SCOPE MIL-DOT HELP

[19powell90 89]

Hey, ive recently bought a hw97k topped with a hawke 3-9x50 scope and im having trouble with zeroing and using mil-dots.

 

Here are my questions:

 

At what distance shud i zero at, my booklet with the scope says 100 yards is this too far?

 

At what zoom ( 3-9 ) do i use for zeroing?

 

How do i use my mil-dots?

 

Also ive read that mil-dots are based on 10x magnification but my scope only goes to 9???

Edited December 2, 2010 by 19powell90

[orangeeric 2]

Hey, ive recently bought a hw97k topped with a hawke 3-9x50 scope and im having trouble with zeroing and using mil-dots.

 

Here are my questions:

 

At what distance shud i zero at, my booklet with the scope says 100 yards is this too far?

You should zero at the distance you feel you will shoot at most often. Your HW97K is an air rifle (and I'm assuming a non-FAC version at 12lb-ft) - so I would look to zero at 30 - 35 yds. You won't be shooting much beyond 50 yds.

 

At what zoom ( 3-9 ) do i use for zeroing?

Zoom should not affect your zero'ing - but in the end, you should zero at the highest maginification as this will give you the smallest tolerances.

 

How do i use my mil-dots?

In simple terms, mil-dots are used to assess how high or low one should compensate for a given distance from your zero. A bullet (and to a lesser extent a pellet - your case) flies in a slight rainbow type trajectory to your chosen zero. This means that if you fire at something closer, you may need to aim a tad lower - if you fire at something further away, you will need to aim higher. So, if you zero at 35 yards for your air rifle and you then want to shoot something at 30 yards, you would aim one mildot low (use one mildot low as your aim point). If you wanted to shoot something 40 yards away, you would aim one mildot high - and so on. This is the basic concept - others will I am sure explain it in far more detail and point to detailed older threads.

 

Also ive read that mil-dots are based on 10x magnification but my scope only goes to 9???

Don't worry about this. It might be an issue with a firearm, but not an air rifle.

 

Let us know if you need more help to get a good zero - cheers

 

 

 

[matt_hooks 188]

What calibre is the rifle?

 

An air rifle will need to be zeroed at whatever range you are most likely to be using it. If you plan on hunting, then I would personally zero a .22 at 30 yards, and a .177 at 35 yards. This gives the largest extent of point blank range (the set of ranges that the fall of shot is within the required kill zone, so for live air rifle quarry a 2 inch circle).

 

Ignore the mil dot "specifications". Get out with your rifle, and find out what each mil-dot means in elevation and windage. Write them down and learn them, or some people make up a table of mil-dot offsets at different ranges and attach it to a scope cover, for easy reference in the field.

 

Davy, Si, Tony or one of the others will be along shortly to explain it better.

[pianoman 3,587]

With only 12ft/lbs of energy at your disposal you are not going to be needing to worry about shooting targets or live quarry out to 100 yards.

 

For air rifles, the mildot is simply a neat way of giving you a datum-point of aim for hold-over or under from your set-zero range; normally 25-35 yards with .22 and .177.

 

If your pellet is hitting the bullseye bang on the centre of the cross-hair at, say, 30 yards with a .22 rifle, the dots below the centre cross will help tell you where you need to raise the rifle in order to hit a target 5, 10 or 15 yards further on. The reverse of that is for targets nearer than your set zero. It's more a matter for practice with what you have, than what the manual tells you in the case of mildot scopes

 

Simon