Sighting in my ATACR MOAR scope - help.

[17Fireball]

OK. After many years I was able to buy my first dial scope, Nightforce ATACR 5-25 w/ a MOAR recticle. Prior to this time I have just used regular non dial up scopes.

So, I need some help.

1.) Can I sight in this scope at any power setting and it will shoot dead on at all power settings?

2.) Since it is a dial up, do I just shoot at various yards and count how many clicks up from zero I need to be dead on at the various distances then write them down?

3.) Is it easy to shoot different bullets since I would have dial up info. Could I have a bullet for deer and another for varmints, take both hunting, and depending if a deer appeared or a coyote, I could pick the bullet, range find the distance, and dial up.

4.) With the MOAR recticle, do guys sometimes just sight in a gun at 200 yards then use the 1 moa elevation hash marks for longer shots without dialing?

5.) Suggestions, cautions, tips, etc. all appreciated.

 

[Garycrow]

1. Yes, but for sighting in I'd have it on it's highest power. There's no reason not to when target shooting.

2. Yes, pick a yardage to zero the scope, typically100 or 200 yds, zero the scope at that range then create a drop chart for longer distances. When you determine the distance to the target reference your drop chart and dial the elevation turret to that MOA setting. There are many ballistics programs that will let you enter in the data of your load and rifle and give you a very close approximation of where the bullet will hit at various distances. You want to shoot your rifle at those distances to verify it, but the ballistics programs will get you very close and save you a lot of experimental time.

3. Yes, you'd just need to create two different drop charts for the different loads. I'd personally only carry one load hunting, it's too confusing trying to swap loads and data in the field. Anything that will kill a deer will do in a coyote, just shoot the coyote with your deer load. I've shot many coyotes while deer hunting with my deer load and they all died post haste.

4. Yes, but I prefer to dial. I use the reticle for windage most of the time.

5. Shoot a lot with your new toy.

 

[dah605]

Congrats on getting a great scope! I got mine a few months ago and absolutely love it. The best scope I had previously was a Nikon Monarch. There is no comparison... I had a hard time seeing the bullet holes on the targets at 100 with the Nikon, particularly in the red areas, but with the ATACR, I can see them clearly at 300.

The ATACR is a second focal plane (SFP) scope. If you are relying on clicks (or the hash marks) to reach out to longer ranges, you will need to have the scope at 25X in order for the clicks to be 1/4 MOA. If you drop down to 12.5X (marked with a dot on the scope), you can use 1/2 MOA for each click or hash mark. At the zero distance, you can use any magnification. If you zero at 100, it will be dead on at 5X or 25X or anything in between.

If you want to use it for multiple loads, you will need to zero for one load, then have an offset if the zero doesn't match up with the second load.

-David

 

[Browninglover1]

dah605 the clicks will always be 1/4 MOA regardless of magnification. Magnification changes only affect the reticle spacing and have nothing to do with the turrets.

 

[17Fireball]

Very much appreciate those taking the time to help me out.

Just to make sure I understand correctly, I can do a drop chart say out to 500 yards at any power and then hunt referring to my drop chart, put it on any power, and it will be on?gun)

 

[Browninglover1]

Very much appreciate those taking the time to help me out.

Just to make sure I understand correctly, I can do a drop chart say out to 500 yards at any power and then hunt referring to my drop chart, put it on any power, and it will be on?gun)

As long as you're dialing with the turrets yes.

 

[barnesuser28]

Yes, If you use the turrets (for wind and elevation), if you use the reticle (for wind and elevation) you need to use the same magnification as you did when you did you drop charts.

 

[17Fireball]

Thank you, that helps my understanding significantly.

One more....

If I use any power to sight in at various distances, the windage recticle won't be accurate unless I sight in at a specific power and use it at that exact power?

Wind is kinda tough for me to read properly anyway so I'm not sure. but if my Kestrel says I have a 10mph wind and it is at a 90 degree angle and my shot is 300 yards, what would I do?

 

[dah605]

dah605 the clicks will always be 1/4 MOA regardless of magnification. Magnification changes only affect the reticle spacing and have nothing to do with the turrets.

Browninglover1, thanks for correcting me! It took a while for my head to wrap around this, but it does make sense to me now. I had to think in terms of the information I've read... ~65MOA adjustment + 20MOA in the reticle at 25X and +40MOA at 12.5X, but still the same initial ~65MOA.

-David

 

[17Fireball]

Help...

 

[barnesuser28]

Thank you, that helps my understanding significantly.

One more....

If I use any power to sight in at various distances, the windage recticle won't be accurate unless I sight in at a specific power and use it at that exact power?

Wind is kinda tough for me to read properly anyway so I'm not sure. but if my Kestrel says I have a 10mph wind and it is at a 90 degree angle and my shot is 300 yards, what would I do?

Yes, and use a ballistic program (like shooter on iphone and android) and enter in your variables, i prefer to dial for wind and drop, i only use the reticle as a a guage to figure out my correction in the occasion of a miss.

Riley

 

[17Fireball]

Guessing the recticle is a nice back up if you don't have time to dial on a game animal.lightbulb