Do you use the hash marks on scope Reticle

C

Colorado Redneck

New member
I have recently purchased scopes that have Hash marks on the reticle. These "additions" are essentially useless because on the units I have they are only valid at the highest power magnification. As well, there are no obvious indicators of the true center of the cross hairs, except on a Burris Avenger....sorry....Fullfield that has an illuminated + at the center point. The scopes themselves have lots of good features, including the ability to re zero, consistent and repeatable elevation and windage adjustments, nice clear optics. But the over abundance of hash marks are confusing when trying to aim at a small target at a distance...prairie dogs in grass and weeds. This has got me wondering if this reticle type is really used by shooters. I am interested in thoughts and opinions.



Disclaimer....I know the solution to my frustration is to buy scopes without this type of reticle. :D
 

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I like two reticles at present. The SCR2 in a FFP milrad optic, and a BDC type reticle in a SFP MOA optic. If I could afford the weight and cost of FFP milrad optics on every rifle, I would. But about half of mine are SFP, some with plain crosshairs. Overtime, I change out optics to move to what works best for me for the gun and cartridge combined with the main use.

Thursday, I was shooting 3 kinds of .22LR ammo at 50 and 100 yards. Using a Burris RT25, I can pull the trigger and immediately know what I need to adjust to get center target hits. The tick marks on the crosshairs let me do that precisely. Same shooting long range. I know my hold point, see a splash (on or off the target) and I get immediate feedback on my call both from elevation and wind. That allows me to quickly correct for the 2nd round.
 
Get the iStrelok app. It has about every scope and reticle. Find your scope and the reticle, adjust the app data to show the reticle and hash mark distances at the power you use for hunting. It’ll tell you the accurate distance for each hash mark. I take the data and put it on blue masking tape, which then gets stuck on the scope bell.
 
I have a primary Arms 1-6X with the .22 LR reticle.

With CCI Minimag RN out of my 12.5" barreled TUF22 (10/22 clone) zeroed at 50 yards, the hatches are dead on at 100 and 200 yards.

I like it except for the weight of the scope.

22-long-rifle-acss-reticle-primary-arms.jpg


rYo9Vsml.jpg
 
Colorado Redneck said:
I have recently purchased scopes that have Hash marks on the reticle. These "additions" are essentially useless because on the units I have they are only valid at the highest power magnification. As well, there are no obvious indicators of the true center of the cross hairs, except on a Burris Avenger that has an illuminated + at the center point. The scopes themselves have lots of good features, including the ability to re zero, consistent and repeatable elevation and windage adjustments, nice clear optics. But the over abundance of hash marks are confusing when trying to aim at a small target at a distance...prairie dogs in grass and weeds. This has got me wondering if this reticle type is really used by shooters. I am interested in thoughts and opinions.



Disclaimer....I know the solution to my frustration is to buy scopes without this type of reticle. :D
Click to expand...
The problem with buying a second focal plain scope is the reticle is almost always designed to be measured at high or maximum magnification. You can use them at lower magnifications, but you just need to know how to do the math in order for them to be correct.

On First focal plane reticles, the measurements between the hash marks /mildots remain constant through out the magnification range. But, On most ffp scopes the reticle is hard to see at lower magnification.
 
Good replies...thanks. Using the little knobs is easier for me than trying to use a bdc type of reticle. I am just curious if many shooters use the hash marks. Sound like some experienced guys do use them. It's a preference thing, evidently.
 
On a precision rifle at distance, i use the turret for elevation (which is constant at a given distance) and use the windage marks for holding wind (which can change quickly).
 
Colorado Redneck said:
Good replies...thanks. Using the little knobs is easier for me than trying to use a bdc type of reticle. I am just curious if many shooters use the hash marks. Sound like some experienced guys do use them. It's a preference thing, evidently.
Click to expand...
Not just a preference thing, a time thing sometimes too. If you know what to dial, you can move to the same POA with the reticle without coming off the scope. Some hunting and some match conditions, that will be the difference between making the shot and running out of time.
 
I have a scope with proper mil dots and I have used them with some success.

I have a scope that has lots of hashes like the OP posted and I don't shoot with it past 200 yards so they are useless to me.
 
Yes I use the hash marks on my First Focal Plane lFFP) scopes with SCR reticle.

SCR%20reticle%20(Medium)-500x500.png


Sounds like have a FFP scope, where the reticle magnifies but the MOA / MIL stay the same as you magnify. (A Second Focal Plane scope keeps the reticle the same size as you magnify the image, losing the angular accuracy of the hash marks)

+1 for SCR reticle.
The increments are very fine (vs coarse) and precise on an excellent piece of glass.

https://www.steiner-scopes.com/image/cache/data/SCR%20reticle%20(Medium)-500x500.png

Good luck.
 
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Yes I do use the hash marks. Yes they are useful. If your shooting long range are are at full zoom the hashes are accurate. If not at max you can still use them for Kentucky elevation. Say the bullet hits low. You simply use the hashes to measure how low and hold that many high. Also Lots of scopes are going to first focal plane. meaning the reticle gets bigger and smaller as you zoom. This keeps the measurements accurate through the full zoom range.
 
I prefer mil reticles, BDC is really only useful for fixed ranges. Range estimation on targets is one of the best uses for a reticle.

There is a myth that they are not accurate on a SFP scope. My Vortex PST 4-16 has detents at 5.3x and 8x, giving you a factor of 2 and 3, and the lowest magnification has a factor of 4, so the reticle can be used at much more than the maximum magnification. It does take a little more math, but it's still simple enough to do in your head. As a bonus, the reticle is much more useful at the lowest power setting than a FFP scope that gets very small.
 
I use the turrets for elevation changes at distance. I use the reticle for measuring things at distance. Sometimes I will utilize the sub tensions in the reticle to compensate for elevation. Normally I will compensate for windage with the reticle.
 
I use fine crosshair and duplex crosshair on most of my scopes, with a couple Redfield Accurange reticules for variety.

I don’t like the “busy” scope reticules. I sight my rifle in, and any holdover or wind age adjustments just get a SWAG before I pull the trigger.
 
I use them. To be more specific, I have a few .22s with BDC reticles on them. My favorites are the Nikon Prostaff II reticles. I zero at 50 and use the other dots accordingly.
http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server4...150_Reticle_16330_6__94735.1480618526.jpg?c=2
The other rimfire scope I have is an Athlon. I don't like it as well as the Nikons, but I couldn't find the Nikon that I liked when I wanted to get the scope.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1....22-Rimfire-BDC-Reticle_800x.jpg?v=1530680411
I like having the hash marks, but I don't like the scope to be too busy. I find stuff like this to be way too distracting.
https://armsvault.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Nightforce-Optics-FC-DM-Reticle.jpg
 
I have 2 Sightrons with the MOA-2 reticles, both second focal plane.
I just recently picked up a Crimson Trace series 2 FFP with illuminated MOA reticle.
I have 5 other scopes that are BDC.
2 of those have range finding built into the scope that works with the zoom.

I do use the MOA reticles for range finding, and for fast hits at distance. Paired with Strelok Pro.
 
Colorado Redneck said:
I have recently purchased scopes that have Hash marks on the reticle. These "additions" are essentially useless because on the units I have they are only valid at the highest power magnification. As well, there are no obvious indicators of the true center of the cross hairs, except on a Burris Avenger....sorry....Fullfield that has an illuminated + at the center point. The scopes themselves have lots of good features, including the ability to re zero, consistent and repeatable elevation and windage adjustments, nice clear optics. But the over abundance of hash marks are confusing when trying to aim at a small target at a distance...prairie dogs in grass and weeds. This has got me wondering if this reticle type is really used by shooters. I am interested in thoughts and opinions.



Disclaimer....I know the solution to my frustration is to buy scopes without this type of reticle. :D
Click to expand...
It looks like your scope is turned upside-down.

What does the manual say about sighting in to establish a zero?
 
I use mine when I've run out of elevation adjustment. I have them on all my rimfire rifles because I love to shoot them beyond two hundreds. As was stated earlier it is a quick way to adjust without dialing if you have to see the impact and move hash marks to the impact to hit target. You can also use them to measure distance if you are hunting.
 
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