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Rifle Scopes What is the Best Christmas Tree Style PRS Reticle?

_Raining

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Minuteman
Feb 14, 2017
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Those of you that compete in PRS and utilize holdovers with an Christmas tree reticle, which of the different reticles do you feel is best (EBR-7C, H59, Tremor 3, Gen 3 XR, MIL-XT, MR4, SKMR3, GR2ID etc)?

What ranges do you utilize holdover and when do you dial? Or is it a factor of target size and time limit? Do any of the reticles have a red flag as far as dots being too large and obscures impacts or makes it harder to see trace. Or are any of them less usable at PRS magnification ranges?

I understand that field of view is also important as well as depth of field, are these secondary to the reticle?
 
I've had good experiences with the MIL-XT. I've held to 24mils with my 22 at 600 yards, and to about 12mils at distance with a 6.5CM.

I wasn't a fan of the T3. I felt like I had to work too hard to see trace or splash.

I haven't tried many beyond those.
 
I’ve used the MR4, EBR-2C, and AMR.

For the Christmas tree part, I like the AMR as the boxes help me find the hold quicker. But I hated the center crosshairs on it.

The MR4 works great from 15x and more, but is totally useless below 12x.

I would like the try a gen3xr.
 
Whatever your eye likes the most and brain comprehends easiest

This.

Some tend to like a simple tree, like what’s found in the PST Gen2 scopes and others prefer the grid-style trees. If you can, visit a good gun shop that carries a wide selection and take a look through the different styles.

Personally I enjoy the MIL-XT but I’ve always been comfortable with that style. The great thing about the Mil-XT is the dots every Mil (elv) and the .2 grid intervals. Makes for fast holds and bracketing. Ive never been a fan of predetermined wind/mover dots, as I just memorize my wind/mover data, but that also might be due to my lack of time working with those reticles.
 
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G2xr

less to clutter your brain when trying to quickly hold. It could honestly be made even more simple and wouldnt put you at a disadvantage.

None will help you if you dont practice with it though. Hell I've been running a standard reticle all year with no problems but I practice.
 
There's no such thing as the perfect PRS reticle. Everyone has different tastes.

Jake Vibbert was at my PRS match this past weekend and I got the chance to look at his reticle design in the USO. I like his reticle, but it's a little open for me. But the same people who really liked Jake's reticle felt the reticle in Steve Eames 7-35 ATACR was cluttered (Mil-XT). I really like the NF reticle, but I'm not a huge fan of dots.

I prefer more detail. It seems like holdovers with some wind are always out in open space with less detailed reticles. I want something there to better correlate my hold on the target. I think the new SCR2 has all the right characteristics and should be a good reticle. I like everything in .2s.

Everyone is different. Perfect is in the eye of the beholder.
 
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I've cleaned a 400 through 1,000 stage at a match with a H59 with my PRS rifle, and hit an IPSC at 1,000 with a 308 and old school mildots. Point is, doesn't matter the reticle as they can all be 'made to work.' You need to find what works best for you. For me, that's the H59 at the moment.
 
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I think most of the .2 mil reticles would be fine.

Personally I don't want a mil line number next to the vertical crosshair which could obscure a holdoff.

I didn't like the H37 because it's nice to have half the FOV open up top for spotting. Not a fan of the Tremor reticles but I don't hate them either, I just don't need the wind dots.

H59 has served me well, it helped me to win a long range steel series two years in a row, mostly holding over and off, I rarely dialed - way back in history when .5's were "the all the rage" and holding over was a scary thing for most tactical shooters.
 
IMO the tree Ive liked best. I dont like the floating center dots as they are too hard to find and I like the immediate .2 cross for easy quick corrections for when Im just a smidge off center.
I found myself using the .2 holds past 1 mil on elevation only never so I dont mind that .5 beyond the first mil. If I miss that much I should have dialed correctly.
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I'm not a fan of .2 hash marks, so I've always found the G2/3 Bushnell reticles to be the ideal, with the G3 winning due to the usefulness of the 1.2 hash for mover holds.
I echo those that said the ideal reticle is very personal. The reticle must make sense to your brain - the more it does the faster and easier your day will be.

Lastly, I know the OP said “PRS”, but due to the success of the series, the use of PRS has become almost synonymous with the long range practical precision rifle. So if it is more than a 100% dedicated PRS/NRL gun, (where targets are relatively large & paired with extreme time pressure) like a field or varmint match where wind budgets are often very small, you might lean in favor of tighter wind graduations. Just stuff to think about.
 
I echo those that said the ideal reticle is very personal. The reticle must make sense to your brain - the more it does the faster and easier your day will be.

Lastly, I know the OP said “PRS”, but due to the success of the series, the use of PRS has become almost synonymous with the long range practical precision rifle. So if it is more than a 100% dedicated PRS/NRL gun, (where targets are relatively large & paired with extreme time pressure) like a field or varmint match where wind budgets are often very small, you might lean in favor of tighter wind graduations. Just stuff to think about.

A good point.

Outside of PRS matches, I'm not very fussy. For hunting I can get by with about anything.
 
I echo those that said the ideal reticle is very personal. The reticle must make sense to your brain - the more it does the faster and easier your day will be.

Lastly, I know the OP said “PRS”, but due to the success of the series, the use of PRS has become almost synonymous with the long range practical precision rifle. So if it is more than a 100% dedicated PRS/NRL gun, (where targets are relatively large & paired with extreme time pressure) like a field or varmint match where wind budgets are often very small, you might lean in favor of tighter wind graduations. Just stuff to think about.

A lot of that depends on practice, too. I can pretty reliably make accurate wind holds down to .1 mils with the G3 in a match. If I have time to sit and look at it for a few moments, I can measure targets for UKDs down to .05mil as well (and have done it a fair number of times for practice).
 
A lot of that depends on practice, too. I can pretty reliably make accurate wind holds down to .1 mils with the G3 in a match. If I have time to sit and look at it for a few moments, I can measure targets for UKDs down to .05mil as well (and have done it a fair number of times for practice).
Yes, the man with one gun might be something to worry about even with a duplex. But that was not my point.

But try .05mil in the heat at distance... if your truthful, you now exactly what happens to the ranging estimates and true target size. So while you can measure it, it will not be the real target size in any scope.
 
But try .05mil in the heat at distance... if your truthful, you now exactly what happens to the ranging estimates and true target size. So while you can measure it, it will not be the real target size in any scope.

That's got nothing to do with reticle selection, however. Mirage is going to make milling a target difficult no matter what. As for measuring to .05, I've done it quite a few times. It's not anything I can do quickly, but I can do it.
 
That's got nothing to do with reticle selection, however. Mirage is going to make milling a target difficult no matter what. As for measuring to .05, I've done it quite a few times. It's not anything I can do quickly, but I can do it.
As mentioned heat at distance on targets presenting extremely small mil reads:

Shimmer, shooters call it mirage mistakenly, causes targets to grow in image appearance the smaller and further away they are, the more error you’ll see in mill reading.

It is NOT uncommon to get .1 or more (apparent) image growth due to optical disturbance at distance.

If your true target is .4mil but reads 25% larger at .5mil due to an unknown variable, as small long distances mil reads in the heat tend to; you have a fairly gross error.

In the case, of my 24” plate this is 330 yard under estimation and a solid miss no mater how you read it. This is for drop or wind. I have tons of examples of small mil reads at distance 20-30% wrong, many times over 500 yard error and NOT working due to optical issues.. by very experienced mil readers.

Of course, your .05mil accuracy reads, at distance, is an entirely more difficult example of super skills defeating physics.
 
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As mentioned heat at distance on targets presenting extremely small mil reads:

Shimmer, shooters call it mirage mistakenly, causes targets to grow in image appearance the smaller and further away they are, the more error you’ll see in mill reading.

It is NOT uncommon to get .1 or more (apparent) image growth due to optical disturbance at distance.

If your true target is .4mil but reads 25% larger at .5mil due to an unknown variable, as small long distances mil reads in the heat tend to; you have a fairly gross error.

In the case, of my 24” plate this is 330 yard under estimation and a solid miss no mater how you read it. This is for drop or wind. I have tons of examples of small mil reads at distance 20-30% wrong, many times over 500 yard error and NOT working due to optical issues.. by very experienced mil readers.

Of course, your .05mil accuracy reads, at distance, is an entirely more difficult example of super skills defeating physics.

I wasn't trying to say I could read to .05 in bad conditions. If that's how you interpreted it, I apologize for not being clear enough. I can mil a target down to .05 in good optical conditions with the G3 reticle, despite the lack of .2 marks.