G7 not giving correct yardage possibly..

[Will Self]

Doing some shooting today with my brother and nephew, shooting at steel at 585, 836 and out to 921. While ranging for the shot on the 836 steel I realized that my brother who has a G7 and my nephew who has the Sig 2400ABS were getting different ranges than I was getting. I was usually 8-10 yards longer. Their rangefinders were either right on on the money or within 1 yard of each other. Once I realized what was happening we began ranging other things in the pasture, and everything we ranged I was always long..usually 8-10 yards or a tad more.

I dumped in a fresh battery and my brother and I had our G7s on a good steady rest side by side and we worked through all the ranging modes making sure we ranging to the same spot. Same results. Mine was always 8-10 farther.

Really confusing part is I was shooting low with the calculated drop from the G7. Which I think I should have been a tad bit high?

Has anyone experienced or even heard of anything similar happening with a G7?

 

[yobuck]

Back in the olden days, before lazer rangefinders, the only choice was the old military coincidence type like Barr&Stroud or Wild. Some measured in meters and some in yards, depending on which one and which country it was made for by the maker.
Although there are adjustments on them it would be quite common for there to be differences between units when ranging the same objects. Drop charts where made up by shooting at various type targets like say rocks on hillsides. Often those charts would be given to friends who had guns using different cartridges.
But they would be close enough to get them real close, and from there they could fine tune it for their own use in their gun.
You would be apt to hear someone say that his chart works for his gun with his rangefinder.
And when you get right down to it, what else matters?

 

[The Oregonian]

What setting did you have it on for ranging? Near, far, scan, etc.

 

[Will Self]

What setting did you have it on for ranging? Near, far, scan, etc.

We worked through every setting...my G7 was giving longer yardages on all modes compared to my brothers. The 921 yard target is a confirmed known distance, we have had it set for 2 years now. I reviewed my notes last night after starting the thread and I'm wrong on the distance difference I was getting. I was getting 936 on the 921 target, 15 yards difference. Plugged in my data to a couple of different ballistics apps last night and they were kicking out that I should have been dialing in 19-20 MOA for that distance. Obviously real word data trumps calculated tables as yobuck was saying in his post, but I'm leaning towards that being pretty close, based on where my misses where hitting.

I'm gonna tinker with it around the neighborhood to on things that are known distances, if I was only a yard off from the others that wouldn't be so much of an issue. But 8-15 yards is to much of a difference to write off I think. May just flush everything out of the G7 and start over.

 

[Barehandlineman11]

As long as it is consistent I wouldn't worry about it as long as your gun is zeroed with that range finder.

 

[yobuck]

The thing that bothers me most about lazers, is when they wont give any reading at all under certain conditions. And ive yet to see one that at some point under certain conditions wont fail to give a reading.
Which is why my old Wild still resides in my vehicle during hunting season. If you can see the target thru the snowflakes you will get a reading, (every time).
As for differences, what happens when ammo is left in a vehicle and the temp drops to below zero over night?
And the list goes on, fact is there is real world and there is dream world at least when hunting long range.
Best get over it and adjust to what is and not what you might prefer.

 

[Barehandlineman11]

Also what bullet you shooting. The bc in the g7 could be incorrect and be why your hitting low.

 

[Will Self]

The thing that bothers me most about lazers, is when they wont give any reading at all under certain conditions. And ive yet to see one that at some point under certain conditions wont fail to give a reading.
Which is why my old Wild still resides in my vehicle during hunting season. If you can see the target thru the snowflakes you will get a reading, (every time).
As for differences, what happens when ammo is left in a vehicle and the temp drops to below zero over night?
And the list goes on, fact is there is real world and there is dream world at least when hunting long range.
Best get over it and adjust to what is and not what you might prefer.

So your telling me this is your preferred method for ranging???
https://simpsonltd.com/wild-m-41-long-distance-optical-rangefinder/
That's a little more than I want to carry around. And you are 100% correct there is a difference between real world and calculated data, which is why I was shooting out to 921 to verify that data in the real world. My hang up is why is my range finder giving me wrong data. And yes its only going to give me solutions as good as the data I put in it, which brings me back to why is it ranging 15 yards difference? If I can get an understanding of why it is doing what it is doing I can adjust to it or correct it. So for the time being I think I wont "get over it" and keep working to figure out what is happening.

Also what bullet you shooting. The bc in the g7 could be incorrect and be why your hitting low.

Berger 195 gr 7mm. I'm using the published G7 bc from Berger. I checked yesterday while in the field to make sure my bc and muzzle velocity data was correct. That's what has me thinking to just reset to default and start over.

 

[Barehandlineman11]

It's possible g7 is messed up they'll fix it for sure though

 

[yobuck]

So your telling me this is your preferred method for ranging???
https://simpsonltd.com/wild-m-41-long-distance-optical-rangefinder/
That's a little more than I want to carry around. And you are 100% correct there is a difference between real world and calculated data, which is why I was shooting out to 921 to verify that data in the real world. My hang up is why is my range finder giving me wrong data. And yes its only going to give me solutions as good as the data I put in it, which brings me back to why is it ranging 15 yards difference? If I can get an understanding of why it is doing what it is doing I can adjust to it or correct it. So for the time being I think I wont "get over it" and keep working to figure out what is happening.



Berger 195 gr 7mm. I'm using the published G7 bc from Berger. I checked yesterday while in the field to make sure my bc and muzzle velocity data was correct. That's what has me thinking to just reset to default and start over.

Well first, try to realize that long range hunting in Pa where i hunt is primarily done from a fixed location.
Meaning that you pretty much drive right to or at least very close to the spot you intend hunting.
So the type of equipment used might vary from that used in other places as a result.
There are of coarse times when hiking to a location takes place also, and thats where things like lighter guns and lazer rangefinders are preferred.
But regardless as to how far you hike to the location, you dont actually start hunting till you arrive at the location.
There is also no spot and stalk hunting done there, as in closing the distance on foot before shooting.
Terrain features dictate all of that, and not what the individual might prefer it be.
So again, you learn to accept what is and deal with it.
All hunting is done by using tripod mounted binoculars to scan hillsides for game, and pretty much all shooting is done from some type of bench or a very good tripod setup capable of handling heavy weight and heavy recoiling guns. And yes people lug the equipment as far as need be or maybe stash some of it at the longer hike locations. Years back we would carry the rangefinder in to a location one time, and make note of various features in a book with pages for various locations with the range written next to say a large rock.
We still use that book, even though today we have lazer rangefinders. Having the most precise information as for distance isnt really as important as have a gun that gets there in a hurry with enough bullet. And knowing how to get the next round where you want it to go if you happen to miss. Misses arent always a bad thing anyway, because you always end up having more solid information than before the miss.
I think in the shooting world they might be known as sighter shots. lol

 

[Aoudad shooter1975]

My G7 has been spot on

 

[Will Self]

Talked to Gunwerks about it today. Sending the G7 in to them this week for a diagnosis. Customer Service person I spoke with mentioned something about possible optical alignment issue, but only way to know for sure what was going on with it was to get it to them.

 

[Will Self]

So a update on the G7 if anyone is interested. I never sent it to Gunwerks. Had a suggestion from a friend to give the lenses a cleaning with something other than lens brush and cloth as Gunwerks suggest. He encountered something similar on a different brand range finder. Turned out was a slight film on the lens that he suspected was from the cloth spreading out a finger print smudge or something that wasn't really visible but was just enough to effect the pulse return...

Figured I had nothing to loose so I gave it a try and it seems to have worked. So for what its worth...

 

[BMF]

Good to know. Thanks for the info W.S.