The hunting scope on my Rem 700 Mtn LSS 7mm-08 is a Burris 3-9x40 w/ Ballistic Plex. You sight in dead on at 100 and then use the additional aim points on the reticle for 200, 300, 400 & 500 Yds. I understand that the Leupold Boon & Crockett reticle is similar but I think it has different ranges for the additional aim points.

I've tried several different loads in my gun and sighted in at 100, they have been dead on at 200 Yds using the first aim point. Haven't been able to test the 300 Yd aim point yet as the longest burm at our gun range is only 200 Yds.

Anyone use these types of reticles? Have you been able to test out at 300 Yds or longer? What were the results?

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

First Shot
Until you can get to a place to shoot 300 yards and farther, try this.

Get a piece of butcher paper about 4 feet long.
Place it at 100 yards, putting your aiming point at the bottom. Then take a couple of shots using the 200,300,400,and 500 aiming points. Always aim at the same target at the bottom of the paper. Them measure where your shots hit. For example compare how high at 100 yards your "500 yard" aiming point hits to the data from a ballistic chart for the bullet/load you are using. This should give you an idea how close your aiming points are in your scope.
Still when you get a chance,shoot at the longer distances to check your data.

I have been changeing out my regular cross hairs for the muti ones. I like mil dots first then the others. They all seem to work. I belive the mil dots gives one a bit more choice of aiming points over the ballistic plex. But I have both and out to 500 yards they work well.

With hand loads I find myself loading for accuracy and the reticle. That and laser range finder makes hitting at longer ranges a lot easier.

I really like leupolds Varmint Reticle.....the extra points give a definite holding point for the wind and holdover etc.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
First Shot
Until you can get to a place to shoot 300 yards and farther, try this.

Get a piece of butcher paper about 4 feet long.
Place it at 100 yards, putting your aiming point at the bottom. Then take a couple of shots using the 200,300,400,and 500 aiming points. Always aim at the same target at the bottom of the paper. Them measure where your shots hit. For example compare how high at 100 yards your "500 yard" aiming point hits to the data from a ballistic chart for the bullet/load you are using. This should give you an idea how close your aiming points are in your scope.
Still when you get a chance,shoot at the longer distances to check your data.

N E 450 No2

Excellent suggestion!!!!!!

Per my ballistics program shooting at 100 Yds I should hit high in the amounts below using the various BPlex aim points:

200 Yds.....1.8" High
300 Yds.....4.3" High
400 Yds.....7.3" High
500 Yds.....10.6" High

Considering maximum hight is 10.6", I can even use 11"x14" leagl paper for the target.

THANKS!!!

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

I've used my ballistic plex reticle and factory Federal 225 TBBC's in my .338 Win Mag. It worked like a charm out to 200 yards on paper. Then I took to the steel range ang was on out to the ram.

A few years ago I was using the same type of scope on my .300 H&H Mag. My dad ranged a buck at 260 yards. So I put him between the 200 and 300 yard hashes and took him to the butcher shop.

I'm a true believer about ballistic plex reticles.

I have one B&C reticle - I wish all my scopes had them. Is there a way to switch over?

Do what I am doing each year once or twice buy a new scope and sell a old one.

NE 450 No.2 lays it out very well.

I've used the Burris Ballistic Plex scopes in combination with a good range finder with excellent results. Popping marmots at 400 or even 500 with my 270 is a great deal more of a sure thing with these scopes properly sighted in. Antelope are freezer-wrap at any distance out to 400+ if the wind is good.

The important part is to make sure that your rifle is on at the marks for 400 yards or 500 yards. You may find that if it is on at 300 it maybe significantly high or low at 400. Where as if it is on at 400 and 500 it will only be an inch or two off at 300.

The critical distances seem to be 400 and 500 with my rifle, 270 140 Hornady SST @ 3050. At 300 its a couple off. My wifes rifle shoots a 130 Hornady @ 2900 spot on at all the range marks.

quote:

Originally posted by First Shot:
Per my ballistics program shooting at 100 Yds I should hit high in the amounts below using the various BPlex aim points:

200 Yds.....1.8" High
300 Yds.....4.3" High
400 Yds.....7.3" High
500 Yds.....10.6" High

Considering maximum hight is 10.6", I can even use 11"x14" leagl paper for the target.

THANKS!!!

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

My .270 WSM with a 140 Accubond (BC of .500) at 3150 fps has the following drop calculations:

ACTUAL..................RETICLE.................DIFFERENCE
100 yards... + .99" .......0.......................+1"
200 yards.......00"........0.......................0"
300 yards....-5.53".......-4.5"....................-1"
400 yards...-16.12".......-18".....................+2"
500 yards...-32.67".......-38".....................+5.5"
600 yards...-56.07".......-66".....................+10"

So as you can see, my extremely flat shooting .270 WSM with a very high ballistic coefficent bullet is probably only useful to 500 yards, and even at that, a 5 1/2 " error is more than I would be comfortable with. Now bear in mind, this is all theoretical stuff based on software calculations. The numbers from these ballistic programs can be way off. The only way to really tell is to shoot the longer yardages. What a great idea NE 450 No2 has !! I will surely try that before I go on my antelope hunt. The final figures I arrived at with mine are similar to the sticker Burris supplies for the .270 WSM 130 grain bullet up to 400 hundred yards. After that, there is a big discrepency. Also, looking at my Burris chart for the 7-08 with a 140 gr bullet at 2860 fps, it shows a 100 yard zero with the crosshair and then drops of:

100......0"
200......0 (which I can't quite figure out)
300......+1
400......0
500......+1

What I don't understand is why your 7-08 seems to be a better match to the reticle than my flatter shooting .270 WSM.I guess it just must be the way they designed it.

A 5.5 inch differants at 500 is a hell of a lot easier to take into acount then a 50 to 50 inch differants.

If one is only 5.5 inch off one cand easly ajust for that.

That said thats why I like mil-dots a bit better one can always use the top middle or bottem of them to help in ajusting your aiming point.

The reason the 7-08 is closer is that the plex was design for the most common calibers 308 30-06 270 ect.

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
I have one B&C reticle - I wish all my scopes had them. Is there a way to switch over?

I sent Burris an email asking if their scopes with regular reticles could be modified to the BPlex reticle.

Will let you know what I hear back.

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

Bowhuntrrl,
How about this idea for yor 270 WSM:
Just looking at the drop calculations for your load. Just back your scope adj. down 2 clicks or 1/2 MOA. This would put you no more than 2 1/2" low at 300, almost dead on at 400 and only a bit over 2 " high at 500. This is very close to the sighting plan I have with my 270. I works very well with a center of mass hold on antelope. (My wife and I shot 6 last year, 4 of them at 300 to 400+ yards. All one shot kills.) I've found through long range varmint shooting with my 270 that it is a lot easier to correct for errors in elevation at the closer ranges than at 400 and 500.

If you really want some fun try putting Burris Ballistic Plex on a good 22LR. I've mannaged to wack quite a few gophers out to 125 or even 150 yards with my CZ.

I've been using a Leupold range-finder binoclar this summer for varmints and it works very well out to 400 yards under most all conditions. 500 yard or longer rangings require better light and target conditions to be consistant but are still good.

bowhuntrrl

The Accubonds very high BC combined with your 3,150 FPS of your .270 WSM are the primary reasons for youre outperforming the BPlex reticle at the longer ranges. Like p dog shooter said, the reticles were designed for standard calibers with standard velocities.

Just for grins, plug in a lower BC into your ballistic program and you will see that you match closer at the longer ranges. Keeping the same BC, the other alternative would be to reduce the velocity a little.

I reload, so I can tune my loads to the BPlex drop rates. I have to push a 140 Hdy SP (BC .392) at 2,876 FPS to match the BPlex. The 140 Accubond (BC .485) actually has to be "down" loaded to 2,800 FPS for the best match.

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
A 5.5 inch differants at 500 is a hell of a lot easier to take into acount then a 50 to 50 inch differants.

If one is only 5.5 inch off one cand easly ajust for that.

That said thats why I like mil-dots a bit better one can always use the top middle or bottem of them to help in ajusting your aiming point.

The reason the 7-08 is closer is that the plex was design for the most common calibers 308 30-06 270 ect.

PD Shooter has an interesting point here in that he's adapting a ranging reticle for ballistic reticle duty. This is a common system employed by long-range shooters and snipers when shots must be delivered quickly. The problem with ballistic reticles is that their stadia subtensions r a generic system, and don't fit every scenario. Leupold has attempted to address the issue by using 2 different magnifications (and therefore 2 different subtensions) for their Varmint Hunter reticle.

Another system that i use for my ballistic/ranging reticles is to run a ballistics program that calculates drop in MOA. Then it's a simple matter of calculating MOA of each stadia for your particular reticle, and matching it up to the ballistic program calcs. Then i check at the range noting exactly where the avg. POI is for each range. If each stadia is not dead on, I adjust muzzle velocity, and BC in the program to exactly match the trajectory as close as possible. Now, as an example, here's the MOA calcs for the Ball. Plex rifle reticle--

1 = 1.4 MOA
2 = 4.3 MOA
3 = 7.1 MOA
4 = 10.5 MOA

Now, suppose the 2nd stadia (4.3 MOA) is exactly 300 yds. and the 3rd stadia (7.1 MOA) of the Ballistic Plex reticle is zeroed at say 436 yds. exactly. Once the ballistics program exactly matches the actual zeros then if i wanna know what the zero is for 400 yds. i check the ballistics printout, and see that the 400 yd. zero is at say 6.6 MOA. Now 6.6 MOA is 2.3 MOA lower than the 2nd stadia, and the entire gap between 2nd and 3rd stadia is 7.1-4.3= 2.8 Now simply divide 2.3 by 2.8 and we get .8. This means that the 400 yd. zero is 8 tenths of the gap between the 2nd and 3rd stadia, and is our interpolative 400 yd. zero-- now calculate all of the interpolative zeros between 2nd and 3rd, and 3rd and 4th stadia, for 25, or 50 yds. and u now have your interpolative zeros for the generic ballistic reticle that doesn't fit perfectly. Put it all on a sticker and attach it to your scope.

Now if u really wanna have some fun, do the same for windage with a ballistic reticle that's not "calibrated" for windage-- like the Ball. Plex reticle on my 6.5-284 XP-100 handgun. The plex part of the horizontal arm of the x-hair is 3.0 MOA, and 10 mph windage calcs r the same as trajectory, since windage is really simply a horizontal trajectory. Suppose that rockchuck is out there @ 400 yds. and there's an avg. 10 mph wind (I know it's 10 mph, because awhile back i purchased a Windtronic anemometer for about $25 or so, and used it at the range and started to sort of get the "feel" for 5, 10 and 15 mph winds). When i was home i checked the 10 mph MOA values and @ 400 yds. it drifts, oh say 3.2 MOA. I divide 3.2 MOA by 3.0 MOA, and got 1.1 "plex units". OK aim .8 of the way between 2nd and 3rd stadia, and just a little past the plex post tip into the wind. Bango-- dead chuck maybe?Maybe not, but 1 thing's for sure you'll hit those 10 mph 400 yd. chucks a lot more often than just guessing on the 1st shot.

This may help some for those that wanna take the time--

http://www.ottllc.com/specialtypistols/sp20.pdf

First Shot:

You and I have discussed this on this forum before but I have a little update. I just got back from an antelope hunt where the bullet drop reticles proved their worth.

I shot my buck at maybe 125 yards, no need for any additional aim points here. I shot it with a 25-06 using 115 grain Ballistic Tips, great bullet performance. Nice buck, won't score very high but very heavy bases and great heart shaped horns.

My dad shot a once in a lifetime buck with his .257 Wby Mag at a measured 429 yards. He has a 4.5 X 14 LR Leupold on it with the Boone and Crockett reticle. Dad has this scope zeroed at 300 yards because of its fast muzzle velocity. This makes the first aiming point below the main crosshair good at 400 yards. He put that mark on the buck's shoulder and he dropped as if struck by lightning. (100 grain Ballistic Tip starting out at 3650 fps) This buck green scores 88 points and will make Boone and Crockett book for sure.

My buddy Ed used another .257 Weatherby to kill his buck at just over 400 yards as well. His rifle wears the Swarovski 4 X 16 with the TDS reticle in it. Again, it is zeroed at 300 yards. Ed used the appropriate 400 yard mark and killed his buck lying in its bed. Same 100 grain Ballistic Tip at 3600 fps muzzle velocity, same instant death! This was a great buck as well, scoring about 82 points.

This is two years in a row my dad has used the Boone and Crockett reticle to kill antelope at 400 plus yards. Works quite well!

R F

R F

Thanks for the update and congratulations to all of you on the success of your antelope hunt! Sounds like you guys certianly batted 1000.

Talk about a great testimony to the effectiveness of these bullet drop compensating reticles! I just don't see how someone could ever go back to a standard reticle after haveing used on of these.

Congrats again! Post some picks when you get a chance.

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

I have the Burris balistiPlex on a .243. The only load I have played with at extended range is the 70 grain Speer TNT. Sighted dead on at 100, it is about 3.5" high at 300. That's as far as I have available from the bench, so I don't know about the 400-500 marks. Hope to try out the 85 TSX loads this weekend at 300, should be interesting.

First Shot,

I have one on a 25-06 and w/ 115 NBTs at +/- 3100 fps it was 3" high at 400 w/ the 2nd hash mark (Zeroed at 200). I've since lowered the velocity to 3040 so, she should be dead-on on all of the Hash marks. This would be one heck of an Antelope set-up, Looks like R Flowers got a chance to prove that.

Great Reticle!

Reloader

Just received a PFI Inc. 3-9X 32 scope that i'm putting on a 6mmAI for late season coyotes. John Pride and Mickey Fowler head this company out of San Dimas, CA, and the ballistic reticles they're putting in these scopes r terrific. This scope is actually a 22 RF scope, but i was so impressed with the workmanship that i put it on my 6mm. It's a spot and stalk rig, so i like the portability of the smaller scope. The reticles are what makes it so great-- here's what they look like--

http://www.rapidreticles.com

My only gripe with the Burris scopes is that the ballistic plex is only good at the highest power setting. It would be really nice if they could set up the reticle so that it was calibrated for all power settings.

quote:

Originally posted by LorenS:
My only gripe with the Burris scopes is that the ballistic plex is only good at the highest power setting. It would be really nice if they could set up the reticle so that it was calibrated for all power settings.

Unfortunately, that's how most of these reticles work. I believe a few models of the top end Zeiss work at all magnifications because of which plane the reticle is located on.

quote:

Originally posted by LorenS:
My only gripe with the Burris scopes is that the ballistic plex is only good at the highest power setting. It would be really nice if they could set up the reticle so that it was calibrated for all power settings.

LroenS

I agree that it would be "nice" if the BPlex reticle worked at all power settings; however, I know that sighted in dead on at 100 Yds I'm 3" low at 200 Yds using the main cross hair. So, out to 200 Yds I'm good for a shot on a deer using the main cross hair regardless of what power setting I'm using. Out past 200 Yds, I would more than likely be using the highest power setting (in my case 9X) anyway.


firstshot
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Make your first shot count!