I was talking to a well experienced hunting friend of mine the other day at a hunting expo. We were discussing flat shooting calibers and he mentioned for shots 300yds and farther he uses the bottom inverted V made from the intersection made with the thin vertical cross hair and the bottom thick duplex portion of that same cross hair for longer shots. He said it is much more accurate using a reference point you can place on the animal, rather than trying to guess hold over with the cross hairs in the air. In order for this to work, you have to keep the scope at max power, (what you would typically do anyway at long shots) and ranges 300 yds and farther. (In general , this is like using your standard cross hair like a range finding reticle)

SO, I go out to the range to see if this new sighting reference will work. In summary, by damn it works!

I tried a .308 165gr load with a velocity of 2530 FPS at 40 F. I have the rifle sighted + 2.5" at 100yds and when placing the very tip of the duplex inverted "V" (look like "A") center mass at 300 yds, I was 4" high. Granted it wasn't dead on, but I was much closer "high" than what I would have been "low "with the regular 9" drop aiming at air. When I tried this at 350 yds, placing the duplex point center mass, I hit only 3" low. AT 400yds I hit 6" low.

I tried this technique with a 300 WSM 180gr 2820 FPS 40 F. The duplex on the Burris scope I was using extended higher, so there was less distance between the center cross hairs and the "V". This was perfect since the 300 WSM shoots flater and would need less hold over. Well, I found this aiming point to put me right in the ballpark form 300-400 yards, comparable to the .308 WIN tests.

NOW, duplex shooting is going to be very rifle + scope combination specific. You would have to test your rifle to see how it shoots with this technique. But since most hunting cartridges land with 6-8" at 300 yds with similar zeros, I see a wide application of this technique.

Sure beats holding into the air!

Yep it works. Has since variables with plex came out. Worked with fixed powers and post's that have horizontal crosshairs before that but there is no adjustment of course.

I realized this while shooting on my range at home. I have a 12" sguare steel plate hanging from a swing set that I shoot at from various distances. Initially, I was using my 30-338 with 165gr. bullets and a 2.5X8 Leupold. Worked like a charm. Tried it out on dall sheep and caribou. they didn't stand a chance.
Works with any flat shooting caliber out to 400 yards. Sighted a 340 weatherby and a 25-06 at 100 yards. One with a 3x9 and the other a 3.5X10. I went out to 400 yards and cranked the scopes to max power settings and I gave it a try. Dead steel plate. The shoulders on the bottom duplex is a little thick for precision shooting. Out to 400 yards on big game, it works for me.


Daryl

Weaver used to make scopes with dual horizontal stadia back in the day (I can't remember what they called it, tho'). Very handy for longer range shooting. - Dan

I am slowly selling off my Duples scopes and bulying the new muti reticle scopes they allow for hold over out ot 700 yds in a lot of calibers. Mil dots or the Burris balistic plex and many others.

What I do is basically what the target shooters do with a six o'clock hold. I sight in with the cross hairs but them place the top of the bottom duplex under the chest of the animal. It works out to nearly 400 yards with most rounds.

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
What I do is basically what the target shooters do with a six o'clock hold. I sight in with the cross hairs but them place the top of the bottom duplex under the chest of the animal. It works out to nearly 400 yards with most rounds.

Check that out at the range. As the power is increased the point of impact goes up.

quote:

Originally posted by dan belisle:
Weaver used to make scopes with dual horizontal stadia back in the day (I can't remember what they called it, tho'). Very handy for longer range shooting. - Dan

Hey Dan, I've got one from the late 60's(El Passo) that has the two horizontal wires and it is called the Range Finder Reticle.

Mine is a 3-9x and I have it on a 22LR. The reason for this is that all the wires(crosshairs) both horizontal and the one verticle are so thin as to make them totally useless at Twilight. It does great when you can see it though and the old scope is still good and tight.

On 9x it measures right at 6" between the two horizontal crosshairs at 100yds. So, if you sight the 22LR in at 25yds on the top one, the bottom one is just about on at 100yds. Works real well for rolling soda pop cans while practicing Off-Hand.

I have several Leupold scopes with a reticle installed by Premier Reticles. It has 10 inches between the duplexes at 100 yards (at highest power). This would be 5 inches from the crosshair to the duplex. I have a chart for each rifle with several aiming points that keeps the POI plus or minus 3 inches. I have used this set-up for several years.


Example:

100 yard POI = +2

0-285 crosshair
286-345 crosshair +6
346-415 duplex -6
416-465 duplex
466-500 duplex +6

This works until you hav to raise the duplex above the animal. The duplex is too wide and covers up too much of the animal. At least with my lower power scopes with heavy duplexes.

I always set my hunting scopes to be zeroed at 3.5 inches high at 100 yds. That point you mention ( I call it the 'church steeple') will usually add a hundred yards to point blank range of about any caliber. Or at least close enough to be minute of deer out to that distance.

Surprised more people don't know about that little point.

Cheers and good shooting
seafire

Hi Hot core. I have a couple of 4X Weavers with this reticle, as you say, it works very well. I wish the wires were thicker for poor light hunting tho', they just disappear when the sun starts to go down. - dan

Hey Dan, I've got one more of the old Weavers and it is the K3 with the C3 reticle which is a Tapered Post(verticle) and a thin horizontal crosshair. As well as I can remember, the tip of the post extends about 3" above the horizontal crosshair at 100yds.

I've had it on a 444Mar for awhile and it works real well. Have it in Weaver mounts on a Weaver Base and when you remove the scope, the Base allows you to see the Iron Sights with the Base still on the rifle.

Still lots of good in those old scopes.

A quick way to get a rough idea of where the bottom of the duplex should hit. I site in my rifles 1.5" high at 100yds. Next I use the bottom of the duplex and shoot at the 100yd target. In the case of my weaver on my 223 the bottom of the duplex was 4.7" high at 100yds. next i went and entered all the info into a ballistics program and played with the zero ranges until i got 4.7" high at 100yds, this figured to be 315yd zero for the bottom of the duplex. I plan to do similar things with my burris bplex for each stadia point, the only thing I had about the burris is the power change ring turns the whole end of the scope and is stiff and needs more of a turn to get it up to 9x. If bushnell would just make the elite with a similar reticle, I would switch all my scopes

The "tactical" applications of the plex reticle is very seldom researched but it has pretty good downrange zeroing, windage, and ranging applications, and is the simplest of the ballistic/ranging reticle systems. What i do is measure the reticle subtension @ 100 yds. and apply it as sort of a MOA system. Once the ballistics program is calc'd, then simply match it up to the programs drop figures in MOA, and it's done (besides checking @ the range)--windage reference is done the same way. Now u can take it further if u wish just like some of the mil-dot guys do by referencing the in-between ranges (between x-hair , and plex zeros) in tenths of the total gap MOA value, by dividing the total MOA x-hair to plex post tip (PPT) MOA value into each 50 yd. increment between x-hair and PPT. Example:

Suppose the post tip has a hypothetical zero of 450 yds. (say 4MOA), with a 200 yd. x-hair zero. OK what happens if the pr. dog u're shooting @ is 375 yds. Well u can just guess interpolation or u can take the ball. program's MOA drop calculation for that range (say 2.9 MOA), and divide it by the total gap MOA- 4, to reference the interpolation in tenths of the total gap, or 2.9/4== .7 of the total gap. Now run a chart for the gap zeros in 25 or 50 yd. increments, and put the range sticker on the scope somewhere, and voila u can pop pr. dogs (or whatever) much more accurately than just guessing where to hold. Again windage can be done the same way also.

Now comes ranging. While shooting pr. dogs here comes a dumb coyote. U stay quiet and he comes to check out the dead pr. dog u just shot @ 375 yds. (supposing it was just a lucky shot, because u didn't have a "tactical" system established-- yet). U forgot where to aim but your reticle's there-- why not use it? OK the reticle's 4MOA @ the highest power right? By adapting the mil-ranging formula u can have a range chart for coyotes (or whatever) on another sticker, like this--

target size x 100/reticle subtension/size of gap the target brackets== range in yds. OR:

assuming the coyote is 12" (back-brisket)-- here's your range system:

12 x 100/4 MOA/1 complete x-hair-PPT "unit"== 300 yds.

12 x 100/4/.9 of the gap== 333
12 x100/4/.8== 375
.7= 430
.6= 500
etc.

OK coyote brackets about .8 of the x-hair-PPT== 375 yds. so just aim .7 of the way down to the PPT, and let 'er rip-- dead coyote (probably/maybe-- if everything's humming right, that is). It's not a perfect system, but just try it sometime and watch the %age of 1st shot connections go up. This is just the beginning of the "tactical-type" systems that can be applied to the plex reticle.

My .17 Mach IV XP-100/4-12X Burris Mini plex reticle system works pefectly for this, and the PPT is right at the limit of the practical range for coyotes.