Dear All;

I received day before yesterday a brand new Demo D-54 from 'El Diábolo', in Monterrey.

It's a beautiful rifle, the stock is dark and finely figured, even for beech; the weight, distribution and overall appearance was exactly as expected.

The new T-05 version has the single notch piston holding mechanism, instead of the three balls in groove, and the trigger has only one screw, but there are ways to make it into a two screw trigger.

Together with the gun, came a new Leapers 4X32 Bug-Buster. Being unable to bring the gun to work/site, I just brought the scope and started fooling around. Looking at beams, columns, and other things on the construction site was fun, UNTIL . . . things started to look too big for the dot spacing.

As is usual, when things don't work the way you expect, . . . you get out the manual! And that is what I did. To my surprise, "Mil"- Dots in Leapers scopes are NOT Mils all the time.

Thinking things over, I came to the conclusion that it all has to do with Leapers not having a first focal plane reticule system. Second focal plane reticules have their advantages: If you want a finer aiming point you zoom in and the reticule actually gets smaller, therefore finer. For most sporting applications it is fine. But for measuring, it creates havoc.

For military and range-finding applications, a variable reticule is not useful. My scope is a fixed magnification scope, therefore I only need to memorize one formula for this scope. It is annoying because it is not the same formula that became second nature many many years ago when I shot "professionally". But it is not as difficult as having to complicate the formula with one more variable to make mind-calculations in the nick of time.

As far as I can tell, Leapers reticule is only true Mil at 10X, and at other magnifications, the Mils are no longer real Mils. They are like 2.5 Mils per dot on the 4X scope I have. For those that do not like performing mental calculations I concocted a table that should help those friends that have purchased this scope:



Several observations here:

No one has any business shooting at grackles if they are smaller than 1 1/2 dot spacing.

The average size is for local animals, yours may vary. A bunny is 12" when sitting on its haunches, a grackle is 8" WITHOUT the legs, and an O'Possum is 16" LONG, so measure horizontally.

Apart from that, enjoy and keep well!



Un Abrazo!




Héctor

Hi Hector,

I've got a few Leapers scopes and they work well for me. What I do though, is sight them in every five yards and that tells me where they line up for my combo-rifle/scope/pellet at and in between the dots. When I had just a few mildot Leapers I could keep the numbers relatively straight in my memory. Now that I have more its time to write out a trajectory sheet for each air rifle.

Having a trajectory card for each rifle is going to make things a lot easier.

Thanks for pointing this stuff out. You're sure to help quite a few people with the info you've provided. I've gone back and read it a couple times now.

Harv

if your prey waits for you to consult the table!

LOL!

Hiya Bro'!

Just pulling your leg!

Yes, what you do is one way to go. To me whom Mils are second nature, I need to adjust mentally.

Keep well, my friend!




Un Abrazo!




Héctor

Where's the chart?? He screams in his mind as he absently flips it into the summer breeze like a poker hand discard. Only to watch it drift fifteen then twenty feet, spinning like a circus trick toward the very pigeon he was intending to shoot.

And watches the wary bird ascend the atmosphere in a direction straight away from him.

Crap.

lol


Harv

How can you be sure it's not eighty yards, or seventy-five or eight-five? Do you take a laser rangefinder? Isn't that a bit of a two-step? Most shooters I know can reasonably guesstimate twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five and a hundred. A lot see the hundred yard shot as being much longer. (Same depth perception phenomenon as encountered when just losing that gigantic trophy fish.)

I've not trained in the use of mildots. Are you saying that scopes such as the Leapers have varying dot spacing or dot size from model to model? Or is it even from power setting to power setting? I know it took a long time for variable scopes to keep the crosshairs from wandering when changing magnifications.

Hi redfeather,

No, I don't think the miliradian dots are the same as what Leapers does with their mildot scopes. Many but not all Leapers/Centerpoint scopes are set for thirty five yards. Some for one hundred.

Since I leave my scopes at five power (one or two are at seven power) yes, I use a Nikon 440 and measure out five yards, shoot groups, move out and repeat. The range finder is quick enough if you start checking just beyond the range you're moving into (hunting) and watch how much closer in you get.

That way once my scope is zeroed at thirty or thirty five yards I don't touch anything on it. I know what each dot measures out to and only need two dots for most hunting. Often times its more important to know the ranges and placements in between the dots. There's a lot of trajectory drop with airgun pellets so you don't end up going out as far as one might think on the scale.

For example, three dots down, or three points of holdover on the 5-15x40 Bushnell Legend scope on my R11 equals 88 yards exactly. No I don't hunt at that range because I've only accomplished one five shot inch group ( and I mean fudging it close brought it down to an inch) but many many much larger off a rest on near dead calm mornings and evenings. But at least I know what those dots represent on that rig.

That's why I adapted to mildot scopes. I use them completely differently for airguns. Wrote my own text so to speak. Never get away with that in the real world...

Harv