LSONews.com
LoneOStar Outdoor News
June 23, 2017
Page 27
Testing exposed turret scopes Continued from page 1
But not before some learning — and a quick course in math. Minutes of angle (MOA) or millradians (MIL), are both measurements of arc. It become simple to make distance adjustments once one becomes familiar with how to adjust at various ranges. The turret allows the shooter to quickly dial to the distance of the shot. MOA is what most U.S. hunters are familiar with, and can roughly be calculated as a 1-inch variance at 100 yards (actually 1.047), 2 inches at 200 yards, etc. MIL is based on the metric system. The calculations are more complicated with many more decimals, and even Pi was used, a term the seven shooters hadn’t heard since high school, making their eyes gloss over. “If you weren’t in the military, a range expert, or if you aren’t from Europe, go with the MOA scope and forget about the MIL,” Omans said. “If you tell me the temperature in Celsius and tell me distances in centimeters, MIL is for you.” For hunters, shooting at long distances is the ultimate confidence booster. “We aren’t trying to teach you to shoot animals at 700 yards,” Omans said. “We’re teaching you to have complete confidence at 300 and 400 yards.” Brent Vogler of Abilene sells the scopes across West Texas, and said two goals were accomplished by the training and shooting.
“We learned and better understood the MOA and MIL systems,” he said. “All of us were somewhat familiar with it. We can now better explain it to consumers when working shows and promotions. Often it’s as simple as asking the customer whether their rangefinder is set in yards or meters. If they say meters, we’ll sell them a milrad (MIL) scope.” The second goal involved running the new scopes through the ringer. “We all fired several hundred rounds,” Vogler said. “You justify a product by going out and testing it. I was most impressed with the tracking ability of the scope. We went back and forth from 100 to 800 yards all day for two days and never had an issue with the scope shifting off of zero — and you always know a click is a click.” The team shot Montana Rifles, six in 6.5 Creedmore and one in .300 Win Mag. Being able to use the crosshairs to line up a distant target is a big selling feature of the scopes, but holdovers aren’t eliminated. “It’s very multifaceted,” Vogler said. “You can use the crosshairs or use the hash marks as a BDCtype reticle. I still know the hash marks stand for a certain distance, and in a quick scenario, I can use one of the hash marks and hold over for windage. It’s the best of both worlds.” Gathering the information on your rifle and bullet is para-
C o r po r at e Par t ners
mount, and apps like Nikon’s Spot On Ballistic Match Technology make it easy. “It gives you the number of clicks needed for your gun and bullet,” Vogler said. “It beats having a cheat sheet with the information on the gun stock or wearing an arm band like a high school quarterback.” Omans said the app and scopes make the guns super-accurate. “You make the adjustments, put the crosshairs on the target and pull the trigger,” he said. “The more you get into precision shooting, the more you want to use the additional information and dial to that specific yardage.” There is one Achilles’ heel of long-range shooting, though. Wind. “It’s the killer,” Vogler said. “Where we shot, it felt like there was no wind, but it was open terrain at 800 yards, and the wind was full value. We had to hold at 1-2 MOA even though it felt calm.” Omans said even if you study the grass and trees between you and the target, sometimes the best judge of the wind effect is a test shot. “You can see where the wind takes it and hit it with the second shot,” he said. “You can have the best of everything and the wind can still mess you up.” Omans recommends owning good quality optics and using good shooting fundamentals, but said shooting the rifle will tell
you more than anything. “You can spend $6,000-$7,000 on equipment, go on a $50,000 sheep hunt and buy $10,000 worth of clothes and gear,” he said. “But you’re still relying on a $2 bullet. If you have the time and money for the hunt, I hope you make the time to shoot 20 or 30 bullets at different distances.”
Sales representatives for Nikon Sport Optics test the Nikon Black scopes and learn how to best communicate the scopes’ operation to dealers and consumers. Photos by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.