Give a Rangefinder Noob Some Clues

[Buck Wilde]

I don't have a rangefinder, and I've never used one. I want to be a good long-range shooter, and "long," to me, means the 1000-yard ballpark. Right now, I shoot targets and squirrels, but I have hopes of getting out there and snuffing out things like hogs and prairie dogs.

Seems like every time I turn around, there is a $1000+ gadget I am required to buy. I looked at rangefinders, and I found that there were some that would interface with my Kestrel (trained on one, but haven't used mine yet). They were fairly expensive. Then there were others which were similar, but without the Kestrel stuff. Of course, they cost less.

Am I going to hate myself if I get a rangefinder that won't talk to my Kestrel, or is it just a toy I don't need?

 

[hafejd30]

Your kestrel is a great tool to measure wind AT YOUR LOCATION

if you want to get good learn to read wind

Rangefinder tells you range

You read the wind at multiple locations if you want to make the shot

I have both but rarely is the wind at my location the same as the wind down range

So for “My Needs” Bluetooth isn’t needed

 

[ma smith]

Its kind of hard to figure out how much integration is best right now.

 

[theLBC]

i ended up with a sig 2400abs, so i could just get one thing for ranging, dope, and weather. while i rarely actually use the wind meter, i have used it to see how close my wind speed estimates are (where i am standing at the time). steady wind isn't hard, but gusts can be harder to read.

 

[JMGlasgow]

I have the Steiner Nighthunter 8x30 LRF binos. They range accurately and the glass is really nice.

 

[Buck Wilde]

Do I need a rangefinder to interface with the Kestrel, or do I just need it to give me distances?

 

[alsation]

It’s only relatively recently that range finders have been linking w kestrels. for Years we were doing without the BT connection. It doesn’t take much time at all to put the range in your kestrel and there’s plenty of time during a stage to get your ballistic firing solution. Short answer: at your level your money is best spent elsewhere.

 

[Chickentoast]

Go shoot! Keep a log of hits and misses at different distances, and note conditions for the day. Equipment and data is great, but the feel/art/zen side of it is much more rewarding. If squirrels and targets, learn to measure them in your scope reticle at varying distances - you will get good at it pretty quickly. Learn arithmetic before buying the calculator!

 

[Buck Wilde]

Keep a log of hits and misses at different distances

Well, I need a way to measure the distances first.

 

[Chickentoast]

Well, I need a way to measure the distances first.

The reticle in your scope is your rangefinder!

 

[seansmd]

A range finder is a key piece of modern kit, BT to metro is nice but not required.

Go do the math and accuracy error of reticle ranging, you will run to buy a plrf.

Great used deals in the px as many of us continue to chase new tech because we are nerds.

 

[db2000]

Shameless plug. Here’s a great one that was double this price new.

Optics - SPF: Nikon Prostaff 7i Laser Range Finder

Nikon Prostaff 7i LRF Excellent condition, very fast acquisition of target(s). Calculates angles and has continuous scanning also. Used out west and easily ranged elk 700 yards. May go further but I verified these ranges. Trees and rocks at 1200 yards...

www.snipershide.com

 

[hafejd30]

I’ve used/have Leica 1600/2700, a couple different sigs, leupold and bushnell. Highly recommend the Leica. Sig was a good choice to but the beam on the Leica was smaller and easier to pick up smaller targets at distance

The bushnell was older but was decent and I’ve always had good luck with their stuff

Leupold left a lot to be desired. Shit glass especially compared to the Leica. 1500 yard rangefinder couldn’t range a deer at 450 or a building over 800. Only thing it could range over 1,000 were reflective signs

 

[seansmd]

I’ve used/have Leica 1600/2700, a couple different sigs, leupold and bushnell. Highly recommend the Leica. Sig was a good choice to but the beam on the Leica was smaller and easier to pick up smaller targets at distance

The bushnell was older but was decent and I’ve always had good luck with their stuff

Leupold left a lot to be desired. Shit glass especially compared to the Leica. 1500 yard rangefinder couldn’t range a deer at 450 or a building over 800. Only thing it could range over 1,000 were reflective signs

^this

 

[hafejd30]

The Leica and sig would both range beyond their advertised distance as well.

Sig was a 2400 if I remember correctly and I ranged a water tower at 2900

Leica 1600 could range out to 1999 yards. I think the only reason you couldn’t go over 2k is the lcd display.

Those were of course on hillsides or buildings/reflecting targets

 

[theLBC]

The Leica and sig would both range beyond their advertised distance as well.

Sig was a 2400 if I remember correctly and I ranged a water tower at 2900

Leica 1600 could range out to 1999 yards. I think the only reason you couldn’t go over 2k is the lcd display.

Those were of course on hillsides or buildings/reflecting targets

nice. my 2400abs has ranged a huge power station @3200, but of course daytime under ideal conditions.

 

[Dr. Davy Jones]

IMHO you can better spend that money somewhere else right now. I don’t have a rangefinder but have had good success using a combination of Google Earth and the Virtual Measuring Tape app. That, in combination with detailed Dope has been great. I’ve opted to put the money saved towards other improvements.

 

[Lowlight]

If you are running software, having the rangefinder speak to the software cuts out a step, you can still do it manually you just have to transition from the laser to the software, it's not 100% necessary just nice to have.

if you own a kestrel with software already, having it connect is a convenient feature, but again not necessary. you can just add the number manually.

Some lasers like the Leica and others have their own software in them, SIG uses AB, and will interface with that environment while the Leica environment is meant to be self-contained, but with BT they still connect. You just have to check as the connection does vary.

The wind is a completely different issue, you have to do the wind regardless, a laser is not helping with the wind. And just because you have a Kestrel doesn't mean it will do the wind for you. The shooter still has to do that just like Truing the elevation, it's not a case of I have a Kestrel I am wind reader.

 

[Buck Wilde]

I shoot in a pasture most of the time, so I am not anxious to drag my hundred-yard tape measure through the manure.

I wasn't even thinking about wind when I posted my question. I was taught to look at the grass and the mirage and so on, and the Kestrel is a wind meter. I was just thinking about ranging.

It looks like if I get a Leica, I would pay $200 extra to make it connect with the Kestrel.

 

[seansmd]

And a bit extra to have the kestrel with bt

 

[hafejd30]

I just get my readings off of a kestrel 3500 and input the humidity, Temp and Baro into my StrelokPro before I shoot.

Then basic rangefinder for distance

Not sure why I made my answer in my first comment so much about wind. For some reason I had that in my head that you were using it for that

I could see where the two linking could be beneficial. Especially if your shooting for extended periods of time

I think sig even makes stuff now where the rangefinder, kestrel and scope bluetooth together.

 

[Buck Wilde]

I bought the expensive Kestrel because it's what I trained with. I didn't want to have it for 6 months and then find out there was some feature I really needed.

 

[Buck Wilde]

Today I took the Leica outdoors for the first time. I have a 100-yard shooting lane in the pasture, and I wanted to see if I could find places to put a platform or bench farther back.

It turns out these things are not that easy to use. It's not easy to hold the dot on a target at 100 yards, let alone 300. I had to put my utility cart by the targets so I could use it to reflect the laser. Even then, I kept overshooting and also hitting things like branches that were between me and the cart.

The Leica kept telling me it was 72 degrees out, which was far from true. No idea what that was all about. Not sure how the temperature function is supposed to work when the rangefinder is generally in a pocket or my hand.

Once a few branches and weeds are cut, I should be able to shoot at a little over 300 yards, so that's nice.

 

[spife7980]

GeoBallistics | Ballistics App for iPhone and Android

geoballistics.com

Calculator and gps mapping combined for 15 bucks. It’ll integrate with your kestrel and it uses the jbm engine. It’s pretty great.

For placing my targets with poor cell location I can still see the tree I put it next to or the rock it’s in front of etc.

And the competition cards are pretty cool for plugging in each stages targets and so on.
Well worth the money.

 

[Im2bent]

Does anybody these days actually do ranging with their scope? This method while it sounds super cool and oaf is dependent on too many variables. You have to know or guess the height of what you are trying to range. Then you are depending on the mark 1 eyeball to measure how many ,heh dare I say it ,moa your reference point covers. At longer ranges an error of say 20 percent which seems like it would be easy to do will almost certainly result in a miss. Or am i missing something?

 

[Chickentoast]

I still do it and find it a valuable skill. If you know the size of the game you're after, it's as accurate as your eyes and processor between the ears.

 

[zach_]

I am leaning towards the Leica 2400. I plan on ranging steel for the most part. I borrowed a cheap rangefinder at a range. I struggled to get a reading of any kind at any range.

 

[Dthomas3523]

I still do it and find it a valuable skill. If you know the size of the game you're after, it's as accurate as your eyes and processor between the ears.

No it’s not. Many, many factors go into reticle ranging. Such as lighting, light angle, color of the edges vs color of the background, fringing, etc etc etc.

Reticle ranging is used for targets that are larger than the general error built into the system from one or all the things listed above.

It’s a valuable skill, but it is not precise at all.

 

[Holliday]

This year when my range finder took a crap while hunting, I started training to use my reticle mils. as a fallback. I kicked myself for not doing this sooner.

A couple of my apps have a feature where you input size of target and mils in scope to output distances.

 

[ma smith]

If you are playing 3 steps and shoot at KD targets it obviously stupid for PRS etc.

For field use, having a calibrated measure in your optic is valauble.

I was jus as skeptical as everyone else until it started being actually useful

 

[Rocketmandb]

I am leaning towards the Leica 2400. I plan on ranging steel for the most part. I borrowed a cheap rangefinder at a range. I struggled to get a reading of any kind at any range.

I've used a Nikon Black 4k for a couple years and it will range well and reliably off a grass hillside out to about 1200 yards - reflective targets well beyond. For longer ranges I'd have to improvise. If you don't want to go longer than that, at about $450 the price/performance on the Nikon is up there.

I finally got tired of improvising over longer ranges and recently bought the Sig 3000 binos. I was quite happy when I stepped out into my back yard and ranged off a distant grass hillside at 2200 yards. I've since taken them on a scouting trip and my buddy got a 2800 yard reading off grass - he holds them much steadier than I do. Before the holidays, there were a bunch of places with the black colored units at somewhere in the neighborhood of $800-$900. Again, great price/performance.

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

All good using electrickery, but how about the joys of learning how to range a target with your scope reticle?
I'm for not one moment suggesting that a
scope reticle will give you a better solution than a LRF, because it won't.
But there really is something to getting back to basics, in order to become more disciplined as a rifleman.
That being said, Leica turn out some sturdy units.
Time on task, that's the real teacher.
Record your shots, and learn from them.
And enjoy!

 

[Paul1262]

I use a Vortex Razor HD 4000 and have been very satisfied. It does not interface with my Kestrel. I prefer to input ranging information myself. The LRF will range to reflective targets out to 4,000 yards, trees to 2,500 yards, and deer to 2,200 yards. Vortex says that this LRF accuracy is 1 yard for 200 - 1000 yards and 2 yards beyond 1,000 yards. If anything every goes wrong with the finder, Vortex will always repair or replace the unit.