Mil-dot Scopes,

So I’m starting the research process for purchasing a new scope for my 22-250, and I have fallen in love with the Mil-dot system, currently have a Barska Sniper on my rifle and it does it’s job but I’m looking to now purchase the scope that I know works 100% with every click and won’t shift etc.

I’m looking for suggestions up to $400 max. Im looking for 3-4x up to 12-16x and would like it to be bigger than a 40mm bell, so like a 42-50mm. Exposed turrets would be nice but not essential. And it must be a Mil-dot or Mil-based reticle

So far I have found,
Burris Droptine
Athlon Talos BTR
Bushnell Legend HD

SWFA.

Swfa as stated above. They work real nice and repeatable.

When searching SWFA is it the actual optic maker or is the SWFA a company that sells scopes, I looked them up before and couldn’t find a definite list or page that said, this is SWFA scopes here’s our models.

I know Vortex has limited lines with a Mil-Dot, but they do make a Viper in 6.5-20×44 with a Mil-Dot. With some shopping around you can find them at or just barely above $400. You really cannot beat the customer service and warranty of Vortex Optics. Their scopes are all high quality, even their lower priced models.

I have Vortex, Leupold, Nikon and Bushnell and I like them all. My personal favorite is my Nikon 4-16×50 on my .223 bolt. It is a BDC reticle, however. I do not believe they offer a Mil-dot in a LO scope though…

This address should get you started

https://swfa.com/swfa-ss-10×42-tactical-30mm-riflescope.html

I run a 10×42 swfa I believe, with all the bells and whistles to go along with it. Stellar performance. Used solely for pdog shoots on 223. Turrets are priceless IMO

If you watch the sales, the Bushnell Elite series can often be had for your price range. I have a 6×24 on a varmint .22-250 with a mil dot and it’s an excellent scope for the money. I can be very hard on varmints when I’m in the groove with this baby.

I’m assuming that you are familiar with the intricacies of using the mil dot system and how the dots are “calibrated”. This takes a little homework.

I’m not a fan of target turrets for exactly the reason that their name implies. Great for target shooting, but way too much faffing around for actual hunting unless you have a spotter who’s running the rangefinder and feeding you distances.

Grouse

My introduction to mil dot scopes is a Bushnell Elite fixed 10 power scope. It’s a very good scope that is easy to use once the system is learned. Price around $250.00. So.wtimes on sale at Midway.

Nic your phone number is no longer in service give me a call

Nic

Theres nothing wrong with a scope with a adjustable turrets or hash marks in the scope be it dots or hash marks. I don’t understand why this would be a disadvantage as Grouse stated, but to me would be a advantage. You will have the ability to use your 100 yard zero and hold over using your hash marks or dial up a few hundred and aim dead on. There is no fumbling but yet more so having the ability to be more accurate.

There are a lot of high quality scopes available at anyone’s price range – glass is glass some will give you a little more advantage then others but what is a true priority is repeatability in the turret as far as running up and down.

Also with this purchase download a Ballistic program into your smart phone, this can be – Shooter, Applied Ballistics, Trasol they will cost you anywares from $10.00 to $35.00 this investment will save you so much money, time and success in the field. This is a area that I see so many folks fail to do thus struggling with the fun and accuracy down range be it a animal or hard target.

Also do yourself a Hugh favor and calibrate your scope prior to mounting it on a rifle. This involves checking the travel within your turret travel on a 72″ ruler at a measured 100 yards with a tape not a range finder – from the ruler to the center point of your scope and recording the actual trave of the reticule as you dial the turret then you can enter the offset in your ballistics program. It doesn’t matter what scope it is we test every scope prior to mounting be it a Schmidt & Bender, Vortex, Night Force, Bushnell or Leupold – they all will have an offset some will be close some need a bunch of correction.

If you ever want help or have questions on this test please ask.

I know Randy will have a good amount of info to add as well.

Good luck

JH

dial for elevation takes about 10 seconds. tape a drop chart to your stock. if you’re trying to take a snap shot at something far enough away to have to hold over or dial you shouldn’t be shooting at it.

dial elevation and hold for wind. wind is the great unknown variable. only time on the range shooting at distance can help. wind is voodoo haha.

I like leupold. you can find a slightly used vx2 or vx3 on 24hourcampfire for a few hundred bucks. send it in to leupold and they will put a turret (even a custom ballistic turret) on and whatever you want for a reticle for a ~120 bucks. then hit the range…. a lot. hitting consistently at distances greater than 300 yards is not easy, especially if you rely on holdovers. imo

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I’m assuming that you are familiar with the intricacies of using the mil dot system and how the dots are “calibrated”. This takes a little homework.

Grouse

If you mean the math involved for determining how many miles at each yardage equals how many inches? Then yes I am comfortable with that math, I have a cheat sheet right now I made taped to front bell of my current scope.

Also do yourself a Hugh favor and calibrate your scope prior to mounting it on a rifle. This involves checking the travel within your turret travel on a 72″ ruler at a measured 100 yards with a tape not a range finder – from the ruler to the center point of your scope and recording the actual trave of the reticule as you dial the turret then you can enter the offset in your ballistics program. It doesn’t matter what scope it is we test every scope prior to mounting be it a Schmidt & Bender, Vortex, Night Force, Bushnell or Leupold – they all will have an offset some will be close some need a bunch of correction.

If you ever want help or have questions on this test please ask.

I know Randy will have a good amount of info to add as well.

Good luck

JH
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I’m not familiar with the calibration your referring to but it intrigues me and I will definitely be looking into that.

I like the turrets so I don’t have to hold over… A quick few clicks and I’m zerod on target.

I’ve also missed a time or two because I forgot my turrets were set to my previous shot distance results may vary lol

Boy I can’t wait for June pdog hunt

Jeff Heeg wrote:

Nic

Theres nothing wrong with a scope with a adjustable turrets or hash marks in the scope be it dots or hash marks. I don’t understand why this would be a disadvantage as Grouse stated, but to me would be a advantage. You will have the ability to use your 100 yard zero and hold over using your hash marks or dial up a few hundred and aim dead on. There is no fumbling but yet more so having the ability to be more accurate.

JH

I didn’t say they were a disadvantage, I said I’m not a fan of target turrets on a hunting rifle because I don’t see the point because hunting isn’t target shooting.

Have you ever called in a coyote? I’m assuming that this is the intended use for the rifle given Nicholas’ other posts on coyote hunting. So you have a coyote bouncing in toward you, you’re calling or running a call, trying to get set up for a shot, pick a clear area, get in position on your sticks, all the while trying to move as little as possible so the coyote doesn’t spot you, and you’re watching for other coyotes because there may be more than one, then you’re going to bark to stop him, but in the right place where he’ll be exposed…

So where in this whole series of events are you going to have time to range the coyote and faff around with doping the scope? Practical experience tells me you’re not, or if you do, the extra faffing around will cost you more coyotes than it gains you because of the added time and distraction.

As I said, great for paper punching off a benchrest as the name implies, but I don’t see the point for a predator hunting rifle where the window for a shot is very often too narrow already.

I know all this sniper-style TactiCool gear is all the rage now. Just giving my opinion about what works for me in real life.

Grouse

Grouse you are correct in your assumption. The reason for mil-dots is the fast holdover points, the desire for turrets is for when a buddy and I want to “impress” with hitting a jug or whatever at a distance that’s known. Or if a coyote hangs up and I have time to fiddle and send one its way. So both sides are very valid points in the discussion. I won’t be doing a ton of dialing but would enjoy the chance to do it.

A nice thing about the swfa scopes is that some of them have see through diamonds instead of solid dots so if you are using hold over at say 600 yards on a milk jug or bowling ball you can see the target Instead of covering it up.

Nic, as I’m sure you already have figured out, the mils Vs a know target size will give you distance. I run all mildots now and love them. Like Mr Hunter stated, it takes a little practice and range time to have them calculated out exactly for a given rifle. You can run all the ballistics apps you want, and they don’t replace what you learn on the range for hunting use.
When I am testing out a new scope I place a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of foam on my target audit 900 yards with a 200-yard zero I’ll drop back to 325 yards and shoot dead center and evaluate my drop compared to my Mill. Then I back up to 400 500 and 600 yards and repeat the process shooting at dead center what I’m looking at is what my drop is at each hundred yard mark. Then I’ll tweak my zero to adjust to give me the closest hundred yards breach of my Mills and then I turn my rifle that way I know I may be zeroed at 235 yards and my top of post can be 918 yards and consequently each of my Mills of fall in it may be 425 yards 540 and I can refer to my chart and I’ll always know what my holdover is

So far now its still.

Athlon Talos BTR
Bushnell Legend HD
Burris Droptine
SWFA
Primary Arms

Any others I’m forgetting to mention, I still researching them all and weighing pros and cons. Nikon and Leupold all seem to be too rich for my blood unless I can find them on sale…also I’ve notice they lean towards “custom” turrets for a specific load, which is not appealing to me to have a turret that’s not standard.

Do you happen to have an MC Sports store near you? I just heard that they are planning on either going out of business all together or maybe just close many of their stores. The one near me is slated to close. They have a gun section and have already transfered most of the guns out of the store. But, they have some pretty nice optics that they will get rid of through a going out of business sale. They are going to close their doors for a few days and do a final inventory. Then they plan on reopening with the final sale. It may be worthwhile to go on a recon mission to your local MC Sports to see what they have on hand and what their future is.

Well I’m still researching products. However I’m finding a few where for a slightly higher price it will be a 6-24 or similar vs a 4-16 or 3-12 basically just increased magnification.

Is there any real benefit in going higher? The I want to shoot at targets a long ways out there side of me is saying get the higher mag. The I have a coyote at 75yds side is saying it’s going to be hard to find the target with that high of magnification. The reality is I will likely only stretch this scope and rifle out to 500 and most often only 250-300. I do really enjoy being able to zoom in a lot on the target once known but not sure if there is a benefit to the higher power low zoom.

Just because you have a scope that magnifies 25x, doesn’t mean you will have it jacked up that high. But if you get an opportunity to go pdog shooting, you’ll never regret having it available

Well I figured I should update ya’ll, so I did not purchase a scope yet and won’t be now till maybe next summer..I did the unthinkable and bought my first boat instead. I’m sure by next spring there will be more options and maybe even some of the front runners I was looking at will drop in price as well as be upgraded as some were newer to the market. Thanks for all the input.