Dimitri wrote:

Remember most range finders are listed for the range they can range with a "reflective target". The guy at Bass Pro (nice guy by the way) said that for feild applications in general you should cut that number in atleast half for what range it can range properly at a darker/less reflective target like deer or trees because most range finders (he showed me the boxes too) listed a max range for non-reflective items like deers and trees at half or less of the listed "max" range it can read out to. Bushnells Elite 1500 for example lists for reflective items its good out to 1600 yards, but for trees only 1000 yards and for deer 500 yards. Dimitri

Dimitri, while that may be true for some, I have had no problem at all ranging deer at 300 yrds plus or buildings, hill sides etc at over 800 yrds. I have found that my rangefinder works as advertised and at times even better, depending on weather conditions etc.

Range Finder ??? I use the Mark I Eyeball. Have two of them and they work well.

Seriously though......I believe that if you know your rifle and know your load and, most importantly, know your capabilities and keep within them then you won't be shooting at a gadzillion yards anyway.

I know that about 300 yards is the extreme limit of my capbilities.....unless I'm shooting at a horribly obese elephant .......and I zero to a PBR of around 250 - 275 yds then I don't have to worry about how far out it is because I will not take a shot beyond the length of two footy fields plus a little bit.

But then again, I can see the need for another you beaut gadget like a range finder on occasion. So everyone to his own....if you want it and need it....fill ya boots......and if it makes you shoot more goodly then so much the better.

Cheers, Vince

MY mark 1 Eyeball is mis calibrated

I had to fix that.

I worked out how many paces to 10 metres.
x10 for 100 metres then as I walked around pushing the pram when the daughter was young I would see a random object in the street and decide how far away it was and then pace it out to see how closre I was.

The more practice I got the better my estimations became.

This works well for me upto 300 yards- thats about as far away as I shot at anything.

I will be getting a LRF when my 6 BR is built as it will be my lay down varminter but other than thaqt I dont think I would use one.

as 90% of my shootins is done under a spotlight culling vermin and pests- IF Ican see it clearly in a 6x scope its under 200 Y so aim directly at it.

later
P