Who uses tactical scopes ?

Originally Posted By: nightcaller

AND coyotehunter- what would we do without all of your internet acquired knowledge? LOL!

All this knowledge from a guy who shoots BDC's and asked what AO meant in another scope thread.

I'm still scratching my head over the precise and accuracy thing....

What if I hit two prairie dogs off the same mound at 500 yards... Is that accurate or precise or both? I mean... I did hit what I was aiming at... and did it twice.. Things that make ya go Hmmmmm
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Originally Posted By: nightcaller
AND coyotehunter- what would we do without all of your internet acquired knowledge? LOL!

And it continues to increase:
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Originally Posted By: Coyotehunter_What does AO stand for?
 
Every time I log on to P.M. its like going to school. I love the info I find here and ALL the opinions and facts. It cracks me up the way people take shots at and rip on each other. Thanks for all the replies fellas, The video was very informative . I own one scope with a mil-dot reticle, a Bushnell 4200 6x24x40, two BDC Nikons, one Burris ballistic plex a Leupy with their LR duplex reticle and a handful of standard duplex type scopes from various makers. None of my scopes have the "target" or Tactical style turrets. All of my scopes have screw on caps on the turrets.
 
Originally Posted By: Furhunter

I'm still scratching my head over the precise and accuracy thing....

What if I hit two prairie dogs off the same mound at 500 yards... Is that accurate or precise or both? I mean... I did hit what I was aiming at... and did it twice.. Things that make ya go Hmmmmm
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Hey bud, IF it was you behind the trigger, I wouldn't call it accuracy or precision, my word would be LUCK
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Originally Posted By: skinneyOriginally Posted By: Furhunter

I'm still scratching my head over the precise and accuracy thing....

What if I hit two prairie dogs off the same mound at 500 yards... Is that accurate or precise or both? I mean... I did hit what I was aiming at... and did it twice.. Things that make ya go Hmmmmm
confused.gif


Hey bud, IF it was you behind the trigger, I wouldn't call it accuracy or precision, my word would be LUCK
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Hahaha.

I left myself wide open for that one... Ouch!

I might just have the cure for that coming in tomorrow though...
 
Originally Posted By: Furhunter

Hahaha.

I left myself wide open for that one... Ouch!

I might just have the cure for that coming in tomorrow though...

You know I'm just givin ya a hard time... most of my shots are luck as well
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fleas?
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Both accurate and precise.

But I liked the "lucky" response as that was pretty funny!
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I'm still scratching my head over the precise and accuracy thing....

What if I hit two prairie dogs off the same mound at 500 yards... Is that accurate or precise or both? I mean... I did hit what I was aiming at... and did it twice.. Things that make ya go Hmmmmm
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Some good info here, as usual.
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To the OP.. I have a "tactical" scope because I got a good deal on it. However, I still don't use it like one. The hash marks are there, yeah, but I use the turrets to dial in, not the hash marks to hold over for windage or elevation. I'd say no, you're not missing out on much. Maybe the "cool" factor, but that's about it.
 
Im a fan of the mildot. Once you larn how to use it, It's quite easy to do. I wouldn't even attempt to range an animal with a mildot. Too many variables and the whole formula is based off the actual size of the target.

I dial elevation and hold for wind. I also do hold over and hold off if the range isn't real far. I have found with Mildot reticles, that they are very nice for big game and down to Ghogs. I found the reticle to get real thick real quick when i used it for Pdogs.
 
I have a question on this subject. I'm thinking about getting a scope with the turrets to make adjustments, for further shots on my 17REM. Right now I have a VXIII 4.5-14x40 scope zeroed at 100 yards.

Back home in Georgia we have a huge gorge in our back yard and it is 250 to 350 yards across, but I usually just shoot crows on the downside because I always miss shooting across at that distance. Would a Tactical style scope be better for shooting at that range, so I can make adjustments?

If I do what kind of reticle MOA or MIL, and should it be a FFP or SFP. Just wanted to know your thoughts. I'm not knowledgeable with MOA or MIL, so which would be the best to learn with?

Thanks Harmon
 
Originally Posted By: HarmonWould a Tactical style scope be better for shooting at that range, so I can make adjustments?

If I do what kind of reticle MOA or MIL, and should it be a FFP or SFP. Just wanted to know your thoughts. I'm not knowledgeable with MOA or MIL, so which would be the best to learn with?

Thanks Harmon

For shooting 350 yards you can just send your scope back to Leupold and get a simple elevation turret installed for a very reasonable cost.
Then you can start surprising the crows pretty often, providing your rifle will do its part.
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Originally Posted By: fw707Originally Posted By: HarmonWould a Tactical style scope be better for shooting at that range, so I can make adjustments?

If I do what kind of reticle MOA or MIL, and should it be a FFP or SFP. Just wanted to know your thoughts. I'm not knowledgeable with MOA or MIL, so which would be the best to learn with?

Thanks Harmon

For shooting 350 yards you can just send your scope back to Leupold and get a simple elevation turret installed for a very reasonable cost.
Then you can start surprising the crows pretty often, providing your rifle will do its part.
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Yup that's the easiest way to do it. All you need to do is plug your bullet, its BC, velocity and enviro parameters into a basic ballistic program to get your drops in MOA. MOA because a turret on your scope would be in MOA if Leupold retro fitted one for you.
 
Sounds good, thanks guys. I have seen the APPS on my phone for this. I will contact Leupold and ship them my scope for a turret.
 
I'm a ballistic reticle guy through and through. Nothing better than calculating vertical and horizontal correction for longer ranges using subtension when about 90% of my hunting is in standard conditions out here. Got a buddy who shoots an AR-10 243 87 V-Max combination who has more 1st shot kills to 600ish using the Varmint Hunter's reticle in his VX-III scopes than anybody I've ever hunted with. When ranges stretch beyond ~600 he uses a Kestrel and phone app ballistics program and calculates correction in SMOA. Fun to watch him do it.

I also use "tactical" scopes with turrets, and even non-tactical scopes tactically. Wouldn't go out shooting without a system when ranges stretch. Successful 1st shots based on mathematics is way more rewarding for me than Kentucky windage and elevation.

Have seen that mildot video link referred to many times, but a concept that is much more important is the adaptation and application of subtension for rangefinding and downrange zeroing as demonstrated in these 2 lnks--



 
Originally Posted By: HarmonI have a question on this subject. I'm thinking about getting a scope with the turrets to make adjustments, for further shots on my 17REM. Right now I have a VXIII 4.5-14x40 scope zeroed at 100 yards.

Back home in Georgia we have a huge gorge in our back yard and it is 250 to 350 yards across, but I usually just shoot crows on the downside because I always miss shooting across at that distance. Would a Tactical style scope be better for shooting at that range, so I can make adjustments?

If I do what kind of reticle MOA or MIL, and should it be a FFP or SFP. Just wanted to know your thoughts. I'm not knowledgeable with MOA or MIL, so which would be the best to learn with?
Thanks Harmon

Great cartridge to use for those longer range crows (300-400ish +/-)...IMO. Now you'll have a nice turret for vertical compensation. If you wanna' go "all out tactical" you now have to learn to apply the plex post tips for windage applications. In that optic I think the plex post tips subtend ~2.5 MOA at 14X (one of the reasons I'm not crazy about the Leupold Duplex BTW, since it's designed for rangefinding and not downrange zeroing/windage. Shoulda' been more like 4 or maybe even 5 MOA). Now that crow's sitting out there at 350 lasered yards and the 5 mph avg. wind (you've figured from your experience using your Kestrel) correction is .6 of the plex post tip (PPT) subtension, since your dope calls for 1.1 PPT in 10 mph. You know this because you have the 10mph windage calcs. relative to your 2.5 MOA Duplex reticle in a dope sticker in the ocular cover of your Butler Creek scope cap cover. Now hold a bit more than half of the Duplex subtension @ 14X into the wind and pop that crow...hopefully, huh?

The whole point here is that a "tactical" or maybe more accurately "methodical" approach is better than guessing, and certainly much more rewarding.
 
Thanks sscoyote, That was a great video. I'm looking at the SIII Sightron or Nightforce NXS to put on my 17REM. I will put that Leupold on my 17hmr. I really want to try shooting like this, never calculated before and I'm not getting the full potential out of my 17 that I would like to.

Thanks again
Harmon
 
You will certainly get more out of it by applying systems. The 2 most important concepts is that the milranging formula defines rangefinding and downrange zeroing with any multistadia reticle and target turret, and that subtension is inversely proportional to magnification (as noted in the video).
 
Check out this video by Ryan Cleckner of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. He's a former US Army Sniper Leader and Instructor with the 1st Ranger Battalion. He has several U-Tube Videos that teach about what MOA means and how to use them, What Mil Rads mean and how to use them, and how to estimate wind and how it affects the bullet and also how to compensate for shooting up and down hill. The latter is what you are wanting to know about.
So this is the video of the information that you want to know about.



While you are watching this video you can subscribe to this U tube Channel and make it easier to find the other NSSF U-Tube Videos by Ryan in the list below.

But to understand this video above, you might want to review a few of the other videos first. They will explain the fundamentals so that you can better understand the video about shooting up hill and downhill.

Mounting the Scope properly would be the first one that I would recommend viewing and learning about. Because none of this stuff will work right if you scope is not properly leveled and mounted on the scope. And if the rings are not lined up properly your shots might be off. So learning how to properly mount the scope onto the rifle is KEY.

Then figuring out how far your bullets drop at various ranges with YOUR particular rifle is next. This information will be needed to figure out how many MOA's up or down that you have to adjust your scope turret to compensate for shooting longer ranges from your zero point.

You can learn to figure out distance to the target using a Mil Rad Scope Reticle in another video.

And then another video shows you how to estimate the wind and make adjustments for wind using the Mil dots in the scope's reticle.

Finally you can watch the video on how to compensate for shooting uphill and downhill.

I enjoy watching Ryan Teach these shooting concepts and I've learned a lot from him in a short time. I think he's a good instructor and these are excellent teaching videos. Just take your time and watch them a few times to let the information soak in.

The web site for the National Shooting Sports Foundation is National Shooting Sports Foundation Web Site
When you get to this web site just look at the top for the Video Link and click on it. That should take you to all the videos.




Originally Posted By: cold fingerI own a bunch of rifles from 22lr up to a 300win. mag.. Most of them have scopes ,but none of my scopes are of the tactical type.I have several scopes with Ballistic reticles and these seem most practical for hunting purposes. Am I missing out? What are the advantages of tactical scopes. I will be upgrading scopes on a couple of rifles and just looking for opinions and advice. Thanks for any input.
 
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