Scope turrets and altitude

[Sharpspur]

I have anew Leupold VX-5 and I see they will give me one turret free. I'm new to longer range shots, flatlander here in WI. We typically sight a rifle zero at 200 and call it good. You just hold over or under on whitetails here. Long shot is typically 300 with most being about 100 yards.

I am moving to Utah and setting up a mountain rifle for hunting the western states. I have all my ballistic info needed to order the turret my load, except altitude. Is there a good average altitude number that works for most western hunting? Or do I pick an average say for Utah or Idaho area? If I go to say high elevations just order a new turret? What would you use for an average elevation?

I see a lot of missed shots, high, on you tube, makes me wonder did they zero and set their scopes at low elevations

 

[Tmac]

I usually have dope for 3,000 feet and 7,500 feet and dial. Anything within 2,000’ I ignore and often more on larger game like elk. Run your ballistics and see the differences and decide what makes sense for you. It’s a good idea to actually take a few shots if there has been a significant environmental change just to verify.

If I were to build a single turret, probably 5,000 - 6,000’ or so would be good for most of my hunts with 35-40 degrees temp. YMMV.

For quick comparisons, I use this one. Very little input needed. Select handload and enter your bullet/velocity info and rock on. Works well for simple quick comparisons.

Sites-VistaFederal-Site

Federal Ammunition

www.federalpremium.com

 

[270quest]

95% of my hunting is done between 5000 and 7500 feet elevation so I typically set my ballistics based on 6000' and call it good out to the max ranges I shoot (700 yards)

 

[Sharpspur]

I usually have dope for 3,000 feet and 7,500 feet and dial. Anything within 2,000’ I ignore and often more on larger game like elk. Run your ballistics and see the differences and decide what makes sense for you. It’s a good idea to actually take a few shots if there has been a significant environmental change just to verify.

If I were to build a single turret, probably 5,000 - 6,000’ or so would be good for most of my hunts with 35-40 degrees temp. YMMV.

For quick comparisons, I use this one. Very little input needed. Select handload and enter your bullet/velocity info and rock on. Works well for simple quick comparisons.

Sites-VistaFederal-Site

Federal Ammunition

www.federalpremium.com

Thanks for the link. Very handy. When I put in my info I was dropping .1 moa at 350 yards with 5000' and 1050' with a temp of 35 I will probably build it for 5000'

 

[wapitibob]

I put a turret tape on zeroed at 200 and 3300', hunted 4500 and 7700, and never touched a thing. Shots were only 400.

 

[Tmac]

What’s funny is our most recent hunt was deer this Nov in WY. Unit varied 5k-10k+. My son shot his buck at bow range lol. Anyway our dope was for 7,500’. All that practice at long range and assorted calculations and an open sighted 30-30 would have been perfect lol.

 

[LongWayAround]

I don't know about Utah, but in Colorado I live at 5k and typically begin hunting around 8k up to 10k. Plus, you factor in temperature...

 

[DangerRanger]

Elevation changes suck with BDC style turrets and reticles that are set for yardage increments off a base altitude.

I would for sure just use the general moa/mil turret set to your zero and then use a ballistic calculator for drops at various altitudes as needed

I got burned my first time hunting at 8k feet and with a scope set up for sea level and going away from the BDC stuff fixed that problem

 

[madcalfe]

id probably just keep that Leupold zeroed at 200 and not touch the turrets if it was me

 

[mlevimadden]

As someone who used to have a Leupold scope on every rifle I owned and fought with zero retention issues with them regularly, I'd sell the VX5 with the CDS coupon in the classifieds here and use the funds to pick up a SWFA 3-9 scope.

I would've saved myself a lot of pain, frustration, and lessons learned had I just started with a FFP MIL scope that actually holds zero when I first started hunting.