What I want in thermal retical

[Drift]

OK I'm about 6 weeks out from buying my first thermal scope. I have been thinking a lot about what matters most for the money I'm going to spend. White hot/black hot sounds good, rainbow sounds like a gimmick. From what I can see thermal reticals leave a lot to be desired. The vast majority of night hunting is 0-250 yards, so a recital should be more akin to a CQB tactical retical then a cross hair. . And it should be as thin as possible. Range finding hash marks not necessary at the short ranges needed...most calibers from 300BK-6.8-308 should all hit with in a couple of verticle inches at the short is ranges of night hunting. I think something like a thin tactical horse shoe with a 2 moa center dot in its center representing maybe a 75 yard zero; then below that dots repressing ballistic fall at 150 yards and 200 yards. Thats my opinion anyway. Who know shat we Weill see at SHOT this year.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

They have them I just choose not to use them.

 

[wigwamitus]

..rainbow sounds like a gimmic...

Perhaps "rainbow" is a gimmick. However, "rainbow" is not a reticle. Rainbow is a pallet. I thought "rainbow" was just another of the "psychedelic" pallets until I happened to use it in the RAIN. Then I had the double realization that it worked well in the RAIN and I realized why it was called RAIN !!! With the RAIN pallet I was able to see cows at 400yds I could not see with black hot or white hot. The frequency of the need is small in my area, but if I could have 5 pallets RAIN would be among them. (Black Hot, White Hot, Red Hot, Sepia would be the other four)

However, as TLM says, even if provided you may always choose not to use them !!!

... thermal reticles leave a lot to be desired ...

I agree that fancy reticles are not needed for most of the hunting done by LSB members ... a dot or cross hair is sufficient. These days I am able to hit the thumb to hand sized rats I stalk with one shot by holding up or down an inch or so at 70yds or less. The hard part then is just making sure I guess the distance correctly.

However, if I would buy one of the high end 3x or above thermal scopes I would expect to have some real reticles. The Zeus 75mm 3x (640, 30) which I have now has none such. So holding 20-40 inches for wind at 500yds is a guessing game, which can be done accurately under target shooting conditions, but would be much tougher under hunting conditions. Hence, if I would buy one of those types of thermals, I would expect to have some useful reticles.

The Pulsar XD50 I recently got does have some useful reticles. Such as the M50 or M52. These are not designed for the MIL system I use. But I have been cranking the arithmetic converting the Lithuanian (I guess) cm and MOA system over to mils and it is useable. The PIP feature is probably mandatory for optimal use of these reticles which are otherwise too tiny to use with the MKIEB I have been equiped with. Perhaps Lithuanians mostly hunt elephants at 1500yds ... that would at least explain these reticles !!!
They are useful for smaller critters at smaller distances. But one must crank the arithmetic and use the PIP feature to optimize their use.

 

[Brian Shaffer]

I have a very different opinion from Drift, but for the same reason. Because most hunters and most night hunters are shooting less than 250 yards, I see no reason for the addition of reticle clutter. CQB? Sure, all I need is a good dot. I happen to like the little 4 MOA tall rectangular dot of the Zeus/Pro/Predator lines from Armasight because I can zero at 100 and be good from ~25-210. The bullet is going to hit within the dot on native resolution. Targets that are particularly close or far are aimed with the lower portion of the dot and mid-range targets aimed at with the top of the dot. So basically, it is all point blank within the reticle which makes sighting quick. If I adjust the sighting accordingly if I zoom.

The reality is that for most hunters most of the time, targets tend to be inside of 100 yards. That is who these companies are really selling to.

With that said, there is no reason to not have more options. The crosshairs are all programmed features. Having options is good even if you only use your favorite to use 100% of the time.

The original Pulsar Digisight night vision scopes were pretty neat because you could actually create your own reticle and upload it to the scope. I customized the reticle to the rifle the scope was on, which was pretty nifty. It is a shame that this is no longer an option.

 

[kryptekman]

It would be interesting if company's allowed users to Upload/Create there own Reticle and then transfer that through to the scope somehow, I dont see this being out of the realm of possibility.

 

[Curly Shuffle]

What I see in the future is like some scopes they will have a ballistics chart you can punch up for your rifle and bullet and be good to go! BANG BANG!!
Night shooting is different though, and when you start stretching it out there to great distances there is a safety factor that begins to have a play in the game. Mind you that is just my opinion folks.