bdc turrets for scopes.

This site offers BDC knobs for several popular scopes:

ht tp://w w w.kentonindustries.com/pics/picbytype/
 
Way back when Bushnell made a bunch of them. Today, pretty much the realm of custom knob makers. Stoney point had a kind of add on turrent system that you could mark to suit your load.

Nikon and Burris and now many others are making BDC reticles. Not bad, not great.

If you visit longrangehunting.com, there are a few site sponsors that make custom knobs.

Good luck. Just make sure you put it on a scope with as much elevation adjust per revolution as possible. Most are 10, 12 or 15. A few Sightrons have 20mins per rev. Then the mega dollar ones have more.

Jerry
 
stugatz said:
which scope maker makes bdc turrets custom designed for a specific load velocity,caliber etc...?
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Something to consider before dishing out the $$ on turrets is whether you want them only for "close enough on some days" or whether you want to be truly precise.
Many guys fail to understand that these "custom turrets" are never truly accurate as each hour of every day there are environmental differences which render them nearly useless. A change in temperature, barometric pressure and a host of other things that can and do change and will totally negate their usefulness.Any and all of these environmental changes will change your velocity, hence your trajectory and comeups will change.
 
Thanx abunch for all the info. I guess what i would like is something that would take the guesswork out of holdover past the 400yard mark to say 800yards i shoot a 300win mag and custom load my own. Having had to pass up some big game animals in the past few years due to my own belief that the hold over was not my strong point.....stu
 
stugatz said:
Thanx abunch for all the info. I guess what i would like is something that would take the guesswork out of holdover past the 400yard mark to say 800yards i shoot a 300win mag and custom load my own. Having had to pass up some big game animals in the past few years due to my own belief that the hold over was not my strong point.....stu
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Better to invest in good optics that have repeatable target or tactical type turrets and dial up as required. If you know your bullets BC , velocity and the distance from center of bore to center of optics, there are lots of balistics programs that will get you extremely close, especially if you have an idea of what the levation is where you plan to hunt.
Being off a few hundred feet in elevation will not make a huge difference, but 1000 feet of elevation will be noticeable.
Many of us who shoot and hunt long range carry a PDA that has a balistics program in it for making more precise shots in the field. A Kestrel and a good LRF coupled with a PDA with program will get you alot closer than any prefab turrets will.
 
I do have a program that will tell me the drop of my load based on the velocity,altitude,bc of the bullet etc. Still,it would be nice to just laser range the distance,dial up aim dead on and shoot. Although your advice is excellent....stu
 
alberta tactical rifle said:
Something to consider before dishing out the $$ on turrets is whether you want them only for "close enough on some days" or whether you want to be truly precise.
Many guys fail to understand that these "custom turrets" are never truly accurate as each hour of every day there are environmental differences which render them nearly useless. A change in temperature, barometric pressure and a host of other things that can and do change and will totally negate their usefulness.Any and all of these environmental changes will change your velocity, hence your trajectory and comeups will change.
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I had the same thought when I saw them available for a Leupold FX3.

I figured that even if I had them calibrated for my conditions here in North Ontario, if I moved back to B.C. they would be useless.

The temperature and elevation would never be constant.

Even if I had it set for Fall moose hunting here, one day it could be 15C and sunny, while the next it could be -10C and snowing.

I read in a book about sniping in Viet Nam that the Americans set their scope's zero for 700 yards, and did not touch their dials in the field. They would move their crosshairs in relation to the target to adjust for windage or elevation.
 
stugatz said:
I do have a program that will tell me the drop of my load based on the velocity,altitude,bc of the bullet etc. Still,it would be nice to just laser range the distance,dial up aim dead on and shoot. Although your advice is excellent....stu
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You still could. Any of the decent scopes with target or tactical type turrets have numbers on the turrets indicating moa of adjustment.
A simple range card has been used since the early 60s, more recently there are other gizmos that you record your come ups on , dial up and shoot.
Leupold makes a neat retractable "scope tape" that looks like another turret and has a retractable steel tape inside that you can write your come ups on.
Another thing that has been done is to take different colored felt markers and color the appropriate marking on the turret in the increments you need.
All of these will get you just as close as any "custom turret"
I guess the real point of my post here is just to make sure you realized that everyday and even within the same day your trajectory will change due to environmental condition changes, which will make the "custom turret" only quasi accurate.

Just to give you an idea of how much, I normally shoot my 308 comp rifle at 3900 feet of alititude and RH here tends to be normally under 45%.
2 years ago I went to the BCRA shoot in Chilliwack where the elevation is 995 feet and RH was 90%, this made for a 1.25 moa change in my 100 yard zero.
Take that 1.25 moa change to 500 yards and now the bullet is off by over 6",
which could well be a miss on game.
 
If you don't mind the bulk of it, a tactical type scope with externally adjustable knobs would work. Zero it for 100 or 200 yards and do your own range work to build a table of dial up distances for the ranges you intend to shoot at. It would be better to actually practice at 800 yards than to rely on the ballistics tables or worse, an elevation dial with yards marked on it at the factory.

Another option is a bullet drop reticle, and your own testing to see how close it is at various distances. After testing you would know that the lowest hash mark for instance gives you zero at ### yards and you could carry that on a chart, or tape it to your range finder.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
If you don't mind the bulk of it, a tactical type scope with externally adjustable knobs would work. Zero it for 100 or 200 yards and do your own range work to build a table of dial up distances for the ranges you intend to shoot at. It would be better to actually practice at 800 yards than to rely on the ballistics tables or worse, an elevation dial with yards marked on it at the factory.

Another option is a bullet drop reticle, and your own testing to see how close it is at various distances. After testing you would know that the lowest hash mark for instance gives you zero at ### yards and you could carry that on a chart, or tape it to your range finder.
Click to expand...

The Horus H-25 reticle is excellent for the above advice. Its pretty fast once you get it down.

600
 
I have done quite a few dials for Leupold's over the last year. A lot more for hunting purposes than for competition, but I did hear back form one shooter who had a long range target dial done for a tactical scope. He told me it was bang on out to 1000 yds. If the proper ballistic info is provided it will work quite well.
A lot of reports back after hunting season and in one case 2 elk were shot at 600 yds.
Is it right for you? It all depends on what you want it to do. I have one done up for a .223 and when the gophers get out I will let everyone know how well it works.
 
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