the option of being able to easily dial in your correction if your want. You could, as you say, just hold your correction using the BDC reticle but dialing may be more precise. Having both just gives you more options. For quick fast shots using the subtensions in your reticle would probably make the most sense but if you have time on a long shot and need to be very accurate you may want to dial it in. It is good to be able to do both.
 
I get what the OP is asking. Why exposed and not capped? ( Obviously you need to adjust the reticle for zeroing) I will say it is a silly combo. If the intended use if for hunting, and you will be using a 100 or 200 yard zero, and only shooting out to 3-400 yards and you think a BDC will help with those shots, then exposed turrets can be a hindrance, accidently turning the knobs while moving through brush or in and out of a backpack, can ruin your day.
Alternatively if you are doing the type of shooting where exposed turrets will benefit you, then a BDC reticle is a poor choice.

It also baffles me that there are company's still selling mixed turret/retilce scopes. If it has traditional 1/4 moa adjustments, put a MOA based reticle into it.
 
Personally, I've always felt that exposed target-style turrets on a hunting rifle are a ridiculous idea. On a gun that I will be carrying all day, I want low-profile, securely covered turrets that are protected from coming into contact with anything that could accidentally adjust them. The whole idea of a BDC or other multi-aiming point reticle is to give a hunter many of the long-range advantages of target turrets with none of the disadvantages. Having both on one gun is the worst of both worlds IMHO.

There was a guy on "Best of the West" awhile back who was sitting in a tree-stand over a bear bait; range maybe 40-50 yards tops. We got to watch him sitting there all morning, whispering about Berger bullets and Huskemaw scopes and all his other toys. Then, when a little bear showed up, he decided that before he took the shot he needed to fiddle with the adjustments on his high-magnification adjustable-parallax illuminated-reticle big-lensed 2-foot-long scope for awhile before actually shooting, to ensure accuracy I guess. When he shot the bear, he made it sound as though he were the world's ultimate sniper. :)

I'm pretty sure he had both BDC and finger-clickety turrets on that scope...

Oops! Uncledillers beat me to it! :)
 
uncledillers said:
I get what the OP is asking. Why exposed and not capped? ( Obviously you need to adjust the reticle for zeroing) I will say it is a silly combo. If the intended use if for hunting, and you will be using a 100 or 200 yard zero, and only shooting out to 3-400 yards and you think a BDC will help with those shots, then exposed turrets can be a hindrance, accidently turning the knobs while moving through brush or in and out of a backpack, can ruin your day.
Alternatively if you are doing the type of shooting where exposed turrets will benefit you, then a BDC reticle is a poor choice.

It also baffles me that there are company's still selling mixed turret/retilce scopes. If it has traditional 1/4 moa adjustments, put a MOA based reticle into it.
Click to expand...

You have a point, but it also depends upon how careful you are with a scope and some other key details.

I use a BDC scope with locking turrets and a zero stop and when hiking a scope coat goes on. I have never lost zero.

Yes there is a risk, but that is easily managed?

What I don’t understand is a scope used for hunting with a simple cross hair and non exposed turrets. Must take real skill to be accurate at a variety of ranges?

Candocad
 
With a duplex reticle and capped turrents if the rifle is sighted in for maximum point blank range most typical hunting calibers will shoot to +/- 3” from 0-250ish yards so you just dead hold on the centre of the target area which happens to be about a 6” circle on most big game. Additionally windage shouldn’t put you outside the 6” target area either at those ranges, so you just aim to the middle of the boiler room and take the shot as long as you’re inside the maximum point blank range of your cartridge.
 
Uncledillers, your post said exactly what i was trying to say. I see the benefits of exposed turrets and BDC as not really aligning. It seems one is good for certain situations and the other is good for other situations. Guess that’s why one “needs” more than one gun!


Also: glad I’m not the only one that sees this folly:
uncledillers said:
It also baffles me that there are company's still selling mixed turret/retilce scopes. If it has traditional 1/4 moa adjustments, put a MOA based reticle into it.
Click to expand...

100% agree. Mixed turret/reticles just make for even more math; booooo math.
 
BDC reticles are great until you have to hold off in no mans land for wind. With target turrets you can dial the elevation back to the horizontal stadia and use the line if it has graduations for wind holds.
 
Some people use both subtension reticles and turret scopes. Both have advantages for different uses. Its only natural that some would want to combine both systems in the same scope. Two for one so to speak. I've got to switch a couple of scopes around for an upcoming trip because past history has shown that I'm better off with a favored holdover reticle than a turret scope there. If I could get the reticle I wanted in the scope I wanted (or put into the one I already had) I'd be doing that instead. Two for one is good.

The MPBR guys would seem to be polar opposite with the zero at 100 and spin turret guys. Thing is; there's no law against pre-dialing 3 MOA into your turret scope and carrying it that way when hunting. The turret guy doesn't have to give up anything. There's that two for one thing again. The BDC reticle and MPBR guys already have a lot in common for the first crosshair.


Much is made of having reticles and turret graduations match. Its easy to see the advantages of that; but if you have a Mil based (or better yet a 1/2 Mil) reticle and a second focal plane scope you already have both it and an MOA reticle in your scope. Just turn the power down 86% for the math oriented or adjust to fit for the show-me types and you have converted a 1/2 mil into a 2 MOA reticle. If someone asks you if your reticle matches your turrets either say "Yes" or "Not at the moment". ;) It doesn't work the other way around. Two for one.

The mil-mil guys are best handled by pretending they're normal.:p
 
The real question is why bother with a BDC reticle anyway.... I get it for hunting rifles and crossbows, but most BDC reticles I have seen are 100-600 and aren't matched to the rifle or round....


Sure a custom reticle or dial for a known bullet weight and muzzle velocity is great. But they are expensive, and not flexible.

Most BDC reticles are not calibrated to the rifle or round used.... 5.56 reticles are great for a 20" AR and issued 5.56 military ammo, but won't accurately work for a 16" with Hornady varmint rounds... so why bother? you won't hit at 500 with your reticle hash mark.
 
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