New Eyes for my Edgun
I’ve been mulling and mulling over upgrading my scope. I currently have a Leapers 4-16x 56mm SWAT, and it does its job. But, I think the gun (and myself) are capable of putting up even better numbers. So, I pulled the trigger on a new Hawke Sidewinder 30 6.5-20x IR Tactical. It has the HUGE, mildot reticle – true at 20X.
I used my Pyramyd air gift certificates that I won from the video contest to shave $150 off the price. It’s unfortunate that PA didn’t allow coupon codes (that would have knocked off another $40). But, at least I still got free shipping.
Anyway, here’s what I think I will gain:
– Thinner crosshairs
– Brighter optics
– Less eye fatigue
– Better range estimation
– Better hold-over shooting
– Larger MOA adjustment (for really long shooting)
I’ll likely do another video, comparing the two scopes – having the camera look through each, and perhaps shooting some targets.
I definitely plan to do a range estimation and holdover video (shooting shotgun shells at 30-100 yards) before the snow falls.
———————————
The wind died back today, so I dropped by the range to help assure myself that the scope upgrade will help. I set out a couple pasters at 100 yards And just for fun, I also shot 20 pellets at the 25-yard range.
All Replies
Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
Hey Ted, I have the 4.5-14 x 40 Tactical and I can say that it is by far my favorite scope. I can’t see myself ever getting rid of it. I do however wish I could remember to turn the IR off when I’m through shooting 😳 . Iv’e never been a big fan of the IR scopes but those little bowties between the mildots are kinda hard to see until you kick on the IR. Your’re gonna love it. I use the BRC software. Never tried chairgun, couldn’t get it to download correctly so I just gave up.
Chairgun will give you the first 5 mildot POI’s by selecting the 20x mildot reticle from the “Reticle” drop down menu at the very top.
The next three (red dots) I calculated by dividing the standard mildot (10x) calculations by 2. Chairgun doesn’t give the proper mildot POI in the column section to the left. That info is still in “10x” format. So, you simply divide all the numbers by 2.
Interesting re: the BC, dual chrony testing. If the POI gets out of whack when I stretch things out to 130+ yards, I’ll try out your numbers.
Wachew talkin bout Willis? 😆
How in the hell did you get the mil dot pois on the graph? Iv’e spent about 20 min on it and can’t figure it out. My ambush site has a grain auger that is 155 yards out from where I set up. There are always pigeons and dove size birds setting on it. The extra mil dots would help out a lot!
Also if your mil dot poi is a little off, I used my Combro for muzzle fps and had my Chrony set at 100 yards. My .22 matador was shooting the JSBs at 880fps. I took 10 shots and averaged the muzzle fps and the 100 yard fps and then plugged the numbers into Chairgun. It gave me a BC of 0.0439. I thought that the BC was way high so, I went back the next day and shot another 10 shots and plugged them in. I got a 0.0437 that time. My Royale got 0.0439 so, that is the BC that I use for my .22 Matador.
I had been using the Chairgun BC of 0.0360. The 0.0439 made the poi and mil dots line up at higher yardages.
I noticed that you have your scope height at 2.350. Are you using medium scope mounts? I use high Leapers mounts and have a 2.600 scope height.
What version of Chairgun do you have? Mine is 1.0.5a.
Hi Tedd,
Here are a couple photos. These should save me at least 400 words.
I’ve color coded the mildots to line up with chairgun column.
Sorry for the giant photos. The chairgun photo needed to be big in
order to see the details.
As you can see, I should be able to use hold-over out to 145 yards
(at 20X).
Tedd,
True that Chairgun doesn’t give the ranges for the three “box” mildot – and I wish they would, as well. But, the software does give the “regular” mildot numbers in the column, and all you have to do is divide them by 2.
Know what I mean?
Using the bottom of the third box, I should be able to stretch things out to 144 yards at 20X. That is pretty damn sweet.
Tks man
edit and post…
Hi Ted. I got the Hawke 8.5 – 25 X 42 Tactical. I really like it. Zeroing my .25 long Matador in at 50 yards gives me the last mil dot at 115 yards, on 25X. After seeing Mam’s troubles with shifting poi issues, when going from one mag to another and back, I put my then new Hawke on my .25 and have never turned it down from 25X.
I have emailed Hawke and asked them to upgrade chairgun for the new 20X reticle. Right now, Chairgun won’t give yardages for the 3 mil dot spaced boxes. When they get the software updated, I should be able to print out a scope cap label that gives me yardage aim points out to at least 140 without going to a lower mag or using elevation clicks.
Mac, that coin is 1″ exactly.
Congrat´s!!! please, we dont use american currency here, can you post the group diameters please..?
Try using OnTarget program, its very usefull…
tks man
seeyou
mac
Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Got it. Fed Ex girl got here at 7PM. I thought for sure they missed me.
First impressions. This scope is much leaner than the Leapers, and I like that a lot. The “volume” of the 42mm bell is about 50% smaller than the 56mm – quite a difference.
The optics are certainly clearer at 10 yards (looking in my house). But, I won’t know exactly how much clearer until tomorrow. I love the reticle. It is super thin, yet huge. All the parts move with the right amount of tension – not too much; not too little.
My only gripe, so far, is that it didn’t come with the flip-cap scope covers. It came with solid aluminum ones screwed in. I’ll contact Hawke and ask what gives.
Here it is next to the Leapers. It’s mounted on the Edgun now.