Nightforce SHV 4-14x50 F1 best reticle option?

[Shooter Mike]

It’s my vision problem. Doc said I should consider bi-focals. I take my glasses off to read and do things close up (looking through a scope) but unless I’m able to get an animal on my sight quick I have a hard time finding them without my glasses.

When I go to town next summer, I may consider the bi-focal option.

But for now, it’s the basic recticle for me.

Between adjusting the diopter and the parallax, you should be able to adjust the scope to be used without or without glasses. You will need to choose though, if you want it adjusted for when you are or are not wearing them.


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[Yukon Cornelius]

Between adjusting the diopter and the parallax, you should be able to adjust the scope to be used without or without glasses. You will need to choose though, if you want it adjusted for when you are or are not wearing them.


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I am able to use it without my glasses (recticle is still busy) and as long as I can line it up on animal I can use it. However, I took it off my rifle. I didn’t like the recticle and the weight. I went with a duplex recticle which doesn’t bother my eyes.

 

[Castmaster]

Not with most caps.

-J

Appreciate the help, either gonna go with mediums and get the cheek piece or run no caps with the lows.

 

[JGood]

Why does everyone seem to prefer the Mil-R over the Mil-C?

 

[NSI]

Why does everyone seem to prefer the Mil-R over the Mil-C?

The .2 hashes are nice when you are prone at long range against competition backgrounds. In field conditions with broken backgrounds, the thin/busy C and XT reticles are extremely hard to pick up and use.

-J

 

[JGood]

The .2 hashes are nice when you are prone at long range against competition backgrounds. In field conditions with broken backgrounds, the thin/busy C and XT reticles are extremely hard to pick up and use.

-J

10-4

I dont think i value the decrease in clutter over the lack of dot center. Maybe its just what im used too

 

[NSI]

10-4

I dont think i value the decrease in clutter over the lack of dot center. Maybe its just what im used too

Obviously both is best (SHR MIL, THLR). But we had multiple students find the .2 hash NF reticles so frustrating they pulled scopes off rifles in the middle of the course this year. So…I lean towards the lesser evil personally for hunting.

FWIW I have a mil-C and XT ATACR for gas gun competitions.

-J

 

[Lawnboi]

Obviously both is best (SHR MIL, THLR). But we had multiple students find the .2 hash NF reticles so frustrating they pulled scopes off rifles in the middle of the course this year. So…I lean towards the lesser evil personally for hunting.

FWIW I have a mil-C and XT ATACR for gas gun competitions.

-J

Interesting. Mil c is stipid simple.

I don’t mind a mil dot style reticle with .5 marks like the mil r, but specifically the mil r is a kind of confusing reticle.

 

[NSI]

Simplicity is not the issue with the C. It’s thickness of lines and ability to use wind dots when field positions yield imperfect wobble zones.

Agree I don’t love the R either, but find it more field usable. Enjoy my C and XT for controller environments.

-J

 

[Castmaster]

I don’t find the Mil-XT cluttered or confusing at all since I’m used to shoot a tree style reticle more than anything, maybe I answered my own question at what I should get lol. Any reticle with a floating center dot also makes load development so much easier imo.

 

[Castmaster]

Gonna think about it just a little more before I make a decision, I’ll update what I get when I have the rifle all put together.

 

[Formidilosus]

The problem with the Mil-C and Mil-XT is they are thin- way too thin for low power, treed/broken terrain use in low light, and the bold outer posts are too far from center to be any help in bracketing. They require illumination to be usable.
The Mil-R isn’t great by any means, but it’s better and bottom end usable without illumination for most users.

Scopes that @NSI referred to got swapped out because the reticles are too thin/poorly designed for anything but high magnification range use. The moment time and and positional pressure is applied, you end up spending brain power to focus and see the reticle instead of your eye being driven straight to center. Several of the people (not all) that swapped out were ones that told me/us that “the reticle is not an issue and they ah e never had problems with them”. Then, a day or two in- “can a borrow a scope please?”

 

[Castmaster]

The problem with the Mil-C and Mil-XT is they are thin- way too thin for low power, treed/broken terrain use in low light, and the bold outer posts are too far from center to be any help in bracketing. They require illumination to be usable.
The Mil-R isn’t great by any means, but it’s better and bottom end usable without illumination for most users.

Scopes that @NSI referred to got swapped out because the reticles are too thin/poorly designed for anything but high magnification range use. The moment time and and positional pressure is applied, you end up spending brain power to focus and see the reticle instead of your eye being driven straight to center. Several of the people (not all) that swapped out were ones that told me/us that “the reticle is not an issue and they ah e never had problems with them”. Then, a day or two in- “can a borrow a scope please?”

I know this isn’t the thread topic but, what would be the best option in the NX8 line since they don’t offer the Mil-R?

 

[Formidilosus]

I know this isn’t the thread topic but, what would be the best option in the NX8 line since they don’t offer the Mil-R?

A different scope.

 

[Nine Banger]

Why does everyone seem to prefer the Mil-R over the Mil-C?

I can't read the .2 hash marks until 8X with Mil-C, especially near center dot where you might actually hold .2 or .3.

The hash marks on the hold over section go WAY down into the 20's too for mil.

I think Mil-C is for paper punching past 1000 yards.

 

[JGood]

I get all that. Obviously y’all have students that express their preference for a thicker XY.

Perhaps this is my inexperience killing animals compared to my experience competing but do you find you can be as precise quick and efficient at longer ranges (500+) with the Mil R as the Mil C?

At ranges inside of 500 how much does it really matter?

 

[NSI]

My personal opinion is that when prone & stable, shooting at targets in the 1k yard range, .2 hashes are an advantage on the X axis. In nearly every circumstance I find them to be a liability. I basically feel the same way about thin lines. Zoomed in on an FFP reticle, prone stable, at very long distance against a nice berm, they can be an advantage. Otherwise, major usability problem.

-J

 

[Helislacker]

The problem with the Mil-C and Mil-XT is they are thin- way too thin for low power, treed/broken terrain use in low light, and the bold outer posts are too far from center to be any help in bracketing. They require illumination to be usable.
The Mil-R isn’t great by any means, but it’s better and bottom end usable without illumination for most users.

Scopes that @NSI referred to got swapped out because the reticles are too thin/poorly designed for anything but high magnification range use. The moment time and and positional pressure is applied, you end up spending brain power to focus and see the reticle instead of your eye being driven straight to center. Several of the people (not all) that swapped out were ones that told me/us that “the reticle is not an issue and they ah e never had problems with them”. Then, a day or two in- “can a borrow a scope please?”

Have you guys found in courses that it’s too time intensive or impractical to turn illumination on when the terrain is broken or difficult to pick up reticle?

 

[NSI]

Have you guys found in courses that it’s too time intensive or impractical to turn illumination on when the terrain is broken or difficult to pick up reticle?

There are issues to "solving this problem" with illumination.

1) Illum power varies widely, from daylight bright (rare on hunting scopes) to daylight red (more common) and twilight visible (most common). Adjusting the brightness so it doesn't bleed excessively is nontrivial when trying to engage rapidly.
2) Illum area varies widely, from entire reticle to just the crosshair and everything you can imagine in between. Depending on design, can render wind dots less effective or entirely ineffective.
3) Battery life sucks on all coin cell Illum devices, especially magnified hunting optics. Remembering to turn it on before a shot and off after a shot is critical, or the device will be dead one tenth of the way through a 10 day hunt. Leaving it on all day for a course and changing battery nightly is just disingenuous.

Illum probably has a place, I just don't know what it is out west.

-J

 

[Castmaster]

There are issues to "solving this problem" with illumination.

1) Illum power varies widely, from daylight bright (rare on hunting scopes) to daylight red (more common) and twilight visible (most common). Adjusting the brightness so it doesn't bleed excessively is nontrivial when trying to engage rapidly.
2) Illum area varies widely, from entire reticle to just the crosshair and everything you can imagine in between. Depending on design, can render wind dots less effective or entirely ineffective.
3) Battery life sucks on all coin cell Illum devices, especially magnified hunting optics. Remembering to turn it on before a shot and off after a shot is critical, or the device will be dead one tenth of the way through a 10 day hunt. Leaving it on all day for a course and changing battery nightly is just disingenuous.

Illum probably has a place, I just don't know what it is out west.

-J

100% agreed that Illumination has little to no use in the west, the only place they are really useful are the eastern/midwestern whitetail woods. Dark timber with dark leaves on the ground with a black reticle on a dark brown deer are very hard to precisely aim with at dawn and dusk. IMO reticles that are entirely illuminated are completely useless anywhere you hunt since most scopes even on the lowest brightness setting it completely floods from bleeding. The illumination that really help are the ones with center dot or center crosshair only illumination.