Hey guys, my dad is looking for a rangefinding scope for lr deer. He likes the claims of the Shepherd, but his ballistics are not what the V1 model lists. For instance, at 500 yards the shepherd scope has a listed drop of 49 inches(100 yard zero) The ballistics of the 300 WM w/ 180 gr bullet show a 39 inch drop at 500 yards.

Do you think its as simple as sighting in so the zero is closer or even -2" at 100 yards to get the circles closer the match the ballistics of the rifle?

I have a Shepherd scope on my 7MM Rem. Mag. "3-10x model with P1 reticle " and I really like it and it does work as advertized. You would choose the model with the range reticle that is closest to the ballistics of the bullet you are using and fine tune it from there. Normally you just zero it for 100 yards and then the further ranges should just follow suit but there will be minor differences between different loads for the same cartridge. For instance my handloads for my 7mm tend to shoot a little high at the longer ranges calibrated in the scope reticle if I just zero it at 100 yards. I check it at 400 yards and do a final zero to be closer at the longer ranges. I now find that with my particular load I have to zero at about 1 inch low at the 100 yard mark to be dead on at 400 yards. For deer though I would recommend the 3-10 model instead of the 6-18. 10x is plenty for deer sized animals plus I am told that with the 6-18 model the longer range marks on the reticle zoom out of view when set at 18x making them useless anyway because you can't see them requiring you to turn it down to a lower power anyway. They do work good though and the 1 shot zero feature works as advertized as well.

Thanks, that'll put him at ease. He seems to want the higher magnification.... even I've tried to talk him out of it. WE hunt in pretty open spaces and the bucks are three pt min(one side) sometime the extra mag makes it easier to see the third pt.
I guess a guy could zero it at the max range you felt comfortable with and thgen try thast setting at three hundred yards or so to see how close it would be. A long as its within 3 or 4 inches it should be ok .. Thanks for your input ...very much appreciated.

I've had a couple shepards and found them long, heavy, ugly and harder to get rid of than the clap. Optically they are about equivelant to a older Leupy Vari-X III.
I think he would be much better off with a newer scope with either a TDS or Boone and Crocket reticle. The Shepards are very restrictive about animal size when using the rangefinding system - they have diffferent scopes for Elk, Deer and Varmints. The newer scopes are lighter, better optically, some are cheaper, most are lighter and all are better looking on a rifle..........................DJ

The Shepard scopes are not as heavy as the S&B or the Nightforce or other top of the line tactical style scopes..I have a couple of Shepards and opticaly I find mine to be better than the Leupolds that I have owned.. The Shepherd reticle i as good to 5 to 6 hundred yards as is any of the other BDC reticle such as the TDC,B&C,Balistic Mill Dot,etc..They are not as good as a true Long Range Scope such as any of the top of the line Tactical style scopes with turrets and a MOA reticle or Mill Dot.... Nightforce,IOR,S&B,US Optics are at the top of the food chain IMHO when it comes to rue Long Range Scope'''
Here is my 300 Win with a 3.5X15 Nightforce