Rifle Scopes Capped Turrets
- Thread starter phillip61
- Start date
I can not think of any logical reason other than trying to be being different than everyone else.
I wish my tactical scopes had a capped windage. I never use it in a precision rifle match or field shooting and it can only cause trouble by getting spun when you sling the rifle and walk around with it or forget to reset it after moving to a new position. The only times I dial wind is on a square range doing something like F-Class, in which case taking the time to pull the cap is not a problem.
Other than that, for most shooting I hold off on windage and don't touch the turret.
Other than that, for most shooting I hold off on windage and don't touch the turret.
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Life as I know it would not be possible with capped elevation turrets. I was sort of worried about uncapped windage, but over a year now with almost daily uncapped wind turrets and I have yet to spin the dial unintentionally. Most of the time my rifle is slung over my shoulder while I ride my bike(ATV), or walking, or horse. One of Pat's slings holds my Surgeon secure.I have gotten to the point where I prefer uncapped windage, at least when I have a lot of wind. Psychological only to be sure, but I find it easier to dial and just hold dead on rather than hold off with the hash marks on the crosshairs. YMMV. Most of the time I am killing coyotes and they don't give you sighters.
I love capped windage. More than once team match has had problems where a windage cap was bumped a few clicks by accident during movement/handling. We never dial wind, so having it capped just takes a source of 'gotchas' away. If all of my windage knobs were capped I'd be fine with that.
Both my USO and Mark6 are capped, and removing the cap offers full 'normal' functionality.
It just depends how you use your rifle. In a precision rifle match there is almost no time to dial wind and they often change the distance and angles to targets so it can only hose you. One match I engaged targets at 0 degrees, then around ~45 degrees, then ~80 degrees, then back over to ~300 degrees all at different ranges. There is no way you want to start dialing wind in that situation. You want to read the wind in the scope each time and hold off. If you start dialing wind you will eventually screw yourself.
Now in F-Class when you are lying on your stomach and shooting KD ranges, dialing wind is fine. I also do it for ELR shooting on a fixed target at times if the wind is very steady. But in a tactical match I don't dial wind in virtually all cases.
But again each situation is different. I personally wish all my wind turrets were either capped or could be locked out on my hunting/tactical scopes. I have almost zero need for a wind turret that can be adjusted without making it a very deliberate step. It can only cause anguish for how I shoot. But it's all shooter/situation dependent. If you are on big open plains with steady wind it may come in handy.
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I run capped turrets on all my hunting rigs. I site in for max point blank range. So if I'm within my max range. Dead hold and call it good. I like not having to worry about dialing when there's trophies in the crosshairs. For comps though uncapped all around! You don't have the option of getting as close as possible.
After hearing all the replies (thanks) and a lot of online research, I have decided capped turrets are not for me. I really liked the 9-36X44 but just could not get over the capped turrets. Think it will be the 6-24X50 or the 4-28X50. Thanks again for your replies.
