how close are "bdc" reticles?

[buckslayer]

i realize that these do not take the place of long range practice.  that being said, if you sight in using the cross hair at 100 yards, can the 200-300 yard marks be expected to be dead on, considering the correct marks are made for your load?  im not worried about the 400 yard+ marks, just 100, 200, 300.  do they work?

[rockrat]

An older Bushnell with the bdc was not spot on, but it was within about 1&1/2 inches at 300 and a little closer at 200

[dpe.ahoy]

It would all have to depend on the speed of your bullet as well as the B.C. for that bullet, Altitude (air density) ect.  They are probably close enough for that range you would be shooting.  And yes, altitude does make a difference at long ranges, sight in at sea-level and come hunting in Montana mountains to check it out.  Your lungs will tell ya the air is really thinner.   DP

[STUMPJMPR]

In the manual that comes with the BDC scopes, it says it should be pretty close.... However, It said you can use the top or bottom of the circles as additional aiming points if its not... I find the BDC a waste of time... I have one and I sighted it in like any other rifle I have.... I sight my rifles a little high at 100 yards to either put me dead on or a little low at 200 yards... + or - 3" is perfectly acceptable for a big game rifle... It will still be in the kill zone...

[petemi]

I have a Sweet .30-06 on my Handi set up for 180 gr. boatails and it works very well.  I also use mil dots on other rifles and they work well once you learn your load and rifle.  I aso have CRS and quite a few rifles, so I record the bullet drop data on a 3 x 5 card, laminate it and tuck it under the butt stock cartridge holder.  When I'm hunting with a particular rifle, I pull the card when I go out to refresh my feeble memory.

[rex6666]

Ihave one bdc on a 280 handi, it is ok, but like STUMPJMPER
i sight every rifle no matter what cal. 1 1/2 to 2" high at 100 that usually puts
me dead on at 200, i keep the drop info on the box and go from there,
works for me. If the deer is out at 300 i hold the cross hair on the top of his back.

[tykempster]

Just find the reticle subtensions and compare them to a drop chart and figure out what yardages the dots are spot on at.

[mitchell]

no BDC 's are not what you want . they work part way but if you really want your bullet to hit where your crosshair is then get a good scope that can track and just learn your come ups. now out to 300 you shouldn't need any unless your sighting in a slingshot , but with any normal rifle you can just sight in for 200 and still be hitting deer at 100 and 300.

[Sourdough]

My .17HMR with the BSA Sweet 17 scope is dead on at 100 and 300 yards.  At 200 yards the bullet is a little (2") high.  I also have a Burris that has the Ballistiplex reticle, Its paperwork gave data for a 165gr bullet in 30-06 at a certain speed.  (Don't remember the speed off the top of my head).  I matched those ballistics and it is right on out to 500 yards.  So in other words I matched the bullet to the scope data. 

I just put one of those Cabela's Pine Ridge Centerfire Scopes on my Ultra last night.  It comes with turrents marked for the bullet weight and caliber you are shooting.  I sited it in today for 100 yards Using 50gr bullets.  I found it is also on out to 200 yards.  the BDC feature works well so far.  Unable to check farther because it started snowing so hard I could not see the target beyond 200 yards. 

Now I also shoot long distances with my Night Force scope, 225gr Nosler Accubond, at 3210fps.  It has a reticle with many lines crossing the verticle cross hair, (simuler to the Burris) I don't use them.  A sniper friend tried to teach me the formula for using them, but I am not good with math so I don't even try.  I have worked out at ranges over 400 yards and know how many clicks it takes to bring the bullet to the center crosshair at that range.  I am currently shooting out to 800 yards, and anywhere in between.  The gun is sighted in to be dead on at 100 yards and then again at 400 yards, so nothing is changed from up close to about 450 yards.  Beyond that I have to dial the scope. 

[Steve P]

If you buy the BDC scopes with the interchangable dials, you can get close.  If you don't have a range finder, what good is it going to do you anyway?  You can send Leupold your gun info and load data and they can make up a BDC reticle for Leupold scopes.  A buddy of mine ordered one for his pistol scope.  With his .22lr ammo he is within about .25" at 100 yards. 

I have an older Bushnell with the BDC dial.  This scope came out long before they tried to match them to specific loads.  I sighted my gun in at 100 yards.  I then got some white paper tape and taped around the dial on my scope.  I marked my 100 yard sight in and then went to 150.  I sighted in there, then went to 200 etc.  I had my scope marked for dead on shots out to 300.  It worked for plinking at the shooting range and when shooting known distances. 

If you are not a good judge of distance, it is going to be of little use to you.  Good luck with your project.

Steve

[striker525]

An older Bushnell with the bdc was not spot on, but it was within about 1&1/2 inches at 300 and a little closer at 200

I have had like three of these scopes in the past, all three in different powers ex., 3-9, 2.5-8 and 4X if I sighted them in at 100 yds they were close enough to kill any animal I aimed at at any range indicated on the BDC. I d think that they are a very good and close estimation for sighting but the only thing that can help them would be shooting you rifle and knowing exactly what it does at certain ranges.

[fastbike]

I agree. You need to understand your rifle, but they do provide a handier reference than no marks. There's no practical difference between using a BDC and your own "holdover", you're just doing what the bdc does w/o the marks. My experience has been exclusively w/ Nikon scopes but they have been close enough to make a minute of deer hit.

An older Bushnell with the bdc was not spot on, but it was within about 1&1/2 inches at 300 and a little closer at 200

I have had like three of these scopes in the past, all three in different powers ex., 3-9, 2.5-8 and 4X if I sighted them in at 100 yds they were close enough to kill any animal I aimed at at any range indicated on the BDC. I d think that they are a very good and close estimation for sighting but the only thing that can help them would be shooting you rifle and knowing exactly what it does at certain ranges.

[LaOtto222]

The only one I have is an older Bushnell Banner that had turrets that exchanged. It worked just like the ones described above. It came with two "generic" dials and one blank. The blank worked as described by Steve P. It was blank and you sighted in for 100 yards, adjusted your dial for it and then you shot at ranges you wanted to and made hash marks on it. It was spot on this way. I have went to mil dots now. When you have the distance between the mil dots down (3.3" @ 100 yards for 1 of mine) and you know the range, you just hold over the proper number of dots. 1 dot is 3.3" at 100 yards or 9.9" at 300 yards. I can even use the distances between dots to estimate the range. If your prey is 18" from back to belly, and it takes up two mil dots, then it is about 272 yards away. It is only an estimate. The back to belly distance has to be known. You will not be sure if it is fully grown or some where in between. Either way if you know the distance, it makes it much easier to tell which dot or hash to use. Some of the better BDC recitals have distance built into them. There is at least one scope that has a range finder built in, of course it is not cheap. I think it comes down to what you are comfortable with. There are some scopes that are pretty complicated trying to figure out how to use them. They have hash marks and numbers all over the place. If you only had one gun and it had this type of scope, I think you could figure it out and be pretty accurate with it, or you had several guns with the same scope set up for each. If there were a best solution, then everyone would be doing the same thing. Good Luck and Good Shooting.