# BDC or Not?



## RiverRob (Jul 24, 2007)

Well I am in the market for another Nikon. This one is going on top of a Browning A-bolt Hunter .243. Im going to use it with 58 grain Vmax or 55 grain winchesters for praire dogs then load up with some heavies for the wife to hunt deer with. After this summer it wont be used for praire dogs again. For praire dogs shots will be taken out to 300+ yards. For deer the shots wont be much more then 150. Is worth the BDC reticle, how hard is it to sight in the BDC's with different loads. They say zero at 100 2nd is 200 ect, id figure its more like 1st zeroed at 100 2nd might be 147 or 3rd 233 or something, unless your shooting a certain load, is this so? Im thinking it might be easier to just go with the standard reticle. Whats the deal?


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

I think I know what you are getting at, but I am not sure. Can you refraise or be a little bit more specific about what you are asking?


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## RiverRob (Jul 24, 2007)

sorry for the confusion. i see some scopes set up so if you use a certain ammo the scope is set up for bullet drop compensation. although with these, how do you get ammo to hit at 200 yards where the 200 yard circle is and so on? what if you scope is zeroed at 100 yards and the 200 yard shot hits in the ring of the BDC or something like that. i am going to use this rifle with 55-58 grain loads to varmint hunt and 85-100 grainers for deer, i wouldnt really need the BDC for deer because the ol lady would be keeping shots with 150 yards, although if need be the BDC would make a shot not taken into a kill shot. i dont want to spend alot of time dickin with the scope with differing loads and adjusting, so would it be worth while, i would love to take some long shots at praire dogs, would be it be easier to zero at 200 yards and hold over for bullet drop?


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

There are a couple of ways to do it with a BDC scope. The easiest is to follow the directions that come with it. Zero the scope at 100 yards, then go to the range and set up a 200 yard target (or 300, or 400). Shoot at the 200 yard target using the 200 yard sight (or you can use the 300, or the 400). Verify that the bullets are hitting where you think they should be and your done.

I personally don't like using that method. Here is the method I used, but you must know the MV of your ammo and the BC of the bullet to use this method. You should also verify it is correct by actually shooting at distances to very you are hitting where you think you should be. I never zero a gun a 100 yards. Most of mine are zeroed somewhere around 200 or beyond. I usually pick a trajectory I can live with. For deer, elk, and other large game I like to use a 6 inch kill zone which means that the highest point of my trajectory will be 3 inches. This is usually around 2.5 inches high at 100. This gives me a gun that will generally shoot out to 300 yards or so with no elevation compensation for distance required. Now shoot the same gun at a 100 yard target using the 200 yard aim point. If you are using the Nikon BDC this should put you about 4 inches higher than what you were shooting with the 100 yard sight. So if sighted in 2.5 inches high at 100 yards you will likely be shooting about 6.5 inches high at 100 yards. Do that same thing for every aiming point and record how high your impact is. Now calculate a trajectory for each aim point and find "the sweet spot" for each aim point.

My 22-250 is sighted in like this. If I remember correctly I used a 4 inch kill zone. The main aim point is "sweet" out to 300 yards. The center of the first circle is "sweet" from 330-390 yards, the second circle is 455-485, the third is 545-565, the fourth is 655-665, and the top of the post is "sweet" at 735-745. If you want to take the time, you can also use the top and bottom of each circle to help fill in the gaps. It works pretty well out to about 500 yards, then there are gaps where you just have to use kentucky windage and wing it.

The BDC should work real well for you if you use it like they recommend. They clearly don't work as well using the method I described, but since most shots I take are less than 300 yards, I prefer to do it this way so I don't have to think about it too much.

If you don't have a range finder and carry it with you went you hunt or shoot, I don't see any point in having a BDC scope. Also, with most guns, out to 300 yards, there really is no point. The real benefit comes with the use of a range finder and on shots longer than 300 yards. Hope this answers your question.


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## fubar (Mar 10, 2008)

i have a burris on my 7mm short and it is prety good. i can shoot out to 400 yards and i have never shot past that but i have only taken it out one time since i got it


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## RiverRob (Jul 24, 2007)

I said the hell with it, just picked up standard reticle. shooting more and knowing your equipment is better then breaking in the barrel and calling it good.


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## maximini14 (Dec 19, 2007)

you can use your standard duplex reticle as a sort of bdc type scope if it has a duplex reticle.

Put in some range time with the gun, do your initial zero at 2" high at 100 yds with the center of the cross hair. Then take some shots by holding the scope on the bull where the duplex reticle starts to fatten and note point of impact on target. Using some ballistic charts you can determine the yardage where the fat duplex hold will give you a dead on hit


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## RiverRob (Jul 24, 2007)

Ill try that out. Between the price of ammo and gas these days I think ill use the rifle for praire dogs once maybe twice. (would like to have a .17 for em, but already have a .22) So ill use it for long ranges during that trip and other wise the ol wifey will use it for deer at shorter ranges.


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## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

with my 243, i sight in at 1 inch [email protected], this is really close to perfect out to 300. Very little hold over, I shoot 85 gr handloads for coyote.

I had bad luck with the 58 gr V-max, might be ok on dogs, but I lost too many coyotes with them. Very fast and flat though.

100 gr Hornady reloads for deer, awesome results, out to 250


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## RiverRob (Jul 24, 2007)

For the dogs ill be using Winchester 80 gr. Super-X and she'll use 100 grain federal power shock for deer. Ive only shot the 80 grainers out of it so far and shoots pretty flat. I still need to do some more shooting, between gas and ammo cost these days I think im going to reside to the .22 once again, even though ill have to limmit my ranges. Just shoot the .243 for some longer range shooting. Then sight it in for the deer loads. See how an inch high at 100 performs at 150-200 maybe make it two " high at 100 and see how it groups farther out.


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## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

you won't be disappointed, and she will love the light recoil


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