looking to cheat the Nikon BDC reticle system.

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sthrnfryedyankee

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Lets say I buy a Nikon Monarch with the BDC reticle and I sight in for 200 yds for a magnum cartridge WITHOUT using much of the adjustments but just for sighting in at 200yds. The rings according to Nikon are 200 (crosshair) 300, 400, 500 and 600 yds for the magnums. Can I then use the remaining vertical adjustments to go past 600 yds utilizing the 600yd ring to get me to say 800-1000+ yds? If I can keep accurate click counts could this method work?



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I suggest you try this out on your own. I shoot through a Nikon with BDC but only use it for 100 yrds and closer. (.223). Give it a shot and let us know if your theory is valid. BTW... you got to really like the Nikons with the BDC.
I want to reach out to 200 yrds and see if the bullet drop compensator is accurate but haven't yet.
 
I heard its killzone accurate for the ring yardages and that each bullets path may be tailored slightly different. With that said you may be able to utilize the power ring to compensate for this
 
I took my 6.5 Swede topped with Nikon/BDC reticle out last week to try and get the BDC system calibrated. I shot at 200, 300, 400, and 500 yards, and never could figure out a good way of calibrating the circles. I only had about 30 rounds to work with though. I know the circles have the potential to be accurate though, because I shot a 1.125" 3 shot group at 300 yards, using the first circle. It was mostly luck, and I'll probably never do it again, nor will I believe anyone else who makes such claims, but it happened and I have a picture. :D
-Dan
 
I'm old school and just rely on hold-over.

Mil-dots are pretty cool and I'm still learning how to use them. Getting older is not as much fun as it appears.
 
A mil-dot with plenty of trigger time and turrets will serve you better than this system which is a good average between a bunch of different cartridges/loadings. That being said, yes it can be "cheated" as you describe... though what you describe is little more than SOP for precision shooters with a quality turret scope.

I am of the notion that anything from nikon is a decent product though. I'm not trying to knock your scope. The best thing you can do, however, is to put rounds downrange and see how it works.

I know the circles have the potential to be accurate though, because I shot a 1.125" 3 shot group at 300 yards, using the first circle.
Click to expand...

:eek:!!!!
Somehow I believe you just because you admit that it was blind luck and that you don't claim you can do it over and over. I built a .5moa rifle that I'm darn proud of. People can believe me or not, but that's what me/my rifle is capable of @ 300 yards +. I wouldn't lie, but I usually take wth a grain of salt what others say their rifle does. Just because of your disclaimer though, I tend to believe you... wow, nearly 1/3 moa @ 300 yards!!!!!!!! :eek:
 
I've not heard many good things about the Nikon BDC. It's only close enough for hunting purposes with larger game. The Burris Ballistic Plex is far better.

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They also have the Ballistic Mil Dot

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Go to the Nikon web-site, there is online software there that will compute ranges for each bubble, after you provide info about the ammo you are firing.

Then buy a laser range-finder and you are in business.
 
I used to be a Burris fanatic. Now they turn out junk. High priced junk at that. I have $1k scope they cant seem to fix and will not exchange. They say its fixed. Their version and my version of fixed is worlds apart.
I will take a Nikon over a Burris anyday.
 
I heard its killzone accurate for the ring yardages and that each bullets path may be tailored slightly different. With that said you may be able to utilize the power ring to compensate for this
Click to expand...

Killzone accurate is correct.

The best way I've found for sighting in the Nikon BDC is to adjust the crosshairs so each circle is sighted like you would for point blank range.

What I mean by this is not every circle is going to match the ballistics of your particular cartridge, so some will be a little high or a little low. Basically, split the difference. If you can get all of the circles to be either plus or minus 3 inches that gives you a six inch Killzone at each range. That's plenty accurate for almost any hunting. Just put the appropriate circle on the kill zone and pulled the trigger. It's not for punching paper its for filling your freezer.

So far I've done this to two rifles.

Just for everyone's information here are the specs for the Nikon BDC.
From the cross hair to the center of:
- 1st circle: 2 MOA
- 2nd circle: 4.5 MOA
- 3rd circle: 7 MOA
- 4th circle: 11 MOA
- Top of the post: 15 MOA

Each BDC circle has an outside diameter of 2 MOA, inside diameter of 1.5 MOA

Horizontal distance from thick crosshairto thick crosshair: 5.75 MOA Thin crosshair: 0.25 MOA thickness Thick crosshair: 1 MOA thickness
 
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The BDC is like any scope with hashes in it. You have to go to the range and figure the hashes out. Apps and software make that very easy to do, but the only way your reticle will work out perfectly is if you go shoot it. My hunting rifles with BDC scopes, have "dope" printed on labels and stuck to the stock.
 
If your scope is accurate, if your 600 actually matches your rifle, and if your target is bigger than 20 inches and your rifle is a laser... then sure.

A 300 win mag would need 63 clicks to get from 600 to 1000*... 63 clicks is a pretty decent amount of travel. If the specs are right you only have 80 (160 total).You're going to need 16 MOA of travel, the scope has 40 MAX (20 up and 20 down) so you'd be squeezing by there and hoping the adjustments were still true that far out... unless you used a 20 MOA scope rail to add some elevation...

Also, isn't that a sfp scope? So you'd need to know which magnification the bdc is accurate at and either keep it there or know how to adjust with it.

But yeah, if the scope is repeatable and accurate all the way out, if it really has 40MOA of adjustment, and if your ballistics arn't much worse or better than what I put in.... Then a person capable of hitting 1000 yard targets should be able to do it with that set up. **





*ok, this is a very specific formula for a specific rifle at a specific elevation, bullet weight, muzzle velocity etc....so it's not exact for every rifle/bullet/300WM and it was done on a ballistic calculator so even still it is only going to be *close* not exact

**I had to swap some numbers around mid post, so my math may be off.
 
After testing Nikons BDC reticle (Prostaff 4-12x40, standard BDC) at 200 and 300yds, with my 308 and being very dissapointed; I figured out a way to make it work just right: I replaced it with a mil-dot scope. It's currently listed in the gear and accessories for sale section.

Edit-for reference, I followed the Nikon instructions that came with the scope. Zeroed at 100 at 12x (it said BDC at max power). Fired 5 with the crosshairs on the bull at 200 and 300. Then 5 using the appropriate circles. My first 5 were slightly closer to the bullseye centerline (below) than the second five were above, at both distances.
 
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It's interesting that none of the BDC scopes I know of have altitude correction in their adjustments. Such stuff is needed if your scope's BDC system actually matches your loads balllistics (which is rare) and use at 600 feet altitude in Ohio then you go elk hunting in Colorado at 7000 to 8000 feet and the bullet drop at long ranges needs a 4 to 5 MOA less muzzle angle to hit the point of aim. That 7-point bull will walk away thinking large mosquitos are flying 2 to 3 feet over its back.
 
Man jmr40.... Good lookin out. Didn't even check that.

Bart, I agree. Even the custom turrents you can get are only *good* for x bullet in x conditions. Any major change and they're worthless. Maybe thats why they use 2 MOA circles instead of hash marks?
 
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