Your opinion on the Nikon BDC reticle

[DeMilled]

 

[Bart B.]

It's interesting that none of the BDC scopes I know of have altitude correction in their adjustments. Such stuff is needed if your scope's BDC system actually matches your loads balllistics (which is rare) and use at 600 feet altitude in Ohio then you go elk hunting in Colorado at 7000 to 8000 feet and the bullet drop at long ranges needs a 4 to 5 MOA less muzzle angle to hit the point of aim. That 7-point bull will walk away thinking large mosquitos are flying 2 to 3 feet over its back.

 

[ms6852]

I have the Monarch Nikon with BDC reticle on a RRA predator pursuit. Like to use it for coyotes. I zeroed mine at two hundred yards with a 62 grain bullet and was on target at 500 yards. Mine works as it is meant two at I have taken verrrry aggressive jack rabbits out at 300 yds and one at 375. It wont work if you use a 55 gr or 50gr or 68 gr. You have to rezero for each particular bullet weight so that the BDC can work. Just my 2 cents.

 

[FiveInADime]

It's interesting that none of the BDC scopes I know of have altitude correction in their adjustments. Such stuff is needed if your scope's BDC system actually matches your loads balllistics (which is rare) and use at 600 feet altitude in Ohio then you go elk hunting in Colorado at 7000 to 8000 feet and the bullet drop at long ranges needs a 4 to 5 MOA less muzzle angle to hit the point of aim. That 7-point bull will walk away thinking large mosquitos are flying 2 to 3 feet over its back.

Nikon's Spot on has an altitude factor. I have both Spot-On and Strelok on my phone to play with. I live at about 1100 feet and my dad lives at 6500, so if I were to go shoot up there I would print out new charts with the elevation difference considered. I consider all of that stuff as toys to play with. IMO, you have to spend gobs of money and time on a rifle, scope, rangefinder, spotting scope, learning to shoot, learning to handload, learning wind, ect to know for sure that when you pull the trigger on a game animal at 500+ yards your bullet will land where it is supposed to with an acceptable margin of error. Not to mention that it's an animal that can move several feet in less than a second.

I have the Monarch Nikon with BDC reticle on a RRA predator pursuit. Like to use it for coyotes. I zeroed mine at two hundred yards with a 62 grain bullet and was on target at 500 yards. Mine works as it is meant two at I have taken verrrry aggressive jack rabbits out at 300 yds and one at 375. It wont work if you use a 55 gr or 50gr or 68 gr. You have to rezero for each particular bullet weight so that the BDC can work. Just my 2 cents.

Use Spot-On, to figure for different loads. Fun, and easy.

 

[ms6852]

Hey fiveinadime, I am not familiar with Spot on but I do have Istrelok, I just downloaded it a while back but have not learned how to use Istrelok yet, been just kind of lazy.

 

[FiveInADime]

Spot-On is a flash-based ballistics application free on the Nikon website that is specific for Nikon scopes. They also sell it as an iPhone/Android app that cost like $5. It is very cool, and if you have a BDC reticle I think the program is essential for using it effectively.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

I bought a Nikon Monarch with BDC. I tried it out, found it to be very unsatisfactory for me and promptly sold it. It got replaced with another Nikon Monarch, but that scope has a mil-dot reticle that's much better in my opinion.

900F

 

[WYcoyote]

No offense to those who like it.
I cannot believe this idea left the Nikon concept room.

 

[boricua9mm]

Three years after my last post on this thread, and the Monarch 3-12 BDC is still residing on my M1A. It's still drilling nice 10-shot groups at 100 and with a slight holdover of the 500 yard circle, it's making consistent hits at 570 yards on torso sized targets.

The system works. It's not the right scope for people who expect to lay down tiny groups out to 500 yards, but it works exactly as advertised.

I've since discovered another nice thing about the BDC. When my M1A is zeroed for 168gr Match loads, the first circle is where the 147gr & 150gr loads will impact. No need to run afoul of my zero if I'm shooting cheap surplus. Works just fine for me.

Nikon makes one helluva piece of glass. I use their cameras and lenses everyday and the Monarch echoes that same level of quality.

 

[CB900F]

Boricua;

The BDC type reticle, regardless of who's it is, is a trajectory type reticle only. I don't know where you are, but the wind blows in Montana & Wyoming. Just to emphasize the point, I was in Casper & ran across the following bumper sticker: CASPER WYOMING next line
CAST IRON KITE FLYING CAPITOL OF THE WORLD.

Mil-dots work a lot better for me.

900F

 

[Inebriated]

I am into MPBR zeroing. I have a Nikon BDC scope, and I like the glass, but could take or leave the BDC. If I were in a place where I needed to be able to take shots further than a couple hundred yards, I'd probably like it a lot. Just kinda depends on what you're doing.

 

[boricua9mm]

The BDC type reticle, regardless of who's it is, is a trajectory type reticle only. I don't know where you are, but the wind blows in Montana & Wyoming.

I'm in Tampa Bay, Florida. The Gulf of Mexico and the changing temperatures create shifting winds throughout the course of the day. That said, a windy day for us may have 11-15 mph winds; not cast iron kity flying material. For my uses it's simply a matter of reading the wind. With 600 yards being the furthest distance that I shoot that particular rifle, compensating for windage is a quick and easy calculation.

I think a far more important part is matching an optic to a gun's capabilities, which may be hard for a lot of people to understand (as evidenced by people throwing large hunting scopes on M4s). For a rifle that is not capable of sub-MOA accuracy, Nikon's BDC reticle works pretty darn well. Likewise, the basic Trijicon ACOG (TA01) mounted on an AR15 is very effective at making hits at that same distance, but not for making tight groups. It's a matter of the optic being a good match for the rifle that it sits upon.

 

[travisd]

I dont think the scope is to cluttered, however ive never had a chance to use any of the circes yet. Will probably be getting something else after deer season as it has really inconsistent adjustments. Too bad because i like the scope and it went bad after only a year.

 

[teetertotter]

My 4.5-14 BDC Buckmaster Nikon is on my S&W 22a pistol with 7 inch barrel for Silhouette out to 77 meters. I can use the circles or elect to dial the elevation for correct distances. The dialed elevation is zeroed at 40 meters even though there is a closer target. I like having both options for distances.

 

[Tony k]

I've got a buckmaster 4.5-14bdc mounted on my 270. Good optics and holds its zero, which is all I really want in a hunting scope. I put the scope on in 2007, and I've never used anything but the crosshairs for hunting. Unless something drastic happens, I have no intention of getting rid of this scope.

If you really want to get the most out of the bdc feature without spending a mint on ammo, get the Nikon SpotOn App on your phone. It will give you a better idea of what each circle should hit without having to go through hundreds of rounds. As others have said, considering all the variables (like BCs, velocity, elevation,and atmospheric conditions) the idea that each circle could represent 100 yard incriments for dozens of calibers is a laughable.

I must admit that it's actually kind of fun to toy around with the SpotOn app at the range.