The rangefinder is nice, but I find that I don't use it. Let me give you a quick rundown:
The rangefinding gauge at the bottom left side is for a typical-height man of 5'8". Line him up in the gauge, and the number he fits in between is the distance he is from you in hundreds of meters (remember it's meters, not yards - there's the first reason I usually don't use it).
Armed with that knowledge, you now swing him over into the business end of the scope, in the middle. First, to address the elevation - that's the little arrows lined up vertically.
You may zero the scope in at any distance. I set mine for a 200-yard shot - that's simply because that's where my precision open-sight shooting gets more like a pot-shot. You set yours for where-ever you want.
The lower arrows are for multiplication of the distance to the target in meters. The top one is, of course, the distance you zeroed your scope in at. For the lower arrows multply the distance to the target by 3.4, 7.2, and 11.4 , respectively going down. For example, in my case, let's say I have mine zeroed in at 200 meters. If the man lined up at about the 700 meter mark in the bottom left recitule, I'd do some quick math in my head and put him on the second arrow down (200m x 3.4 = 680m).
It's best to scratch the pre-figured multipliers into your buttstock, because you'll never remember all the numbers at the range.
Now for the windage adjustment. Every hash-mark to the right or left moves the bullet 4" for every 100meters of distance.
Now, to throw another monkey-wrench into the plan. Another way to find the distance to the target is to line any target(whether man or not) in between the windage hash-marks. If you know about how wide the target is (again, in meters), you can assume that every hash-mark is 1 meter from the one next to it at 100 meters. For example, I say I have a paper target 6 meters wide. I line it up between the hash-marks and it takes up only 3 hash marks. If the target were at 100m, it would've taken 6 hash-marks. Since it only takes 3 spaces, it must be at 200 meters.
This all sounds very confusing, I know. Do it this way - draw a picture of your recitule. Now take everything I just said, step by step, and write it down on the picture where it belongs. To make life easier, figure everything out in meters, and convert it to yards later.
I've scratched the info on my buttstock: "200 680 1440 2280" That cooresponds to my scope being zeroed in at 200 yards with the elevation multiplication already done.
I plan to start slowly teaching myself to use the settings, but it's going to be a long battle. Especially since I was taught yards and not meters. I don't even know how long a meter is.
