Illuminated Reticles

Dusk and Dawn hunting in brush it really helps the cross hair stand out.

 

to me its about speed . Some usually the Chinese scopes over do it and it becomes a gimick
but having the that center dot or triangle really does increase speed eye sees dot . Lit cross hairs too distracting. a simple tiny dot.

With open sites although for many including my self I am faster than say with a magnified scope with cross hairs but with a dot there is no lining up and centering sights granted if you have done may years of shooting you can line up open sights pretty darn fast because your face and eye know exactly where to go. but there still a couple variables

Where as with a scope with just cross hairs unless its the same scope set up a same way there are even more variables
position of your head being centered and the right distance from your scope if its zeroed off a bench on hot sunny day and then your all bundled up in the middle of Nov you many have to adjust your head to get a full picture this will slow you down a little. so you have head position and scope position and center the cross hairs in the scope.

With the right red dot there is 2 variables and that is seeing you target and putting the dot on it.

 

They also help when used against a dark background. A black reticle on top of a black target generally doesn't work out too well. Possible, but for some people its better to have illumination for it. There's another advantage, but I can't explain it well enough. I usually use them on a 1-4x scope but on my Bushnell I need it since the reticle is pretty small. Especially at the low end with it being FFP.

 

I have a Leupold Firefly which is a tiny dot on the cross hairs, it works great. As for Chinese scopes their not engineered to a standard that allows me to trust them in any circumstance, I have a bucket full waiting for the landfill

 

Some of us actually range our targets, so we use FFP scopes to make it a little more consistent in the mils/MOA measurements. On the low end of the magnification, the reticle is small. Illumination helps there. Adding to that, as mentioned earlier low light. I know you said you'd just get good glass. Good glass is great, good glass still has limits though. Glass doesn't help low light too much (still better compared to cheap scopes), a thick reticle does. Even then, a thick reticle will do nowhere near as much as an illuminated reticle would. They're also great in bight daylight. Another thing to add, hunting in the brush is different than open fields. Sure, open field you don't need illumination as much. Brush? YOU DO.

Trust me, I used to be like you and not getting illuminated scopes. Now all my scopes have the option of being illuminated because I lost a few deer, and who knows how many boar.

 

I am considering a Norden GRSC 1x6 for my carbine but I am wondering if the utility of its reticle will be canceled out by my fixed front sight? I have also considered a Vortex Strike Eagle but in the "in for a penny, in for a pound, buy now, cry now" vein I really like the Norden reviews.

Brutus Out

 

At 1-2x probably. 3, kinda but not really. 4-6 shouldn't. Tbh I have a strong dislike for BDC reticles after trying one out. But YMMV, you might like them.

 

Ranging your target: Friend's backyard, or hunting in open field when I get the opportunity (so I can figure a holdover when I see game at a certain distance). Brush, not so much. As for low light, more towards night. Open field, not bad. Brush closer to night? Can be a PITA. Sometimes you don't need illumination, sometimes you do. I'm not one for the slots.

Define being defensive, you asked people are answering. How did I lose a few animals? Low light and brush. There are times where its a PITA and times it isn't an issue. Boar have dark fur, at least the ones here do. Black reticle, dark fur, not fun. Worse in low light. Deer, while having light fur, still aren't too easy to see in low light in brush. Open field, thick reticle would be all that's necessary for me. In brush, not really.

You asked for a use for illumination. I answered that in a FFP scope it can be useful at lower ends of the magnification (twice). Now if it was SFP vs. FFP, illumination wouldn't be involved in my reply.


At the end of the day, if you can see that you MIGHT need it, even if only rarely, its better to have it than not need it. There's still decent glass with illumination under 1 grand.

 

This is a picture a friend sent me. Some spots are similar to that here. That was on a bright day and it was fairly close according to him.

 

For my old eyes,this would be the worst time for them. I would see the reticle and nothing else.
I personally don't like them. My eyes are just too light sensitive and like I said that's all I would see.

 

Why get upset when he is ,at least, answering your thread?
You will always get thread drift,accept or move on in life

 

My not very expensive Mueller Scopes have 11 step adjustable illumination on the dot. You can turn it down to the point it is barely brighter then without.

http://muelleroptics.com/mu3940igr

This is the view through my Mueller 4-16×50AO Tactical I believe this photo to be with the illumination all the way up.

http://muelleroptics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/159.jpg

In the photo above standing in the sun with your eyes adjusted to the surrounding light. Most people would have a very hard time picking out a black set of cross hairs on that deer. Quickly enough to take a shot.

Until a few years ago I hunted with either an old Tasco World Class (when they were made in Japan and had really good glass) or a Leupold Vari X II and neither scope would have been my friend in the instance of the above photo.

One of my favorite spots to hunt is a deep canyon with a small 3 acre grass field surrounded by mature Doug firs it is on an EAST facing slope and goes dark almost 1/2 hour before the legal end of the days hunt at Civil Twilight (1/2 hour after sunset) I have found the lighted reticle in my new Mueller to be of great advantage just like cranking the scope down to 4x instead of the normal 6X I would keep it on during lighter conditions.

YMMV