Thread: A Poor Man's Rangefinder

Greetings All,
The title of this thread is a little misleading as it does include those that can't be bothered with a range finder.
@mickyDuck regularly informs us of the benefits of zeroing our rifles to achieve a maximum point blank range and I must say that I am with him on that one. The difficulty is how we know when that far is too far. As mentioned in @Taco thread most of my rifles are zeroed at 200 metre. Additionally most scopes are fixed power and have some sort of hold over reticle. My recent hunting has been extremely limited so the need for any shots at range, any range has been non existent so when a friend dropped by yesterday it was a good time to put some thoughts to the test.
The rifle is his Ruger 6.5 x 55 with a short barrel and a Leupold 3-9 scope with the standard duplex reticle zeroed dead on at 200 metres. I had mentioned the possibility of using the scope reticule as a rough guide to range previously so after the usual cuppa and a catch up we dragged the deer target (chest depth 450mm) out of the shed and leant it against a gate in the main paddock. My friend usually carries his rifle with the scope set on 4 power the deer's chest filled the reticule point to point at 100 metres and also at 200 metres with the scope set on 9 power. Snap. A quick check showed that the deer's chest took up the cross hair to point at 100 metres with the scope set on 9 power.
So there we have it a simple way to tell if that far is too far without a range finder. This is not new. The pamphlet that came with my old Tasco (printed 1973) had similar suggestions using the length of a Whitetail deer body. Deer in NZ however don't stand broadside on in the open much so body depth is a better measure. I also hear you say deer do not come in standard sizes. True but a smaller deer will be closer and a bigger deer will have more margin for error.
Out of interest I crunched the numbers for my old Tasco and a standard deer chest will fit between the points of its reticle at a little under 200 metres.
Your reticule may differ and remember that second focal plane scopes must be set on the same power to get the same results. Dead easy with my fixed power scopes.
Regards Grandpamac.

The Leupold duplex reticle was originally designed for exactly this. Simple but reliable range estimation and it can actually be used to great effect by those who take the time to understand it.

What a great idea. Will have to have a play.

Well done grandpamac.....moral of the story? We old fullas might know a thing or two..

Yes. Used to do it often off half reticle with my vari-x 2. 3-9*40.
A mil mil ffp reticle is great. 4mils small deer chest. 5mils big deer chest. Ave 0.5metre for the range calculation.

Good to know. I have a leupold vx2 3-9×40 on my main hunting rifle currently.

Greetings,
I can vaguely remember a scope that used the zoom on a SFP scope to fit the reticule to some part of the deer's anatomy and you read the range from the power change ring. @Micky Duck Stuffed up a mention for you on my first post so this should help.
GPM.

Mil dot scopes are excellent for both calculating range and size of target.with practice good accuracy can be achieved.
Same with the duplex or so called 30 30 reticle 30 inches at 100 yds from thick post to thick post, or cross hair to post at 200 yards

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings,
I can vaguely remember a scope that used the zoom on a SFP scope to fit the reticule to some part of the deer's anatomy and you read the range from the power change ring. @Micky Duck Stuffed up a mention for you on my first post so this should help.
GPM.

Leupold. Withers to brisket. Range was on mag ring. VX1. Maybe Vx2. Ryan is correct. Nothing is new but Im not sure why you would piss around like this with basic range finders being so cheap.

Get as close as you can son then get five yards closer. Rangefinders is somefin else for me too carry and the few times one has been pulled out to use,it was too slow n animal moving off so I up n shot it using dead reckoning.lol.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Get as close as you can son then get five yards closer. Rangefinders is somefin else for me too carry and the few times one has been pulled out to use,it was too slow n animal moving off so I up n shot it using dead reckoning.lol.

That's why they build decent range finders into binoculars
I couldn't count on my fingers and toes the deer I have got just classing and ranging spots when I get to a lookout
Look at all the clear patches I don't have to adjust range for
Look for the spots I need to start correcting for
Just sit and glass until dark and pretty often something walks into my shoot without thinking ranged spots

And let's face it you always need binoculars in the South island

& to buy a pair off range finding binoculars would be be more cost than any off my hunting gear & take years to save for. Dad has a range finder but ever time he goes to use it it doesn't want to go or has a flat battery so he giving up on it for the 1 or 2 times you need it when you bush hunting all the time.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Nothing is new but Im not sure why you would piss around like this with basic range finders being so cheap.

This, whilst I'm not on the level that some of you guys are, I do shoot deer for a living and by far the best way is to carry a wee rangefinder.

Better still is to walk around ranging all the 'deery' areas (if you hunt the same place consistently) and then you know immediately how far they are.

When out night shooting with a colleague they told me 'those deer are miles off!' when spying through a thermal, I flicked the lamp on and shot all three as I knew where they were and had shot from that point before.

Originally Posted by hunt08

& to buy a pair off range finding binoculars would be be more cost than any off my hunting gear & take years to save for. Dad has a range finder but ever time he goes to use it it doesn't want to go or has a flat battery so he giving up on it for the 1 or 2 times you need it when you bush hunting all the time.

Don't bother with rangefinding bino's they are a huge compromise (heavy, glass shitter than non-RF version, expensive).

A cheap-ish Bushnell rangefinder will do you fine, Leica better still. These units are very light and improve every few years so buy a second hand one when someone upgrades.

£200 (400 NZD?) would get you a great one, and half that would still be fine!

Greetings All,
I don't have any beef with having and using range finders. I have one myself and it was great for telling us how far away the cardboard deer was last week. The OP was aimed at those who don't have a rangefinder for whatever reason. Over the years, time and again, I have heard tales of woe with a newbie to hunting missing what should have been an easy shot at their first deer. They usually go something like this. The hunter has zeroed his scope dead on at 100 yards or some unknown distance and spots a deer at what appears to be a long way to them. They aim over the back to allow for drop and over the back is where the shot goes. Later the range is found to be only a little over 100 yards and a dead on hold would have produced the venison.
Having a longer zero and being able to determine that the deer is within their point blank range can give the young hunter the confidence to hold on the kill zone rather than aiming high and missing.
Regards Grandpamac.