Nikon Monarch 4-16x 42mm BDC scope?

Khunter · Oct 12, 2010

Nikon Monarch 4-16x 42mm BDC scope?

So was the BDC reticle a good choice? I mostly bow hunt and know jack about rifles and optics but needed something for my 300 win mag. Having some aiming points aside from the primary cross hairs sounded good.

Can anyone tell me in english how I am supposed to use the side focus ring to improve my shooting and could it make any difference out to 250 yards? or does it come into place for farther shots?

I like my Burris 3-9 scope a lot but it is on the wife's 270 WSM and I thought having power in excess of 9x might be useful, thus this purchase. and only $349 which seemed pretty reasonable.

Long as I am rambling and asking about gun stuff, anyone have thoughts on the benefit/detraction of resetting triggers to 2.75 pound pull? One was already at 3.1 pounds but the other was a ridiculous? 6.8 pounds.

Thanks.

Meat hunt coming up in 10 days.

Big Slick · Oct 12, 2010

I know that setting the trigger pull lighter on my Model 700 made a big difference in my shooting.

noharleyyet · Oct 12, 2010

Khunter, I've had side parallax adjustable glass but never got comfortable with my ability to use it much less attempt to comprehend it's theoretical function. Also don't care for drop compensation markers in the reticle. I try to keep it stupidy simple. All my triggers are in the 3.5 lb range...except a non adjustable (save filing the sear) Ruger 1...pretty hard trigger but still accurate if I do my part.

..there's plenty of parallax "splainers" on the net.

elk_hunter · Oct 12, 2010

Khunter, I had that scope on my 300 WSM and broke the scope after a dozen shots at the range. I sent it back and Nikon confirmed the shock/recoil from the gun broke an internal component. That being said, I like the BDC scopes but I ended up going with Zeiss for the Nikon's replacement.

GatoMan · Oct 12, 2010

I have the same scope but in a 50mm objective.......great scope, but u need to know fully how to use it to make it effective....... you have to spend some time shooting your gun to know at what power and what ring to use for what distance.......the sidefocus is just that for focusing, its not used for anything else, i have heard some people trying to use it as a rangefinder as to where its set when things come in focus but thats not accurate nor its purpose.......

Khunter · Oct 12, 2010

Thanks guys, the comments help. We'll see if my scope breaks tomorrow at the range

Khunter · Oct 15, 2010

Sighted it in today. Nice scope--and it did not break after half a box of shells as with elk_hunter's scope, thankfully.

Sighted in 3" high at 100 yds and it hits 2" high at 200 yards. 180 gr. Nosler partition Federal Vital shock ammo.

any guesses how low (or not) it will hit at 300 yds. Will try that distance this weekend. I am guestimating it wil be just 4 inches low. We'll see...

More importantly the wife did great with the 270 WSM. Ideally she will be the one3 bringing home the meet next week while I serve as her guide and pack mule.

There must be a war about to start, all the ammunition shelves are bare arounf grand junction.

elk_hunter · Oct 15, 2010

Khunter, great news the scope is still solid!

I think you'll be dead on at 300 yards...if anything, maybe 1/2" low.

Big Fin · Oct 15, 2010

This link should help, Kirby. It is the Federal site for their Vital Shock ballistic charts.

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/rifle.aspx?id=283

My triggers are all set at 2.75 pounds. Makes a huge difference for me, but very few people have as much of a tremor as I do, so I might be overboard on the light trigger setting.

Most people or guest hunters who shoot my rifles look at me with the "Wow, that went off a bit sooner than i expected" look. A side benefit of having a biatholon shooter as your gunsmith.

Good luck on the meat hunt.

tarheel · Oct 15, 2010

Most of the Vital Shock ammo has the muzzle velocity printed on the box, but that will vary from gun to gun. If you can chrono your gun and using that velocity check Nosler's book of ballistic coefficients for the bullet used it will give you pretty exact info for your combo. I use that method and it always gives me MOA or better results. Hope that helps.

Khunter · Oct 16, 2010

thanks again. helpful. Also ran some numbers on handloads.com to create a ballistics chart.

Would it be reasonable to have my 26" barrel spit out a muzzle velocity of only 2800 fps versus the 2960 listed on the box? The test barrel Federal used was 24 inches, not my 26 inches. I get closer match of my observed basllistics out to 200 yards when plugging in that slower velocity...

Will have to see where I can chrono my particular setup.

tarheel · Oct 16, 2010

Khunter said:
thanks again. helpful. Also ran some numbers on handloads.com to create a ballistics chart.

Would it be reasonable to have my 26" barrel spit out a muzzle velocity of only 2800 fps versus the 2960 listed on the box? The test barrel Federal used was 24 inches, not my 26 inches. I get closer match of my observed basllistics out to 200 yards when plugging in that slower velocity...

Will have to see where I can chrono my particular setup.

I'm not that familiar with the expected performance of your caliber, but 2960 sounds to be closer to the expected level. Normally you can expect 25/30 fps higher velocity for every inch over the test barrel length. Other factors include altitude, humidity level and barometric pressure. Some of these contributors might seem like picking fly poop out of pepper; I guess it matters most on long range work and how exacting you are. Since I have your bullet type and advertised mv, just send a pm with your intended aim/impact point and I'll work up a ballistic chart with those #'s using an assumed height of 1.75" height of scope over bore. RT

Khunter · Oct 18, 2010

I created a ballistics chart on handloads.com for my 300 Win Mag. Do folks think that is a decent calculator to use? Here is the result using BC (.361 from Federal and my land elevation (4000') and measured scope height (1.75") above center of bore. Calculated for a 300 yard zero and for Nosler partition 180 grain bullet. Upped the assumed muzzle velocity from published 2960 fps to 3000 since my barrel is 2 inches longer than the 24" test barrel Federal used.

It seems to reasonably match my observed performance at 100 and 200 yards. Less sure about 300 yards as the shots started to scatter late in the session. (Lot's of shooting and helping the wife shoot her 270 WSM mixed in.)

Nikon Monarch 4-16x 42mm BDC scope?

Khunter

Well-known member

Big Slick

Well-known member

noharleyyet

Well-known member

elk_hunter

Active member

GatoMan

New member

Khunter

Well-known member

Khunter

Well-known member

elk_hunter

Active member

Big Fin

Administrator

tarheel

Well-known member

Khunter

Well-known member

tarheel

Well-known member

Khunter

Well-known member

Attachments

Similar threads

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Share this page