I'd like to extend my shooting out to 300+ yards. I have the rifle. Do I need a rangefinder? I hate to have gadgets which don't get used but would be willing to use this if it meant improved accuracy. Which one do you recommend?

I have used a range finder for years now. They are great for making those long shots. If you plan on shooting over 300 yards range finders are a great help. Knowing the critter is at 450 instead of 525 can make or break the shot. The Leica 1200 as been the best I have use I own a busnell 1000 but my hunting partner brought the leica much nicer.

I do not use a range finder as I look at p dog shooting as practice for big game shooting. Also, a good part of the challenge/fun is wind doping and range estimation. I sight in for a dead hold at 300yds and aim pretty much the center of the dog. When I start missing short, I go to a head hold. After that it starts getting challenging/fun as you have to start using a kentucky windage hold over his head. The same on any wind thats blowing. Each to his own, but I dread the day I see a hunter with a range finder plugged into a ballistics program on his lap top hooked up to the scope on his rifle.

clerkofkirk

I think that the gun and the game would have a lot to do with your decision. If you using a fairly flat shooting caliber on big game, you'll probably rarely use it. But they are a lot of fun.

I've had an opportunity to check out a few of them. The optical one have acceptable accuracy (=/- about 5%) but are a bit of a pain to use so I would think twice about getting one of them, despite their low prices. The laser ones all seem to be increadibly accurate and relatively easy to use so I don't think you need the top of the line to be satisfied. The main difference I've noticed among models is in the time needed to acquire the target range. And this acquisition time seems to be a bit of a problem with any of the models out near their maximum ranges.

I have a Bushnell 800 compact that works exceptionaly well and is very easy to use. I find myself using it a lot more to sharpen/pratice my eyeball estimation abilities while I'm hunting than to actually range game. But then, I have a flat shooter and rarely get a shot beyond 300 yards.

Michael

It boils down to do you want guess or KNOW distance. My preference has always been to know and today's machines allow great results,housed within a small package.

I'm on my fifth laser(as they have evolved) and it is the Leica 1200LRF. It will take something utterly wonderous and smaller in size,for me to dismiss it's excellence.............

I have the Leica 1200 that I "use" for big game hunting...sorta'. I actually play with it more than I use it. But, the way I look at it is that while I am playing with it, I am "learning" how far "stuff" is, and that can aid me if a quick opportunity presents itself. It is the kind of gadget that will make you sit back and go "Hmmmmmm....."!

I have not used it for varminting, but plan on playing with that this year. I don't see it as much of an aid for prairie dog or ground squirrel shooting where it can be fast and furious, but could be an aid for chucks where the shots are more seldom and deliberate. Hope this helps!

Seems like others are touting the Leica's greatness. Let me be one of those! I held off buying one until I read the reports here and elsewhere and am glad that I did. I have taken repeated shots at flying geese and it tracked perfectly...ie gave readings that seemed accurate and grew as they got farter away. Ranging moving targets tells me its got a good mathematical base!!

[ 02-27-2003, 21:40: Message edited by: Trapdoor ]

All I can tell you from my personal experience is my wife and I own two, a Bushnell 800 and Leica 1200. Both of these are money well spent.

I can also tell you that along with knowing the true trajectory of your rifle and load it is one of the most important pieces of equipment you can own if you want to make consistant long range shots. It will bring you to a new level of shooting if you are already an experienced long range shooter. And if not it will get you there much faster. By being more accurate more often your shooting confidence will go up also.

This said I am assuming you are shooting an accurate rifle now and shoot accurate loads in it, I am talking sub-MOA @ 100 yards. Never the less I highly recommend rangefinders, for archery hunters too.

Good Hunting, "Z"

"I have a Bushnell 800 compact that works exceptionaly well and is very easy to use. I find myself using it a lot more to sharpen/pratice my eyeball estimation abilities while I'm hunting than to actually range game. But then, I have a flat shooter and rarely get a shot beyond 300 yards." Michael

And there is the real beauty of a laser range finder: It will allow you to hone your range estimation skills, and you'll get better and better the more you use one.

You know, I think some of the "spectacular" shots we often hear about from hunters of lore may not have seemed as remarkable had there been a laser range finder handy at the time. That "paced off" 590 yards might have been more like 375 actual yards.

I think the paced off ranges of yesteryear also help to expain how 22-250's manage to "explode" groundhogs at 425 yards--something that cartridge cannot even do at 300 yards.

Mine is a Bushnell YP1000, and I wouldn't be without it in the varmint field. But if I ever lose it, or if it ever goes down on the job, my range "guess-timating" will be much improved because of the time spent with the Bushnell.

Dan

I have used bushnells,tasco,simmons, nikon,leica and didn't care for ant of them.a friend turned me on to a newcon 1500( this will do 1500 yds on just about any surface) The rangefinders listed above will not range an animal at the distance the advertize( bushnell 800 is good for about 400 when trying to hit an animal).

I'm with the gang that says "buy".

If you decide to get one, be sure to consider:
1. Lens magnification - it varies by manuf.
2. Modes - 'rain', 'zip', 'scan', etc.
3. Non-reflective target distance
4. Size (you'll pay a premium for the smallest, but do you really need the small one?)

I especially like 'shooting' the yardages to all of the 'landmarks' when I'm up in a treestand (27 yds to the maple, 36 to the creek, etc.) - great for bow and gun.

beemanbeme
Ya needs to shoot pds with us!Shooting partner has a Sworvski range findeing scopes that works great to 1000 yards.For me hitec is the Wild optical range finder,a laptop and dialing to the dog.
Used Mn elevation & S dakota windage in the past but to get consistant hits over 500yards it takes all the tec I can find,let alone when we get over a 1000y.
The eye safe lazers are about useless in the dogtowns past 400y but the Wild works great & doubles as a spoting scope the glass is that good =CJ

I've used all of the older model Bushnell's, 1 Nikon, and both affordable Leica's, and they have been responsible for most of the long-range game animals that we have taken beyond point blank range. As an example let me explain to you what happened to me on a sheep hunt this last year. I was hunting Colo. @ about 12,000 ft. I had spotted a herd below me. I slipped in to as close as I could from my particular location, and there was no way to get any closer. There was a 3/4X7/8's curl laying quite a ways below me. Of course I wasn't sure how far. The Leica 1200 told me exactly how far. At 275 yds. I put the bullet exactly where i wanted it to go using a special reticle that i had tested on paper to give me the most confidence that i could possibly have. You think i wasn't glad that i didn't have it all figured out? When i see a "serious" long-range rifle hunter in the Rockies where ranges will most often stretch beyond point blank, if he doesn't have a rangefinder, i've come to honestly believe that he's compromised.

Mach V, Perhaps I'm old fashion but at what point does it cease being a sport and becomes simply killing? I've never killed a sheep but if I were going sheep hunting, I'd know what one looked like at 300yds (pretty much my comfort zone for big game). I'd know how much of the plex on my cross hairs he would fill or what power setting it would take to bracket his chest at 300yds. Truely, I don't guess I have a lot of problems with lazer sights and such. They're just not for me. Perhaps I'm too old to change.

Beemanbeme, Your system of ranging the game with the scope reticle, is similar to my method of using the laser. Wouldn't they both be classified as an optical rangefinding device?

Maybe that "compromised" word was a little harsh, what I should've said was "... I've come to believe that the hunters without a rangefinder will not know the range as accurately as one who uses one, assuming it registered an accurate reading."--Sorry about that!

When varmint hunting with a buddy we use the rangefinder after we shoot, I believe this helps estimate the range for the next shots.
we just make a game out of it to see who estimates the closest