BDC scopes...any opinons?

TReX300

TReX300

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Location
Essex, Ontario
I've been looking a couple different scopes that have the bullet drop compensating turrets on them. One is the Cabaleas 3-9x40 for my .243. How accurate are these scopes? How repeatable are they. Will they always go back to 100 yrds when set there. I've seen a few different ones on the market and was also thinking about one for my .17HMR

Thanks
Tim
 
I'm sure lots of people like all sorts of BDC reticles. Me, I pack a Leica rangefinder and use either duplex or mildots, no lit up anything and no batteries in the scopes. Don't want all that other stuff in the view. You should see what a DTAC reticle setup looks like......wow.
 
I'm not a big fan of BDC reticles my self. I like Mil-dots though. Thats why I was wondering about the BDC Turrets. Nothing extra in my view and my proper hold over is "supposed" to be only a few clicks of a knob away.

Tim
 
I had the Bushnell Banner 3.5-10 with 17Hmr BDC Turrets.....I never even bothered installing the turret inserts as I would rather hold over. No time to adjust a turret in the heat of the moment and one more thing to go wrong.
The regular Target turrets on my 3200 are rock solid, they allow me to switch back and forth between different bullet weights with ease.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
I had the Bushnell Banner 3.5-10 with 17Hmr BDC Turrets.....I never even bothered installing the turret inserts as I would rather hold over. No time to adjust a turret in the heat of the moment and one more thing to go wrong.
The regular Target turrets on my 3200 are rock solid, they allow me to switch back and forth between different bullet weights with ease.
Click to expand...

Heat of the moment and long-range shooting are two phrases that should never be used together. Ethical long range shots take time, concentration and a hold on hair reticle. I would say there is a whole lot more to go wrong with guesstimating hold over at long range than adjusting a turret specifically designed for the task. It's been my experience that many people take long range shots way too lightly.
 
I first tried BDC turrets about 20 years ago on a Bushnell that I mounted on my Rem 600 in .308. Honestly I loved it right away. Not all my scopes have them but I think they're a great feature, provided they are calibrated right. Trying to guess 48.5 inches at 500 yards is way more tricky than just turning a dial and shooting!
 
I used to do BDC. Now for hunting purposes I'm more into speed of acquisition and light transmission - eyes are getting old like the rest of me:(. If light transmission isn't an issue I would look at the Shepherd scopes or the Burris with the vertical dots. I'm currently looking at the 56mm trijicon scope with a vertical post and illuminated triangle.
 
Last edited:
I'm using a Bushnell Banner 3.5x10 rimfire scope on my .22. The BDC turret works well, though I had to calibrate and mark the included blank dial since the pre-calibrated ones didn't include the ranges I wanted.

I would much rather use a BDC turret than a BDC reticle with all those markings on it. I suppose this depends on personal taste and what you're using it for, though.
 
Ballistic reticles like Zeiss' Rapid Z are extremely accurate and by far the simplest to use but adjustable turrets do provide a bit more fine tuning ability and Swaro has certainly simplified ballastic turrets to the point where you don't even need to keep track of clicks.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
Sheephunter,
We are talking jack rabbits and coyotes on the run at over 250 yards....different story
Click to expand...


Action here does get pretty fast paced and most of the time wouldnt allow for the use of BDC turret. But at times we do actually get the chance to glass something, figure out the range and then take a long shot (longest so far has been 625 yrds). Most of the tiem though its run and gun shooting which is why I was wondering about the retablity of these scores and them comeing back to a true zero. After looking into thgem a bit more I'm finding it's the cheaper scopes that seem to have the BDC turrets and the more expenive ones the BDC reticles. I think i'm going to go with a better scope and target turrets and figure out my own BDC or possibily a BDC reticle. How do those work by the way? Does the reticle change size with the power? If not it would only work on one power setting wouldn't?

Thanks
Tim
 
I have a couple BDC scopes, one an old Bushnell 4-12x. While I'm not into long range target shoots, I do occasionally like to take a pop at something 3-400 maybe even 500yds away & I like the practice of guessing distance dialing in yardage & trying the shot. The scope may not be calibrated to the 1/10 of a degree at that distance & that's fine, you rarely have a solid enough shooting platform, but I have made some surprising accurate shots with a 250S using the BDC feature. I had one on my moose rifle but never, ever used the feature while hunting, I would never shoot at a moose that was further than I could guess the hold-over, & my max hold-over would have been level moose's back which would translate to about 350yds if my memory is correct, so in that case the BDC is not neccessary.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom