I have a Leupold 6.5x20 boosted to 18x40 and am in the process of sending it to Optical Service Co. for a reticle change. It has a fine crosshair now and I am changing to a dot. Any suggestions on what size Dot? As the magnification is boosted I am unsure if I should go smaller as the higher magnification will increase the size. I have tried a 36X with a 1/2moa dot and it was great but I am unsure about the variable specs as far as dot size. Any suggestions?

Dinger,
I shoot with a 1 minute dot and my son uses a 3/8 dot in our Premiers. The 1 minute dot has the disadvantage of being difficult to try to group test ammo with at 100 meters, but it is nice when you are looking for a fast point while shooting matches. I would personally recommend somewhere in the 3/8 to 1/2 minute for most people, but it truly a personal choice as to what you like the best.

Mary

BTW your profile doesn't say where you are but if you attend any of the big matches I will be happy to let you try mine on for size. Give us a location and we may be able to hook you up with some Premiers with various size dots so that you can see the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Mary

Thank you for the reply. I am in Western NY. I was thinking 1/2 moa @36X but Bill Ackerman seemed to think that was HUGE! So now I am at a loss. I have a Leupold dot in a 30X and a 6.5x20EFR (from George) and I was thinking I needed a little bigger. But I am confused on the higher magnification aspect. Will a 1/2 moa dot appear larger at 40x than 30x? Thanks!

Dinger,
I do plan on attending the nationals in Ridgeway, as far as a 1/2 minute dot being huge, I do not think so but that is about as small as I would go.

What is a first focal plane reticle?
First or front focal plane reticle placement is common on European scopes. These scopes have the reticle placed in the objective end, or forward of the erector system. This causes the reticle to be magnified at the same rate as the target. When you increase the magnification the reticle will continue to cover the same amount of the target as it did at low magnification.

What is a Reticle?
A reticle, commonly and mistakenly (in the general sense) called a "crosshair," is the aiming point inside the scope. Reticles may take a variety of forms, such as crosswires, crosswires with dots, pointed posts, or other distinct shapes that appear superimposed on the field-of-view. The reticle is positioned within the optical system to coincide with the plane of focus of the objective lens or lens group. Leupold offers several different reticles. As a rule, to which there are exceptions, hunting scopes have relatively bold reticles that aid rapid aiming, while target and varmint models feature finer reticles that subtend less of the target and may be less prominent but are conducive to precise shot placement when aiming carefully and deliberately.

These two quotes are fromt eh the Leuplod website. Premier used to have a very well written description of the diferent reticles. As to your question about whether the size will appear larger at the larger magnification, that will depend on where the reticle is placed. My 1" is the same size no matter what magnification it is on.

This may confuse you even more, I would say try to get with some different shooters and look through their scopes, the smaller reticle size does also have the advantage of less room for error on the edge shots, but the large size has the advantage of 'fast find the target' time.

Mary

Dinger, I'm in Central NY and we shoot at Tioga County Sportsmen, Owego, NY (Wed evenings) or Broome County Sportsmens, Binghamton, NY (Thursday evenings).

When Premier was doing the Leupolds the 'Premier Silhouette specials' came with what they called a 5/8 dot (I would have to look at one of my scope boxes but I think it was .667 or somthing like that).

Like Mary said dot size is a shooter preference and at any match I'm sure some one would let you see how the different sizes look to your eyes.

Bob,
I think you are correct on the Premier silhouette special size of .667.
I know of three 1 minute dots that they did and all of them are being held on to by their owners.

Mary

Thank you for the reponses. I planned to go to Ridgeway as it's only 2 hours away but gas has taken it's toll for this year. But I am going to give the .667 dot a try and see how it goes. It will, at least, be larger than what I have which will be an improvement. Thank you for the great suggestions!

Dinger wrote:Thank you for the reponses. I planned to go to Ridgeway as it's only 2 hours away but gas has taken it's toll for this year. But I am going to give the .667 dot a try and see how it goes. It will, at least, be larger than what I have which will be an improvement. Thank you for the great suggestions!

Dinger, I think that the dot in my 18x40 is 5/8 minute and figures out to a .067 not .667. I did a 6.5 x 20 EFR last year at Leupold and that is the dot that I used for it.

Good luck, Paul

Thanks for the advice. I sent it out and expect to have it in 2-3 weeks.....

I'm with Mary on the dot size, around 1/2 is good.

hmmmm, i love 1/8 minute dots in my weaver t-24's, but then again, everybody says that with 17 year old eyes it doesnt matter.......

I also like the 1/8 MOA dot in the EFR. It helps me concentrate and I have 60 year old eyes. The 1/2 MOA in my 24X seems to big.

With the small dot in the shade it can be hard to find, depending on the shooting glasses I use

Ken

I have had dots from 1/4moa up to 1/2moa over the last 20 yrs or so and have been very happy with the 1/2moa dots, but am now going to 5/8 & 3/4 moa dots on my silhouette rifles, as I find that anything smaller than 1/2 can be difficult to see in poor light, which is often when you will get into a shootoff or just in the late afternoon when there are a few shadows across the range. Relatively big dot reticles also mean, so I have found that you need to be sure the dot is inside the target when the shot goes, as a big dot on the edge of the target will mostly result in a miss, when with a smaller dot, less than 1/2moa, I usually get will get an edge hit.

May I ask how you folks are using your dot during your shooting process? What part does it play during shot execution? What are the goals or objectives for your dot during execution? What are you looking at while you are executing your shot?