Should I learn to use turrets when I'm not hunting?

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Z

zebra

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Sep 29, 2015
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New York
For reasons I'll never understand, some manufacturers charge hundreds of dollars more for mil dot reticles and some don't even have them as an option on the models you want to buy. 

My need for a mil dot reticle is limiting my choice of scopes and / or making me buy lower quality glass than I could otherwise afford. 

It occured to me late last week that I am not smart or quick enough to properly use a mil dot reticle on a second focal plain scope while under hunting shot pressure. 

Even on an ffp scope, I don't really count mil dots. Sometimes I know I need to drop or raise my aim a little for the distance but I rarely have time to really work out if it's 3 or 3.5 dots down. I just guesstimate using my hunters instinct or spidey sense. 

For target shooting, you have a little more time and if I used turrets, I wouldn't need to worry about FFP/ vs SFP or mil dots. A simple dot or fine crosshairs would work just as well. 

I read that you get more preciosn with good turrets (that using a holdover reticle$. Is anyone here finding that? Is it worth learning how to do it for air gun use?

Am I correct in thinking that there is no difference between FFP and SFP if you dial in your corrections instead of holding over?

How hard is it to work out your corrections without checking them at each distance at the range?
 
My eye is drawn to the center of the reticle and I have a hard time holding more than 2 mils off the target. (1 mil on 20x where half mils). It is easier to make the shot when you click, but it requires much more attention to make sure you wind it back. When hunting I sight in for a maximum point blank range so that I just get within my specified range and hold center. Your clicks are only as accurate as the range, are you going to carry a laser range finder also? Short answer is I click during field target matches, but not while hunting.
 
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I do have a laser range finder. It's not a great one but it seems to work ok.

I was just looking at the turrets on some of my "tactical style" scopes and some that I am interested in buying. They have numbers on them so I was hoping that dialing them back to zero was going to just be a case of remembering the the number for each turret. 

It seems like it would make more sense if the turrets were labeled in yards (and if it allowed you to move the labels so 0 was your zero and 50 yards was 50 yards. It would be good if the windage was labeled for 5mph and. 10mph wind etc too. 

This is half the problem I have with scopes. Nothing is ever labeled or calculated in a language that any of us use on a day to day basis. Most people have no idea what a mil or moa is but we all understand " 1" down at 50 yards". It doesn't get that much easier to understand once somebody explains a mil or moa either. 

Whoever invented these terms and systems was an idiot. 

Anyway, I am guess that, if you use turrets for matches, it must mean that you have more confidence in that method?

 
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Most of the SFP Mildot scopes out there have to be set to their correct magnification to work accurately. Many are accurate at the 10x power magnification setting. Otherwise it is guesswork at best. This is where FFP scopes come into play as they eliminate the magnification variable. Or if you have the Strelok Pro app, you can specify the scope and reticle and adjust magnification at places other than maximum, and it seems to be fairly accurate.

Now each scope could very will have varying click stops as well. Some are in quarters of an inch per click, some an eight of an inch per click. Now overlay that with the Mildot system and it is easy to see how people can come unstuck. The difference between each MOA is approximately three and a half inches at one hundred yards. So if you have eights or quarter clicks, that is a lot of counting and twisting and then remembering to get back where you you were initially. You will need to develop a scope profile and label your settings so it can be repeated easily for your given pellet trajectory and velocity.

i have used a Leupold M4 3.5-10 Mildot scope and the coarse M3 turrets are great to use. Each click is a single MOA, and on my .308 I can go from a 100yd zero out to 600 yds in less than one revolution of the Elevation turret. The turret is calibrated for sierra match kings and it seems to track quite well for the bullet weight and velocity I have loaded for it. 



 
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Yes, after you work up a range card it is easy. My .177 rifles get zeroed at 30 yards, so I hold dead on from 17-32. Closer or farther I click up. Once you have your zero at thiry, count clicks up for a 10 yard and a 60 yard zero and write them down. Plug your known velocity and pellet BC(will be lower than what manufacture says it will be) into chairgun. You will have to play with the scope height until the figures it gives you match your known zeros. Print your range card and keep it in your pocket or tape it to your gun. If you know you will not move the scope or change pellets you can get labels made for your turrets with yards at your chosen clicks. Also write down how many turns from the bottom your 30 yard zero is so you don't get lost.

The mils and moa combination bugs me too, but you get used to it.
 
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"amoxom"i have used a Leupold M4 3.5-10 Mildot scope and the coarse M3 turrets are great to use. Each click is a single MOA, and on my .308 I can go from a 100yd zero out to 600 yds in less than one revolution of the Elevation turret. The turret is calibrated for sierra match kings and it seems to track quite well for the bullet weight and velocity I have loaded for it.

I helped a buddy work up a load for his AR using that same optic a long time ago, and thought that 1 MOA clicks were too coarse until we tested it, and I quickly became a believer in that turret system. This was one of the reasons I liked the Barska 2X pistol scope on a Ruger Mk. III. That turret is .5 MOA. I much prefer a turret that's bigger than .25 these days.

Click to expand...
 
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"c_m_shooter"Yes, after you work up a range card it is easy. My .177 rifles get zeroed at 30 yards, so I hold dead on from 17-32. Closer or farther I click up. Once you have your zero at thiry, count clicks up for a 10 yard and a 60 yard zero and write them down. Plug your known velocity and pellet BC(will be lower than what manufacture says it will be) into chairgun. You will have to play with the scope height until the figures it gives you match your known zeros. Print your range card and keep it in your pocket or tape it to your gun. If you know you will not move the scope or change pellets you can get labels made for your turrets with yards at your chosen clicks. Also write down how many turns from the bottom your 30 yard zero is so you don't get lost.

The mils and moa combination bugs me too, but you get used to it.
Click to expand...
I am assuming that mils vs moa won't matter if you work out the clicks for each distance at the range?

I.e. If you see at the range that the poi is x clicks down at 50 yards and x clicks down at 75 then it doesn't matter if it's moa or mills. In long enough range, you could probably cover all air gun distances.
 
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I actually work up a range card in MOA for when I am clicking, since that is what the turret is marked in. I don't want to count 46 clicks for 50 yards, I write that as 5.6 for an 1/8 moa click scope. Read that as 5moa plus 6 clicks. If you have to make more than a revolution on your scope it can get confusing if 1 rotation is not an exact count of moa. On the backside of the card is a holdover reference for Mil reticle at 10x and half mils at 20x. 
 
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Is there such a thing as a custom range wheel you can add over a turret like they make for side focus dials?

I know some scope manufacturers offer various versions of this in terms of color coded inserts, space to add your own range tape or custom ballistic turrets but what about a simple screw-on aftermarket elevation wheel to add your own markings for 50, 60 and 100 yards etc?

It seems like something that would benefit from a larger wheel to get more precision. 
 
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