What's up guys. Been lurking around here for a while and can't seem to find the answer to my question via searching (probably because it's really newb) and would also like some opinions on this new setup I'm trying to put together. I'm working on putting together a bolt gun for white tails and am stuck a little on optics. This rifle is going to live 99% of it's life in the white tail woods of the south east shooting from 50 to 300 yards max (likely more like 200 yards). The caveat to that is I would like to build a rifle that's capable if I ever decide to do an out of state hunt out west for muleys or elk or something. I'm admittedly pretty ignorant when it comes to longer range shooting but I'm learning about all the stuff that goes into that. With that being said, I'm pretty set on the Bergara HMR or Terrain for a rifle. Both would be .308 with 20" barrels. Now for optics, I don't have a lot of specific criteria here other than that I obviously want good glass, a lit reticle, larger bell for good light gathering, a pretty low lower end magnification level for closer up shots in the woods, and some decent upper end magnification for longer shots. The three scopes that I think I've got it narrowed down to are below:
Meopta R2 2.5-15 x 56
Meopta R1r 3-12 x 56
Zeiss Conquest V4 3-12 x 56
The main thing I'm struggling with is the reticle options on the Meopta's. I don't really like the idea of trying to dial for elevation on longer shots while I've got an animal out in front of me. We hunt a lot of long skinny food plots in planted pines and you don't always have a ton of time to get a shot out before the deer is back in the woods. My solution for that would seem to be to use something like the BDC2 or 3 reticle on the Meopta's and just use the hold over marks to compensate for longer distances. Range the deer and shoot using the appropriate hold over for it's distance. My question is, are these marks accurate as far as the distances they are supposed to be used at? How do I go about figuring out what range each hash mark is supposed to correspond with. I know that on a SFP scope they aren't the same at all magnifications so this might only apply to max magnification but how do I go about figuring that out?
For comparisons sake and to get an idea of what I'm used to, my current rig is an AR chambered in 6.8SPC with a Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10 x 56. Every other deer rifle I've ever used were old wood stock guns with little Leupold's and Nikon's and such on them.
Let me know what you guys think and thank you in advance for the help.
Meopta R2 2.5-15 x 56
Meopta R1r 3-12 x 56
Zeiss Conquest V4 3-12 x 56
The main thing I'm struggling with is the reticle options on the Meopta's. I don't really like the idea of trying to dial for elevation on longer shots while I've got an animal out in front of me. We hunt a lot of long skinny food plots in planted pines and you don't always have a ton of time to get a shot out before the deer is back in the woods. My solution for that would seem to be to use something like the BDC2 or 3 reticle on the Meopta's and just use the hold over marks to compensate for longer distances. Range the deer and shoot using the appropriate hold over for it's distance. My question is, are these marks accurate as far as the distances they are supposed to be used at? How do I go about figuring out what range each hash mark is supposed to correspond with. I know that on a SFP scope they aren't the same at all magnifications so this might only apply to max magnification but how do I go about figuring that out?
For comparisons sake and to get an idea of what I'm used to, my current rig is an AR chambered in 6.8SPC with a Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10 x 56. Every other deer rifle I've ever used were old wood stock guns with little Leupold's and Nikon's and such on them.
Let me know what you guys think and thank you in advance for the help.
