The Long and Short of Hold-Over Reticles

guns&shooting The Long and Short of Hold-Over Reticles By Cameron Hopkins Long-range shots at game are easier and more ethical with a riflescope designed to allow for your bullet s drop. Here s a roundup of new ballistic reticles and how they work. Shooting at long range is not an art, it s a science. You, your rifle and your ammunition are a joint venture in advanced marksmanship and practical ballistics. And you, my friend, are the weak link in the chain the unreliable, inconsistent, error-prone human that you are. Don t take it personally, but your hardware is much more predictable. Given that you are among a host of variables in long-range shooting, we re going to eliminate you, your rifle, its trigger, your ammunition, the weather, the wind every possible factor but one. Our sole focus will be on a key piece of gear that can dramatically affect your ability to make one-shot hits at long range your riflescope. To address the problem of making consistent long-range hits, scope manufacturers have developed a category of holdover riflescopes that contain special reticles to compensate for your bullet s trajectory. These reticles replace the old Kentucky windage method of holding over a deer s back and hoping your bullet drops into its boiler room. Ballistics 101 You already know that if you re going to hit a whitetail at 00 yards with a typical zero of 2 inches high at 100, then you 3 American Hunter July 2009

8 Burris Ballistic Plex Bushnell DOA Nikon BDC 7 Leupold B&C Sightron HHR Swarovski BR Zeiss Rapid Z need to hold over the deer. But how much? Do you hold on air or hair? What about wind? New reticles can help you extend your personal range. We tested six brands of scopes with what are commonly called drop-compensating reticles. But before we introduce them, we need to review some basics about long-range shooting, and the basics begin with ballistics. External ballistics deals with a projectile s behavior as it travels through the atmosphere where it encounters air movement, barometric pressure, humidity, altitude, friction and the turbulence created by a bullet s transition through the sound barrier. The math may be intimidating, but the gist is: the further your bullet travels, the more it drops. Forget that little drawing on your ammo box that shows a rainbow leading from the barrel to the target with the bullet rising above the line of sight. That illustration may help to describe a bullet s trajectory in relation to your line of sight, but in reality, at no point does a projectile rise. From the nanosecond a bullet leaves your rifle s barrel, it falls; gravity is pulling on that puppy from the moment it rockets from the muzzle. The next basic to consider is time. As air resistance slows a projectile, the bullet takes longer and longer to traverse distance. Therefore, a trajectory arc is not like a rainbow. It s more like a good curveball; it flies relatively straight for the first part of its travel, then dips sharply as the distance increases. In addition to gravity and time, there is one other force at work on your jacketed, lead projectile on its way to yon pronghorn. While gravity is working vertically, wind is pushing it horizontally. Gravity is a constant force, but varying winds shove bullets around in haphazard, unpredictable ways. Long-range target shooters dope the wind to calculate how much a bullet will be displaced sideways, based not so much on the wind in their face, but the mirage and wind flags in between them and their target. This is not easy. It takes years of experience to master wind-doping, and the best practitioners are revered for their abilities. But even the best of them, NRA high power shooters, are allowed to fire sighter shots to verify their windcompensating sight settings before shooting for score in a competition. Even the best marksmen in the world don t dare fire for score without testing their dope first! You, however, don t get sighters at a distant elk. Know Thy Distance The golden rule of long-range shooting is: Know thy distance. None of these bullet-drop riflescopes are any use without knowing which of their hold-over aiming points to use. There s now a great way to instantly and accurately ascertain distance, and that s with a laser rangefinder. I ve played the how far is that? game with too many professional hunting guides men who spend months in the field every year to ever trust a set of human eyeballs to a task that s done precisely and perfectly each and every time with a laser rangefinder. Unless you hunt from the same stand every year and have stepped-off markers in every direction in 0-yard increments, you need one of American Hunter July 2009 3

these indispensable tools. They turn the most crucial variable of the long-range equation distance into a known constant from which you can base your other calculations. Once you know the range, a hold-over riflescope with multiple aiming marks on the reticle is the best way to allow for your bullet s inexorable plunge back to terra firma, which brings us to the gist of this story. Testing Protocol I tested six hold-over riflescopes from Burris, Leupold, Nikon, Sightron, Swarovski and Zeiss. I did not test Bushnell s brand-new Dead On Accurate reticle, but its design is most similar to Zeiss and it looks promising. What s particularly interesting is that all manufacturers took a different approach to solving the same problem. Part of the disparity might be explained by their need to steer clear of each other s patents and another part might be a marketing requirement to be different, but I still found it remarkable how all six models varied so markedly. I began with a set of rules. First, I tested for ease-of-use followed by accuracy. As hunters, we need to shoot in a compressed time frame because that drop-tined monster isn t going to stand there all day. In practice, that means a reticle must be quick, intuitive and relatively simple. But there are trade-offs. In general, the quicker the reticle is to use, the less precision it will display. And conversely, the more complex a reticle system is, the more accurate it can be, but also the slower it will be to employ. Accordingly, I was strict. I didn t give any byes or alibis in our test only oneshot hits were counted. Each riflescope was zeroed at 200 yards (unless the manual instructed otherwise) and then fired at 300-, 00- and 00-yard steel targets with a hit zone of an 8-inch square, a realistic size corresponding to deer-sized game s vital zone. For consistency, I used the highest magnification of each riflescope (they were all variable-power) unless the instructions dictated otherwise. All six brands in this test are second focal plane designs, meaning that as you change the power, the reticle remains a constant size, while the image enlarges or shrinks. Consequently, as the image magnification increases, the hold-over calibration changes. For instance, if the distance between two aiming points is 10 inches at 8X, Nikon BDC Score: Reticle Design: crosshair with four, 2 MOA circles underneath Hold-Over Graduations: 300, 00, 00, 00 yards Windage Allowance: none Ease-of-Use: good Directions: determine the range and pick appropriate circle; center game in circle One Shot @ 300 Yards: hit One Shot @ 00 Yards: hit One Shot @ 00 Yards: hit Important Point: The hold-over aiming marks are 2 MOA circles, which are imprecise for long-range shooting beyond 300 yards. Comment: Not a bad reticle, but the circles are not very precise. This wouldn t be a factor to 300 yards, but at 00, that s an 8-inchdiameter hold, which seems too coarse, although we hit with it out to 00 yards. 3 American Hunter July 2009 Burris Ballistic Plex Score: Reticle Design: Ballistic Plex Hold-Over Graduations: 200, 300, 00 yards (standard calibers); 300, 00, 00 yards (magnum calibers) Windage Allowance: none Ease-of-Use: excellent Directions: zero at 200 yards One Shot @ 300 Yards: miss, low One Shot @ 00 Yards: hit, 2 low One Shot @ 00 Yards: hit, low Important Point: Theoretically pre-set for either a standard or magnum caliber, we found the Ballistic Plex reticle was off at 300 and 00 yards for our.270 Win., but spot-on for 00 yards. It s neccessary to spend time at the range and determine the correct dope for your caliber for its aiming marks. Comment: Not too bad. No allowance for wind. The idea that the reticle can be preset for all calibers is a bit ambitious. Sightron HHR Score: Reticle Design: duplex-style crosshairs with 1 MOA center dot Hold-Over Graduations: two marks below center dot for 300 and 00 yards Windage Allowance: none Ease-of-Use: good Directions: zero at 200 yards; glean ballistic data from supplied sheet and adjust One Shot @ 300 Yards: dead-center hit One Shot @ 00 Yards: center-hit, 2 high One Shot @ 0 Yards: N/A Important Point: With only two hold-over lines, this is a 00-yard scope. The two holdovers were spot-on for our.270 Win. at 300 and 00 yards at maximum 9X. If you went with a 300-yard zero and an ultra-magnum caliber, it might turn into a 00-yard scope. Comment: Simple to use. There are no divisions between 300 and 00, and nothing beyond 00 (for a standard caliber with a 200-yard zero).

Photo: Author The author tested six reticle brands using the same rifle and loads; he shot all scopes at 300, 00 and 00 yards (if so designed) and noted first-round hits. He graded on ease-of-use and accuracy. then it might be 1 inches at X. This is crucial to understand, because your bullet s trajectory can only correspond correctly to one power setting of the riflescope (if it is a second focal plane design.) What you need to remember is that if the hold-overs are dead-on at 12X, for example, they will not be correct at other magnifications. Variations on a Theme Zeiss, Swarovski, Burris and Leupold acknowledge that the magnification setting must be correct for their holdover lines to work, and they reference the correct setting in their respective instructions. The instructions for the Nikon model suggest you go to the range with a cardboard box and figure it out for yourself. It must be stated here that although some users might find Nikon s instructions lacking, they are in essence the best advice, for no amount of instruction can replace actual shooting experience with your rifle and its scope to figure it out for yourself under real-world conditions. Zeiss and Swarovski require online augmentation to their printed instructions, which is not unreasonable given Swarovski BR SCORE: Reticle Design: bars and dots Hold-Over Graduations: 10 marks for aiming points to 800 yards; caliber-specific Windage Allowance: mph Ease-of-Use: poor, requires website access and a chart with data kept for reference Directions: log onto website and find data for your load; write down yardages that correspond to each graduation One Shot @ 300 Yards: hit, dead-center One Shot @ 00 Yards: miss, low One Shot @ 00 Yards: marginal hit, barely clipped 8 aiming box Important Point: Caliber-specific holdovers are a good idea but slow for hunting. Must check ballistic cheat-sheet (supplied) to remind you of the hold-overs. With time to shoot and practice, it can be very precise. Comment: Would be easier with target turrets just counting clicks. Crosshairs are too thin; in bad light, they can wash out. the level of sophistication of their holdover models. The ballistic portion of the Swarovski website is password-protected, requiring the serial number of your riflescope before accessing the necessary information. Zeiss website is highly informative, with the main purpose being to determine the precise magnification for your ammunition s ballistics. At the Zeiss website, first you select your caliber and ammunition (handloads are accommodated too) and the program tells you what magnification corresponds correctly. Our test rifle was a.270 Win. with 130-grain handloads at 300 fps, which necessitated a magnification of exactly 11.13X from its 3.X-1X range. The only confusing part is figuring exactly where 11.13 is on the power ring, since it s only labeled with whole numbers and no decimal points. Once your cartridge s specific magnification is set, the Zeiss Rapid-Z features hold-over aiming lines that correspond to the yardage. In other words, the line marked corresponds to 00 yards, matches 00 yards and so forth. None of the other models had such a feature; in fact, none of the others number their hold-over marks on the reticle, meaning you must count lines while looking through the scope to find the right one. Swarovski s BR reticle also requires a visit to their website, but rather than give you an exact power setting to Bushnell DOA Score: Did Not Test Reticle Design: duplex-style crosshair over dots with marks for windage and judging trophy animal size Hold-Over Graduations: dots for 200, 300 00 and 00 yards; top of bottom post for 00 yards; version for muzzleloader also available Windage Allowance: marks can be used for drift with proper doping, or for measuring the ear or antler width of deer Ease-of-Use: N/A Directions: turn to highest power setting; zero at 100 yards; choose correct dot Important Point: Complex-looking reticle that can also serve as a rangefinder by bracketing a deer s ears; remains to be seen whether it is precise with its non-loadspecific hold-over points, but with practice should prove to be a great reticle. Comment: Intriguing new reticle with great potential. Many different marks offer aiming points with practice. correspond to 100-yard increments like Zeiss, you re given yardages to correspond to the BR s aiming marks at maximum magnification. For example, our.270 Win. came in with 21, 279, 39, 12, 70, 2, 7, 2, 9 and 712 yards to correspond to the reticle s marks. These marks consist of five main bars and five smaller dots, which occur between each bar. That makes for 10 aiming points to match against 10 seemingly random numbers. Unless you re a savant, you ll need to tape one of the thoughtfully provided pre-printed adhesive labels with all that data to your riflestock. Although accurate, I found this highly impractical because hunters must first laser the target, then reference the tape and count down to find the dot or bar that comes closest to that number. If you do all this, it can be very accurate. Leupold s Boone & Crockett model is much simpler. It comes with two triangle-shaped indicators on the zoom ring for calibrating the riflescope for either a standard or a magnum caliber. Their hold-over aiming marks consist of hourglass-shaped, duplexstyle crosshairs configured for 300, 00 and 00 yards with a 200-yard zero for standard calibers or 00, 00 and 00 yards with a 300-yard zero for magnum calibers. Leupold s reticle was fast and easy to use, although somewhat coarse. A 10-mph wind can be compensated for by using the edges of the 300- and 00- yard marks. The hold-over reticle from Burris is called the Ballistic Plex, and it consists of three additional hold-over lines that correspond to the trajectories of either a standard or a magnum caliber. However, the Ballistic Plex crosshairs for my.270 Win. test rifle were way off at 300 and 00 yards, yet dead-on at 00 yards. This does not American Hunter July 2009 37

0-10 Bullet Path:.270 Win. 130-gr. (.32 BC) 200-yard zero +1." 0" -." -20-30 -0 Contrary to images on cartridge boxes that show bullet path in relation to the shooter s line of sight, a bullet begins dropping as soon as it leaves the muzzle and drops exponentially more as distance is increased, like a good mean the 300 and 00 marks are worthless, rather, it means that I must find their true corresponding ranges for my rifle and load by experimenting. If I find, for example, that the 300-yard mark is actually dead on at 3, then that mark becomes useful again. Or I could manipulate the power ring until the 300-yard mark is on at 00 yards, for example, and memorize this setting. These techniques work with virtually any ballistic reticle if you have the time and the motivation. At any rate, the scope did not get the highest marks based on my ease-of-use criteria. Sightron is a relatively new company, established in 1993 by Scott Helmer, formerly a marketing director of Tasco. With a philosophy of building hunting optics designed by hunters, Sightron offers a wide range of riflescopes including Leupold B&C Score: 8 Reticle Design: 3 duplex-style crosshairs with wind-drift marks Hold-Over Graduations: 200, 300, 00, 0, 00 yards Windage Allowance: 10 mph by using edges of 300- and 00-yard hold-overs Ease-of-Use: excellent Directions: for standard calibers, zero at 200 and adjust the power ring to the standard triangle mark; for magnum velocities, zero at 300 and use the magnum mark One Shot @ 300 Yards: hit, 2 low One Shot @ 00 Yards: hit, 2 low One Shot @ 0 Yards: hit, dead-center Important Point: You can zero at either 200 or 300 yards with one of two triangle indicators to set the scope s magnification correctly, depending on whether you re shooting a standard or magnum caliber. The duplex-style crosshairs were spot-on with our.270 Win. using the standard caliber indicator. Comment: Not very precise, but a good reticle. Easy to use. I d like to see numbered lines and an additional graduation between the 300- and 00-yard crosshairs. 38 American Hunter July 2009 100 yds. 200 yds. a hold-over reticle model, called the Hunter Holdover Reticle. The HHR is a center-dot reticle with two additional hash marks for 300 and 00 yards (if the center dot is sighted in for 200 yards). Sightron s HHR scopes come with lengthy instructions and ballistic tables for many loads. It is fairly complicated. I used the same procedure as with the other riflescopes: a 200-yard zero, maximum magnification and 100-yard increments for the hold-over marks. We hit dead-center at 300 yards, a center hit (2 inches high) at 00 yards, the maximum range for which the reticle is specifically designed. Like all ballistic reticles, Sightron s reticle could be made more useful if you spent enough time at the range and eventually determined exactly what yardage and power the hold-over marks correspond for your Zeiss Rapid-Z 800 Score: 10 curveball. With a typical zero of 200 yards, all cartridges require the shooter to hold over the target after 300 yards. This is where ballistic reticles can make long-range shooting much more precise. Reticle Design: numbered crosshairs with increments and wind-drift marks Hold-Over Graduations: 300, 30, 00, 0, 00, 0, 00, 2, 0, 7, 700, 72, 70, 77, 800 Windage Allowance: and 10 mph Ease-of-Use: excellent in the field; data derived from website prior to field use Directions: enter ballistic data and get correct power setting from website; adjust scope accordingly One Shot @ 300 Yards: hit dead-center One Shot @ 00 Yards: hit dead-center One Shot @ 00 Yards: hit dead-center Important Point: Very precise with 0-yard increments between 300 and 00 yards; 2-yard increments between 00 and 800 yards. Hold-under crosshairs provided for shooting at steep angles. Two models, the Rapid-Z 00 and 800 for standard and magnum calibers. Comment: Very easy to use; set the correct magnification for your cartridge and you re zeroed at every distance. 300 yds. cartridge. My ease-of-use requirement for this test precluded such diligence. Nikon s BDC (Bullet Drop Compensating) reticle sports a series of 2 MOA circles that I believe are too coarse for anything beyond 300 yards. In my first test of the Nikon I didn t achieve firstround hits; it was so different from the crosshairs I am used to that I became somewhat frustrated. But after studying the reticle further, I later re-tested with Federal 130-grain spire points and badda-bing went the steel with all first-round hits. Pick of the Litter My detailed test results are shown in the accompanying boxes, but I felt it would help you become a more informed consumer if I elaborated. For ease-of-use in the field, the Zeiss Rapid-Z 800 is the best of the bunch. The simple fact that its hold-over lines are numbered and those numbers correspond to the distance in yards is a huge plus. The dots between the lines marks are in 0-yard increments out to 00, then in 2-yard increments from 00 to 800 yards because after that, your bullet s trajectory will nose-dive like a Koufax curveball. No other reticle we tested offers such precision. On the other hand, the Rapid-Z is the most complex reticle design, and it is only easy to use in the field after you ve taken the time on your computer to enter data and glean the proper magnification adjustment for your load. As you probably guessed, it is also one of the most expensive. Zeiss is the only manufacturer to offer two distinct riflescope models, the Rapid-Z 00 and the Rapid-Z 800, based on your caliber type. Standard calibers and normal magnums work best with the 00 model (meaning it s good out to 00 yards) whereas the hotter ultra magnums are accommodated with the 800 model (calibrated to 800 yards). Another reason I like the Rapid-Z is because it s the only riflescope tested

00 yds. -18.9" that came with indicators for both mph and 10 mph crosswinds. Its only negative is that its power ring which is crucial to accuracy is labeled only in whole numbers, and not with decimal points. Overall, however, this proved to be of little consequence; the Zeiss Rapid-Z with its degree of precision and useful hold-over marks was my favorite. My runner-up is Leupold s Boone & Crockett reticle because it is simple and it works. The Swarovski BR is plenty accurate if you don t mind taping a cheat-sheet on your scope and taking time to reference it. The Burris and Sightron models can work nicely if you invest enough time at the range and figure out your hold-overs by actually shooting at various 00 yds. -38.3" distances something I highly recommend before shooting at far-away animals anyway. They are both much better than Kentucky windage if you work with them to determine the right magnification and performance for your rifle. As for the Nikon model, although I am not yet very confident with its 2 MOA circles that seem rather coarse for aiming precisely, I did register first-round hits out to 00 yards. Certainly, for shots inside 300 yards, it s extremely fast and easy. Closing Shots Ethical hunters will pass up a dicey shot that s either too far away or is beyond their level of experience. That distance might be 300 yards or it might be 800 yards; this depends on an honest self- Wind Drift 10 mph crosswind Distance Drift (in yards) (in inches) 0... 0 100... 0.7 200... 2.8 300.... 00... 11.9 00... 19.3 evaluation. Restraint is a good thing in long-range shooting. To make a Hail Mary shot at an antlered speck on the horizon is no way to hunt ethically. If you decide to shoot, it s much better to aim precisely with a point of reference in a scope than to hold over and merely guess. Riflescope companies now offer a solution to ethically extend your range. Choose a ballistic reticle that you like and figure out how it works by shooting with it often. Even so, the best reticle system is only one of many variables. Most importantly, don t forget the fundamentals of shooting or your laser rangefinder. After that, choose the appropriate hold-over mark, take a breath and hold it, then slowly squeeze the trigger. ah