Accurate Range Finders?

T

tank1949

Moderator
I have an older Bushnell yardage pro that I bought around 1995. It was one of the first laser rangers on the market. It is supposed to be able to provide accurate ranging out to 800 yards, but that is BULL. If I focus on a house size WHITE target, it might give me a reading, but most of the time it will not in full day light. Sighting in on a deer under 200 yards is impossible regardless of their claim. Besides, at 200 yards, I am not wasting time getting ranges. It seems to provide better readings in the twilight hours on solid object like large trees and hill sides. So, just at day break, I take ranges which most of the time I can read to about 600 uds. By, 9 am it is useless. I was wondering if there are accurate range finders out there?
 
I have a Bushnell purchased about the same time as yours, and while it won't get readings on deer at longer ranges, it does fine on most objects out to 400 yds, which is it's advertised distance.

It sounds like yours has some problems not related to the brand itself

That said, there are MUCH better range finders produced now, since those were some of the first generation on the market.

Mine still works great
 
The MK I eyeball when trained.

The British School of Musketry at Hythe & French musketry school at Vincennes method of teaching distance estimation was used by the Confederates. The first NRA instruction book by Wingate was a refined version of those systems that was used in American civilians and military alike during the 1880-1890s.

Wingate's manual is online for free (somewhere).
 
Ya know, back when I played golf I really was good at hunting distance estimates. As for today, I have a Nikon 600 RF, and it's a stretch to get it to read a deer or coyote at 400 yards. It'll read a shiny truck to 900 yards, but shooting trucks doesn't do too much for me. If I could range a deer at 600 yards, I wouldn't shoot anyway so I guess I'm really Ok with what I have, though I do gripe about it. If I ever buy another RF, I think I'll spend the big bucks and get a real good one.
 
Here's the reality.

They're all about the same, I believe.

The ones marketed as 800 yarders or 1600 yarders work about the same as the ones marketed as 400 yarders - you're paying extra for the extra marketing BS.

None of them work great at long distances; that is to say, that they all will work if the target is sufficiently large and reflective, commensurate with the distance. Get the $125er marketed as a 400 yarder, and it will work equally as well.

This is what I've read anyway.
 
Being somewhat "old school" I'm still using a coincident image rangefinder:eek:
Never had the batteries in it let me down yet;)
rangematic1000_zps17516bff.jpg
 
Here's the reality.

They're all about the same, I believe.

The ones marketed as 800 yarders or 1600 yarders work about the same as the ones marketed as 400 yarders - you're paying extra for the extra marketing BS.

None of them work great at long distances; that is to say, that they all will work if the target is sufficiently large and reflective, commensurate with the distance. Get the $125er marketed as a 400 yarder, and it will work equally as well.

This is what I've read anyway.
Click to expand...

Let me understand this...it's "reality" because you've read it? Hmmm...I'd prefer first hand experience rather than conjecture, projection, and assumptions.

I have a Leopold RX-1000 that I've used on targets out to 918 yards in daylight and it works fine - the problem being seeing the target through the viewfinder and holding the crosshair on the target freehand long enough to get a reading.

The problem with rangefinders that I have is holding them steady on a small target long enough to get a reading. The Leica Geovid binoculars are the absolute best rangefinder instrument I have ever used as the greater magnification and larger field-of-view, compared to standard rangefinder, makes taking a reading on distant objects much easier.

The trade-off being - the binoculars are large, heavy, and expensive.
 
I'd be happy to pick out hill-size targets and large trees at mid day and at least at 800. I know ranging on deer size targets will be difficult, regardless of sitting in a house. But, the Yardage Pro deminishes accuracy as the sun goes up, which makes things suck!
 
If all you want to range is trees and large objects, my Nikon 600 will work at least to 600 yards. It's just the small critters like pigs and coyotes that are hard to read at 400. I would like a new and better RF, but I'd sure hate to spend a bunch of money just to find that I'm still limited to 400 yards. But...I do hear good things about the Leica RF.
 
tank1949 said:
1500 on deer size objects? During sunlight???? Sounds like one hell of a tool!!!
Click to expand...

Bought it for ranging prairie dogs....extremely accurate. (yes, it is quite a tool) Don't think Swarovski still makes them, rather they incorporated the range finder feature into one of their binoculars.

001_zpsc4c55676.jpg
 
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Silly thought for the OP.
When was the last time you really cleaned the objective windows?
Even a small amount of smudging can disperse a laser reducing intensity on target by a major amount.
 
When was the last time you really cleaned the objective windows?
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the last time mine was cleaned was just before it left the factory

I may just take a look at it now that you've brought it up, even though it still seems to work great
 
I have had several range finders. I found they MAY be good at half their advertised range. My Leo RX 1000 is good, but you are lucky to get half. I have ranged as high nearly 900 in the mountains in cool cloudy weather.

But on the prairie, in bright sunlight Im lucky to range an antelope at 300 yards.

I started a search for a range finder that would suit my needs, a real range finder.

I was at a PR Match and we were talking about this subject. One guy got out his Vectronix Terrapin which I started playing with and did range a huge rock at 3400 yards. I was impress. That was for me. 2 grand, but I don't mind paying for something that works.

Except when I got ready to buy, they stopped making them.

I was on a bear hunt and the guide showed me his Gunwerks G7-BR2. It easily got from 1500-2000 yards. Again pricy, $1600, but it works.

I bought one, and IT DOES WORK. Frist thing I did was range a cow in sunlight at 1673 yards.

The g7-BR2 advertises 2000 yards for ranging only, and 1400 yards when using the BC program. I so far have found that to be honest for the range only claim, I haven't tried the BC ranging yet.



Now I need to program it. It has an internal BC program that takes in the info of your ammo BC, computes angle, temp, humidity, an altitude and gives you a corrected range. Tells you how much MOA you need for correction.

Also has windage correction. You give it the est wind to the nearest 5mph and it will give you the correction needed.

I personally think for what it does, $1600 is cheap.

In range finders like most everything else you get what you pay for.
 
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I have no experience with the sort of tool kraigwy is letting us know about.
Thanks,Kraig.
I also cannot budget that much $,even if it is worth it.

Part of the limitation on consumer RF's is about eyesafe lasers.

Too much power in an invisible laser can be a problem.

My experience with RF's has mostly been with Leica,mine is a 900 I got from a color blind friend who could not read the red display.
My brother has a 1200 Leica.

Itts funny,sometimes,they work real well,brother got a 653 yd reading on an antelope once.Kestral on the wind.One shot drop with his Kreiger bbl AR-10.
Same RF,steadied against a windbreak,I couldn't get a good read on an antelope at 300+.Eventually the "Duh" factor subsided,and the utility of the scope mildot was remembered.

I'd give the Leicas a "pretty good"
 
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