Rifle Scopes Could someone explain to me what the focal plane (First and Second)?

[CAG55]

I was just about to have all my specail tools bought for my long range shooting. and still think i would run acrossed a N.F. scope at a garage sale for $5.00 HA,HA. Now, I have to study up on the focal plain scopes !! I thought only night scopes had focal plain's If this post is so dumb, please delete!
Because I don't have a clue???????????
Greg

 

[FCrifles]

Vortex Optics - First vs.Second Focal Plane

 

[CAG55]

Thank You.
Greg

 

[azerious85]

I was just about to have all my specail tools bought for my long range shooting. and still think i would run acrossed a N.F. scope at a garage sale for $5.00 HA,HA. Now, I have to study up on the focal plain scopes !! I thought only night scopes had focal plain's If this post is so dumb, please delete!
Because I don't have a clue???????????
Greg

Damn man! Slow down next time, I could barely get through that poorly written doo doo that was your original post. On a more serious note, try and give us details on the scope. For example, the model, power range, etc. Also an EASY test to do is to check and see if the reticle Zooms with the power ring. If so its 1st FFP, if not 2nd FFP.

 

[Pinecone]

I was just about to have all my specail tools bought for my long range shooting. and still think i would run acrossed a N.F. scope at a garage sale for $5.00 HA,HA. Now, I have to study up on the focal plain scopes !! I thought only night scopes had focal plain's If this post is so dumb, please delete!
Because I don't have a clue???????????
Greg

ALL scopes have focal planes.

More than one.

The question is where the reticle is located.

 

[Dkindels]

There is also a brief discussion on this over at the premier reticles site. Product Support | Armament Technology

 

[AK Sgt Maj]

The Front Focal Plane is the new Tactical thing. Back in the early days, all of the variable scope had that and nobody used them. Then they went to the second focal plane and we started going to them. When the FFP came out a few years ago, I got one, not realizing that they were the same as the old style. The only thing they are good for is being able to use the ranging reticle at any power. For that you wind up with a very fine lines at low power and thick lines at high power. The 2ndFP will only range correctly at a set power, but the lines stay the same at all powers. I got rid of the one that I had bought to someone who needed the Tactical cool thing. For most real world use the FFP is worthless. If you want to range, just set your scope to whatever power it uses, or better yet use a Laser Range finder.
Just an old guys opinion, who is not worried about being cool.

 

[mattj]

The Front Focal Plane is the new Tactical thing. Back in the early days, all of the variable scope had that and nobody used them. Then they went to the second focal plane and we started going to them. When the FFP came out a few years ago, I got one, not realizing that they were the same as the old style. The only thing they are good for is being able to use the ranging reticle at any power. For that you wind up with a very fine lines at low power and thick lines at high power. The 2ndFP will only range correctly at a set power, but the lines stay the same at all powers. I got rid of the one that I had bought to someone who needed the Tactical cool thing. For most real world use the FFP is worthless. If you want to range, just set your scope to whatever power it uses, or better yet use a Laser Range finder.
Just an old guys opinion, who is not worried about being cool.

That's funny, I benefit from FFP nearly every time I take my rifle out, and very, very rarely (match stage requires) do I use it for ranging.

Just because the kind of shooting you do does not benefit from FFP (or you don't understand or choose not to utilize the full benefits of FFP) does not mean that those of us who benefit from it are just trying to be 'cool'.

 

[TRAAV]

FFP is defiantly NOT worthless. Its all I own and all I ever will own. The days of making sure your on the correct magnification or trying to do math under the clock is over.

 

[AK Sgt Maj]

That's funny, I benefit from FFP nearly every time I take my rifle out, and very, very rarely (match stage requires) do I use it for ranging.

Just because the kind of shooting you do does not benefit from FFP (or you don't understand or choose not to utilize the full benefits of FFP) does not mean that those of us who benefit from it are just trying to be 'cool'.

What other benefit is there? When you are doing anything but ranging?

 

[mattj]

What other benefit is there? When you are doing anything but ranging?

For example: Wind holdoffs, in general, and especially when quickly transitioning between targets at very different ranges (dialing wind sucks time and is error prone under time pressure, and full magnification is often not desirable).

Movers would be another example.

 

[TRAAV]

When shooting matches with multiple target locations you usually dont run on max mag due to FOV or mirage.

 

[huntinstud101]

here, if you learn better hearing it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h-lOZ4vxk0\

 

[sjb269]

No matter what range no matter what power, I spot a miss or an incorrect wind hold, I measure it with the reticle and correct. FFP is certainly not useless for me. And I could care less about being cool.

 

[VJJPunisher]

Hold up, back up a sec, you found a nf scope for 5 dollars,as in nightforce? I will give you 50 dollars for it,just sayin

 

[mattj]

No matter what range no matter what power, I spot a miss or an incorrect wind hold, I measure it with the reticle and correct. FFP is certainly not useless for me. And I could care less about being cool.

That's actually a SFP/FFP neutral scenario -- with SFP you can still spot misses and follow up using the reticle as a reference (as long as you don't fiddle with the magnification between shots, which you generally wouldn't do anyway). In the SFP case, the reticle doesn't necessarily correspond to a particular unit of measurement, but it can still be used as a visual reference for the correction.

 

[Mortar Maggot]

New guy here, so this may be a stupid question coming up.

Why does a FFP optic cost several hundred more than a SFP, at least when I have surfed NightForce, Vortex, Leupold.

US Optics and S&B are FFP, and are high dollar. I am thinking about the 3.2-17x for a rifle, so lots of surfing optic sites.

 

[mattj]

New guy here, so this may be a stupid question coming up.

Why does a FFP optic cost several hundred more than a SFP, at least when I have surfed NightForce, Vortex, Leupold.

US Optics and S&B are FFP, and are high dollar. I am thinking about the 3.2-17x for a rifle, so lots of surfing optic sites.

Not an expert on that aspect, but I believe FFP is actually more difficult (ie more expensive) to manufacture -- may involve more internal lenses and such as well.

 

[steve123]

What other benefit is there? When you are doing anything but ranging?

Instead of dialing, some of us use holdovers and holdoffs with the reticle as our primary way of using a riflescope. I need the flexibility of using the best magnification for the situation at hand. FFP scopes are very versatile.

FFP = Holdover, holdoff, holdunder, range, lead, measure on any mag.

I only have a few SFP scopes left, they are for specific purposes. My 45x leupold is useful for only a few applications. My NF 2.5-10x24 is on a AR, I like having the reticle at it's full size on 2.5x for hunting at close range, the LV600 reticle, using holdovers, is only useful at 10x.

 

[bobaguilar]

On a first focal plane scope the measurement (mill or moa) represented by the lines or dot on the reticle remain the same throughout the power range of the scope. On a second focal plane scope the measurement changes as you change the power setting.