I'm new to long range shooting and am eagerly waiting for my first long range rifle to be built. The rifle is a .300 win mag weighing in at 7.25 pounds. I've had a pretty hard time figuring out what kind of scope to get to go along with it and still haven't made a decision. To my surprise, it's harder to find a scope that I like than a rifle, for various reasons.
The rifle's main purpose will be long range hunting. Most of it's life will be spent pursing elk and taking muleys that I may come across while searching for elk. I'm trying to setup my equipment to be capable of taking elk out to 1000 yards, my maximum effective range will be determined after I get my rifle by how many bullets I'm able to put through it. I picked that number for everything at this point because I don't want to be limited by my equipment - which I know is very unlikely to happen.
After doing a bunch of scope research, I like the idea of getting a first focal plane scope. I have looked at a few and haven't come across anything that I'm in love with at this point. However, I do have some more opportunities to check out some different scopes and reticles over the coming months. If I can't find a FFP scope that I love, I'm considering going SFP. This is where your feedback comes in.
The main reason I want a FFP scope is for making wind corrections. For the elevation corrections, I anticipate being able to dial them into the scope and not need to change that dialed elevation often. There is always the possibility of the animal running a large distance to a different location, which I would then need to re-range and re-dial. But the wind is constantly varying.
I envision being setup on a bull with my elevation and windage dialed for say a 10mph wind, just waiting for him to take a step out from behind a big tree. But he doesn't move. I wait, and wait. The second before he steps out from behind the tree, the wind stops. What do I do? Two scenarios: 1. Assuming that my SFP scope is not on max magnification where it would subtend accurately, I have to break my position and enter the revised wind correction. Hopefully he doesn't go too far in these few seconds and I can still get a shot. 2. I take my FFP scope which is set at 8.327 power and I know that I have x moa dialed into the scope, so in a second I can hold x moa on the reticle to make the correction and pull the trigger. In my mind, that is the main draw to the FFP.
To help me make my scope decision, I would like to learn more about how you deal with wind while long range hunting.
I know that there are a whole host of arguments about FFP vs SFP, but for the purposes of this discussion, I'd like to stick to wind adjustments. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I see wind corrections as being the big area where the FFP would be better suited. Spotting your shots and making corrections theoretically can be done with either scope on any power, if you hold your correction with the reticle. Correcting for drastically different ranges if the animal moves will require added time to range it and calculation a solution - dialing the correction isn't that much more cumbersome in my mind.
Up until this point, my hunting career has involved putting the cross hairs on the PA whitetail at 100 yard and pulling the trigger. I have successfully been to CO and MT elk hunting multiple times with the bow and rifle, but never with expectation of long range shots. This is new to me, but I can't wait to get my rifle out on the range and learning everything that I can. Thank you very much for your insight and for helping a young man get into this wonderful sport!
The rifle's main purpose will be long range hunting. Most of it's life will be spent pursing elk and taking muleys that I may come across while searching for elk. I'm trying to setup my equipment to be capable of taking elk out to 1000 yards, my maximum effective range will be determined after I get my rifle by how many bullets I'm able to put through it. I picked that number for everything at this point because I don't want to be limited by my equipment - which I know is very unlikely to happen.
After doing a bunch of scope research, I like the idea of getting a first focal plane scope. I have looked at a few and haven't come across anything that I'm in love with at this point. However, I do have some more opportunities to check out some different scopes and reticles over the coming months. If I can't find a FFP scope that I love, I'm considering going SFP. This is where your feedback comes in.
The main reason I want a FFP scope is for making wind corrections. For the elevation corrections, I anticipate being able to dial them into the scope and not need to change that dialed elevation often. There is always the possibility of the animal running a large distance to a different location, which I would then need to re-range and re-dial. But the wind is constantly varying.
I envision being setup on a bull with my elevation and windage dialed for say a 10mph wind, just waiting for him to take a step out from behind a big tree. But he doesn't move. I wait, and wait. The second before he steps out from behind the tree, the wind stops. What do I do? Two scenarios: 1. Assuming that my SFP scope is not on max magnification where it would subtend accurately, I have to break my position and enter the revised wind correction. Hopefully he doesn't go too far in these few seconds and I can still get a shot. 2. I take my FFP scope which is set at 8.327 power and I know that I have x moa dialed into the scope, so in a second I can hold x moa on the reticle to make the correction and pull the trigger. In my mind, that is the main draw to the FFP.
To help me make my scope decision, I would like to learn more about how you deal with wind while long range hunting.
How do you calculate your corrections? (Wind meters, vegetation obseravtions, etc)
Do you dial or hold your corrections?
Do you often modify your corrections after their initial calculation?
Do you use FFP or SFP?
Do you ever adjust for headwinds or tailwinds? - watching a video, a 10mph head or tailwind is enough to make you miss a deer at 1000 meters. This was very surprising to me.
I know that there are a whole host of arguments about FFP vs SFP, but for the purposes of this discussion, I'd like to stick to wind adjustments. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I see wind corrections as being the big area where the FFP would be better suited. Spotting your shots and making corrections theoretically can be done with either scope on any power, if you hold your correction with the reticle. Correcting for drastically different ranges if the animal moves will require added time to range it and calculation a solution - dialing the correction isn't that much more cumbersome in my mind.
Up until this point, my hunting career has involved putting the cross hairs on the PA whitetail at 100 yard and pulling the trigger. I have successfully been to CO and MT elk hunting multiple times with the bow and rifle, but never with expectation of long range shots. This is new to me, but I can't wait to get my rifle out on the range and learning everything that I can. Thank you very much for your insight and for helping a young man get into this wonderful sport!
