Before planning a hunting trip with your close friends for the weekend, you should prepare a rifle and important accessories such as ammo, stocks, or scope reticles.
However, a newbie can get confused among the Rifle Scope Reticles types. In this article, we will introduce and distinguish the most popular ones to make it easy for you to choose the best fit for your gun.
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Rifle Scope Reticles Types List
The reticle is the aiming point used in the scope of a rifle. In other words, when you use the scope to aim at the shooting target, a small dot will also appear at the same time. Almost all reticles were made from real hair or spider webs in the past. But after that, they are made from wire or etched glass with some adjustments.
What is the purpose of a reticle? It helps you centralize aiming points to increase shooting accuracy. You can distinguish rifle reticle types based on their lens system and magnification power.
Besides, there are many types of reticles, so you need to learn about the differences and complications of individuals to discover the most suitable one for your rifle. Let’s scroll down!
1. Dot Reticle
One of the most popular and basic reticle types is dot reticle. As its name suggests, this kind of reticle only has a single small dot placed in the center of the scope to serve as an aiming point.
It often has a red color, bright neon, green, and orange. The most commonly used is red because it supports you to use the reticle on a variety of settings without losing track.
The red reticle is not perfect for long-range shooting distances as you will find it difficult to spot and focus on the targets.
2. Duplex Reticle
This is one of the all-purpose rifle reticles with a simple and uncluttered design. Particularly, it has the same pattern as the other elementary reticles, but the thicker pillars of the four crosshairs will become thinner when they reach the nucleus.
This supports the shooter to immediately and accurately focus on the center of the reticle and thus get on target much more easily, even at a moving aiming point. That’s why duplex is regarded as one of the best scope reticles for hunting.
It is also used for thicker brush hunting or big competition shooting, where you need extraordinary precision aiming to kill enemies quickly.
3. Bullet Drop Compensation Reticle
Like its name, Bullet Drop Compensation or BDC reticle gives you a true aiming point within a determined range to compensate for ammo drops. Distance markers can be circles, pounds, or dots. The BDC beads can be even more intricate with distinctive spacing markings along both sides of the crosshairs at 3 and 6 o’clock.
The bullet will start to fall to the ground at a distance because of gravity, so to hit a distant spot, you need to modify your aiming in accordance. You can verify bullet droplets at the extent or with the application of the ballistic online schedule of the manufacturer. Therefore, this is usually the first choice of ranged shooters.
4. Mildot Reticle
Mildot reticle belongs to the difficult-to-use type because the shooter needs a lot of calculation when handling it. You can use this type of reticle to calculate the approximate size and distance of the target as well as the drop of the bullet.
Plus, it is an ideal reticle scope for snipers and those who shoot targets at extreme distances. By using mildot, you can estimate your target size in advance and find out the approximate distance to your target after some further calculations. However, this reticle variety is not suitable for hunting but for the military.
5. Leupold Reticle
Leupold is definitely not the right choice for those who are new to shooting since its design is quite complicated and distracting.
Specifically, it’s a variation of the duplex reticle with a cross-shaped view that has thicker lines at the ends. Below the main crosses is a series of various dots that radiate to the sides as they extend downwards. These dots help you determine the distance.
Besides, there are cross-marks and numbers on both the horizontal and vertical lines to give you more distance details. With these characteristics, skilled and experienced shooters will choose it for their hunts.
6. Crosshair Reticle
Many reticle manufacturers have based on crosshair design to develop and upgrade a wide range of complex reticles. It’s a simple junction where the cloverleaf of two lines denotes your shooting, as shown below.
7. Wind Drift Reticle
Wind Drift reticle is also known as Christmas tree reticle because the bottom half includes bars and dots, which are arranged to form the shape of the Christmas tree.
Despite its complex design, Wind Drift is very useful for military, tactical, and hunting use. It is a very beneficial tool for long-range shooting or in windy positions as it allows you to adjust the wind speed and compensate for wind drift when shooting at long distances.
8. German Reticle
This type of reticle itself has quite a few variations, but the most popular ones are the German-1 and German-4 variants. They both have a straight line going up from the bottom to a cutting spot in the center of the optics.
Besides, two horizontal lines stretch from the middle to the bottom of the optical tube, creating a pattern comparable to a crosshair reticle without the top line. With this design, this kind of scope reticle is compatible with most snipers, and support shooters quickly identify the aiming point.
Which Features Should You Look For In A Rifle Scope Reticle?
Before choosing the most suitable scope reticle for your rifle, you should consider the following features carefully.
- Center mark: This point is important because it indicates where you intend to fire your bullet. Besides, you should check whether the mark in the scope disappears at higher magnification as it will get in your way.
- The thickness of the lines: If you need to improve shooting accuracy, a reticle with thin lines will be perfect for you. In case high precision is not required, you can try thicker lines because they are more visible.
- Description of manufacturer: Pay attention to the description of the manufacturer. These special features are displayed on cross marks or columns. Please read carefully to know how to use them as well as their privileges.
The Bottom Line
To sum up, there is a wide range of rifle scope reticles types. We make sure that now you can completely tell them apart with typical features. Also, you need to remember to check carefully and consider the most proper reticle for your rifle before preparing for a weekend hunting.
Hope you have interesting hunting journeys with your friends. Thanks for reading, and see you in the next post!
I am Jerry Gonzalez, and my heart beats for the great outdoors, especially in the breathtaking landscapes of Helena, Montana. Engaging with fellow enthusiasts online and at local hunting clubs has been a rewarding experience, and I find great joy in sharing knowledge and experiences with like-minded individuals. My goal is to empower my fellow hunters with well-informed choices, regardless of their experience level.