Dialing a Muzzleloader

[UTGrad]

I’m putting a Leupold VX5HD 2-10x42 with the CDS dial on my Accura MR. Anyone dial for drop on their muzzleloader? With the right bullet I could see it extending the range of the gun.

 

[ENCORE50A]

Nice scope.
I dial along with many others on the forum.

 

[GM54-120]

I think Ron had Loopie make a CDS dial made for one of his MLs.

 

[52Bore]

By far the easiest dial to use.
Each dot represents 10 yards.
I used it to perfection a few years ago at 220 yards on my Knight 52.

 

[ronlaughlin]

I think Ron had Loopie make a CDS dial made for one of his MLs.

Actually had several dials engraved for different rifles, and swear by them all. Just an opinion, but dialing works far better than using marks around the crosshair. Have several successful tales of animals ending in the freezer when the range was measured, and scope was dialed. Longest was a goat at 314 yard killed while it slept, using an engraved dial on the 45 Omega.

Using the same rifle smucked a milk jug out too far to use the engraved dial. Replaced the engraved dial with just a standard moa dial; dialed it, and made the first shot ever out over ¼ mile.

Dialing works good.

 

[UTGrad]

I don’t like custom dials I just use MOA dual and use a Ballistic app.

 

[GM54-120]

I’m putting a Leupold VX5HD 2-10x42 with the CDS dial on my Accura MR. Anyone dial for drop on their muzzleloader? With the right bullet I could see it extending the range of the gun.

I don’t like custom dials I just use MOA dual and use a Ballistic app.

I thought that was exactly what you were asking about?

 

[UTGrad]

I thought that was exactly what you were asking about?

Yes a MOA only CDS dial vs a custom one. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[ronlaughlin]

Yeah, same here. Mostly use the plain moa dial, because most time am shooting something new, and different. The custom dials cost.

 

[tpcollins]

I have a Leupy with the CDS on my .450 Bushmaster that Leupold engraved based on my ballistics. But with a 100 yard zero, I only had about 175 yards of up travel available.

So I put a piece of brass shim under the rear edge of the DNZ uni-mount and bedded it to the receiver. I can get somewhere around 275 yards with it now.

 

[alternate]

I have rangefinder reticles in most of my scopes but I don't use 'em. I hunted chucks for years with my big bore rifles to hone my holdover skills and now it just comes naturally without even thinking about it.

 

[Mnt monkey]

Alternate,, do I understand you correctly You've shot your rifle so much that you know your holdover and winds by nature and by experience???I would think it cuts down on a lot of precious time when a big nervous buck steps out there in front of you. I guess ultimately it would be nice to know your scope elevation dials and be able to use them but also to have practice with your gun so much that you really didn't need them.

 

[Mnt monkey]

I have range finding reticles on most of my hunting rifles, I've learned to use them and enjoy them as long as the scope isn't filled with too much clutter,, but to be honest with you there's sometimes when a deer steps out there that nature just kicks in and I forget all of those technical issues and I just shoot naturally, The best shooters I've been around ,the best fighters I've fought ,the best athletes have competed against all my life have been men that developed the skill and applied it naturally.

 

[tpcollins]

I have several BDC reticle scopes but I can’t see them very well plus the scope needs to be on max magnification to use them unless I want the 1st chevron to be 500 yards.

I find the target type turret in MOA, a yardage tape, or engraved to be so much faster.

If an animal is that far away that your have to adjust for 200 yards plus, you should be able to turn the dial without them seeing you.

 

[Mnt monkey]

I usually just yell out loud hey stop for a minute let me get this scope dial turn, most of the time that deer pauses and lets me,,, ,,,one important issue with having a gun with a custom dial,, it's not much use if that gun isn't putting your load in a consistent less than MOA group,, my personal opinion 300 yd and in you shouldn't have to dial you should learn your gun and you're reticle,it doesn't take much with a CVA Acura mountain rifle and a 250 grain bullet to shoot 275 to 300 yd, it just takes practice ,mabyy I'm just getting old, but I hunt in a lot of thick brushy creek bottom areas that you're only going to get a second or two to get comfortable and get on a deer and pull the trigger The more you complicate that moment the less successful you're going to be,,,I would submit this I think many of us who get custom dials and by the way I've had them and I still have some, when it comes down to that moment when you're adrenaline's pumping and in most hunting applications you'll find just learning to shoot naturally works better.every once in awhile I'll get the privilege of hunting a large open field where I can see forever, if I had a comfortable place to prop my gun and range I guess that dial would come in handy. I love all of you scope dialers too. Let's go hunting

 

[alternate]

Alternate,, do I understand you correctly You've shot your rifle so much that you know your holdover and winds by nature and by experience???I would think it cuts down on a lot of precious time when a big nervous buck steps out there in front of you. I guess ultimately it would be nice to know your scope elevation dials and be able to use them but also to have practice with your gun so much that you really didn't need them.

Not so much shoot a particular rifle to death but rather a lot of shots with holdover on various rifles. Years of hunting chucks with 30-06, 300 mags and 45-70's have just acclimated me to holding over rather than fiddling with dials. You get lots of shots, you can see where the bullet impacted and misses are of little consequence. After a while you hardly have to think about it as long as you remember what gun you're shooting. I use a system of holdover I came up with myself that's easy and quick. I call it the "where is the bullet NOT gonna go" system. You know the range your rifle is zeroed in at and one look at a target much further than that and you know one thing for sure. The bullet's not gonna go where you're aiming. I shoot at a deer 200 plus yards away with my 45-70 and I know the fist foot under the x-hairs are off the table so I have to get a spot below that somewhere in the boiler room. I shot an elk at 400 yards with my 30-06 sighted in @ 200. I knew at least the first foot under the xhair was gonna be a swish so I put a foot of snow between the horizontal crosshair and the elk's back. It was lower than I expected, going thru the heart while I expected a lung shot. My freezer never knew the difference. No rangefinder, no fidling with dials, just grab the nearest rest and shoot that bull going over the ridge in the next 5 seconds. This is not precision shooting by a long shot (no pun intended) but it's easy, it's quick, and these animals have large boiler rooms. Holding over 42 inches is intimidating but leaving a foot of dead air and centering the animal in what's left is EZ.
Ed P

 

[Mnt monkey]

I need to clarify,,I shoot 2- 10 x42 scopes with ranging dots,on most of the hunting muzzleloaders I have, it is very easy for me when I'm shooting 300 yd and in just to use the first three reticle post, dots,I shoot these guns so much that just to dedicate my dial to one load wouldn't really work, I change loads and bullets often,changing velocities often going from smokeless to black horn and black horn to smokeless, Even in my CVA break opens I shoot a lot of different bullets and I just shoot a lot, I just tune my elevation setting at a hundred yards to whatever load I'm shooting and I find where my gun shoots at 200 250 and 300 and I'm good to go,, if I were shooting a 2 to 10 power that just had fixed crosshairs I would agree that dialing is the way to go,,,

 

[ENCORE50A]

If you don't have time to dial at long range (beyond 200yds), you likely don't actually have enough time to take the shot.

I swore up and down that I didn't want a scope that would be "task saturating". Well I had to repent over that.




This Nightforce reticle is accurate, but for anything over 200yds, I'm going to dial and if I don't have time to dial, won't take a rushed shot. The animal MUST be at at ease, at least not on high alert when shooting long range. Even then, things can go wrong.

 

[mnoland30]

I bought a Leupold CDS, and it adjusted itself while I was climbing after an Ibex. I missed. I went to a Boone & Crockett reticle.