Many of you are familiar with mil-dot scopes. The reticle on the Buck Commander has something that Weaver calls the Command-X reticle. It looks something like this.
The literature that comes with the scope provides references for each of the stadia lines on the lower verticle, and they're supposed to provide aiming points at various yardages to help the hunter. From looking at the table, the stadia lines are supposed to be regulated for Federal .30-06 150 grain ammo, with the A point being zero at 200 yards and the D point being a dead-on hold at 500 yards. Something like this:
Well fine. Life seldom works like the literature that comes with a scope, but we can glean useful information from the reticle, nonetheless. The table tells me that with Federal Gold Metal Match in .308, I can expect the various aiming points to be at 100, 215, 310 and 420 yards. That's still useful information. My .308 load is a close match for the 168 Federal GMM load, and I sight my rifle to be 2" high at 100 yards. That's a bad habit I got in to a long time ago. I learned yesterday that for a 300 yard hit on a 12X12 steel target, I had to hold the A aiming point at the top of the target and the B aiming point at the bottom of the target.
The Buck Commander is a fine little scope. Optics are clear, the aiming marks are easily viewed. Best of all, you can have this scope for under $200.00. SWFA lists it at $184.95 and other retailers are within a few dollars. I bought mine from a local merchant and he matched the SWFA price. One feature I really like is the finger adjustable turrets. I always hated digging in my pocket to find a coin for a coin slot. The turrets are marked for 1/4 inch at 100 yards and have a return-to-zero property that I find easy and workable. You simply pull up on the finger turret to disengage the turret, move the scale to zero then push it down to re-engage. Very simple.
I doubt I'll ever pull the trigger on a deer-sized animal at 300 yards, but using this little scope boosted my confidence about hitting a target at that distance.
3 comments:
Yep, your basic bullet drop compensation (BDC) but that only works for the altitude, temp, etc. where you sighted in...
I don't think +2" at 100 yards is a "bad habit". It allows a dead-on hold at any normal hunting range on deer-sized animals and is exactly what Col. Cooper recommended, and the Steyr Scout folks even have a special +2" sighting-in target, which I use for all my .30-'06, .308Win and 7x64 Brenneke hunting rifles (none of which is a Steyr Scout, alas...): http://www.steyrscout.org/sszeroing.htm
Denis
Several weeks ago I bought a scope for the Ugly Rifle and settled on the Weaver Buck Commander in 2.5x10. I shot that rifle with that scope ... iweaverscope.blogspot.com
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