which nightforce reticle

J

Jefferson

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shooting gongs and targets at 300 to 600 yards mostly 300 and shorter, some br type shooting, thinking of the 8 to 32 or the 12 to 42 so I can see clearly and closely

using it for tactical matches and fun matches not competition,

thinking the np2dd or the ch ones, not shooting varmints so dont need a lot of stuff in the way

thanks
Jeff
 
Jefferson said:
shooting gongs and targets at 300 to 600 yards mostly 300 and shorter, some br type shooting, thinking of the 8 to 32 or the 12 to 42 so I can see clearly and closely

using it for tactical matches and fun matches not competition,

thinking the np2dd or the ch ones, not shooting varmints so dont need a lot of stuff in the way

thanks
Jeff
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Go for the 2dd I have it on one of my Nightforce Br scopes and it's hard to beat.
 
That's more power than you need for out to 600 yards if you're not shooting real BR competitions. I have a 3.5-15x with a mildot reticle on my 308 and a 5.5-22x with the NP-R1 on my 300 WM. I wanted the 1 MOA graduations for a LR hunting scope. Were I buying a scope for my 308 now I'd probably still go with the 3.5-15x but go with the NP-R1 reticle. I suck pretty badly at mental math so I'm better suited to MOAs than MILs.
 
Go for as much power as you can get, you can always back off, which often you have to do in competition when the mirage is heavy. It's nice to be able to crank up to 42 power when conditions allow. I have a 12-42 BR with the 2dd reticle on my competition 6 br.

I have a Nightforce NXS 8-32 on my coyote hunting rifle, most times I'm at 8 to 12 power but when I see one mousing in a field and have lots of time I love the 32 power.
 
The only thing with the np-2dd is that it's essentially a dot. Fine for BR/FClass type shooting but might give you problems on certain tactical-type matches (which you expressed interest in).
For example, shooting a moving target, where you want the horizontal dashes to help you determine leading. For tactical style shooting, I think you'd be better served by the np-r1 reticle, which will also serve you quite well if you're just doing 300m off a bench.
 
I also agree that you can't have to much magnification for seeing small objects or zeroing on targets at long range. You can always turn down the magnification for steadier or shorter shots. I rarely need a magnification lower than 8-10x because I mostly shoot from rested positions. My only complaint with Leupold long range scopes is that they don't make anything greater than 8.5-25x. Back to the original question about Nightforce reticles...I like the MLR and NP-R2 as they give me graduated reticles without too much complexity. Phil.
 
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I have NXS 5.5-22X56 with a NP-R1 and one with a NP-R2 reticle and I'm going to send back the NP-R2 and get it changed to a NP-R1 reticle. I wish I would have purchased 2 BR 12-42 X 56 scopes with a NP-R1 reticle, instead. Hindsite!!
Its what they had in stock.
 
I like the NP-R1. I think if you are going to have MOA markings in the reticle you may as well have them every MOA instead of every 2 MOA, so I personaly don't like the NP-R2 for this reason. Some might say the reticle is too 'busy', but I have never felt this way myself. Mil-dots cover too much area for my liking; I prefer fine lines instead.

But to each his own!
 
A caution about high(est) magnification NF scopes. These scopes with Mil or MOA reticles are designed so their subtension is calibrated at the highest magnification (e.g., 15x, 22x, 32x, 42x). If you need to turn it down due to mirage, the reticle subtension is no longer calibrated, and therefore the reticle becomes useless, or at least more difficult to calculate proper holdover (based on whatever power setting is working). 15x is about as much as I can use with active mirage, often less. If your just dialing turrets, no biggie. But if you plan to use the reticle for elevation or windage holdover, the max magnfication and corresponding reticle subtension is important to consider.
 
dpopl8r said:
If you need to turn it down due to mirage, the reticle subtension is no longer calibrated, and therefore the reticle becomes useless, or at least more difficult to calculate proper holdover.
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This would be a case for a FFP scope, but its not really that big of an issue.

I have the NXS 5.5-22X56 with MLR reticle. Yes the reticle is calibrated for 22x, But nightforce wisely put a 11x mark in the middle of the dial. Plus, 5.5x is half of 11x or, 1/4 of 22x.

Why is this important? because the MIL reticle is now useful at both of these power settings. You just double or quadruple the measurement. The MLR has 0.5 MIL hashes. So at 11x each hash is now 1 MIL, and at 5.5x each hash becomes 2 mil.

So the reticles are more useful than you make it out to be.
 
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