How important are illuminated reticles on a PRS build that is not used for hunting?

I use them, and not necessarily in just heavy overcast/low light. Against a nice white target on a bright day they're useless. Against a haze gray target with no paint on it a black reticle (even on a bright day) has far less contrast than a subtly illuminated red one. If you're starting to loose the reticle against the targets you have an option that you simply don't have with no illumination. It won't necessarily work in every situation, and it won't help you get on the target, but I find that sometimes in some conditions it can add contrast. I think many people who say they don't like them give it too much power and make the retentions pop too hard. Just enough to turn the lines from black to red and create a different contrast to the targets is sometimes useful. Certainly not "A must", but if it's an option on a scope you want to run it's worth a few more bucks IMO. The down side to me is that it's another thing to mess with when you should be focused on shooting.

Yes, it gives you ability to overcome unfortunate light issues.where the black crosshairs are washed out.

I started shooting PRS in 2013. My member number is 400. I hit it pretty hard for a lot of those years with 4 to 6 Pro Series matches and a monthly match every month.

Not once in all those years have I used the illumination on a scope.

Night matches or a match with stages setup in a woods setting favor having a lighted reticle. I’m referring to rimfire matches.

I found I used it at 2 rimfire matches on tiny targets that were black, while it was black skyes and raining. Using a sig tango 4, 4-16 dev-l.

I have since put a tango dmr 5-30 dev-l on that rifle, and I haven't even switched it on yet. Between the better glass and more magnification it just hasn't been needed.


My center-fire stuff for matches all have standard mk5hd. Haven't needed the illumination, but I'm also not trying to hit a .25" target at 50 yards either.