Hold-Over or Dial? …Scope Turret Labels - DYI

[Vana2]

Shooting distances are such that holding over is not working well for me so I’m going to be adding scope turret labels and dialing for extended range shooting.

I’ve always been a plinker/pester and setup my all airguns for the best “point blank range”. Near Zero was 17 to 20 yards, far Zero 38 to 42 yards and considering the accuracy and power at that time, this worked well for most of my shooting.

Now that airguns are accurate and powerful enough at distances well beyond a point blank range I need to be able to properly compensate for trajectory and I think that dialing and scope turret labels are the best approach.

I’ve seen videos with labels stuck all over the turrets, not knowing how they will fit on my scopes I’ve made up some vertical and horizontal text turret labels in various fonts, colors and sizes figuring that something should fit. The labels cover from 5 to 500 (vertical text) and 5 to 595 (horizontal text) which will (hopefully) cover the needs for anyone who wants to try the labels.

The label sheets are setup such that they can be printed and cut apart easily. I have 8.5x11 inch self-adhesive sheets (available from office supply stores) that I’ll be using but printing onto plain paper and using double-sided tape is also an option. I plan of protecting the labels with a layer of 3M clear “Magic Tape” once I’m done getting them positioned.

Research shows people using a ballistic calculator program to locate the labels on the turret. I’m not sure about that approach as the programs rely on the BC and the BC depends on other factors. I’m just going to sight in my airgun for each range and apply the label at that point.

I have attached print-ready PDFs of the labels in several colors. I could not attach the SVG source file, PM me if you want a copy. I used the “Inkscape” open source (freeware) program to create the label sheets. It’s a powerful program with a steep learning curve but doing something like a label is not overly challenging.

Anyway, attached are the files if you’re interested. I’m new to the idea of scope turret labels and would appreciate any feed-back or suggestions.

Cheers!

View attachment Scope Turret Labels (5 to 500 - Vertical) RED.pdf

View attachment Scope Turret Labels (5 to 500 - Vertical) BLUE.pdf

View attachment Scope Turret Labels (5 to 500 - Vertical) GREEN.pdf

View attachment Scope Turret Labels (5 to 595 - Horizontal) BLUE.pdf

View attachment Scope Turret Labels (5 to 595 - Horizontal) GREEN.pdf

View attachment Scope Turret Labels (5 to 595 - Horizontal) RED.pdf

 

[Neu]

Nice work, thanks for these..

 

[maxtrouble]

Great idea. However it looks too complicated. I am a luddite. I used hold over / under from 20 yards out to 100 yards.

/Yells at turret stickerz

 

[Str8tshooter]

I have always used holdover, but need to start dialing. Yesterday I added scope stickers to my UA order but that's not going to work out untill I settle on one projectile.

 

[Sawney Bean]

So far as a software generated ballistic chart goes, you don’t have to take it on faith. Make your chart and then confirm that it’s accurate by test firing at different ranges. This is still way faster than developing your chart by shooting groups repeatedly at five yard intervals.

What I personally do isn’t dialing, but rather using mildot holdover. I’ve got two scopes that I’d have faith in the turret adjustment being repeatable on and a whole bunch of UTG/Tasco/BSA/Accushot budget scopes that will hold a zero just fine, but would probably give dismal performance if I tried making click adjustments with every shot.

 

[Franklink]

Another method is to set yourself up to do either hold over or dial the turret.

Just need an intuitive reticle. MIL works best for my brain. By doing it this way you can even shoot out past the maximum vertical travel in your turrets. Say you need 16mil of holdover for a shot but scope only goes to 8mil in the turret. Dial the 8, then holdover another 8.

I have a little laminated dope sheet for each gun/caliber/scope. Sometimes stickered to the gun, sometimes tucked into the gap between action and stock. But on the card are just two columns/projectile. Left column is distance, right column is clicks. With a nice clean mil reticle/mil turret the click value is pretty easy to turn into a holdover if the quarry seems like it might bolt before the clicks can be made.

 

[elh0102]

I don't see as it makes any difference whether you hold over or click. The key to either one working is knowing the distance. At extended distances, the range estimate has to be darn near perfect for a good hit.

 

[dizzums]

well, in my yard the ideal zero works well if i keep fps consistent across platforms .. thats to 55yds .. 'but' it can be even better, because still youre dealing with that ~1/2-3/4" variance across the flight path .. but personally i dont shoot enough to be confident to adjust holdover for every shot distance, nor do i have time to fiddle ... what is amazing though, are the electronic scopes with built in rangefinder and ballistic calc .. just push a button to range then fire, it puts the crosshair dead on lol - 'after' you get it dialed, doesnt take much, fine adjustment of fps or bc puts them right in there ..i like it, not for everyone im sure, the digital zoom on such scopes isnt optic clarity for sure ..

 

[DeanB]

back when I did it I just used a piece of masking tape on turret and move targets to all distances as far as I wanted to shoot and marked them on tape as I zeroed.. never did have any printed.. Used to kill starlings and pigeons at 100 yds or better with a .177 Career and a Titan Manitou back in early 2000 or so.

 

[Vana2]

I don't see as it makes any difference whether you hold over or click. The key to either one working is knowing the distance. At extended distances, the range estimate has to be darn near perfect for a good hit.

*** At extended distances, the range estimate has to be darn near perfect for a good hit. ***

Absolutely true!

Have to admit that beyond 50 yards I rely on a laser range-finder.

 

[Chukar60]

I made one with masking tape. Marked the yardages then put scotch tape over that to protect the ink.
Next I got scope stickers from UA and tried those.
Problem is that I am a hunter and many many times I would miss a shot opportunity because I was monkeying with my turret and range finder. Takes too long.
Now I use holdover and a range finder When distances get much past 60 yards.

 

[pnwairgunner]

I made one with masking tape. Marked the yardages then put scotch tape over that to protect the ink.
Next I got scope stickers from UA and tried those.
Problem is that I am a hunter and many many times I would miss a shot opportunity because I was monkeying with my turret and range finder. Takes too long.
Now I use holdover and a range finder When distances get much past 60 yards.

I agree with your observation there. If you are hunting it’s much simpler to just know your hold overs and faster than fiddling with the turret and being distracted by an extra step in the process of taking a shot at your target. Even with scope tape it’s just one more thing that takes your eye off the squirrel or whatever and it’s just not optimal.
Maybe if a person is laying prone watching for prairie dogs in a wide open pasture or something like that it would be different, but in the squirrel woods you gotta keep your eye on the squirrel or you’re gonna lose it.

 

[Sawney Bean]

I agree with your observation there. If you are hunting it’s much simpler to just know your hold overs and faster than fiddling with the turret and being distracted by an extra step in the process of taking a shot at your target. Even with scope tape it’s just one more thing that takes your eye off the squirrel or whatever and it’s just not optimal.
Maybe if a person is laying prone watching for prairie dogs in a wide open pasture or something like that it would be different, but in the squirrel woods you gotta keep your eye on the squirrel or you’re gonna lose it.

I've never found it to be a problem. I do it the same way and generally, if you're actually consulting the tape it's for a long shot. Typically you've got your holdover memorized from 5 to around 70 yards and when your shots at 95 yards chances are you're already having to laser it and try to figure out the best position to shoot from so glancing at the bell of your scope for a couple seconds just isn't a problem.

 

[Arkansas_Airgunner]

For mine, I have just drawn single lines in various colors for ammo weight, and marked said distance at the top of the lines.

 

[leadfoot]

Hold overs only work so-so for me. They do work well for hunting when there is not enough time to dial in.

I have a small dope card taped to my stock/air bottle with all the turret setting for 10 yard increments out to 100 +/- yards depending on the gun. It's easy to replace if I start using different ammo, or if my turret settings, for some reason, are just not what they should be.

 

[Vana2]

I made one with masking tape. Marked the yardages then put scotch tape over that to protect the ink.
Next I got scope stickers from UA and tried those.
Problem is that I am a hunter and many many times I would miss a shot opportunity because I was monkeying with my turret and range finder. Takes too long.
Now I use holdover and a range finder When distances get much past 60 yards.

I went the masking tape route when testing if dialing back and forth was consistent/accurate. It worked OK but looked terrible.

...It took half an hour to create and print the turret label sheets.

 

[JimD]

I can't put much information on them but I put stickers inside the flip up scope cap on the ocular lens with basic holdover or click information. For SFP I include mils or MOA at 6X and 16X. for 25 to 40 yards I don't need information, I will be within 1/4 inch. But at 20-10 I need some help and over 40 I need some help. That is for bullpups. For a conventional rifle of similar power it would probably be good from 15 to about 40 yards.

I just ordered copier paper with stick on discs of a suitable size and then I print them on my laser printer. The sheets of discs came with a template for a word processor. I also have some more detail dope sheets printed from chairgun but haven't laminated them so they would be useful in the field.

My only scope I would consider clicking is my Arken EPL-4. The clicks at my ~$200 scopes do not seem to be consistently accurate enough for me to trust them.

 

[MEC17670]

I use a combination of the two. My zero is 57 yards( backyard range) which is where I'll shooting under that distance I use hold under. When shooting out to 150 yards I'll dial the ranges making corrections as need for the wind.
I did the dial-up in real time marking out each distance with my range finder and shot them off a table. When I was satisfied, I put a sticker for that distance. Worked pretty good.

 

[18.13]

I've tried the scope stickers but I mainly shoot to the west in the evenings so kinda looking into the sun. So when I look down at the turrets my eyes aren't adjusted to the darkness and can't see the numbers

 

[rappert]

I have found that fiddling with turret adjustments while hunting does not work out very well. Many times I have had just seconds to get on a target and pull the trigger. Also when hunting certain critters like coyotes you don't want to be moving around adjusting stuff. A Christmas tree reticle on the scope solves the problem for me since I have 40 moa right on the reticle, I can compensate accurately for distances out to a couple hundred yards in 25 yard increments without making a turret adjustment. For punching paper, turret fiddling may work fine.