Christmas Tree Reticle..do you use it?

[Lastsaint21]

Two buddies and myself have been looking at new scopes, while talking, reticles came up..(this is mainly for 22 comps)..each person has their own preferences of course and by the end of it, we realized that none of us really use the Christmas Tree reticle. It's there but most of the time, your holding 1/4 of plate or plate edge and almost never off the plate..When you get out to the longer stuff where you would be off the plate, your usually dialing instead of holding over..and when you dial, you then have the ability to use the "normal" crosshair for your wind hold..

My point in bringing this up is, getting ready to spend money on a ZCO and I really think I would be happy with a Impact 1..it would give me more "clear area" to spot misses.. but man I would hate to spend that and be wrong..Does anyone else prefer the standard reticle (lack of a better term) over the Christmas Tree Reticle? or am I missing something here? The standard reticle even seems to be quicker for my eye..

 

[BurtG]

Mpct 3. Love the circles. Have used the tree

 

[Rob01]

Get the tree. Way more useful and helps having less misses to spot

 

[Krawlven]

I got a horus reticle. Prefer to use the dots vs dialing.

 

[reelserious]

Its the only way to go

 

[lash]

For the application you want to use this scope, get the tree. That’s where they shine. With a tree reticle, it’s very easy and common to just not dial for each range, within reason. Practice using it a bit and you’ll find that you can and do use it at times.

Also, do you find that a tree actually obscures or interferes with you seeing misses? Because that has not been my experience.

Of course, reticle choice is like underwear choice. It’s very personal and varies from person to person

 

[Lastsaint21]

For the application you want to use this scope, get the tree. That’s where they shine. With a tree reticle, it’s very easy and common to just not dial for each range, within reason. Practice using it a bit and you’ll find that you can and do use it at times.

Also, do you find that a tree actually obscures or interferes with you seeing misses? Because that has not been my experience.

Of course, reticle choice is like underwear choice. It’s very personal and varies from person to person

I actually hold over ALOT... My XTR3 has/had an issue that is was hard to dial.. like you had to grab the SOB like a man, and turn it like your opening a jar of canned 5 year old pickles..I called Burris back in the spring and they wanted to take care of it then but I couldn't come off the scope, to many matches. I would just dial the first distance and hold the rest..That scope forced me to learn hold overs and I am a better shooter for it. I did just send the scope in to be fixed..As far as misses, I dont know what I don't know, sometimes I dont see misses, depends on where we are shooting but sometimes I do.. I cant blame it on the reticle at all..but I thought with less reticle the more misses I might see..As close as these matches are even seeing one miss, would make a difference. Just looking for all the "edges" you can get.

 

[Lastsaint21]

Let me clear up something.. I am talking about the wind holds on the Christmas tree.. I absolutely know you need the main marked vertical bar.

 

[BurtG]

Let me clear up something.. I am talking about the wind holds on the Christmas tree.. I absolutely know you need the main marked vertical bar.

Get the tree

 

[Rob01]

Yes get the tree. Will make wind holds much easier to accurately make. Been shooting this matches in this sport for 20 years and have shot a lot with standard mil reticles and all I own now are tree reticles. You gain nothing with a standard reticle and the whole seeing the miss thing just doesn’t ring true. You can see your misses fine and actually get a good follow up correction as well.

 

[CSTactical]

Two buddies and myself have been looking at new scopes, while talking, reticles came up..(this is mainly for 22 comps)..each person has their own preferences of course and by the end of it, we realized that none of us really use the Christmas Tree reticle. It's there but most of the time, your holding 1/4 of plate or plate edge and almost never off the plate..When you get out to the longer stuff where you would be off the plate, your usually dialing instead of holding over..and when you dial, you then have the ability to use the "normal" crosshair for your wind hold..

My point in bringing this up is, getting ready to spend money on a ZCO and I really think I would be happy with a Impact 1..it would give me more "clear area" to spot misses.. but man I would hate to spend that and be wrong..Does anyone else prefer the standard reticle (lack of a better term) over the Christmas Tree Reticle? or am I missing something here? The standard reticle even seems to be quicker for my eye..

PM me your number and I can go over the ZCO reticles with you so you can make the best decision for your application

 

[lash]

Let me clear up something.. I am talking about the wind holds on the Christmas tree.. I absolutely know you need the main marked vertical bar.

I understood that to be the case and I wasn’t clear either I guess. When I use hold overs at different ranges with .22LR, there will be wind holds too, as it is rarely still enough for straight up shots past 100 yards. It isn’t common that the wind/breeze is consistent and unchanging, so dialing for wind is out for me.

 

[Lastsaint21]

PM me your number and I can go over the ZCO reticles with you so you can make the best decision for your application

I have been watching your post Sir!! That 8x40 with the Impact 1 is what started this conversation.. I am hoping I can lay my eyes on an 8-40 a Nationals before I decide.

 

[Lastsaint21]

I understood that to be the case and I wasn’t clear either I guess. When I use hold overs at different ranges with .22LR, there will be wind holds too, as it is rarely still enough for straight up shots past 100 yards. It isn’t common that the wind/breeze is consistent and unchanging, so dialing for wind is out for me.

I maybe doing it wrong but to me, if there is a 2'' at 100 and 4'' at 150.. If wind is blowing hard enough that I had to hold left edge at 100 on the 2'' I will usually hold left edge on the 4'' and hit..not always.. and wind is tricky as you know..

 

[CSTactical]

I have been watching your post Sir!! That 8x40 with the Impact 1 is what started this conversation.. I am hoping I can lay my eyes on an 8-40 a Nationals before I decide.

I will say that the MPCT1 has regained some popularity lately due to some trainers/competitors that prefer not to have a tree, in fact they came up with their own reticle for another top brand. @Sprayed99 has tried all the reticles and prefers the MPCT1 which didn't stop him from winning the 2022 GAP Grind

 

[Rob01]

I maybe doing it wrong but to me, if there is a 2'' at 100 and 4'' at 150.. If wind is blowing hard enough that I had to hold left edge at 100 on the 2'' I will usually hold left edge on the 4'' and hit..not always.. and wind is tricky as you know..

That might work but depends on terrain and wind direction as well. With the tree reticle it makes any hold easier and more accurate.

 

[Krob95]

I prefer a tree reticle across all my optics. It makes holding for wind that much easier and if I drop one low and left, I can see exactly how far it is vs just guessing and hoping for the best. Also makes it easy for me to call corrections when out shooting with buddies when spotting for them.

 

[beetroot]

If you think you'll ever hold both elvation and wind then definitely get the tree.
It's not impossible to hold in the middle of nowhere but it's certainly not as easy as the tree.

I personally don't see any down sides to a tree (unless it is an onbnoxious one) the main stadia is alwasy easier to see than the tree so you aren't likely to "lose" the main cross hairs, the likely hood of not seeing a missed shot due to beign obscured by the tree is also very unlikely.

If you were concerened about not seeing splash the MPCT2 has a full 2mils clear around the centre so see any splash from a miss, which (should) be where the majority of your misses will be be unless you are intentionally holding in the tree, in which case the tree (as previously explained) is worth having.

If you end up doing something stupid like being a whole revolution out or dialing a tonne of wind the wrong way, then I'm not sure tree vs no tree will make a difference in seeing the splash.

 

[Shoots 700's]

Like others said the tree is very useful and I use mine a lot.

 

[MojoNixon]

Get the tree. In my FClass matches this year I was holding in the middle of nowhere for the first relay of my firs 2022 match and while I called the 10 MOA off of left edge. Immediately changed to the 10 moa dot, relaxed and shot 186 8X for that relay. At the time the 186 was the best I’d ever shot for a 20 shot relay. No looking back. Almost never dial windage with the tree

 

[rothgyr]

I've been back and forth over this as I do things differently now than I did a year ago. I shoot PRS and a bit of NRL22 - when doing a stage with multiple distances, I used to dial the first target, and hold both wind and elevation for the farther target. I used to swear by wide Christmas trees - only MIL-XT, EBR-7C, or Horus would suffice.

I switched over from a Tremor3 to a JVCR this year, and started dialing wind as well. If you don't have extreme wind, the vertical hashes will give you a .2-.3 hold reference at their edges, which is often good enough, especially for your use case with .22 competition. Paul Dallin wrecked NRL22 with a MIL-C reticle (no tree).

Personally, I like having a tree. I shot a whole match with a Tremor3 dialed to zero with surprisingly nice results. I timed out a fair bit, but using the reticle is a fun challenge/skill to have for me. I'd rather have it and not use it than need it and not have it, or however that saying goes.

 

[TheHorta]

If you’re a Jehovah’s Witness, you’ll be shunned if they find out you have a Christmas Tree reticle.

 

[acudaowner]

only use it on Christmas hence the name ...

 

[Lastsaint21]

If you think you'll ever hold both elvation and wind then definitely get the tree.
It's not impossible to hold in the middle of nowhere but it's certainly not as easy as the tree.

I personally don't see any down sides to a tree (unless it is an onbnoxious one) the main stadia is alwasy easier to see than the tree so you aren't likely to "lose" the main cross hairs, the likely hood of not seeing a missed shot due to beign obscured by the tree is also very unlikely.

If you were concerened about not seeing splash the MPCT2 has a full 2mils clear around the centre so see any splash from a miss, which (should) be where the majority of your misses will be be unless you are intentionally holding in the tree, in which case the tree (as previously explained) is worth having.

If you end up doing something stupid like being a whole revolution out or dialing a tonne of wind the wrong way, then I'm not sure tree vs no tree will make a difference in seeing the splash.

I do worry I will feel like I will need it don’t have it so I will probably go with a tree.. In my mind there is just a lot to weed thru when doing a hold over that I don’t know if I need it.. On the Burris now, if I am holding 3.2.. my eye tends to go to the left side to find the 2, then I slide over to the main vertical, drop 1 mil, then go down .2.. Seems less complicated with just 1 thing to focus on.. I have been on the scope for a year and it’s still not automatic like I think I should be.. nothing against the reticle at all, I chose that one because it, and the Mil Xt made the most sense to my brain at the time. My eyes have also been taking a dump on me, getting ready to gross the 50 mark so they might be causing me some issues too. The ZCO reticle really stood out to my eyes..

 

[Rob01]

I do worry I will feel like I will need it don’t have it so I will probably go with a tree..

Smart move. You will have a center reticle on both but with the tree you have more to help be more precise. The more you use and practice with it the more comfortable you will get with it.

 

[usafa77]

I actually hold over ALOT..

I use the ZCO 4-20 with MCT3 for NRL22. If it's more than one target I hold over.The reticle never seems to be an issue when looking for misses.

 

[TheHorta]

Stop missing. Problem solved.

Ask Santa for better shooting skills this Christmas.

 

[Sprayed99]

No tree for me on anything other than a hunting gun. I dial my optics when shooting matches. At clays match this year we ran the holdover skills stage and in 30mph wind I still ran one of the fastest times without a tree. Just more crap to get in the way of your sight picture.

 

[Herb Stoner]

I have a Kahles with the AMR reticle and a ZCO with the 3x and find them very versatile. With a little time I found it intuitive to hold for different target ranges and changing winds. I don’t feel like either of these retitles clutter or obscure the view.

 

[M4orturnate]

I really like the ebr7c&d reticles but my favorite is the mpct2. It took two or three matches to get used to it but now its extremely intuitive and open. I run the ebr7c on my vudoo and like it except it really needs .2 marks on the verticle. Still dont have any trouble holding.

 

[KineticPerformance]

I use a tree pretty exclusively unless I'm shooting a single known distance.