Others Do you 'Dial', or 'Hold'?

[BBGunn]

Do you like to dial your turrets for various yardage, or do you prefer to hold over/off by educated guessing or using reticle subtensions?

For my hunting rifles (which is almost all my rifles) I utilize both methods. For my rifles that are less than 30fpe I usually limit my shots to no more than 50yds with the great majority of shots 30yds - 40yds. and I hold over/off. For my rifles that are bit more powerful, and that I shoot to 75yds, I usually dial the turrets for elevation but still hold-off for windage.

Exception to what I wrote above is with my coyote calling rifle. I only shoot to 75yds (have 'fudged' to 80yds) but I use the reticle subtensions for hold over/off as called-in close coyotes do not normally give you enough time to mess with dialing turrets.

Whether hunting or various target applications, which method do you use for your shooting,?

 

[Solo1]

Do you like to dial your turrets for various yardage, or do you prefer to hold over/off by educated guessing or using reticle subtensions?

For my hunting rifles (which is almost all my rifles) I utilize both methods. For my rifles that are less than 30fpe I usually limit my shots to no more than 50yds with the great majority of shots 30yds - 40yds. and I hold over/off. For my rifles that are bit more powerful, and that I shoot to 75yds, I usually dial the turrets for elevation but still hold-off for windage.

Exception to what I wrote above is with my coyote calling rifle. I only shoot to 75yds (have 'fudged' to 80yds) but I use the reticle subtensions for hold over/off as called-in close coyotes do not normally give you enough time to mess with dialing turrets.

Whether hunting or various target applications, which method do you use for your shooting,?

I use holdovers mostly. Field target shooter. Sometimes i do rezero for 50@100 yd bench sessions

 

[FL22]

Hold over for the most part, DOPE card on my phone for each Airgun. Most zeroed at 25y, Taipan at 50y but I have died it for 100y several times.

It basically boils down to trusting the scope/turrets. If the scope has locking rings or dust covers, I don’t trust dialing the turrets constantly, just me perhaps.

 

[BBGunn]

Hold over for the most part, DOPE card on my phone for each Airgun. Most zeroed at 25y, Taipan at 50y but I have died it for 100y several times.

It basically boils down to trusting the scope/turrets. If the scope has locking rings or dust covers, I don’t trust dialing the turrets constantly, just me perhaps.

I need to get up-to-speed with technology and use the excellent tools most folks use today. I don't even have a 'smart' phone or know how to use one. I still use the old tried & true 'shirt pocket dope/drop card'. I actually shoot all my drops so I know my data is as close as it can be (excluding environmental changes). Has worked well enough for me over the decades so I'm fine with it.

I pretty much agree with you about which turrets to trust. I do have one scope with turret covers that has proven reliable turrets. It's a Meopta Optika 5 (now discontinued). I dial with it for ground squirrels and the turrets always move reliably. Probably the turrets I trust the most are on my SWFA scopes. I don't own any of the really high-end optics.

What scopes do you use that have reliable tracking turrets?

 

[FL22]

Yes, technology is wonderful, I try to take it in small doses lol.

The scope that I have on my Taipan is a DNT “The One” it has Japanese ED glass and so far has been very reliable, but I’m not out there every week dialing the turrets to give you a solid answer.

There is an older thread here on HAM asking about anyone’s input regarding dialing turrets.

Others Started Clicking Today, what took me so long!

Jun 1, 2024

I have been holding over and buying the right reticles to do so for a long while now. That's over. I finally have my Macavity MA2 .22 shooting accurately but I am having a time of it matching the accuracy off the bench, probably because it is short and light. Anyway, I was having enough problems so I figured I could lose one problem by just clicking instead of doing the holdover thing. Wow! did that change things. I don't know why, at this point, that I never started sooner. I have repeatable scopes with good tracking but just never wanted to bother. It is worth bothering. I am really kind...

• Pumacarl
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Riflescopes, Optics and Mounts

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[duchunter007]

Do you like to dial your turrets for various yardage, or do you prefer to hold over/off by educated guessing or using reticle subtensions?

For my hunting rifles (which is almost all my rifles) I utilize both methods. For my rifles that are less than 30fpe I usually limit my shots to no more than 50yds with the great majority of shots 30yds - 40yds. and I hold over/off. For my rifles that are bit more powerful, and that I shoot to 75yds, I usually dial the turrets for elevation but still hold-off for windage.

Exception to what I wrote above is with my coyote calling rifle. I only shoot to 75yds (have 'fudged' to 80yds) but I use the reticle subtensions for hold over/off as called-in close coyotes do not normally give you enough time to mess with dialing turrets.

Whether hunting or various target applications, which method do you use for your shooting,?

Great question, I have been mainly a dial for elevation and hold for wind. although I am working on getting to the point to do hold over if I need to shoot quickly.

 

[Luis Leon]

I use holdovers for all of my plinking and pesting out to 64 yards at my range at home.

 

[Pumacarl]

Yes, technology is wonderful, I try to take it in small doses lol.

The scope that I have on my Taipan is a DNT “The One” it has Japanese ED glass and so far has been very reliable, but I’m not out there every week dialing the turrets to give you a solid answer.

There is an older thread here on HAM asking about anyone’s input regarding dialing turrets.

Others Started Clicking Today, what took me so long!

Jun 1, 2024

I have been holding over and buying the right reticles to do so for a long while now. That's over. I finally have my Macavity MA2 .22 shooting accurately but I am having a time of it matching the accuracy off the bench, probably because it is short and light. Anyway, I was having enough problems so I figured I could lose one problem by just clicking instead of doing the holdover thing. Wow! did that change things. I don't know why, at this point, that I never started sooner. I have repeatable scopes with good tracking but just never wanted to bother. It is worth bothering. I am really kind...

• Pumacarl
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Riflescopes, Optics and Mounts

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Thanks @FL22 , you saved me from typing all of that again! lol TL;DR If you have the time, click.

 

[PapaT]

I zero most of my guns at 25. I fake my holdovers from there, although I plan to one day dope card at least a couple of them. 50 is typically my longest though, so...

 

[BBGunn]

I just finished reading Pumacarl's '24 thread regarding 'dialing'. Good read, thanks for linking me to it.

In Pumacarl's thread there was much conversation regarding a scope's turret repeatability. And of course, if a scope's turrets do not move and return reliably then the whole method of 'dialing' for elevation and, or, windage is useless.

There are plenty of target methods (box test, etc) folks use to prove a scope's turret repeatability but I trust a more simple method. If a shooter spends a bit of time just shooting targets with a given optic it pretty quickly becomes apparent how the turrets move with that particular optic.

We all have used optics on our rifles that behave in a certain way, but different from one to the next. What I mean is, we all have owned scopes where you move the turret one or two clicks and then send a round down range. You notice the POI did not move as expected. You fire again and the POI still did not move. You fire yet another round and the shot lands right were it should have based on your turret movement. Unfortunately, many scopes act this way, or some similar fashion with their turret movements.

Scopes that act like described above can, and are still useful optics as they usually hold a zero and perhaps have good glass, etc. but they just can't be trusted for 'dialing' impact changes.

The scope's that I can trust to use for 'dialing' during hunting (or target competition) are scopes that move every single time I adjust them while casual shooting from my bench.

How do you folks go about proving to yourself that a scope's turrets can be trusted to move and repeat reliably?

 

[Madhatter]

I hold as most of my scopes are cheapese and I'm sure don't track very well.

 

[BBGunn]

I hold as most of my scopes are cheapese and I'm sure don't track very well.

I'm with ya. The majority of scopes I have ever owned do not track well enough to trust the turrets for 'dialing'.

 

[Pumacarl]

I just finished reading Pumacarl's '24 thread regarding 'dialing'. Good read, thanks for linking me to it. ...
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How do you folks go about proving to yourself that a scope's turrets can be trusted to move and repeat reliably?

By doing a lot of shooting with a gun that is firing hole in hole at 50ish yards. Unless you have an indoor range that goes further and your gun is accurate enough to extend the range w/o introducing other variables.

I just went back and read that thread and I had to laugh because sometimes I still forget to return to zero with my SWFA scopes. You're only going to be as accurate as your own consistency, and I'll always be working on that.

 

[wolfmangreg]

I click for elevation whenever possible. Hold off for wind.

Agree that the scope must be vetted to ensure repeatability.
Some are not repeatable out of the box, & some are for a while but eventually develop slop in the adjustment mechanisms. Have seen that even in a few expensive (for my tax bracket) scopes.

Tracking accuracy (1.5 mils of clicks = 1.5 mils exactly on target) is less important to me than repeatability. If 1.5 mils of clicks = 1.7 mils on target, but does do every single time, can account for that on a dope card.

SWFA SS scopes are my absolute gold standard for repeatable clicking. Have two in 12x that have endured many thousands of clicks & are still spot on. One of them is my "spare"- if any in service scope is acting suspicious, the SWFA goes on the gun until scope issues are either confirmed or eliminated as the problem.

Athlon Midas Tac Gen II have been very good so far too, though it's still too early to comment on long term repeatability.

 

[Scriv]

I hold for adjustment. It's quick, and works well. Best shot was over 350 on a mule deer in Montana with a clean reticle.