Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,802
- 6,099
Hmmm. Interesting thread, late entry by me.
I'm usually a K.I.S.S. kind of guy with sights, scopes etc. It's just an aiming device.
The simple fixed 6x Leupold with the 42mm obj is my favorite hunting scope, and my best all-around scope. I also have a smaller 6x36 of which I'm quite fond.
Hunting big game to 400 yards with a flat shooting cartridge like your .270? Well, my .25-06 is zeroed at 300 yards and I never bother twisting the knobs anymore. It's just got a simple duplex reticle. I hold the crosshairs on the animal at any range out to about 330 yards or so, and start moving higher on the animal as I get out there a bit. At 400 yards I put the crosshairs just below the back of a mule deer doe, and squeezed the trigger. Then walked down into, and back up the canyon on the other side, to go get my venison. Hold on hair from muzzle to 400 yards, with a simple fixed power scope. It really works out just fine.
Or.... If the trajectory isn't quite as zippy flat, or I want more precision... Well then, I dial a deer. Range it. Dial it. Send it. My primary scopes for this are a pair of 4.5-14x Leupold scopes with the 1" tubes because I got them quite a while ago. Sent one in for the M1 knobs a few years back. They're nice. I've got these scopes on my .308 Green Machine and also on my .300 WSM Model 70. Yes, the field of view is a little tight on them, but I like 'em anyway. On 4.5x I hammered a Wyoming mulie buck at a whopping 25 yards in 2007. If he was much closer I think I'd have just looked over the scope at him!
Leupold will build you a custom reticle by the way, that matches your specs... Let them know which bullet you're using at what velocity, and they can apply hash marks on the reticle at the appropriate heights. It's tempting, but I haven't done that yet. It's a little inflexible for me, say if I wanted to try a different bullet, or if I was hunting at a radically different altitude. I live and shoot mostly at about 1,000' ASL, and often hunt around 6,000' ASL. Or go to Wyoming and find myself hunting at 8,000 - 11,000' ASL. That sort of difference affects trajectory in a substantial way - and could easily throw off a range compensating reticle. It throws off the scope - dialing too, but I just add or subtract "clicks" as necessary to compensate.
Best of luck with the decision. Again, I tend to keep things real simple. Either plaster the crosshairs right on the animal and squeeze the trigger, or dial the elevation then plaster the crosshairs right on the animal and squeeze the trigger. Both ways work, and I hop back and forth from one to the other as necessary. Really though, with a flat-shooting rifle and big game as the target, the PBR way of zeroing and then hunting within that range works pretty darned well.
Oooops. realized I tossed a new term in there "PBR" - or point blank range, not Pabst Blue Ribbon! We all good with that term? It's simply a way of maximizing the use of your rifle's trajectory, usually by sighting-in way out there around 300 yards for common flat shooting hunting rifles like a 7mm mag or similar. Makes it possible and easy to hold on the animal out to some pretty impressive ranges, often well over 300 yards.
Regards, Guy
I'm usually a K.I.S.S. kind of guy with sights, scopes etc. It's just an aiming device.
The simple fixed 6x Leupold with the 42mm obj is my favorite hunting scope, and my best all-around scope. I also have a smaller 6x36 of which I'm quite fond.
Hunting big game to 400 yards with a flat shooting cartridge like your .270? Well, my .25-06 is zeroed at 300 yards and I never bother twisting the knobs anymore. It's just got a simple duplex reticle. I hold the crosshairs on the animal at any range out to about 330 yards or so, and start moving higher on the animal as I get out there a bit. At 400 yards I put the crosshairs just below the back of a mule deer doe, and squeezed the trigger. Then walked down into, and back up the canyon on the other side, to go get my venison. Hold on hair from muzzle to 400 yards, with a simple fixed power scope. It really works out just fine.
Or.... If the trajectory isn't quite as zippy flat, or I want more precision... Well then, I dial a deer. Range it. Dial it. Send it. My primary scopes for this are a pair of 4.5-14x Leupold scopes with the 1" tubes because I got them quite a while ago. Sent one in for the M1 knobs a few years back. They're nice. I've got these scopes on my .308 Green Machine and also on my .300 WSM Model 70. Yes, the field of view is a little tight on them, but I like 'em anyway. On 4.5x I hammered a Wyoming mulie buck at a whopping 25 yards in 2007. If he was much closer I think I'd have just looked over the scope at him!
Leupold will build you a custom reticle by the way, that matches your specs... Let them know which bullet you're using at what velocity, and they can apply hash marks on the reticle at the appropriate heights. It's tempting, but I haven't done that yet. It's a little inflexible for me, say if I wanted to try a different bullet, or if I was hunting at a radically different altitude. I live and shoot mostly at about 1,000' ASL, and often hunt around 6,000' ASL. Or go to Wyoming and find myself hunting at 8,000 - 11,000' ASL. That sort of difference affects trajectory in a substantial way - and could easily throw off a range compensating reticle. It throws off the scope - dialing too, but I just add or subtract "clicks" as necessary to compensate.
Best of luck with the decision. Again, I tend to keep things real simple. Either plaster the crosshairs right on the animal and squeeze the trigger, or dial the elevation then plaster the crosshairs right on the animal and squeeze the trigger. Both ways work, and I hop back and forth from one to the other as necessary. Really though, with a flat-shooting rifle and big game as the target, the PBR way of zeroing and then hunting within that range works pretty darned well.
Oooops. realized I tossed a new term in there "PBR" - or point blank range, not Pabst Blue Ribbon! We all good with that term? It's simply a way of maximizing the use of your rifle's trajectory, usually by sighting-in way out there around 300 yards for common flat shooting hunting rifles like a 7mm mag or similar. Makes it possible and easy to hold on the animal out to some pretty impressive ranges, often well over 300 yards.
Regards, Guy
