Question about "Christmas tree" style reticles

[Teber66]

The Christmas tree reticles are really good for when you don’t want to dial or don’t have time to dial. All my guns from pellet guns, rimfire to my centerfires have some type of tree. The big advantage(mostly in rimfire and centerfire) is in matches where either your limited on time for multiple targets or the stage is a no dialing allowed stage. I’ve never had my reticles block my impacts or misses due to the clutter of the tree reticle. It really just boils down to what you get used to shooting with. Don’t count them out until you’ve actually used one. It might just surprise you.

I’ve shot rimfire matches with winds in excess of 25mph. So yes a tree does have advantages in the wind.

 

[steve123]

I guess it depends on how you look at it. I see no advantage to a christmas tree reticle in the wind. If you have a quality scope you should not be holding over you should be dialing for drop and using your horizontal to hold off for correct wind. Even with a christmas tree if you are holding over and off you are trying to line up two points and in a rush to get a shot off you could easily use the incorrect line. The christmas tree reticle is great for the role of a spotter calling shots but thats about it. Dialing for drop and using the horizontal marks for wind is the superior way to do it. Its faster and easier than trying to line up two points that could be 18 moa down and 6.5 moa right. Thats just my opinion.

Actually I found out something else. When I won the AZPRC long range steel series two years in a row as well as setting the record there for the most hits I was 98% holding over and off without dialing the turrets. Most of the steel was 300Y to 900Y and I only dialed for the 1150Y and 1450Y steel on occasion to see if it'd help but because the targets are so far away it was mostly a matter of getting a correct wind hold and having your dope perfect.

I feel that yes dialing has a edge in precision when there's time allotted to do so but when there's barely enough time to make a shot, or get all the shots off, not having to dial but instead holding over and off using the reticle is faster to do. I used the extra time afforded me by not dialing to build a more stable position and to gauge what the wind was doing whereas everyone else was rushing because they dialed for all 10 shots required per stage.

I did on occasion use the wrong line BUT I've also dialed the wrong dope with the turrets or got excited and forgot to dial.

My first Horus scope didn't track correctly and so I had to learn to hold over and hold off which helped me later on. I won my first long range steel match with it against all the others with better scopes.

 

[LDP]

I always say use what works for you and I have held over and dialed, I also dont kill paper so my preferred method is based on hunting/ pesting not running a match with a time limit or rules that do not allow dialing your turrets. I have multiple rifles so holding over for me isnt faster or easier in a hunting/pesting situation. The back ground can be very bright or very dark same with the animal. The animal could be slowly moving making tracking harder at two points as apposed to just along the horizontal, for me anyway. Everyone has their own preferred way but for me if its windy and the animal is holding long enough I like to dial. If its calm and the animal seems skittish and I know the hold for that distance I will hold over. I have my preference but I also think we as shooters need to be able to be flexible and use all available methods if needed to get the job done. I also have never felt like the busy reticles caused a miss.

 

[JimD]

Another variable not mentions is targets versus hunting. If I am hunting squirrels, at least so far I want a simple mil dot reticle. I'm keeping the Athlon Targus 6-24 on my P35-22 for now, however. It's reticle is not a christmas tree type but it is busier than any of my other guns have. I really like it for target shooting but I am not sure I will like it for hunting. The reticle is fine and can be hard to see in the trees but it can also be illuminated. My shots on squirrels typically do not allow time for turret turning and may not allow time for consultation of a dope card. For 20-45 yards I don't need one. Wind I hold off an amount by guess. If I used a wind speed meter I guess I could work this out in dots but there is not really time for all this before the squirrel disappears.

I'm working on getting dope cards made up so I know how many mils to hold over for different ranges but most of my scopes are second focal plane so the number of mils is different for different magnification. I have FFP scopes but most of them are not very usable at lower power because the reticle gets so fine. I see the dope cards as more usable for FFT or other target shooting where there is time to use them. For the situations where there is time to use a dope card, the christmas tree reticle could be useful.

 

[M0ist0ne]

Depends on the shooting scenario. Since doing more NRL22, I have shifted to a tree reticle as a preference. With 2 minutes to send 10-12 rounds, sometimes don't have time to dial especially for stages that have 4+ targets. Usually one stage is no dial which forces holdover. I prefer to dial if I feel I won't be in a time crunch.