How important to you is the reticle?

[Macintosh]

I think the whole "reticle is hard to see" thing is overblown like a lot of things. I can't think if a single time I've ever tried to kill an animal and struggled due to reticle.

I almost strictly hunt with Nightforce scopes which are known for their bad reticles......

I don't frequently hunt swamps or really thick timber although I did grow up hunting in those types of conditions here in Western WA.

I think the idea that everyone is killing a bunch of animals in dark conditions is mostly made up. All the states I've hunted have legal shooting hours that typically keep people from shooting in the dark.

Also, deer and elk vital areas are a solid color so I don't personally care if I'm in broken terrain or not. All I care about is seeing the reticle against the animal which I don't find too difficult.

Made up?

Of the last dozen deer Ive killed all but one was after legal sunset. None were in the open—the best lighting conditions would be open hardwoods after leaves were down, where you only have to contend with differentiating the reticle from a million hardwood whips. 4 of those deer were in fully closed-canopy hemlocks or cedars where I cannot see well enough to shoot to legal light without optics that gather more light than my naked eye.
I assure you, it most certainly isnt every animal, but it is very normal. I know you are an extremely accomplished shooter and hunter, but dont make the mistake of thinking that your experience extrapolates to everyone, everywhere.

 

[prm]

I think the whole "reticle is hard to see" thing is overblown like a lot of things. I can't think if a single time I've ever tried to kill an animal and struggled due to reticle.

I almost strictly hunt with Nightforce scopes which are known for their bad reticles......

Because you don’t see it or somehow believe it’s real, doesn’t make it fact. If you don’t need it fine, but you don’t get to be the decider of what everybody else is looking for. I am not making shit up when observing in actual use that I prefer a bolder reticle.

 

[Fritz D]

I started out with the duplex, like most folks here, I suspect? Got ‘enamored” with the Kahles & Swarovski TDS (Christmas tree) reticle and hunted open country muleys and elk with it for years. Nowadays I like the mil-dot illuminated types best.

So, yes, the reticle is very important to me, ranks just below reliability in fact.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Have a lot of credo scopes, don’t like the reticle really… but it’s fine. Favorite reticle for hunting would be a duplex with windage hash marks, ie the vx5 but with scopes it seems like you will always have to make a little compromise somewhere

 

[ballistictip1088]

I’ve got some high end glass. They all use a very similar reticle.
Tangent theta 525p JTAC
NF ATACR 735 mil c
Kahles 328i smkr +
They all are very similar with no tree and .2 hash marks.
The reticle for me is the first thing I look at when buying a scope. Glass quality, forgiving parallax, zero stop, eye box, how easy the turret zeros and turret feel are the deciding factors once I know I like the reticle. I don’t shoot any Christmas tree reticles.

 

[ChrisAU]

I never paid much attention to them until I started shooting longer range and now that I competitively shoot a lot it’s 2nd only to durability when I’m choosing a scope.

 

[eaglemountainman]

I'm a 300 yd max game shooter who cannot abide clutter in a scope. A standard duplex or German #4 reticle is my choice whether hunting the deep woods of the Northeast or the more open terrain out west.

 

[dirtytough]

It’s important. I can’t stand half mil windage marks. When I am splitting the target which is narrower than half a mil and neither mark is on the target it’s annoying.

When it comes to hunting I’m not worried about a bold reticle. I’ve not once not been able to kill something because I couldn’t see the reticle. So I’ll continue to use the same for targets/hunting.

 

[Mike D Texas]

For hunting I do not like tree reticles at all. I could see where they may be useful in competitive or steel shooting. An example is I have a 6.5 SAUM Improved with a LHT 4.5-22 with a tree style reticle.

Shooting at 1400 yards to 1 mile I ran out of elevation adjustment in the turret. So I was able to hold over + hold for wind and not struggle to line up both Axis.

I have a 5-25 ATACR with the Mil-XT reticle and I would swap it in a heartbeat for for one with a Mil-C reticle or even more preferred would be a 4-20 MIL-C.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Eluder]

It's not surprising, but it is a personal thing. I have an astigmatism in my dominant eye with better than 20/20 vision. The busier the reticle, the more likely I am to get the blurry double going. This really comes out while practicing at the range. That said, I've never noticed while hunting, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Because of this, I have moved to simpler reticles. I even considered going to basic cross-hair if I find one I like with reliable Mil dialing.