Scopes that let you do range adjustments on the cross hairs?

G

gun1

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
Messages
98
Reaction score
45
What scopes are you guys using and what would you recommend that have the ranging increments in addition to the normal cross hairs on the sight? I haven't come across very many.

My idea is to get one and sight in the center at a set range (not sure yet, 50yds, 100yds, maybe something else) then instead of clicking the adjustments to re-center based on range, just use the ticks on the cross hairs to re-center for elevation and windage as needed.
 
Register to hide this ad
That is what is known as a BDC reticle (Bullet Drop Compensation). They are usually found on the better scopes. But you have to remember thay will only be accurate at one power setting on the scope (usually the max power setting) and it will change if you use a different ammo. I have one on my 3-gun AR, a Burris MTAC 1-4x24 tactical scope. It has a reticle with extra dots below the center corresponding to 200, 300, 400 ,500, and 600 yards. They are placed so that 55g 3240 FPS Federal FMJ will not require elevation changes on targets of MOA size. Problem is it will not work for .22 LR, too much drop.
What you want is a dedicated .22 scope with BDC turret setup. One I use from time to time is the BSA Sweet 22 3-9x40. It has precalibrated turrets for 36, 38, and 40g .22LR.
 
My understanding with the BDC's is that the other dots are not a certain distance, like 200m, 300m and so on. They have a free software that you can enter in you rifle and bullet info and it will tell you what the range for zero for each dot is. It may be 248m or some odd number. But we all estimate range anyway so that should be close enough.
 
Look at the Nikon P-22 BDC version and the software on their website. They also have Android and iPhone versions of the software. You site in at a set distance and the software gives you multiple distances for each circle of the BDC based on the magnification you specify. If you want to get more specific you can enter temperature, altitude, and barometric pressure.

The most important thing is you have to use the same ammo. If you change ammo, you have to re-site it in and change the ammo type in the software.
 
TacoDaTugBoat said:
My understanding with the BDC's is that the other dots are not a certain distance, like 200m, 300m and so on. They have a free software that you can enter in you rifle and bullet info and it will tell you what the range for zero for each dot is. It may be 248m or some odd number. But we all estimate range anyway so that should be close enough.
Click to expand...
Correct. Nikon even has an app for your smart phone. Put in the ammo info and it spits out the yardage each mark denotes.
 
Weaver Super Slam 1.1x5 FFP. same impact on any magnification. it is really a great scope and i won't go back to 'normal scopes'. zero once and it will hit same place, within your zero distance. i use a 100 yard zero for a .22.
was hunting with a buddy yesterday for jack rabbits and he had the Nikon P-22 scope, he was a little better shot than i was, but i'm blaming it on me being twice his age! i was using shooting sticks and he was shooting off hand. plus i was suppressed with SS loads, but love that 'click' then 'thud' when it connects. on his scope he had it zeroed at 50 yards, then estimated where the bunny was out there and dialed the scope to that distance, worked every time.
 
Another love vote for the Nikon P-22 BDC here.

Zero'd at 50 yards, POI seems to hold pretty steady at 2x all the way to 7x for me.
 
I checked the P-22 Nikon and it just has dots on the lower reticle. Are there any that have tick marks on the vertical and horizontal reticles? Maybe with numbers?

Those of you that shoot long-range - do you just adjust the scope to move your POI? Or do you leave the scope centered as you have it and estimate by moving the target around within the field of view?

I guess my thought is it would be easier to keep the set up in calibration by zeroing the scope at a certain range and leaving it. Then I could make my adjustments in the field of view as needed.

Am I off my rocker? Should I scrap the calibration idea and dial in the scope to adjust for elevation/range and windage?
 
Gun1,
What you are describing sounds like a mil dot scope. It will still work the same way as a BDC set up. No scope will know the external ballistics of the ammo you are shooting, it will all be done by experience. Nikon has the ballistic calculator that is very useful. My set up, with Federal 745 ammo, zeroed at 25 yards shows the cross hairs as zero at 25-50 yards, first dot is 75 yards and second dot is 100 yards. It can't get any simpler than that. You will have to calculate all yardages besides your initial zero, no matter how many dots, bubbles etc. The big advantage with the BDC is you don't have to spin turrets and are able to get on target and hit much quicker. Windage is always a guess and unless you are a trained military sniper, or hunter, all the dots in the world are not going to be much help on first shots. Good luck however you go.
RichH
 
i just put on a truglo mil dot scope and love it. zeroed it in at 25 yrds and held to about 50-60. further than that i just shot and see how low i was missing and go from there. i quit shooting at 100 yrds and i was about 2-3 dots low. pretty simple for me...hitting my target consistently is another story haha.
 
I am looking at the P-22 a bit more. I see it has a fixed paralax setting at 50 yards. Have any of you that have this scope noticed any issues with that?

My distance shooting probably won't be more than 200 yards, so 50-200yds would be a good range to cover.
 
The P-22 comes in two flavors. One has the BDC turret where you just have a set of crosshairs and dial the distance with your turrets. The crosshairs are always your aim point. The other flavor has the BDC recticle with the dots below the crosshairs. If you look at this at cabelas website you can click on each recticle to see what it looks like.
 
roadkill45 said:
Weaver Super Slam 1.1x5 FFP. same impact on any magnification. it is really a great scope and i won't go back to 'normal scopes'. zero once and it will hit same place, within your zero distance. i use a 100 yard zero for a .22.
was hunting with a buddy yesterday for jack rabbits and he had the Nikon P-22 scope, he was a little better shot than i was, but i'm blaming it on me being twice his age! i was using shooting sticks and he was shooting off hand. plus i was suppressed with SS loads, but love that 'click' then 'thud' when it connects. on his scope he had it zeroed at 50 yards, then estimated where the bunny was out there and dialed the scope to that distance, worked every time.
Click to expand...
What you are descibing, assuming you are correct about that scope, is a First Focal Plane Reticle scope. The dots on the reticle subtend the same amount of MOA regardless of the power setting and distance. I have 3 of those scopes, 2 of 1-6x24 and 1 of 4-14x44. Works good on a high powered scope, but not as much on a low power tactical one. Because the reticle gets larger as the power is increased sometimes it can be too large and overwhelm the target in size. One reason I switched to a Burris MTAC 1-4x24 on my 3-gun AR. The little dots are right on for Fed 55g .223 out to 600 yards and are off only by about 1 MOA above 400 yards when I switch to 68g match ammo.
 
The way a scope like the Nikon P-22/223 or the BSA Sweet 22/17/223 work is the turrets are calibrated so that if you sight the rifle in at the proscribed distance with the correct ammo all you have to do is turn the turret to the indicated range of the target and you can use the center dot for everything except windage and different elevation when shooting at the target.
 
photoracer said:
What you are descibing, assuming you are correct about that scope, is a First Focal Plane Reticle scope. The dots on the reticle subtend the same amount of MOA regardless of the power setting and distance. I have 3 of those scopes, 2 of 1-6x24 and 1 of 4-14x44. Works good on a high powered scope, but not as much on a low power tactical one. Because the reticle gets larger as the power is increased sometimes it can be too large and overwhelm the target in size. One reason I switched to a Burris MTAC 1-4x24 on my 3-gun AR. The little dots are right on for Fed 55g .223 out to 600 yards and are off only by about 1 MOA above 400 yards when I switch to 68g match ammo.
Click to expand...
My favorite 1-4x24 S&B Short Dot, 7.62 turrets FFP:
010.jpg

Another S&B on my main predator gun 20" Bushmaster predator, 75 gr 5.56 turrets on this one, LaRue mount:
Picture009-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top