Guide

Rifle Scope Reticles

A popular reticle suitable for most hunting and shooting stuations. The fine crosshair in the centre of a 30/30 reticle represents an area 30 inches across at x4 magnification at a distance of 100 yards. By focussing on a target of a known size, the reticle can be used to determine target range.

The Mil-dot reticle was originally developed for the millitary for range-finding purposes. Each dot on the Mil-dot reticle represents 3.6 inches at 100 yards or 36 inches at 1,000 yards. Although these ranges are well outside the ability of most airguns, the distances can be scaled down to provide a very effective reticle for airgun use. Many airgunners swear by the Mil-dot reticle and through experience have developed a natural understanding of what each dot represents at a given range.

The Multiple Aiming Point (MAP) reticle developed by Hawke takes the idea of the Mil-Dot one step futher. Each aiming point on the vertical crosshair relates to a particular range offset which is pre-calculated depending on the power of the rifle and the grain of the ammunition. Likewise, each aiming point on the horizontal crosshair relates to a particular windspeed offset. To make this reticle usable for all rifles, Hawke have developed a Ballistic Reticle Calculator (BRC) which evaluates the trajectories of your rifle to provide specific values for each aiming point on the MAP reticle. The BRC software is free to download from the Hawke Optics website.