longer range scope reticle selections

[Dieselsite]

I must be confused. I'm sure you guys can set me staight.

I have the 12x scope on my Tac15i that it came with. When I try to sight it in, I set the center crosshairs at 50 yards (at 5x), and the 20 yards is then 6 reticles up from center. By my math, I'd be off the grid at 80 yards or so. Where I'm confused is how on earth do you shoot one of these 100 yards and still be able to hit something at 20 yards? There doesn't seem to be enough compensation to cover that much ground. Am I doing something wrong? I can rule out the speed (chrono at 404fps). Just seems to be a TON of drop on these things for the speed they are traveling.

I will have more questions but this one has me stumped. Do you loose the ability to use it for hunting if you want to be able to shoot long range?

Oh, and I just saw that drop away rest on the store- gotta have one.

Bob

 

[Dieselsite]

I found something in the store- Optimizer. Is this the trick?

Bob

 

[OkieBowie]

Where I'm confused is how on earth do you shoot one of these 100 yards and still be able to hit something at 20 yards?

You are not confused. When you have a limited number of reticles (or the reticles don't match the yardage) you have to compromise. Personally, I would forgo 20 yards, in favor of getting a reticle out another 10 yards for hunting. You can pretty much shoot 30 yard reticle for 10 and 20 yards.

You can use a scope mount platform that raises or lowers the entire scope (thus changing the aimpoint) using a yardage based dial. Such a system is fine for target shooting where time is not an issue. However, it could be an issue when hunting, where distance is constantly changing as animal weaves to and fro, leaving only small windows to shoot through.

 

[Dieselsite]

So, using the scope I have, where would you "zero" in at? 60-70 yards?

By the way, I have used it for hunting a bit this year. Shot a deer at 50 yards, through the front shoulder, it exited out the hind end and buried to the fletching in the ground behind it. I love the accuracy and power it has, but to make use of its full potential.

I thought the same thing about the dial and the time it would take to adjust, but the advantage I see would be being able to crank up the power on the scope seeing as you are still using the center crosshairs.

Bob

 

[jon.henry755]

Hi Dieselsite,
For the record, when most of us have been discussing shooting at both 100 yards and also at 20 yards, we are always using the product you saw, which is the HHA Optimizer Speed Dial. This is the only product of its type and it's also the only way to take the guess work out of being exactly on target at all distances.

Using your scopes MOA's is an approximate at best, depending on what distance you are shooting. You might find certain MOA dots that line up with a given distance, but other will only come somewhat close to other distances.

The HHA Optimizer Speed Dial allows a shooter to forget about using the MOA Dots and use only his center crosshairs dead on center at any distance from 20 yards to well over 120 yards or as far as you want to sight it in for.

Len and Andy Backus carry and sell them as distributors for HHA or you can purchase one elsewhere if you choose.

I've written an article on how to best optimize these units on your crossbow, so if you look back in the TAC15 / 15i articles in this forum, you'll find it.

There's a night and day difference between shooting with one versus without it. It adds extreme accuracy in 5 yard increments and takes all the guess work out of calculating which MOA is for what distance.

Regards,

Jon