Scope Dialing - Only using turret stickers?

[Bramezy]

Hey all, so ive been watching a ton of videos, scanning these and other pages looking for info on HFT and FT in general. One thing Ive never seen mentioned is a zero stop on the scope. I shoot PRS and just had to get a scope with a zero stop as I would get lost of where my zero was and my adjustments I had made. It seems to me the easiest way would be to zero at 17 or whatever he lowest yardage your club shoots and lock it there. How else do you keep track of your zero?
Im not sure theres enough space for each yard sticker on a turret cap which may be ideal really.
Thoughts?

 

[Nico5999]

If you set the "Zero" on your turret to the apex of your pellets trajectory (usually 25-30 yards), then you will only ever need to dial "up". You won't ever need to dial below the "zero" on your turret. Most scopes can stay within 1 revolution even at just 12 FPE.

On my Hawke Sidewinder 8-40 I only dial 1 MOA beyond my "home" revolution for very close shots. Everything else is within the same turret revolution.

 

[thane]

I set the stop a few clicks above to allow for zero shifts. If you set it right at apex and your zero moves up you'll have to break the tools out to reset the zero lock defeating the benefit.

 

[c_m_shooter]

I have turret tapes on a couple scopes that never move from those rifles. I count the turns from zero to bottom and have it written on the tape. I haven't had any problems being a turn out.

 

[qball]

Even for Sub12 WFTF I don't usually need anywhere near one revolution of turret unless your scope is 6 inches above the bore. Zero stop isn't very useful in WFTF if you ask me.

 

[scotton]

On scopes where I might have to go more than one revolution, I stack a couple of o-rings in the knob to act as a redneck zero stop. But as others have said, if you are clicking for field target, you probably don't need more than a revolution. I recently printed oversized, tool-less resettable turret knobs for my WFTF scopes. I didn't realize how great those are until I started using them. And being able to have different outer knobs for different pellets is great.

For Hunter FT, it's a non-issue since you can't click.

 

[stann]

Even for Sub12 WFTF I don't usually need anywhere near one revolution of turret unless your scope is 6 inches above the bore. Zero stop isn't very useful in WFTF if you ask me.

Well, I have more than two revolutions of turret from 10 yards to my zero, which is at 32-37yards, and my scope is about 3.5 inches above the bore.

This is my custom-made turret-knob with a zero stop. Without it I would have been totally lost in my clicks. I also shoot at different locations, and I am always a few clicks off. Thanks to this knob I can easily adjust my zero at the sight in range before the competition starts. This is definitely a game changer for me.

 

[qball]

Well, I have more than two revolutions of turret from 10 yards to my zero, which is at 32-37yards, and my scope is about 3.5 inches above the bore.
View attachment 318657
This is my custom-made turret-knob with a zero stop. Without it I would have been totally lost in my clicks. I also shoot at different locations, and I am always a few clicks off. Thanks to this knob I can easily adjust my zero at the sight in range before the competition starts. This is definitely a game changer for me.

View attachment 318650


View attachment 318651

WOW! 2 revolutions??? At 10 yards I'm only dialing 2.5 mils or 8.6 MOA BUT my turret has 10 mils per revolution so literally 1/4 revolution. All my other scopes have 6 mils per revolution so even they won't hit half of a revolution but my scope is lower at 2.9 inches above bore.

 

[Nico5999]

WOW! 2 revolutions??? At 10 yards I'm only dialing 2.5 mils or 8.6 MOA and my turret has 10 mils per revolution so literally 1/4 revolution. All my other scopes have 6 mils per revolution so even they won't hit half of a revolution but my scope is lower at 2.9 inches above bore.

It really depends on the scope as well I think. My Falcon X50 stays within 1 revolution using 1/8 MOA clicks but my Hawke Sidewinder ED goes just a hair outside of one revolution with 1/4 MOA (or 1/10 MIL) clicks.

Scope height is about 3.5 inches. Despite using more than 1 revolution I still run the Hawke since I find the reticle to be vastly superior to a lot of other offerings in the high power range.

 

[qball]

It really depends on the scope as well I think. My Falcon X50 stays within 1 revolution using 1/8 MOA clicks but my Hawke Sidewinder ED goes just a hair outside of one revolution with 1/4 MOA (or 1/10 MIL) clicks.

Scope height is about 3.5 inches. Despite using more than 1 revolution I still run the Hawke since I find the reticle to be vastly superior to a lot of other offerings in the high power range.

True, there are a few variables. Think my rail has 20MOA which helps. Also 10 mils is unusually large amount of adjustment for elevation turrets.

Anytime if you dial more than 1 Revolution on the elevation turret zero stop could be helpful. Didn’t realize some scopes need over 2 revolutions, personally I haven’t use more than half of a revolution on the 2 scopes I used.

 

[scotton]

Interesting tidbit, the Falcon T50 Gen 1 has 60 clicks per revolution, the Gen 2 has 100 clicks. They are both 1/8 MOA per click, so they just turned the knob up to 11 on the Gen 2 model. The Gen 1 goes just over a revolution if I use pellets heavier than 8.4, then Gen 2 never goes past 3/4 of a rev.

If you watch good WFTF shooters, they generally have a routine after they finish a lane involving setting the turret back to zero and adjusting the magnification back to the setting used for ranging. When you make it a habit, you don't lose the clicks or accidentally range at 30x instead of 50x. I haven't made this a habit because I'm not that good of a WFTF shooter.

 

[Greg5850]

From your pic it looks like your scope may be a bit more than 3.5 inches. The scope height measurement is center of barrel to center of scope, it appears that the tape measure is resting on the barrel in the pic. The formula I use is; distance from scope to barrel + 1/2 diameter of scope + 1/2 diameter of barrel.
This prolly won't make much difference to what you are trying to do here, but it never hurts to get all the numbers correct.

Is your scope drooped? If not this can make a pretty big difference on close shots.

Greg

 

[stann]

From your pic it looks like your scope may be a bit more than 3.5 inches. The scope height measurement is center of barrel to center of scope, it appears that the tape measure is resting on the barrel in the pic. The formula I use is; distance from scope to barrel + 1/2 diameter of scope + 1/2 diameter of barrel.
This prolly won't make much difference to what you are trying to do here, but it never hurts to get all the numbers correct.

Is your scope drooped? If not this can make a pretty big difference on close shots.

Greg

Yes, you are absolutely right, Greg. I didn't take the exact measurements - it's hard to do so by holding the tape in one hand and taking the photo with the other  Well, I did now, and the scope is exactly 3.76 inches high. I use Sightron SIII 10-50x60 the FT version. It has 50 clicks per revolution and 0.05MRAD per click, so, it's only 2,5MRAD per revolution. I need exactly 109 clicks (5.45MRAD) to cover the range from 10 to 55yards. I have the same scope mounted on my Thomas and it is exactly 2.66 inches above the bore, and I need 62 clicks or 3.1 MRAD. So, again it's more than a revolution and unfortunately, I don't have a custom-made turret or a zero stop on this one. I am not a good shooter, neither have the routine to turn the turret back to my zero and often do stupid mistakes like overturning my turret. To get back to the topic, I think that having a scope with a zero stop is a necessity, or at least it makes your life easier, especially if you shoot WFTF. Take a look at the example bellow. The scope is mounted so high that there aren't even enough clicks to be dialed for the 10 yards shot. Yes, it may look like a disadvantage for the close shots, but for the long ones it's definitely a plus. Well, this of course is another matter for a completely different topic