Review: Bushnell Elite Tactical 1-6.5x (BTR-2 Reticle/FFP)

[a0cake]

I like how the cross hairs are extended all the way to the center. I'm not the biggest fan of floating dot reticles for precision shooting, but its not a deal breaker.

The .1 mil has marks are fine for the ends, provided you could make them out at 6x.

I would open the bottom of the larger circle, to kind of a horseshoe, to make it easier if you come down on the target and to give a visual reference to make sure the rifle isn't canted if you can only see the illuminated part.

How would you illuminate it? Painted etched reticle, holographic, LED or fiber?

OP, let me know if you want this taken somewhere else. Since we got into reticles, I thought this would be relevant here. If not, let me know. Maybe somebody at Bushnell will want to take a look at this thread as you give your input based on experience with the reticle and we work through possible variations.

BP -- Yeah, I like the ability to quarter targets also. The horseshoe suggestion is good. I added a 1 Mil hash at the bottom of the horseshoe and gave it illumination to help with leveling.

As far as illumination, probably just LED. Ideally, the horseshoe would be bold enough to work during the day in almost all conditions without needing the illumination. Having the horseshoe and dot in the SFP will definitely make that possible.

[Singlestack Wonder]

I couldn't agree more. FFP reticles are near worthless on the low end in this power range. The idea is nice, that the horseshoe collapses to nearly a 4-5moa dot, but when you figure in the illumination problems with FFP reticles, it doesn't play out in reality.

On something like a 3-9x or 5-25x or even a 2.5-10x I can see the value in a FFP.



Problem being that if you are shooting people, and most never will, living targets don't stand square to the shooter and still so you can range their shoulders. Its easier to range fixed objects near the target. This can be accomplised with the BTR2, which isn't a BDC, but is calibrated in mils.

The point was that the BTR-1 did at least have some ranging capability. Is there a BTR reticle manual available online? I was unable to locate one at Bushnell's site. I haven't found anything yet with quantifiable data regarding the BTR-2. At first glance, it appears to be a BDC only.

[a0cake]

The point was that the BTR-1 did at least have some ranging capability. Is there a BTR reticle manual available online? I was unable to locate one at Bushnell's site. I haven't found anything yet with quantifiable data regarding the BTR-2. At first glance, it appears to be a BDC only.

It's not a BDC at all. Those are MILS. There's plenty of built-in ranging capability with the BTR-2. All you need to do is drill some "mil-relation" data into your head, based off a chart like this one that I made and attached below:

[bp7178]

The point was that the BTR-1 did at least have some ranging capability. Is there a BTR reticle manual available online? I was unable to locate one at Bushnell's site. I haven't found anything yet with quantifiable data regarding the BTR-2. At first glance, it appears to be a BDC only.

An easy tell when you're looking at reticles is that a true BDC's subtensions won't be evenly spaced. If they are evenly spaced, the reticle is either setup in MOA or mils. Just having hash marks on a vertical line doesn't make it a BDC.

a0cake, I like how the reticle is opened up now, and how you left an illuminated line below it.

[Singlestack Wonder]

It's not a BDC at all. Those are MILS. There's plenty of built-in ranging capability with the BTR-2. All you need to do is drill some "mil-relation" data into your head, based off a chart like this one that I made and attached below:

I own several mil based scopes and understand mil ranging. Based on a picture without any description, there was no specific data (that I have found) that the BTR-2 was mil based.

Please post a BTR manual if anyone has one.

[bp7178]

Taken from Bushnell's website...

Illuminated BTR-2 Reticle
Bushnell Tactical Reticle. Featuring an illuminated, milhash marked reticle designed for ranging, holdover and windage correction. Available in both First Focal Plane (FFP) and Second Focal Plane (SFP) models.

Illuminated BTR-1 Reticle
Bushnell Tactical Reticle. Features an illuminated, ballistically calibrated reticle optimized for use with the 5.56 rounds. BDC provides accurate ranging and aiming to 600 meters. Available in both First Focal Plane (FFP) and Second Focal Plane (SFP) models.

I haven't seen an actual manual on their new website, but between the descriptions of and looking at the reticles, I'm sure you can pick up whats being thrown down.

[Singlestack Wonder]

I went back to Bushnell's site and found the info. You have to hover over the reticle picture to get information. Thier website could use a little work....

[Failure2Stop]

I think it might be interesting to have a thread devoted to reticle designs.

a0- I have gone down a similar path in reticle concept, in fact, yours looks a lot like one I made before. Not that there is anything new under the sun...
Take a look at the USO DFP 1-4, very neat execution.

Typos brought to you via Tapatalk and autocorrect.

[BrigandTwoFour]

I actually really like that idea for the G2DMR reticle. I've been planning on getting one of the larger scopes for a .308 build (3-12 or 6-24), but if they made one like that that was SFP with the subtensions accurate at 6x or 8x or whatever, it would be great for a recce style gun.

[ra2bach]

I think it might be interesting to have a thread devoted to reticle designs...

as well, the application of 1st v 2nd FP relative to those designs.

I'm not a fan of SWFA but I think they have touched on an important concept with their proposed 1-6 FFP reticle where the center circle is "zoomed" completely out of view at 6x leaving a simple mil reticle. I hope they get it right...