determination. But the downside here reveals a bunch of confused shooters who must brush up on their math or attend a shooting school in order to use these various reticles effectively. Most range finder reticles are designed to subtend (cover) a given increment of target at a given distance from the shooter. For some, this can
be confusing, particularly where it involves widely differing reticles and coverage. A few scope manufacturers, quite early on, offered reticles spaced to cover a given target size at a given distance as a means of determining range. A few of these spanned between an adult deer’s back and brisket, further translated to range. It also served as a
varmint reticle when properly used. Before the laser rangefinders there were quite a few multiple reticles of- fered to help shooters arrive at correct hold-over as the hunter shoots. I’m sure many of you recall some of the earlier scopes with rangefinding reticles with double horizontal stadia used as a means of subtending a given span to help determine range. Redfield and others offered this.
Then the big buzz was the mil dot
reticle, which essentially is a derivative of military usage. Defined, one mil is the angle subtended by one unit of distance at 1,000 units of that distance, i.e., one inch at a thousand inches, or ¹⁄₆₂₈₃ of a circle, which further translates to about 3.6 inches subtended at 100 yards. A bunch of scope manufacturers, including Sightron, offered the mil dot reticle, which has become quite popular but is somewhat tricky for the average unskilled shooter to use effectively. I had the opportunity, in 2011, to
thoroughly evaluate Sightron’s, then new, SIII 6-24x50 target/tactical scope with the MOA-2 reticle. This scope had a 30mm diameter tube and side focus. It tested out without flaw as used on both target and varmints. The same MOA-2 reticle became available in Sightron’s Big Sky one-inch tube-SII 6.5x20 MOA- 2 in 2012 … the scope covered in this article. This is a scope reticle shooters really can relate to. The reticle incre- ments are spaced at two minutes of angle from center. There are five such reticles each side of center for windage, five above center and 10 two-minute spacings below center for elevation. This translates to two minutes of angle for each hundred yards per increment, or 20 MOA at 1,000 yards. Add this to the MOA of elevation adjustment the scope provides and we see the very longest range coverage possible for the target/varmint shooter … and it’s understandable.
Rifles like this sporterized Model 40-X Remington switch-barrel rig are among the author’s favorites at all ranges for fox and coyote. This rifle is equipped with Sightron’s – new for 2012 – Big Sky SII 6.5-20x50 MOA-2 varmint/target scope with Trijicon mounting system. A switch-barrel rifle like this, equipped with a good scope, serves the author’s needs as a perfect target rifle as well, capable of extreme accuracy.
Page 8 Winter 2013
I don’t know a rifleman/long range varmint hunter who doesn’t know where the minute-of-angle sub- tension fits into the shooting equation. We are looking here at good old Ameri- can inches. Having determined range and bullet trajectory, it comes down to a simple matter of choosing the correct MOA stadia right there in the scope. The same holds true for correction in wind deflection viewed in the scope.
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