BDC vs Nikoplex on a Nikon

Guys give a first time scope buyer a helping hand. What reticle would ya'll choose BDC or Nikoplex?

DEpending on which line you are looking at, I prefer the Nikoplex.

Specifically because in the M223, I would rather DOPE and dial rather than contaend with the variences associated with hold overs.

I have a 4.5-14 with the Nikon BDC, I like it but would not buy another on. When I buy another Nikon it will either be plex or Mildot.

my monarch 5-20 has the BDC. It's fun to mess with on the range, but I have never had the time to figure it out in the field.

And no, I wouldn't get another BDC scope. Keeping it simple from here on out.

I forgot to add one thing.

If you decide to get the BDC.


You can use Nikon's Spot On app for Smart phones <<<Link<<<

This is based off your BCE and after you enter all your ballistic information, it will generate your yardage for each hold over.

Then all you have to do is range, hold over, and fire.

what stinks about the BDC is the aiming point are different ranges for different magnifications. IE - NOT FFP

That is correct.

Because it is not First Focal Plane, the subtension are going to differ.

Doesn't bother me to crank the scope up to 14 power on the long shots. Out to about 300 yards or so, if you have a decent bullet at a mv of about 3000 fps, who needs BDC anyway. I'll shoot at 8 or 10 power. When the coyote or pig gets out to 400 or more, that's when I'll dial up to 14 and use the BDC line or dot.

Get the iStrelok app on your iPad and tell it what BDC reticle you have (and your ballistic info or best guess) and it'll tell you what distance your lines or dots are zeroed for. Pretty cool app.

I have the BDC recticle on my 30-06. In my opinion it is not ideal for precision shooting because the crosshairs are thick and cover up a small point of aim. The circles are too big for holding over a small point of aim. On the other hand, it is plenty good for hunting purposes. The thick cross hairs let you aquire your target easily, and the circles are pretty close for longer shots. My rifle is zeroed @ 100yds. With my scope set on full magnification, I shot at 200yds. using the first BDC circle. The group was 1 1/16" and was centered 1/2" above the bullseye. As I said before, plenty close for hunting, but not precise enough to please a precision shooter. I'm not set up for shooting beyond 200yds. but I think the other circles would be fairly close at the longer ranges.

I maybe in the minority, but really doon't think that DBC is that bad.

I think it's foolish to walk into it thinking the DBC will line up exactly with your particular rifle. However, the wife has it on her 243 and she bascially uses the other dots as referencing point. She knows, for example, that she needs to be on the upper part of the third dot for center of mass on a man sized target at 400yards. She not a great shooter nor is it anything close to a precision rifle and she'll hit that steel about 3 out of 5 times. I use my B&C on my Leupold the same way for my 30-06. Doesn't match up exactly but I can hit a 12oz coke can @330yds.
I like have markers on the reticle to use as reference points. Mildots would be most ideal, but it's unfortunately not an option in all scope lines. For a first time scope buyer, ie not too much of an avid rifle shooter, doping and constantly changing your dials can be abit overwhelming and lead to consistencies. That's just what I learned from going through the process without much guidance.

The only caveat to that is if your eye sight is poor and have trouble focusing. then definitely si

Funny thing is that I feel that I like that feature.

With the spot on software on my phone, I can calculate the
best yardage to zero for my loads (which I chono) plug it all
in and get the most use out of any bullet weight by switching
zero and X-power to optimize the substensions. It also approximates
energy and fps out to 1000 yards.

BDC is cluttered crap

Nikoplex.

It may be no good on paper targets, squirrels or groundhogs past zero using holdover; but I think it's fine for racoons, coyotes, hogs, deer etc.

I just went through this on Sunday and decided on the NikoPlex. It is uncluttered and conventional. OTOH, I think mil-dot might have been my choice, but I needed a 32mm max bell to fit on my Saiga and didn't find one with the mil-dot.

Nikoplex for me.

If you use the Spot On software, which is free from Nikon, the BDC reticle is very easy to use. You can print out field cards for each of your loads. I was hitting targets out to 500 yards with various rifles I had never shot before. I also have used it on everything from cross-bows to 10-22's (at 200 yards), slug guns (at 200 yards), and muzzleloaders (at 200 yards).

Here is a link to a report: http://texaspredatorposse.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=26823

Bob

I have BDC on my .270WIN (ProStaff 3X9-40) and really like it. I have used it at 250yds and was hitting the target easily, 2 inch group. I use the SpotOn app for iPhone and find its very accurate. You can even add your own loads if you know all the specs.

I also have a .223 with a Buckmaster 4.5X14-40 with the mildot. If anything it would be more cluttered than the BDC. SpotOn software works for it as well. I Really like the Nikon scopes, without spending a thousand bucks they are as good as it gets IMO.

I like the BDC, have 2 of them.

Wind hold is nothing more than a guess with a BDC. Maybe Nikon's test facility is in a vacume where only gravity is present.

....the Spot On software app adjusts for wind speed and direction.

No vacuum.

I am a hunter, not a long range match shooter. It works great for my purposes.

Bob, Sir

I'm a hunter also. And outside 300 yards things can get dicey when we're talking wind hold. I take pause shooting at a deer beyond 300, and I shoot out to 1000 almost monthly. I have my wind hold memorized, but I'll show you your wind hold for a 308.

per 5 mph or cross wind at 90 degrees to the shot

100 yards .1 Mil
200 yards .2 Mil
300 yards .3 Mil
400 yards .4 Mil

That holds up to 600 yards then it's:

600 yards .7 Mil
700 yards .8 Mil
ect

Say you're shooting 400 and there's a 7 mph right to left. Then you hold .6 Mil to the right of the center of the target. 500 Yards with a 10 mph at 3/4 value, that's .7 to .8 Mil

The BDC, and their program, gives folks a false sense of security. You know very well that in a hunting situation you do not have time to consult a ballistic calculator prior to making a shot on an animal.

I'm not going to shoot the big buck out past about 300, not that I couldn't hit him at that range. It's the pigs and coyotes that I'll take out as far as I believe I can hit them. As I said earlier, I don't need BDC for less than 300. Get out to 400 or more and I find it useful. I don't see a problem having it on your scope. You don't have to use it, and the Leupold and Burris versions aren't too cluttered. As for Nikon, I really don't like shooting through the donuts in their BDC. I did buy one Nikon, but passed on getting BDC on it.

For my rifles that do have scopes with BDC, I put a small patch of blue painters tape on the forward bell of the scope and put the relevant info on it - sighted on at 200, dot 1 at 280, dot 2 at whatever. Works for me.

Bdc reticle is worthless. If ur not shooting past 300 yrds just get simple crosshairs you will do just as well and not have that worthless junk mucking up ur shot

Night eagle

I use a Nikon BDC scope on my .30-.06. I went to Nikon's website and used the Spot On guide using Remington Core-Lokt 150 grain rounds. I shot a buck walking at 525yards while sitting on a hill top. I managed to hit the buck in the lungs.

Gus, Thanks for the post. I have shot BDC reticle scopes on multiple occasions out to 500+ yards utilizing Spot On to help my accuracy. Nothing like success to make a believer out of you. I have taken many guys to the range who didn't beieve Spot On would work only to make believers out of them. Having an open mind is the first step. Of course I'm not so short sighted that I believe it's for everyone. Check out Nikon's Spot On Ballistic Program and see if you think it will put more meat in your freezer, my guess is it will.

I got a Nikon 'M-223 with the nikoplex reticle and recently sighted it in...I took it to 50 yards and shot about 12 shots to make sure it was hitting where it was supposed to. According to the spot on program it should be 0.6 inches low at 50 for a 100 yard zero, and that is where it was hitting consistently.

I then took it over to the 100 yard range, and I shot three shots (not quickly at all) and after checking paper I was exactly 2 inches high with a group no bigger than a quarter...

I was using a polymer tipped bullet instead of FMJ but still 55gr with approx muzzle velocity as what I had inputted into spot on. Any ideas why I was 2 inches high and not Spot on?

Of course I dialled it down and was hitting fine, but my barrel started warming up and it never hit that quarter sized group again.

spot on program or any ballistic program is only as accurate as the data used in the calculations. Different BC, velocity, scope above bore height... if an are off the output will be off

Barrel twist maybe? Bullet might not have been stable yet. Whats your twist rate?

I have an M&P 15 and the twist is 1:9.

I initially thought the twist ratio might be to blame, but I would think if it was a twist rate issue I wouldn't have gotten the first three shots at 100 within a quarter sized group....seems awfully tight for unstable bullets. It was just weird. Exactly 2 inches high, dead center. And like I said, they were hitting 0.5 inches at 50. Just thought it was strange...

What you or the program have messed up on, is that you should be impacting low at 50 yards. If you want a 100 yard zero then, zero at 100 yards. A 50 yard zero will be almost exactly zero at 200 yards.

For me its +.4 Mil at 50 yards, 0 at 100 yards, and +.4 Mil at 200 yards.

I missed that part in the post right above, but in my first post about this issue, I did mention I was sighting in (and hitting consistently) for a 0.5 inch low hit at 50 yards...according to the program this should have given a zero for 100 yards. But then when I went to the 100 yard range it was 2 inches high for three straight shots, all within a quarter sized group.

Ballistically, this doesn't make sense to me. The only thing I can think is the sight height was way off on the calculator, but I had it set for 2.25 inches above bore. The flight path of the 5.56 55 gr bullet should not rise that fast from 50 to 100 yards. The only other option I can think is maybe the scope was not holding zero when I zoomed. I was shooting around 5-6x at 50 and zoomed to 9-12x when shooting at 100, although I think for that first three group it was all at 12x.

I guess I need to get some shooting done to see if the scope is holding zero with different mag levels...

However, I just played a little more with the spot on program, and I may have been pretty close after all. Looking at the ballistics path for the bullet I was shooting I was pretty close to where it should have been if I was misjudging how far south of the bull I was hitting at 50 yards (even going from 0.6 to 0.35 inches low makes a big difference according to the ballistics path). So, I may have been ok after all. PLan on shooting a little more on Monday, will play with the zoom level and also re-check my zero at 100.

I only have the BDC on My slug gun and it is accurate so far to 200 yds with 2 3/4 slugs. I have a Burris 4x12 that is dang close to 400 yds using there BDC out of a Savage 308.

TheTexan, I love using Spot On for my Browning 20 ga. slug gun. I have shot 3.5 inch broups using 20 ga Sabots in a rifled barrel. Pretty darn accurate and drops whatever they hit like a hammer.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd363/bman940/slughunter/spotonslug.jpg

What kind of android apps are available for shooting aids?

Link is two years old; may be more stuff, now.

Nikon has an Android Spot On app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nikon.spoton&feature=search_result

"Shooter" ballistics for Android and iPhone. It is very, very accurate. You have to pay $9.95, and it is worth every penny! It holds muliple rifles, multiple loads for each rifle, obtains weather data from the nearest weather station to your location and auto populates temp, density altitude, and wind. All of this is dependant on you having a signal, of course. You can turn off the windage and manually enter it. Heck, I turn it all off and manually enter environtmental data from my Kestrel anyway. But the user screens are very, very easy to use. I can't say enough good about this app!