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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Long Range Scopes and Other Optics
Ranging groundhogs and other small animals
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<blockquote data-quote="CatShooter" data-source="post: 1682729" data-attributes="member: 7"><p>I am a life long, dedicated, groundhog shooter. I ran into this problem when I bought my first laser RF.</p><p></p><p>The beams on lasers are very large. The specs for beam divergence is typically the "half power points", which are the edges of the beam that are 1/2 power of the center... so a laser which has a 2.5 mil beam (~10" at 100 yds) really has a beam of ~20" or more at 100 yds.</p><p>So at 700 yds, the beam diameter is around ten+ feet in diameter.</p><p></p><p>The second problem is that laser beams do not reflect well from furry animals - maybe 5% of the beam comes back from the ground hog - the rest is absorbed by the fur... but the beam is reflected close to 100% from any grass, or other green growths with chlorophyll.</p><p>So, at 700 yards, you are getting ping returns from everything EXCEPT the groundhog... and you are getting ping returns from grass in front and behind him.</p><p></p><p>I went through several top-of-the-line lasers and finely gave up. If you ever want a real lesson in frustration, try using a laser on a prairie dog town... you will sit down and cry. I finely gave up and bought a military surplus optical rangefinder.</p><p></p><p>Life got instantly good. The one I have (Wild 80CM) is accurate to +/- or less, at 15 feet at 1,000 yards.</p><p>You can find them on eBay from time to time, for around $300 to $400.</p><p>You can also find the "Swedish Periscope" optical rangefinder on eBay sometimes for around $200.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CatShooter, post: 1682729, member: 7"] I am a life long, dedicated, groundhog shooter. I ran into this problem when I bought my first laser RF. The beams on lasers are very large. The specs for beam divergence is typically the "half power points", which are the edges of the beam that are 1/2 power of the center... so a laser which has a 2.5 mil beam (~10" at 100 yds) really has a beam of ~20" or more at 100 yds. So at 700 yds, the beam diameter is around ten+ feet in diameter. The second problem is that laser beams do not reflect well from furry animals - maybe 5% of the beam comes back from the ground hog - the rest is absorbed by the fur... but the beam is reflected close to 100% from any grass, or other green growths with chlorophyll. So, at 700 yards, you are getting ping returns from everything EXCEPT the groundhog... and you are getting ping returns from grass in front and behind him. I went through several top-of-the-line lasers and finely gave up. If you ever want a real lesson in frustration, try using a laser on a prairie dog town... you will sit down and cry. I finely gave up and bought a military surplus optical rangefinder. Life got instantly good. The one I have (Wild 80CM) is accurate to +/- or less, at 15 feet at 1,000 yards. You can find them on eBay from time to time, for around $300 to $400. You can also find the "Swedish Periscope" optical rangefinder on eBay sometimes for around $200. [/QUOTE]
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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Long Range Scopes and Other Optics
Ranging groundhogs and other small animals
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