Has anyone tried out the new bluetooth scopesand rangfinders by Sig?

Apparently you can pair the scope with the range finder, and along with an app for iOS or Android, scope illuminates the correct holdover point, based upon the ballistic data you entered in the app, and the range being provided by the rangefinder.

All this occurs in real time.

The scopes are supposed to be pretty much normal sized.

BH63

I guess this is just a variation on the integrated scope/rangefinder but if we draw a line at electrics in hunting, it is another nail in the coffin of fair chase.

If not, where and on what principle would you draw the line? If we accept illumination and rangefinders, is it OK to have trail cams call our phone when game visits a wallow? Is the electronic trigger that trips as your wobbling crosswire crosses the kill zone sporting? Should we countenance sending a pistol-armed drone to take that shot at the trail cam's critter?

Using cheats may help fill the freezer and I will not be surprised if professional pest controllers use any of these things - but should we, as recreational hunters, abandon all concept of fair play?

So which is more ethcial?

Using technology to show the correct holdover (the hunter still has to implement proper stock weld, breath control, and trigger squeeze) in order to minimize the chances of a wounded animal.

Or, taking a pot shot and wind up with a belly shot animal?

If I were the animal, I would prefer the hunter do anything and everything in order to make the cleanest kill possible.

JMO

BH63

Well, perhaps we should limit our shots to distances where bullet drop is not a significant issue.

With a flat-shooting rifle, zeroed at 200 or 250 yards, shots to 300 or even 350 yards should not be contentious. While rangefinders might allow you to make precise calculations of drop at greater distances, shooter error becomes greater and the critter may not even have a fair chance of detecting your presence, whereby the shot becomes less a matter of hunting, but something analogous with assassination.

Back in the days of old, JOC always recommended using a zero of 3" high at 100 yds.

He opined, that with most high velocity cartridges you will be dead on between 230-270 yards.

For a practical maximum shooting distance, he recommended a hold over no higher than a sliver of light over the animal's back and the horizontal cross-hair.

He thought if that hold over wasn't enough, you were shooting too far for field conditions.

Now with good rangefinders, there are many hunters with the skill set to successfully kill animals at much longer ranges.

As long as you stay within your personal limitations, I have no issue with long-range hunters.

BTW All of my elk have been killed within 40 yds.

For deer more have been killed at 200 yds or over than less than 100 yds.

For bear, about 50-70 yds.

Antelope over 200 yds.

BH63

That three inches high at 100 yards is at the upper end but I recall Elmer Keith using it.

It is much better than having it zero at 100 and then forgetting to hold over, though. A buddy shot at a big deer at an estimated 300 metres with his 9.3x62 and wondered why he missed. Where did he aim? For the heart. How high did he have his bullets hitting at 100 yards? Maybe one inch.

By my reckoning, that would see the 286-grain bullet drop at least 20 inches or more at a true 300 metres, so hopefully the bullet merely clipped grass. The distance he was shooting was probably less than estimated but, without zeroing for 200 yards with it printing three inches high at 100 yards, a miss was still the likely outcome.

The problem I see without rangefinders is that the greater the distance, the harder it is to estimate because of the foreshortening of geographic features. We may look down slightly on the ground over 100 or 200 yards but the angle becomes progressively more acute as distance increases.

quote:

Originally posted by BuffHunter63:
Has anyone tried out the new bluetooth scopesand rangfinders by Sig?

Apparently you can pair the scope with the range finder, and along with an app for iOS or Android, scope illuminates the correct holdover point, based upon the ballistic data you entered in the app, and the range being provided by the rangefinder.

All this occurs in real time.

The scopes are supposed to be pretty much normal sized.

BH63

It's my understanding that these scopes and rangefinder won't be shipping until later this month or early July.