Trex

Indiana is allowing certain centerfire rifles for deer hunting this year on a trial basis. I have just purchased a rifle in .243 Win with a Vortex BDC scope. Having no experience with BDC, should I find a suitable deer cartridge that advertises downrange ballistics to match the hash marks or is there another method to effectively use the scope?
Also, does the magnification setting affect the distances indicated through the scope?
I have hunted for over 50 years but have mainly been a bow and muzzleloader hunter.
I would appreciate any info on this as I have yet to run a round through the rifle. I was waiting to gather the expertise of the readers here before I experimented with different manufacturers and bullet configurations.
Thanks.

Sheridan

Get a lot of ammo and practice with it.

You'll be fine !

Good set-up for inside 500 yards.

super_hunt54

No scope, no matter what the manufacturers want you to believe, can have pre-determined marks following a zero. Too many variables for that to happen. You have to find the load your rifle is most accurate with to zero in the main cross-hairs and then find the distance for each additional dot or circle your scope has. And yes, with most BDC ret. scopes, your magnification will change your zero on the additional dots or circles. Not on ALL of them but most of them. I am not personally familiar with that scope so I don't know if it is one that mag will change them or not. I'm also unsure on whether that is an SFP or FFP scope so that could be an issue as well if it is a cheaper made scope. The best thing you can do is test it out at different magnifications and different ranges. Put it through it's paces.

bronko22000

I've used the Burris scopes with the BDC for several years now and they work. But like the previous 2 posters said you must practice AND the BDC only gets you close.
With mine what I found very helpful for shooting the longer distances was initially sight in at 100 yards. Then shoot at 300 yards and fine tune the scope adjustment until you are grouping around the bulls eye. This should likely be only a minor adjustment and will still have you pretty close at 100 and 200 yards and likely at 400 (but confirm).
My .270 Win load however was right on the mark with the BDC out to 500 yards enabling me to take a nice mule deer at 437 yards. But I practiced all summer at long range and my rifle was very accurate. Shooting a rifle that shoots 3" groups at 100 yards IMO makes using the BDC nothing more than an educated guess and risking wounding and animal. Something 99.9% of us do not want.

Bocajnala

With a BDC you need to practice, to know exactly where you're hitting. The system can get you close but you need to shoot at those ranges and verify your impact point. Then practice at those ranges as well. A range finder helps allot.
-Jake

Nomercy448

Even if you match the reticle perfectly with your load, it'll only be matched for those environmental conditions. Change temp or elevation and you'll find yourself back at the drawing board, but instead of having regular increments between your hash marks (like a mil-dot or other milling/moaing reticle), you're stuck relying upon some smartphone app to tell you the range each circle now represents...

I hate the gimmick that is BDC reticles - absolutely irresponsible by the sporting optics industry to market something as making a 600yrd shooter out of anybody.

Brandon_SPC

Use their program at their website. Put in the load and the zero such as a 100 yards and it will give you the distance for each hasmark. Print a little sheet out and tape to the inside of scope lens cap or on the side of the rifles butt (laminate it first)
http://apps.vortexoptics.com/lrbc/

Example below is .243 95gr SST Hornady Superformace, scope is the Vortex viper 3-9X40..... The app link below figures out the hash marks for you and it is pretty accurate. Worked on my friends .223 when we were shooting it at 200 yards.

100 yard zero:
First hash mark 225 yards
Second 361 yards
Third 468 yards
Fourth 572 yards

Nomercy448

The problem is each sheet is only good for those conditions and the particular zoom setting. When you change magnification, the ranges change. If you go up or down in elevation, the ranges change. If the temp outside changes, the ranges change. So a guy either becomes dependent upon carrying a mobile device and rerunning the parameters, or he carries a DOPE book full of read-out prints and has to match up his current conditions with their respective ranges for the reticle markings.

Or a guy buys a proper ranging reticle scope with regular intervals between markings and simply has to record how his load responds at different temps and elevations, or remember a rule of thumb for temp and elevation effects.

alleyyooper

I have a Remington 700 243 from the late 1960's. I put a Bushnell Banner scope on it. Seems from what I am reading here it is totally different than vortex.
On the Bushnell based on a 27 inch deer's chest to establish a range You crank the turret to the distance so the aim is dead on.
The scope came with several wheels for established loads of the day. There were also a couple of blank wheels for hand loaders to use. With the hand load you desire sight in at 100yds as a base, then at 50yard increments out to 500 yards and mark each on the wheel.
No it isn't perfect and can not be used in a hurried event but does work very well for what it is.

Al

bronko22000

My Burris Fullfield was dead on out to 300 yards and only off about 3" at 500 with my 270 load.
This was at my home in PA and on a muley/antelope hunt in WY. I took an antelope at 325 yards allowing for about 12" of wind drift and a muley at 437 yards in dead calm air both with a single shot.
But I practiced out to 500 yards all summer and did some final tweaking just before I went on the hunt.