Oddball Horus Reticle? 4,000 meter stadia lines? Anyone have any insights?

[sirhrmechanic]

Just bought a really early Brea USO 3.8-22 front parallax USO scope... It's in Mils (But marked 1click = 1cm at 100Meters, which is a really, really early USO marking for mils. Before folks were even calling Mils... Mils.)

This has a Horus reticle that is gradiated out to 4,000 meters!!! Crazy! The 100 meter 'sight in' position is so far up in the scope that there is barely any field of view above it (that is at 22 power... it's a bit better at 10x). But 4,000 meters on a Horus? What was this being set up for c. 2001 - 2004 or so? Only thing I can think of is a McMillan TAC 50 or an M82 Barrett? Maybe a Cheytac?

This is going to go on a structured barrel .300 Norma Magnum... so the reticle is actually useful in a modern sense.

But what on earth was Horus or JBW2 Thinking 20+ years ago when they created this scope? I can't think of anything then 'except' maybe a .408 Cheytac, a BMG or a couple of outliers like a 20mm Anzio?

Inquiring minds want to know! Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[Skunk]

Is there anything in the field of view to indicate which Horus reticle it is? A tiny H-XX (H-37, eg.) in one of the lower quadrants….

And, Horus reticles are typically Mil grids, as far as I know. Are you sure it’s graduated to 4k meters, or is it 40 Mils?

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Interesting question… it is 40. But so makes more sense to be 40 mils.

I’ll look for the number in the quadrants. get back to you guys tomorrow!

40 mils vertical just on the reticle is still bordering on making that scope more suitable for a mortar than a rifle!

Sirhr

 

[sirhrmechanic]

So it is an H-38. Which was made for ELR.

There is an old thread here referencing them.

Definitely an oddball!! Very crowded right to the top of the scope!

So far nothing on Horus site specifically on the H38. But similar to the H-58 I think. I have one of those on my TacOps.

As this will likely go on a .300 Norma magnum…. The 40 mils of hold will be… interesting!

Still looking for an official reference!

Sirhr

 

[Skunk]

Back in that timeframe when Horus was the new hotness, their big selling point was, as it is now, the ability to hold without dialing.

The H-37 and 38 had the Zero point high in the field of view to alleviate the need to reduce magnification to achieve high holdover amounts. In your scope, your might be able to holdover 40mils at 22x. With the H-59, you wouldn’t be able to without reducing magnification to see that much of the reticle. Reducing magnification to reach a more distant target is kinda counterintuitive…

Back then, we were putting that reticle in a lot of the “new” 5-25 T-Pals being bought by the Army and Navy.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

So got a bit more info... this scope was orderedby .mil unit specifically to go on a M82 Barrett.

Which explains a lot. Because back then, this was a real oddball!

Also means it is going on my M82 Barrett!

And, yeah, some of these high-holds reticles were bordering on... hard to use! On this one, you'd have to dial back quite a ways just to get the image out of the edge of the FOV.

That said, if you were using in an anti-Material role, then it's not as much of a big deal. Minute of Truck is fine with holdovers and dialed back. Minute of Taliban... yeah, good luck!

But this would be a very good pair with a Barrett and that is where it is going to go live. Freeing a 5 - 25X with EREC up to go on my new build. Which will be a better combo anyway.

I have too many USO's... (Said noone ever!)

Sirhr

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Back in that timeframe when Horus was the new hotness, their big selling point was, as it is now, the ability to hold without dialing.

The H-37 and 38 had the Zero point high in the field of view to alleviate the need to reduce magnification to achieve high holdover amounts. In your scope, your might be able to holdover 40mils at 22x. With the H-59, you wouldn’t be able to without reducing magnification to see that much of the reticle. Reducing magnification to reach a more distant target is kinda counterintuitive…

Back then, we were putting that reticle in a lot of the “new” 5-25 T-Pals being bought by the Army and Navy.

I actually never got into the Horus thing. But it was trendy for a few years and there are very few 'faster' reticles for multiple targets, once you know how to use it. This is my second one (both 'vintage' at this point) and I have sort of figured them out. And 'somewhat' like the concept. But I was LE and that required short shots, very little worry about wind or holdovers... and a VERY clear, uncluttered reticle because we were observers first, marksmen second.

Did you work with JBW2 out in Brea? Just curious. I did some work for them and invented a couple of 'gadgets' for them including a cool polarizer that let you see through glass in almost any light condition. But they never made it into production. And a couple of killflash designs. Same... they liked them, but never ended up in production before John passed in his Harley crash.

Loved all those guys!!!!

Sirhr

PS. Met them c. 2002 when I was doing consulting for a company called Adirondack Optics. They invented the first scope with a built-in video/camera capture for hunting. John built the prototype scopes. I was working with ADK on some homeland security stuff at the same time. Airport surveillance gizmos. Hit it off with the USO team instantly! And beta-tested the ADK scope. But didn't order my first USO until I was an LE and selected for M/O school(s) c. 2008. They were truly the varsity!!!

 

[Skunk]

I knew JBW2 but didn’t work for USO until after his passing. I was just fiends with JBW3 at the time and would hang out at the shop and build scopes on my spare time when my schedule allowed (I was active duty USMC then, and stationed down at Pendleton).

I remember the Adirondack scopes.