Thread: Rangefinder?

Originally Posted by possummatti

So basically
- get a decent one but not a real expensive one
- use for open hunting areas not bush

Also can u just use them like binoculars as well as a range finder and save money and space?

- If you are shooting under 500yds, mid range rangefinder is fine, if over, get the best you can afford.
- Waste of time in the bush
- No you cannot use them like binos, field of view is narrow, is a low powered monocular at best.
- Map and ruler is virtually cost, weight and maintenance free. (might be showing my age with this one!)

Up a Two Thumbs river a couple of weekends ago, halfway up the hill, three Tahr tucked in under a transverse ridge some distance below and across. Parked up in some Matagouri, so no rush - out comes the map and rule: mmmm, get exact fix on my pos with GPS: 50m to the scree run, scree run is 100m wide, highest point on the high transverse ridge is 310m, they are halfway down the ridge, and a smaller ridge below them is 250m, contour lines show the gully is steep, guestimate 275m. .270 is zeroed for 250m, add a little elevation because it is a small animal for the pot, and bang. Nikko Stirling range finder copy read at 260 but for some reason I didn't believe it. When the first 200m doesn't have anything useable in the way of features, being able to keep your guesses to 25m or so is rather handy.
-Buy a six inch engineers steel rule.
-If you have a duplex scope, go to a farm if you can, and use the heavier posts to bracket both sheep and large and small deer vital zones at predetermined ranges at a specific power setting, and you have another method for establishing approximate ranges on any size animal in NZ (AT SENSIBLE RANGES!)