Rangefinding scope. Have $700 to spend, WHICH SCOPE???

J

JAFO001

New member
OK, which one? Springfield Armory, Sightron, Cabellas, Shepard, Nightforce (well, outta price range) or go with a MIL-DOT from above or Leupold? The Burris Ballistic Mil-dot? Expericences, insights please.
 
I went first off wtih the Springfield 2nd Generation scope. Problem was that the ragne finder worked alright as long as the size of the target remained the same. If you had all 18 inch top to bottom deer it might work alright but they come in different sizes so that wasnt' always the best way to range anything out. Another problem with that scope was that it was a BIG scope and I thought rather bulky to work with. I finally broke down and went with the Leupold Vari-X III M1 Long Range scope on my Remington 700 and an M3 cam version on my M-25 clone. Lot better optics, more compact, the mil-dots are a better range finder IMHO and Leupold has an excellent reputation and will stand behind their products.
 
How does the MIL-DOT help over boxes??

Nodakmarine, how does the MIL-DOT help, where the SA lines in the reticle fail? Seems that you still do not know the exact target size, whether you are using the 18" line reference or MIL-DOTs. Am I missing something??
Thanks.
 
I'd go with quality, Leupold. Keep it fixed at 10x though since Mil-dots are meant to be used at that power. BTW, range estimation can also be done with their duplex scopes.
 
JAFO001, the Mil-Dot is (I'm guessing) because you can divide the area between mils into tenths and get a pretty good estimation of distance. Yes, you have to know the target size, but depending on your target, there are established standards that will get you close enough.

Having never used an SA-type of rangefinding reticle, I cant' really comment on them...but the Mil-dot style is not difficult and has worked for many years.

The Shepards look really interesting...I've heard good things.

$700 to spend? Get the Leopold Mil-Dot.

Take a look here for a basic overview of how the Mil-dot is used. http://www.shooterready.com/ and look at http://www.swfa.com for another pretty good basic on the mil-dot.
 
Check with Gary's Gunshop (can be found in Gunlist, and Shotgun News). They have probably the best price on the Nightforce, maybe even something in your price range. If not, get the Leupold 3-15 Tactical scope with illuminated reticle (mildot). It's in your price range ($750, I think), and is a fair immitation of a Nightforce.

Mildots are great. Get the Mildot Master (Iron Brigade Armory ALWAYS has them). It will make the mildot system extremely easy to use.
 
I guess what I mean by where the mil-dots work where the Sprigfield brackets fail is say you are trying to range something that isn't the size of part of that bracket. Myself, I never try to range the target since deer can vary in their size. The terrain though never really changes and can give you an accurate range as long as you know the size of what you are ranging. As another example, say that the fence posts on the land you're hunting are sticking out about 5 feet out of the ground. In the Springifled scope the brackets aren't set up for 5 feet where with the mil-dots, you aren't limited to target size and can still range out an accurate range even on odd size targets. Sorry if I made that part a little unclear in my first post. One accessory though that I carry in my dope book for every rifle with mil-dot scopes is the mil-dot master. This is a slide rule that speeds things up a LOT!! Yeah, you can still use a calculator or figure out the formula in your head, but this is by far more accurate and faster.
 
IMO Mil-Dot is the only way to go for a range finding Reticle... period, no ? asked!

If you are going to get a Fixed power scope go with Leupold. I've got a 10x Mark 4 M-1 on my rifle and love it.

If you want a veriable power go with the 3d Gen SA w/Mil-Dot. SA has the Mil-Dot on the correct focal plane for use in a veriable scope (i.e. viewable size of dot increases with power increase... they will still subtend correctly at any power setting).
 
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