Nikon BDC for Prostaff/Buckmaster

[JON8777]

Does anyone used the BDC retical for ground hogs? I am looking for a scope for me 223 and I like the Nikon products.. but might want to try a new retical

[Zachary]

I haven't, but I don't see why not. 

Zachary

[Varmint Hunter]

I've got two of the BDC scopes. The scopes are fine but the stupid little circles proved to be quite annoying. I spoke to the Nikon rep and asked him if they ever considered offering the scope with regular hash marks like everyone else offers. He said NO!

I will be switching mine in a short while.

[glockman55]

I've got one on my .270, I haven't had a chance to shoot it Long range much but I don't mind the circles. I sighted mine in dead on at 100 yds. and have shot it 200 yds. The second circle is real close at 200 yds. I've yet to try the rest to see how they hit at 300-400 etc. I'm sure they are not for every one. Nikon makes different reticles as well.

[Zachary]

I think that the circles are a matter of personal preference.  Nikon seems to believe that the circles actually assist the shooter in shooting more accurately according to their tests.  I don't know if that's true, but it certainly might be.  Again, I don't have this type of reticle, so I can't tell you based on my own personal experience.

Zachary

[saltydog]

For typical hunting use the BDC systems work for me as long as you keep up on your range estimation skills / equipment. I have several scope from Pentax and Nikon that use the BDC system - Pentax is a straight line and Nikon uses the ovals. They both work as long as you put the time in to zero your scope for the ammo you are going to use and know the range of your target. The issue for me is as the range gets longer the less accurate the BDC's approximations are - you need to use ammo with consistant bc and fps but even then as you get over 400 the trajectory drops vary quite a bit. I also have scopes with mildots and they require more work but give better results as the range increases. Out of the 3 systems I would chose mil dots for longer range fine adjustment applications and use the BDC's for 300 ish and under shooting.

[hotrunner]

Frankly I haven't heard much good about the BDC circles for any kind of varmint hunting. I have one of those 6-18X mil-dot specials from Midway-USA (usually on "sale" for $299) and pretty much like it, except for the sometimes-annoying coin-sized field-of-view with the heavy dark circle around it--not very "spacious". Like any of the "ballistic" reticles, real-world sighting-in of the marks is the only way to be accurate.

[teddy12b]

I prefer the BDC over the Ballistic plex, and I'd go Buckmaster over prostaff because they have more internal adjustment for zeroing your scope.

I have a 2-7 burris ballistic plex and it was great on a 223, but when I put it on a 1895G 45/70 it didn't have enough adjustment to zero at 100 yards.  I have a Nikon Omega 250 with BDC made for muzzleoaders on my encore 209x50.  It's a good scope and I like the circles better myself.  The dashes like the ballistic plex are nice, but there's a lot of space between them that could cause an error on a shot.  The circles have more aiming references.  For example, I know that my crosshairs are good for 100 yards, and the top of the next circle is good for 150 yards.  It's something like that, but the idea is you can use the tops & bottoms of the circles as aiming points also because there's a pretty good chance it's not going to just line up for you perfectly for whatever distance you're going to be using it at.

[Ahab]

Does anyone used the BDC retical for ground hogs? I am looking for a scope for me 223 and I like the Nikon products.. but might want to try a new retical

I have several BDC Nikon Monarch scopes and like them a lot. Better than the mil-dots. Haven't used them on ground hogs though.