Ranging Pests With a Riflescope

[Ezana4CE]

Is ranging pests with your scope important to you? I’m starting to notice that I don’t really care what the actual range is on a pest animal. I just want to watch them drop and know that it’s one less thief or pest to worry about. In the case(s) involving my personal property, I work to protect parts of my food supply. When threats emerge and I have a rifle handy (it’s usually my .22 Huben K1), I will leave the parallax knob on a general setting that covers the majority of the surrounding areas where they may emerge when posing a threat. If I have time I’ll focus more precisely on a target animal. I have a Primary Arms FFP scope on this gun and I’ve noticed some slop in the parallax knob. I can say this, when I look at that knob and where the numbers are on it I have a good idea where to hold within my shooting comfort zone. Even on misses, I can be content with the animals knowing that this is not a safe zone and consequences come with their activities. A big dog is a good deterrent as well.

For some reason today I was thinking about knowing the range on my shots on pests. I don’t carry around a rangefinder and I don’t usually hunt with one either. I finally concluded that I really don’t know. I’m content with knowing where to hold in my reticle and having success in my shooting. Anyone else do this?

 

[Bladebum]

Well my question would be , how do know where to hold in your reticle if you don't know the range? I'm personally not able to use my reticle for ranging, not sure how to accomplish that.

I use a rangefinder, but my methods are a bit simpler. Anything 50 or under is dead on hold (with my slug gun) and I can estimate that no problem. Even out to 65 is only a half mil holdover. After 70 yards or so, knowing the exact range becomes crucial for a first shot hit and thats where the rangefinder comes in. Im also using a dialing scope and a dope cheat sheet worked up to 150 yards taped to my gun. At ranges 100+ yards, parallax adjusted correctly also becomes a factor.

With my pellet shooter, its zeroed at 40, everything under is dead on and I know my quick holdover at 50. Tbh, I dont take too many shots often past that with pellets. I have and will at times, but wind needs to be minimum.

So I guess depending on what type of projectile your shooting and how far, dictates the importance of exact ranging.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Well my question would be , how do know where to hold in your reticle if you don't know the range? I'm personally not able to use my reticle for ranging, not sure how to accomplish that.

I use a rangefinder, but my methods are a bit simpler. Anything 50 or under is dead on hold (with my slug gun) and I can estimate that no problem. Even out to 65 is only a half mil holdover. After 70 yards or so, knowing the exact range becomes crucial for a first shot hit and thats where the rangefinder comes in. Im also using a dialing scope and a dope cheat sheet worked up to 150 yards taped to my gun. At ranges 100+ yards, parallax adjusted correctly also becomes a factor.

With my pellet shooter, its zeroed at 40, everything under is dead on and I know my quick holdover at 50. Tbh, I dont take too many shots often past that with pellets. I have and will at times, but wind needs to be minimum.

So I guess depending on what type of projectile your shooting and how far, dictates the importance of exact ranging.

@Bladebum I know where to hold by taking notes on the position of the markings on the parallax knob. This is why I like knobs that are numbered. They may not reflect the actual distance, but I can hold according to where the knob is set. When I practice I use a rangfinder which is fine for when the markings that match rangefinder reading, but the position of the numbers on the knob don’t always match the numbers in the range finder. This is especially true of numbers like 32, 47, 54, 58 yards, etc for which there are no markings. Then I must also account for slop in the parallax knob and estimate. I’m not sure if the way I’m explaining this makes sense to you.

 

[Luis Leon]

Many distances around my yard and pesting locales I range find and memorize the distances… For instance my barn. 40 yards… bird bath 30 yards, back berm 64 yards, etc…

 

[JungleShooter]

After a while of going crazy with ranging and ballistic calculators, obsessing over BC – the works – I realized:

Most typical shots
with typical PCPs (30FPE .22cal),
with typical scopes & mounts (2" – 2 1/2" scope height),
are within the PBR (point blank range) of the gun: 10 to 50y,
(if the zero is set to the maximum PBR).

So, for all that calculating and estimating and compensating – most of the time it's not all that necessary for a typical killzone shot.


Maybe I'm just now compensating for years of hating math in highschool –
because for shooting I like to calculate a lot....

Matthias

 

[Solo1]

You guys say 10-50 yds. If you think that to be true you should try a field target match and see just how far off that reasoning is.
This is strelock for my 22 revere first colum is yardage 2nd high or low in inches 3 rd is wind drift for 2 mph breeze in inches

 

[SILENT SQUIRREL]

Matthias hit it right on the head.
At any given PBR (point blank range) there is a spread of yardage from before to beyond PBR at which holdover is not needed.
My understanding is that the proper terminology is near zero and far zero.
No matter what you call it, (terminology be damned), it is the pellet that hits the prey

just my too moa
Edward

 

[Solo1]

The big thing is what power scope you are using if using 4 power you can use center cross much farther than at 24 power. Example of what you see this is a 3” target at 4 power and 16 power

 

[FL22]

On my .22 Sniper with my UTG 4-16X44
Mrds

Current DOPE card:

MRDS DEEP



Power factor High (4)

16X



50Y HO 2



40y HO 1



25Y Crosshairs



10Y HO 4



4X magnification



10y HO 1

40y HO 1/4







Power factor Medium (3)



16X magnification



10y HO 4



25y HO 1



40y HO 2.5 ish



50y HO 3



4X Magnification



40y HO 1









Power factor Low (2)



16X magnification



10y HO 6



25y HO 5



40y HO 9



50y HO dial turret (I have this on the card, but haven’t mapped it out yet)

My thing is, I always want to use the necessary amount of energy to make an ethical shot, but not have to worry about where the pellet is going to go after that.

For instance, I dealt with a pest animal this weekend at 25 yards with the TP on low pellet was a complete pass-through headshot. I could hear the pellet tumbling through the leaves. I would’ve liked to have retrieved it for inspection, but I could not find it.

@Ezana4CE I use the parallax wheel for ranging, but I know that the numbers are just reference, but I’ve learned roughly where the actual yardage is. After all everything is just consistency, you the ammo, the Airgun all of it.

 

[Bladebum]

So ranging with parallax can work roughly, and again it really comes down to how far, what the ballistics of your setup are and if you are target shooting or hunting.

A rifle shooting an 18 grain 22 cal pellet at 875-900fps with a 50 yard zero has its highest arc at 35 yards, which is roughly half mil high or 1/2" . For hunting that is basically a dead on hold all the way to your 50 yard zero. If your target shooting 1/4" bulls you will have small compensations within that 50 yard and under range.

As far as your "reticle holds" being correct at certain magnifications, that is entirely on if you have a first or second focal plane scope. An FFP reticle will be accurate holds no matter the magnification, but SFP changes with the magnification and most SFP scopes have thier accurate reticle holds at their max magnification.

Everyone has ways that work for them, with my setups I estimate inside 50 yards and after that I get an exact range with rangefinder. I am never shooting in one spot and am not a target shooter though, so first shot accuracy is vital as I rarely get a squirrel or bird to sit in the same spot after I've shot at it. If I was in a competition, I would run the exact same protocol for first round hits. If im plinking and playing it obviously doesn't matter and will just adjust in the reticle if I miss.

 

[JungleShooter]

You guys say 10-50 yds. If you think that to be true you should try a field target match and see just how far off that reasoning is.
This is strelock for my 22 revere first colum is yardage 2nd high or low in inches 3 rd is wind drift for 2 mph breeze in inches
View attachment 14089

Solo1,

you are of course right!

➧ Because you are talking field target. Where the killzone on a FT plate is much smaller than the KZ on my pests.

➧ And of course, you have set your zero to 29y — a per what's best for FT.
Which limits your PBR for killing pests — but increases your chances of winning the FT match.


➧ My do-it-all gun is a little .22 pellet pusher with its diminutive 16" (40cm) barrel.
It's not very powerful (sub-29FPE with a 15.89gr) — but with a zero at 46y my PBR goes from 10y to 52y.
And if pests get into that range they usually don't survive (except when they are so close, say sub-15y, that I get a case of hunting fever and mess up the shot — that's just on me, my bad... ).

Matthias

 

[PasadenaMike]

I don’t worry about yardage. If it feels close enough, I send lead.

 

[SILENT SQUIRREL]

Revisionist history has it that the likes of Bufalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and Elmer Fudd did not have ballistic calculators until the first abacus was smuggled into the USA by a Harvard bound railroad laborer.

just my 2 stents
Edward

 

[JungleShooter]

Revisionist history has it that the likes of Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and Elmer Fudd did not have ballistic calculators until the first abacus was smuggled into the USA by a Harvard bound railroad laborer.

just my 2 stents
Edward

Yeah, in my Holywood-facilitated history education I've been introduced to extreme looking open sights for extreme long range shooting.

The shots in the movie were entirely unbelievable:
(1) The time of aiming and breaking the shot was worthy of PRS finals, or better.
(2) The support for that long range shooter's rifle did not respond to the name Harris or Atlas — but Bella. And it whinnied after each shot to confirm the hit.

However, the ELR open sights shown in the movie were ingenious, and I don't doubt that they would increase the effective range of those rifles significantly.


Now, the difference between Buffalo Bill's nation and our airgun nation is that he didn't have a lot of distractions to occupy his time. So, what does a shooter do? I imagine: Shoot. And lots of it.
I simply don't have the time to practice my shooting as much as Ol' Bill did.
Because I need to write this post. And I need attend to the other forums as well. And the WhatsApp chat groups, talking to airgunners around the globe.

So, I need that much maligned ballistic calculator. And a scope with at least 30x magnification on the top end. And that M-shaped bipod. And.... — well, I better get shopping NOW!

Matthias