Gentlemen,
Curious what your favorite reticle is on a dedicated ground hog rifle. I'm contemplating sending my Leupold LRT 8.5-25x50 to Premier Reticles for a No. 3 Dot. Ideas or suggestions welcome.

Regards, Matt.

I would not want a dot without crosshairs. Would the dot cover a chuck at high power. Remember that the new cheaper variables don't allow for reticule size as the power changes.

I've owned a couple of high powered scopes which I used in the field while varmint hunting. Here are some thoughts, and probably unpopular ones at that!

I like to be able to see the hit or miss in the scope. With any scope above nine or ten power on any rifle potent enough to take a groundhog at long range, you won't be able to see the bullet's impact.

I hunt alone more often than not, and without a spotter, seeing the impact of the bullet becomes important.

As I mentioned, I tried the higher powered scopes in the past, but have been having the most success and enjoyment with my .270 which has a simple 3 to 9 power Redfield with the early plain crosshair (not duplex) reticle.

Reticles are a matter of personal preference of course, and many folks who will steer you away from a particlar reticle have never really even tried that reticle. Lots of folks like the dots, and do well with them--provided the size isn't too large.

I've considered trying a mil-dot scope, not for ranging purposes (grossly inaccurate) but for the holdover/holdunder points.

Premier reticles will custom make a fine crosshair reticle with holdover hash marks on the six o'clock crosshair for the trajectory of your choice. A scope such as your's would be a nice candidate for such a reticle in my opinion...

Good luck in your choice of reticle. I think I'd also look at a mil-dot. This would considerably enhance the market value of your scope if you ever choose to sell it...

Dan Newberry
green 788

Personally, the good old duplex works fine. I don't like a dot in a hunting rifle, it's just to easy to lose a dot in the background of a hunting scene, or if the light is starting to grow dim. If you're set on a dot though, go with the Leupold Dot, crosshairs that do a steady taper to the center, with a dot at the juncture. Much easier to find than the target dot.

For general varminting, a fine duplex is pretty universal. I do have one Leupold with a fine dot on duplex crosshairs and find it to be really nice. On woodchucks, most finer dots will not obscure the target out to around 400 yards, so you might want to try one.

Hi Matt,For me it would be a target dot model.I feel very comfortable and confident with that type of scope.I've tried models with fine crosshair and "standard duplex" recticles.The fine crooshair models lose the aimingpoint real easy and the "standard" covers them up at long distances.Like I said Target Dot all the way.

For many years my favorite reticle (for long range hogging)was the Leupold 1/8 minute dot. It is much easier to see on groundhogs then you might think. Shots are careful and precise with targets easily brought to the center.
Tiny dots are really NOT good for most OTHER types of hunting. But for targets and groundhogs (or PD's) they worked great for me.
VH