Rifle Scopes Talk me into a “Christmas Tree” Reticle - Kahles/ZCO

[Cold_Bore_88]

As I move further in my shooting “career” I find myself leaning back towards reticles with no Christmas tree. I have a couple scopes with a tree and rarely use them. Most of the time I adjust elevation and hold windage (even in matches).

Most of the trees don’t have enough windage in them for the distances I shoot. Wind is consistently 20 mph in Texas and most of these reticles don’t even start windage until 1-2 MILS (and then it’s only .5 windage at 1 mil elevation and 1 at 2).

Lookomg at the Kahles SKMR 3 and ZCO but am leaning towards an MSR2. I like the ranging capabilities. And .2 hash marks in the first MIL.

Thoughts?

 

[AIAW]

It's not what we like, it's what you are comfortable with! I think you've already pretty much made up your mind, you're just looking for someone to agree (and that's not a bad thing). I personally agree. I am a huge fan of the P4F/MSR/MSR2 and the S&B LRR-MIL. I also have an assortment of H59's.

With vegetation, tree-reticles suck IMO. You get out on dusty raw earth that's where they aren't so bad. For observation/spotting, I strongly prefer the MSR/P4F.

 

[boomslang]

Unless you’re wanting to try a tree reticle for the sake of trying something different, why change what works for you? MSR2 is a fine choice.

 

[Jack's Dad]

Christmas trees are for the holidays

 

[HogsLife]

Too much “clutter” for me. Hard to spot impacts through all the noise in the lower half of the field of view. That’s just my personal opinion. I run an SKMR3 and that’s about the limit. Just enough to be very useful but not too busy. Plus many of them become completely unuseable while on the lower magnification settings.

 

[92trk]

Better to have and not need then left wanting. Just my .02

 

[HogsLife]

Better to have and not need then left wanting. Just my .02

Hell, May as well put an upside down Christmas tree in the upper portion of the reticle also. Never know when you may have to zero at 1k and hold under to pop a buck at 100....??

 

[TheGerman]

Do you celebrate Christmas, Hanuakah, Kwanzaa or Festivus?

 

[wade2big]

I dont care for Christmas tree reticles or the thin .03 mil reticles that are on most all scopes. Im not a benchrest guy so the fine reticles are a hindrance to me at times as I use a wide magnifcation range. The MSR reticle is a little thicker and a non tree. I like it.

 

[Dthomas3523]

My thoughts:

1:When would you ever use the ranging reticle?

2: At what point would you need the see windage marks at the 1 mil part of the tree? The mpct2 reticle for example starts the tree at 2mils and goes out to 1mil windage. With a 6creed, 20mph full value wind at 400yds, you would need about 1.2 mil of elevation and 1.2mil of wind. You can easily bracket using the tree and main reticle stadia, as they are close together. After all, trees are more of a “get real close” than exact as you don’t always fall on the full mil of elevation. It’s just easier to bracket with the tree as reference.

3: how often are you shooting where a) you’re not allowed to dial, b) you will run out of time if you dial, or c) you are hunting and won’t have time to dial?

I own both mpct1 and mpct2 reticles. Most of the time I use the mpct1 as I dial or have time to dial 95% of my shots.

But the mpct2 is probably the best tree out there (personal opinion) as it has an open center area since the tree starts at 2mils for seeing impacts/splash and still has .2 throughout the entire reticle.

After using mpct reticles, I will not go back to either non tree or tree reticles that do not have .2 throughout.

 

[Dthomas3523]

I would toss out the idea of the skmr or skmr3 unless you’re thinking about a 624i.

The k525i is too close in price to a zcomp and gives up more than the price different. In glass and reticles.

With msr2, I’d probably look for a used Schmidt.

The big reason I was on kahles train for a while was the skmr and skmr3 dot and windage marks were perfect for me. Mpct made it even better while also being a big step up in glass.

 

[Shoots 700's]

I like the skrm3 a lot,being able to dial one elevation and hold another it very easy. To me not cluttered and the lines are fine. Floating dot is also something I prefer.

 

[acudaowner]

switching will cause you to loose your mind , hear voices , projectile vomit , kidney failure , projectile diarrhea , drooling , slobbering , mucous discharge , and or but not limited to death . possible side effects of anti depressants and your worried about which Reticle
to choose pick one lol . paper or plastic ?

 

[wigwamitus]

As we can see from these comments, reticle choice is pretty personal !!

I think of it in terms of three basic choices

01 - Duplex/Simple Cross Hair reticle
This is for when you want to or need to dial for both elevation and wind.
This style has probably been used way more than the other two

02 - Mil Dot/Hash
This is for when you want to or need to dial for elevation but be able to hold for wind.
This style has been used a lot also

03 - Hold-over/xmas Tree
This is the newer style and allows us to hold for both elevation and wind.

Which is better ? Depends on what you want to /need to do.