Dialing vs Holdover

All my rifles use a 100 yard zero. If the shot is a no brainer, ie 300 yards or less and there is no time I just use holdover. If the target is a longer range in higher wind or more difficult field conditions that's when I consult the Kestrel the rangefinder and dial.
 
First, I use a 200 yard zero for my hunting rifles (except the 358 Win.). Then, I pretty much limit myself to 400 yards shots on game. Therefore, I really like the Leupold B&C reticule for hunting. It just works for me. In fact, I sometimes tune my load to match the trajectory represented by the crosshairs. If my load doesn't perfectly match the crosshairs, I zero my rifle at 300 yards, with the 300 yard crosshair and figure the other crosshairs will be close enough.

However, I will be using dial-up on my soon-to-be-built 6.5-284 Norma. But, that is intended for target shooting.
 
FOTIS said:
All my rifles use a 100 yard zero. If the shot is a no brainer, ie 300 yards or less and there is no time I just use holdover. If the target is a longer range in higher wind or more difficult field conditions that's when I consult the Kestrel the rangefinder and dial.
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This. Everything has a 100 yard zero.
Maybe 250 and under, depending on what I am shooting at.
 
FOTIS said:
All my rifles use a 100 yard zero. If the shot is a no brainer, ie 300 yards or less and there is no time I just use holdover. If the target is a longer range in higher wind or more difficult field conditions that's when I consult the Kestrel the rangefinder and dial.
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xphunter said:
This. Everything has a 100 yard zero.
Maybe 250 and under, depending on what I am shooting at.
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Yes I’ve found the 100 yard zero the easiest for me.
The simpler I keep it the better, in my case. (And again, I’m only shooting to 300 yards)
Some of you, and all your knowledge, really impress me, and let’s me know how much I don’t know!
Geesh, I have trouble remembering to turn off my illuminated reticle at the end of my hunt….😜
 
shooting p-dogs out to 600 yards with a standard crosshair on the 264wm i never have dialed. i knew this rifle and ammo so well i just pointed and clicked. have i missed, well yes on the longer shots as i never learned about wind calling especially with erratic changes. fairly calm days it was a no brainer. i've become lazy and have some optics with holds/drops, but to lazy to dial!
 
I limit my shots to around 300 yards therefore I just use a hold over. I have a 1.5X6 power scope on my rifle and find no disadvantage. I've done a lot of shooting out to 300 yards and know exactly where my 225 grain .338caliber bullet is going. Of course I do use a Range finder which locks it in for me. My last Elk was at 326 yards and an 8 1/2 inch holdover worked perfectly. I should have mentioned that my rifle is sighted in for 200 yards.
 
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jimbires said:
this thread is a great example of how we all do things a little different , to achieve the same results . we have played around enough to find what works for us . each of us has our own little thing we do , and we're successful doing it that way .
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Well said!
Always interesting to hear what works for people.
And always something we can pick up that may work a little better for us, once tried... 🤔
 
Blkram said:
Well said!
Always interesting to hear what works for people.
And always something we can pick up that may work a little better for us, once tried... 🤔
Click to expand...
I came to this site to learn and gather more knowledge, and I have been very fortunate to do so.
It is a rare day that I leave here without learning something., and I have learned a lot!
Love these kind of threads
 
I’m pretty old school and use the Ky windage method sighting in 1 inch high at 100 yds. This fits my hunting needs as I deer hunt small farms in Ky where I’ve only had 2 shots approaching 200 yds. The rest have been 100 and under. I did take a muley out west but it was at about 125 yds. My 270 wears my old leupold 4x and serves me well out to around 300 yds . I tried a scope with a ballistic plex but since it really was only useable at max magnification without a mental math conversion exercise I parted ways with it. I do have some experience with lr shooting as I was a die hard ground hunter 40 years ago, and messed with long range bp shooting a bit. One thing I note missing in almost all of the long range shooting threads is discussion estimating the range and the wind speed. At long range a pretty close estimate of each can easily result in a missed, gut shot or broke leg animal and no scope dial will fix that. Sure you can carry a bunch of gear to help with that but I don’t want to lug around an extra 10-15 lbs of weight .
 
With my Leica RF binos, I range almost every animal, whether I am going to be shooting, or someone else is, or not. Helps me with range estimation...habit that carries over from my archery competition and hunting. So luckily, I am not carrying extra gear, as I used to when the first rangefinders were becoming to be used regularly. Inside 150 yards, on follow up shots, when and where needed, I don't use it for moving animals, although I do wait until they stop, or slow to almost a stop.

I do not own a wind meter, although I have been considering buying a Kestrel, but do not usually hunt or consider shooting when the wind gets much above 15 mph, and I don't shoot at animal over 400 yards very often (less than a handful in 39 years). They are small units, so would fit in my chest pocket or pocket on my bino harness.
It would be nice though, to determine wind drift for those shot opportunities for antelope, sheep, or goats on the prairie or in the alpine, when/where the winds may pick up.
Honestly though, the only shot I have past on due to winds, was a mountain goat back on 2001, and I knew I had no idea how much my bullet would drift in the 30-50 mph gusting winds. While it was bedded at less than 150 yards, I did not want to miss, or worse, make a wounding shot.

The nice part about the Leupold B&C reticle, is that they extend to the side for a 10 mph wind, at the various 100 yard increments. The Varmint reticle also has this, plus dots for a 20 mph wind for proper hold. For those that dial, their Windplex reticle has the hashmarks on the main horizontal for wind holds as measured by those with a Kestrel.
 
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