First focal plane scope questions

Who shoots a first focal plane scope? What are your likes and dislikes?w

Sorry it looks like i posted it in two places

everything's a tradeoff... downside to ffp is a pretty thin reticle at lower magnification, so in dark/thick hunting situations it may be hard to pick up. think that is the biggest and perhaps only downside. upside is that if you are holding over (or ranging), it doesn't matter what magnification you are at.

if you dial instead of holding over, or hold over or range at full magnification (most scopes), then there isn't much of a diff other than the sfp reticle always being thicker.

davsco said:

everything's a tradeoff... downside to ffp is a pretty thin reticle at lower magnification, so in dark/thick hunting situations it may be hard to pick up. think that is the biggest and perhaps only downside. upside is that if you are holding over (or ranging), it doesn't matter what magnification you are at.

if you dial instead of holding over, or hold over or range at full magnification (most scopes), then there isn't much of a diff other than the sfp reticle always being thicker.

Click to expand...

Yeah I don't really care about that stuff anymore. Ranging targets isn't as easy as it sounds anyway, since miscalculating the target height will throw you off by a heck of a lot at long ranges.

FWIW I use a fixed power at long range usually. More value for your money.

I hold for wind, so having the reticle subtensions stay constant is a very good thing.

I have sold all my SFPs but one. I want FFP for both hunting and competition as I never dial wind (I may dial for a mechanical fixed speed mover but that is situational and still may hold). I use my reticle for "up down" stages where there are multiple targets. When shooting a G2 mil hash or similar reticle, I dial to the middle range target and hold up/hold down on the others to keep the horizontal stadia as close to target elevation as possible so wind holds will be more accurate. When shooting a Horus reticle, I dial to the shortest target and hold the others on the grid. This is my preferred method. When hunting groundhogs or coyotes on foot (and on the move) I prefer to range with a laser or just eyeball and hold on reticle. Much faster than playing with turrets, especially from unconventional or unsupported positions.

Downsides to FFPs are mostly related to "usable" mag range. I have only one FFP optic (4-20x) that is even remotely useable at its lower end. I consider shooting at below 8x to be a close range proposition only. I typically only run the low range for locating targets or transitioning on a wide stage. I shoot barricades inside 600yd around 10-14 and beyond 600 at 12-20. The optic's Horus reticle is most usable above 12x.

Your choice of reticle is driven more by your intended use than is the choice of FFP/SFP. I don't care for dots, diamonds, or (especially) ovals in my MIL reticles. I like hashes as the point of reference is more refined. Consider that if you are hunting and all your shots will be near or at dawn/dusk and inside of 600 you may want a "fatter" reticle and may or may not benefit from illumination. If you are engaging 1MOA or smaller targets in competition, you will NOT want a fat reticle. You will also want the finest gradations you can find on your horizontal stadia.

Ultimately, intended use and budget drive the choice.