Ranging groundhogs and other small animals

[cornchuck]

I have a Bushnell 1600 ARC. They claim it is suppose to range out to 1600yds. Which I have used it to range things out to almost that. But when ranging groundhogs while hunting them, I am good to seems like out to 250-300 yds. After that, it can get kinda sketchy. For example, I ranged a groundhog the other night at 345 yds. Put the yardage into my ballistic calculator and got my dope. Dailed my scope and shot. Did't know I hit it because it went down into the soybeans that it was eating until I went out to confirm the hit. I actually hit it. Dead right there. So I ranged back to my side by side where i shot off the top of the roof. Ranged side by side at 321 yards.

I next ranged a groundhog at 700 yards. Dialed my scope. I thought that was alot of dope. (Shooting a .243 with 87gr. Vmax at 2814fps.) So i dialed it. Missed.

I did mount the rangefinder on a tripod to help with keeping it stable while ranging a longer distances.

And sometimes i can range let say a house. I know it is within 1000 yds. But I wont get a reading right off the bat. Seems like I have hit the button 2-3 times before I get a reading.

I just can't trust this rangefinder. Am I not ranging the right way for small animals?

How does everyone else range smaller animals?

Jason

 

[Hand Skills]

Your rangefinder has a pretty wide beam divergence which makes ranging small targets tricky.

Here is some further reading;

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2013/10/29/how-do-rangefinders-work/

I would suggest looking into a unit with a smaller beam divergence. I'm pretty happy with the Leica 1600 B, not really up on the new generation stuff though. The new gen Nikons (black 4000, monarch 3000) spec impressively, anyone using one of them?

Bushnell ARC; 1.5x3mrad
Leica 1600; 2.5x0.5mrad
Nikon 4k; 1.8x0.25mrad

 

[cornchuck]

Hand Skills,

Thank you for your reply.

How would one find the beam thickness of a rangefinder? I have been eyeing the new Vortex Fury. But I am up to other options.

Jason

 

[Hand Skills]

You're welcome. Are you talking about the Bino's? I've seen 1.5x0.1mrad oval reported online, not sure about that though - I would call Vortex to confirm.

 

[cornchuck]

Hand Skills,

I would like to know the beam thicknesses of both bino's and the mono version of rangefinders. I'm leaning towards bino's because one less piece of equipment I have to carry.

I guess if I like a pair, I can call the company to get the beam thickness. And go from there.

Nikon has a nice set out. I have a lot good things about Sig Sauer's version. And I see Leupold has a
set out now.

Jason

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

Want some real fun try ranging prairie dogs. If you're lucky there's a big weed close to him to range on. I also have been pretty happy with the Lieca bino's

 

[carl1775]

I also have a Bushnell with ARC. I think mine is the 1000 model, sevvvvvveral years old. When I purchased mine, I did so, knowing I gave up accuracy of the laser for some higher quality glass. Better for lower light target acquisition. I would suspect that these newer models in the line are the same. If you have "reflective" targets it will surpass the advertised range. But, lazing a little brown hair ball, standing half way up a dirt mound,,,, good luck. As expressed earlier, try ranging something close to the target, ie. mound, bush, stop sign, etc. These were first made and marketed for archery use when they came out and I suspect they are still centered around catering to that crowd. I would like to add a super A+ rating to Bushnell. My battery cover tab disintegrated (I don't leave batteries in my hunting electronics). Called up customer service and they sent a free replacement. Plus, they're local to me, over in KC. Great company, great people.

 

[jrock]

I have the arc 1300 G-force and on the flat in brush, it sucks. 400 yard max. When shooting smaller critters, I shoot mounds and bushes rather than the critters. In the mountains, I have read over 1300 yards of rocks on adjacent ridges. I think its reliability is in the 700 to 800 range except as noted.

 

[Stretch_TX]

You may want to take a look at the newer SIG range finders. I've had good luck with both the 2000 & 2200 models - even on prairie dogs. The smaller beam angle and VERY fast updates make for an incredible tool. (If you want more advanced features, there are more advanced models with incredible bells and whistles!)

(i gave my older Leupold range finder away.. to a gentleman who only needed to range deer & elk. Just like the newer scopes, the capabilities of the new range finders are very much improved!

 

[jrock]

I have a friend with a Kilo 2000 I think and he says he can range much further than mine.

 

[BallisticsGuy]

You're going to have problems with super small targets, especially non-reflective targets in bright sun. As the target gets smaller and less reflective and the sun gets brighter you'll have more and more trouble even getting a reading at all. High scanning rate seems should help in theory, more samples is more opportunities to get a reading.

I really like the Sig Kilo 2000 & 2200. Both seem to be able to read brush and dirt in the most eye frying sunlight to well over 700yrds in my testing (that's the worst I was able to get them to perform). In sub-optimal but less than the worst possible conditions I got to 1400 yrds on cut barley. Best option if you can is to lase a terrain feature or bush that's really close to the target. The distance to the most reflective thing in the beam is what's likely to be returned.

 

[CatShooter]

I just can't trust this rangefinder. Am I not ranging the right way for small animals?

How does everyone else range smaller animals?

Jason

I am a life long, dedicated, groundhog shooter. I ran into this problem when I bought my first laser RF.

The beams on lasers are very large. The specs for beam divergence is typically the "half power points", which are the edges of the beam that are 1/2 power of the center... so a laser which has a 2.5 mil beam (~10" at 100 yds) really has a beam of ~20" or more at 100 yds.
So at 700 yds, the beam diameter is around ten+ feet in diameter.

The second problem is that laser beams do not reflect well from furry animals - maybe 5% of the beam comes back from the ground hog - the rest is absorbed by the fur... but the beam is reflected close to 100% from any grass, or other green growths with chlorophyll.
So, at 700 yards, you are getting ping returns from everything EXCEPT the groundhog... and you are getting ping returns from grass in front and behind him.

I went through several top-of-the-line lasers and finely gave up. If you ever want a real lesson in frustration, try using a laser on a prairie dog town... you will sit down and cry. I finely gave up and bought a military surplus optical rangefinder.

Life got instantly good. The one I have (Wild 80CM) is accurate to +/- or less, at 15 feet at 1,000 yards.
You can find them on eBay from time to time, for around $300 to $400.
You can also find the "Swedish Periscope" optical rangefinder on eBay sometimes for around $200.

 

[Canhunter35]

The rx 2800 has a pinpoint crosshairs for small target.
Ur Bushnell arc you need to hold the target in the bottom circle to get good range

 

[Hand Skills]

Here is a good video on how to find your beam;

Not all beams go where the reticle indicates. This requires calibration and QC, steps which can get cut or missed by manufacturers.



A myriad of rangefinding options are available at this time. The tech has moved pretty quickly and the state of the art at present seems to be integrating the rangefinder with a ballistic calculator. This computer could be on board or remote (via Bluetooth). Some are even integrated into scopes (Burris, Sig) which indicate a calculated Point of Aim in the scope's reticle itself. It's a good time to buy a rangefinder, capable units can be found for <$500 - the real challenge is chosing how to integrate rangefinding into one's optics and firing solution.

For me, the Leica 1600 (monocular) often replaces low power binos in the field. I feel like this allows me to carry high power binos (14 or 15x), which themselves can eliminate the need for a spotting scope in many cases.