Clicks or numbers

[joker77c]

Might be a stupid question but I need to know.

I have a Ruger MK77 Tactical in .243 with a Hawke 5-20? Scope. Question isnt about the equipment cause its what I have and I love it.

Question is on the scope turrets. I've shot it out to 300 yards on prairie dogs successfully and even had a couple close to 400 but I never messed with elevation knobs. I used a slight holdover and sometimes a second shot to hit the target.

Getting more interested in long range shooting and the other day I measured a 550 yard shot and plugged everything into my fancy dancy app on my phone and it spit out the numbers i dialed them in and didn't see an impact, 5 more times and nothing. So distraught I go home and was thinking.

I don't remember the numbers but say it was ten up. Should that have been ten clicks? O ten on the actual numbers?

Legit question so don't be to hard on me.

Thanks

[jpipes]

A few things:

1) Your ballistic app needs good data in order to give you good corrections. Garbage in, garbage out. Things like velocity, environmental data, actual B.C. of a bullet, and sight height are very important variables

2) You would do yourself a favor to stop thinking in "clicks" and start thinking in the value of the correction, either in MOA or Mils. I MUCH prefer mils, but your scope is probably calibrated in MOA adjustments of some flavor.

3) If you were behind the rifle correctly, there is a good probability that you would have been able to spot your misses (which could have been elevation or wind problems), and correct with the second round. This is more valuable than all of the above.

4) If you haven't checked your scope to ensure that it tracks properly, I would highly recommend to doing a tracking test.

[tuck]

It's was probably either 10 MOA or 10 MILS up depending on what your app was set for.

For example if you have a 1/4 MOA adjustable scope, 10 MOA up would be 40 clicks.

It's best not to think of elevation changes in "clicks" but changes in MILS or MOA, whichever your scope is set up to use.

[joker77c]

The shot was up a hill to a clearing over some trees so that's why i couldn't see the impact, I was missing so badly that i wasn't even getting to the clearing. I will start thinking in mils because that is what my reticle is in and as for the garbage in.....that's a nail on the head there. Most of my info was gathered from factory specs and the iphone weather. Starting to reload so my data should hopefully get better. And the uphill look angle wasn't helping.

[AR15barrels]

the other day I measured a 550 yard shot and plugged everything into my fancy dancy app on my phone and it spit out the numbers i dialed them in and didn't see an impact, 5 more times and nothing. So distraught I go home and was thinking.

I don't remember the numbers but say it was ten up. Should that have been ten clicks? O ten on the actual numbers?


assuming your elevation turret is marked in moa, and assuming your 243 is probably about 10 moa elevation dial required from its 100yd zero, you probably dialed 10 clicks.
If your clicks are 1/4 moa clicks like most scopes, you only dialed 1/4of the elevation that you needed to dial.
That's why you did not even see shots landing in the clearing.

I have a good write-up on using your scope here that will perhaps help explain this better:
http://www.caprc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=36

You may have to sign into the forum to read it, but it's worth it.

[AR15barrels]

I will start thinking in mils because that is what my reticle is in

Actually, if you are going to be dialing elevation on the turret, you need to be thinking in the units that your turret is marked.
If you have moa turrets and a mil reticle, you have to think in both.
If you send a round and you see that it impacted 1/2 mil low, you have two options, HOLD 1/2 mil high and re-engage, or DIAL 1.75 moa more elevation and re-engage.
This assumes your reticle is actually accurate.
For your reticle to be accurate,you need tone on the proper magnification level on a 2nd focal plane scope, or be using. First focal plane scope which should be accurate on all magnification settings.

Having a scope wih moa turrets and a mil reticle is frustrating, but it will teach you a lot and eventually make you a better shooter if you let it.
When you are done with that scope and get one with matching mil turrets and mil reticle, you will still be able to help your buddies that have to dial in moa.

If your scope already is mil/mil and your phone is telling you to dial 10 for 550yds, then your phone is setup for moa...

[jstone]

The app i have will give corrections in mils, moa, and number of clicks.

If you have a scope with a ballistic compensating reticle in the second focal plain it will compute accurate hold overs at any power not just the power it was calibrated for.

So far it has been accurate out to 500. Which i know is not far, it is the furthest i have had access to. Now that my buddy got a 338lm he found us access to a private range with 1500 yards. I will be able to see if it gives me accurate data further out.

[orkan]

http://www.primalrights.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2562

http://www.primalrights.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2607

http://www.primalrights.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4789

Read those three articles joker. By the end, you'll have a much better idea on how to work with ballistic calculators due to knowing what the outputs are suppose to look like.