Rangefinder recommendations

[trevort]

probably done before but I would like to hear experiences and recommendations on brands/models you have used.

Thanks

[macjeffrey]

I recently used a Bushnell yardage pro 450. I found that it did not work very well when ranging farm objects such as trees, fence posts, rocks - the type of stuff you'd find on a farm or in the bush. They quote its only good up to 200m for tree type objects. The stated max range of 950m is only for hard & large objects such as cars and buildings. So if you're out in the bush and see a varmint > 200m away it's useless in assessing range (it wouldn't give a reading at all). The only purpose I could use it for was zeroing in the rifles at 75 and 150m to determine how far the targets were from the Landcruiser. I suppose it depends what you want to use it for.

[WhiteMeat]

I used a borrowed Leica 1200 lrf (non scan) and was able to range my backpack & rifle out to 500m when putting out paper plates to shoot at. We ranged a bunch of rocks near a telegraph pole at ~980m. My dad liked it so much, he is looking at selling a few things to get one of them Leica Geovids

[Ackley Improved]

Mate

I have a Leica 1200 that I use.

It is very good, but even though it states 1200m, really and this is usually the case with every RF, half that distance out in the field.

So, mine is very good to 600m consistantly in the field. Is that far enough? For me yes, as this is the range and beyond where it becomes very difficult to make these long shots on varmints!

Of course I have had it range past 1000m... but not consistant.

If I were to do it again, I'd look at the Swarovski Laser Guide 8x30 laser rangefinder. But they are around the $1000US. The Leica can be had at $1000AUs.

Cheers
AI

[trevort]

I was hoping the cheaper ones that I can (almost) afford would be useful. 500 to 600m is plenty useful. If you know the range and know your holdover i would happily have a go at a bunny out past the normal pbr.

Thomo and I had a go at some where the projie landed a foot in front when I was holding over about 8 inches (223) but the dust shower was right on windage wise.

Thomo got one that had to be over 300m (204) as we saw the rabbit fall over and there was a noticeable gap before the "thwock" was heard.

I reckon you could have fun with a rangefinder

[Ackley Improved]

I make a drop chart for all my field rifles. Its easy, but time consuming.

I work up a good load, start at 100m, and set taregts up all the way out to my max range every 100. Then I shoot, adding on elevation until its on target, noting down how many clicks. After this, I go to a ballistic program, and fudge the figures like velocity and BC until I get a chart that is very very close to what I have done in the field. After that, print out your chart for every 25m.

Then in the field, RF it, look at chart, dial in, and bang!

Cheers
AI

[Dr G]

thanks for that AI

Usefull info that will come in handy

[Ackley Improved]

Welcome dude.... you will be very suprised how close you actually go to hitting when using a drp chart and RF. Its usually the windage that gets you, but then I have a little trick for that which gets you a little closer... Wll post that later.

Cheers
AI

[300RUM]

Also when you're fudging figures to make your chart match your actual figures don't forget to play with "sight height" figure as well. Most are set to a 1.5 inch default but not many of my rifles are anywhere near this. Certainly makes a difference to the "apparent" trajectory curve.

[WhiteMeat]

I make a drop chart for all my field rifles. Its easy, but time consuming.

I work up a good load, start at 100m, and set taregts up all the way out to my max range every 100. Then I shoot, adding on elevation until its on target, noting down how many clicks. After this, I go to a ballistic program, and fudge the figures like velocity and BC until I get a chart that is very very close to what I have done in the field. After that, print out your chart for every 25m.

Then in the field, RF it, look at chart, dial in, and bang!

Cheers
AI

there is a website out there somewhere (too drunk atm to be able to find it) where you put in the rough muzzle velocity and the mil values for a set amount of distances and it works out the muzzle velocity through physics calcs which you can then put into pointblank or whatever and get the trajectory charts that one needs - I thought it was the ExBal site but no dice (i'll be looking for this tomorrow or when i sober up a bit)

*edit* i found the bastard, now i'm gonna bookmark it

http://exbalapplications.com/ExbalUtilA ... sform.aspx

[Thomo]

I have borrowed a range finder of a mate Trevor, i will go out tonight as im not working and range those shots,

The range finder is a leupold one adn it works very well when i have borrowed it before

[Ackley Improved]

This is the ballistics program I use.

http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/calculations/traj/traj.html

Cheers
AI

[WhiteMeat]

There was a post on 6mmbr with some links to some excel spreadsheets that you can tinker around with for trajectories, etc. Handy to have if the net connection dies in the arse its not that hard to add in an inch to cm and vice versa converter also:

http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com/20 ... adian-nfa/

http://www.nfa.ca/content/view/58/197/ (link to Ballistic computer is at the bottom of the page)

[Kenny]

Trevort.

I have a Nikon 440 rangefinder......santa dropped it off so It's a bit early to tell how reliable it will actually be.

After looking at a few reviews and comparing features and price it was just the one for me If you check out the Cabelas web site you can do a comparo' of all they offer. http://www.Cabelas.com I think.

I have read a few reviews on RF's and it seems to have a lot better battery life than most, it is pretty small and fits in a shirt pocket no worries.

It is 8x, which is something to watch as most seem to be 6x. Thats fair enough but does make it a little shaky to hold steady. Though I now don't bother taking binos'

It is very basic and offers no gimmicks as such, just yards or metres out to 400. I only use it to bowhunt so the short yardage doesn't worry me. I kinda wonder just how people see a rabbit at 400 + anyway

happy shopping

KY

[trevort]

you can see rabbit shaped rocks and check them out thru your scope to see if they have fur. Or you can just glass the scope over the area your working or do the sensible thing and buy a pair of vortex binos!