Reticle Ranging On The Cheap

[planalpha]

I want to practice reticle ranging and don't want to pull my scope off my rifle. I was looking at perhaps the Vortex Solo R/T for $120 or the Bushnell version for $200. But I was wondering of they work well for that at 8/10x and if the graduations are too small. From the PDF I can't tell if the reticle is just in MILS or in subtents, if the first number is a 5 for .5.
Would it be better to find a cheap scope with a MIL reticle and use that? Any suggestions on something cheap that has a MIL reticle with less than 1 MIL (like .1 or .2 stadia).

Thanks!

 

[bh-ltr]

The Vortex reticle just has 1 mil ticks. That 5 means 5 mils up. That has a lot to do with the magnification. .2 stadia at 8x would be really hard to make out. The more magnification you have the better your odds of accurate reticle ranging will be. I just won an award for best reticle ranging at a shooting school I went to and honestly I think the only reason I got the stupid thing was because my scope went to higher mag than anyone else on the firing line. Thankfully that wasn't the only award I got.

The difference between 16X and 25X can make a big difference when ranging. At 8X its going to be kinda tough. However using a solo and getting to where you can call .1 mil corrections from it will give you good ranging practice and also give you better skills as a spotter.

I may have a spotting scope with a mil dot reticle for sale here in the nearish future. Its dots are 0.2mil in diameter. Thus the dot center is on the mil and the edge of the dot is .1 away. That gives a little bit of a .1 stadia (but not really). Its one of those Bushnell Excursion 15-45x60mm FLP tactical guys. I'm hoping to get $325 or so out of it as its in very good condition and was $400 new. Its condition along with the fact that the price of all optics has risen a lot lately makes the 325 a fair deal in my opinion. I'm only selling it as I'm looking to upgrade to a Mark 4.

 

[planalpha]

Good to know about the Vortex. I guess I'll look for a cheap scope to mount on a tripod with a decent MIL reticle or a good deal on a MIL spotter. Dang it! I was hoping I could do it on the cheap.


Thanks for the info!

 

[Pat M]

Vortex Solo R/T 8x36 Tactical Monocular / $120

Vortex Optics Solo Tactical RT 8x36 Tactical Monocular w/ Ranging Reticle FREE S&H SOL-3608-RT. Vortex Monoculars.

 

[biner626]

An idea I had is to mount a rail section to a tripod then take my riflescope off and mount on the rail section so I can mil stuff from my living room. The mil spotter idea fell through when the bottom fell out of the excursion lineup. Still bitter.

 

[planalpha]

Well I just ordered the Vortex Solo R/T. I'm not sure how well it's going to work for ranging practice but I can always send it back or sell it if it doesn't work out for me. It seems like at 8x and only 1 MIL graduations it would be pretty poor for anything really far out there but for practice around town I think it'll work since the objects will probably be much closer and bigger. I'll let you guys know how it works out. Thanks for the help!

 

[Pat M]

came across this, hella cheap - but: Barska 11-33x50 WP Tactical Spotter with Reticle

 

[chewy boito]

with a name like barska it has to be good.