Hold over and dial

[Baffled321]

I've got a new Vortex Viper scope and have been wondering if it works to both hold over and dial for the same shot.

For example: Let say the hold over is 2.5 MOA I have stadia lines every 2 MOA so would It work to hold the 2MOA and dial the 1/2 MOA. Logic says that should work, but I've got a feeling it's not that simple

 

[Rick Richard]

I believe it's that simple. However in a hunting situation there is a bit more of a margin for POI vs shooting at a target. So, I would just use one or the other.

 

[marksman1941]

People can and will over complicate this one. It really is simple. The things to verify first are
1) is your scope truly level? If not, both methods will not be accurate
2) does your turret move the amount it says it moves?

Many scopes aren't true 1/4moa or 1/2moa adjustments, but are a small amount off. Over time, dialing up and down will change your zero because it doesn't go back to the exact same spot it did. So, test it out by shooting a few squares. Set a target at 100, shoot the center. Dial up and over to the corner and shoot, then work your way around the target corners, coming back and shooting again in the center. See if your POI has changed with adjusting the turrets. It helps to do this at exactly 100 yds and on a grid target so you know how many clicks you need to move to the corner.

In a hunting situation, holdover is faster but dialing is more accurate if you're not perfectly level. A heavily canted scope using holdover will usually mean a miss by a wider margin than a canter scope that's been dialed.

If you're going to dial, dial it all. There's no reason to do 2 in the turret and 1/2 in the reticle. Most turrets are 1/4 moa, so dial it for exactly what you need a hold dead on.

In your example, if you wanna hold over 2.5 moa and you have stadia at 2 and 4, honestly eyeball the gap for that extra .5 moa. Don't dial it. Your brain should be able to parse that gap into quarters and make a reasonable estimate of where 2.5 moa will be

 

[bultinkle]

as long as you are at the correct magnification (you're actually holding what you think you are) on a SFP scope or you have a ffp scope.

Yes.

I'll say the only reason in the field I can imagine this is if you've already dialed for a shot and then the animal either rapidly moves or a better animal presents itself further without having to dial.

It happens in prs/comps when you have large differences in distance on a single stage and you're trying to find the most time efficient manner of engaging them all. Or if you simply don't have enough scope travel to get to your target distance.

 

[BoomFlop]

Why would you want to hold for the largest drop and dial for the small portion? It would be that simple, but you made it more complicated. If you are going to dial, then dial. If you want to hold, then hold. That doesn't make any sense to me? What is your purpose for this thinking?

 

[Baffled321]

My thinking there was I have stadia lines at every 2 MOA so that's easy. Just hold one line high. Holdinn 1/2 MOA is trickier to do precisely so I could dial that in precisely.

 

[Rick Richard]

My thinking there was I have stadia lines at every 2 MOA so that's easy. Just hold one line high. Holdinn 1/2 MOA is trickier to do precisely so I could dial that in precisely.

If your going to dial, then you might as well dial all of it.

 

[nksmfamjp]

The simple is…..are you in speed mode or precision mode. In speed mode, hold elevation, slide across the reticle upwind and shoot. Usually from memory.

In precision mode…..dial elevation, hold wind and shoot.

Make sense?

I like the reticle because at 300-400 yds, sometimes I want to be a bit more nimble. At 500 and beyond, they better be head down eating!

The time for dial plus hold is more ELR as in cannot dial the whole adjustment.

For new shooters, I dial their wind too.

 

[Dean2]

For hunting I use holdover. My hunting rifles have BRX reticle Swarovski 3.5x18x44s on them. Even at 700 yards you rarely have time to dial and often very limited time to range. so for this reason we also pre range. All my hunting rifles are sighted for 3.25 high at 100, regardless of the specific cartridge, and all have verified drop cards taped to the stock. With the Point blank system, most you can hold on fur to 400 using the main cross hair. Most of my game is shot under 300 yards.

 

[std7mag]

For hunting I use holdover. My hunting rifles have BRX reticle Swarovski 3.5x18x44s on them. Even at 700 yards you rarely have time to dial and often very limited time to range. so for this reason we also pre range. All my hunting rifles are sighted for 3.25 high at 100, regardless of the specific cartridge, and all have verified drop cards taped to the stock. With the Point blank system, most you can hold on fur to 400 using the main cross hair. Most of my game is shot under 300 yards.

If most of your game is shot under 300 yards, why have it zeroed at 3.25" high at 100?
Would seem more effective to zero it for 1.5" high at 100 (giving you essentially a 200 yard zero).

Myself, I use the reticle & hold over for hunting. After having verified it at different ranges.

Shooting competition, I dial elevation and hold off for windage.

 

[Rum Man]

First thing I would say is test your equipment. Set up a tall target test . Use the same aim point just dile up any moa of 5 , 10 ,15 ,20 and check it for the true measurement. Do this a few times .
I guarantee you will have correction factor that needs to ba addressed .
In short distance it probably wont show up as much but in any distance from let's say 500 plus you need to figure out the the corection factor and put it in your dope .
This was proven to me with my Vortex razor gen 1 when getting ready for some Elr shooting ..if I remember correctly it was .9624 that I put into my Shooter app.

This might not be needed for your shooting needs .
I tested this out to 3027 yards on steel .
Good luck to you .

Rum Man

 

[Varmint Hunter]

For 400yds and under, use the stadia wires because they are fast and work well once you "know" the yardage they represent. Over 400yds, dial everything.

Just my thoughts.

 

[BillLarson]

With a good scope and a proven trajectory card....
Dialing is more accurate than holdover......

 

[Doom2]

Just some thoughts. It's important to understand the limitations of your scope. IF the scope is first focal plane the reticle will always show 1 MOA as 1 MOA but the reticle will be changing size (getting smaller) as the magnification is reduced so its harder to estimate effectively. Second focal plane the reticle stays the same so the subtensions will increase (1 MOA@18x will be 2MOA @ 9x).

Depending on how you estimate distance is going to play a bit in how you will want to go. If you are using a laser rangefinder then you can use dial or reticle if you have good dope. If you use the reticle to estimate distance then holdover is probably quicker and likely more familiar.

There will be some distance depending on cartridge where dialing will have an advantage due to resolution. On my mil hash scopes it's easy to estimate to .25 mil. If I were hunting I would not use the reticle if .125 mil would result in a vital zone miss.

Be careful if you do swap between dial and reticle. It is easy to forget to reset the scope to zero and end up holding over with the scope not zeroed.