After an earlier post about drop compensating reticles, I decided to get a couple scopes and try them out with my Whites. I bought 2 scopes from Cabelas that have ballistic drop compensating reticles. One was a Bushnell Trophy with DOA200 reticle and the other was a Cabelas Powderhorn 3-10X40 with EXT reticle. I haven't played with the Cabelas scope yet.

I set up the Bushnell on the my White Thunderbolt .451 and plan to use it exclusively during in PA's regular whitetail season. I spent some time at the range figuring out the reticle. So far, I am pleased with the results.

The details:
White Thunderbolt .451 with M98 action (#11), 24" barrel
RWS primers
70gr of 777 2F
460gr No Excuses bullet
Bushnell Trophy XLT 3-9x40 with DOA200 reticle
Leupold QRW medium rings
Warne bases

The Bushnell scope comes with Butler Creek flip up caps. I really like them until they break. I should have taken them off. I busted the rear one during my first range session.

All shooting to figure out the reticle was done at 9x magnification. The DOA200 reticle is marketing for slug guns. Zeroed at 100yard, the first line should be 150yrds and the 2nd should be 200. Below that, the vertical lines gets thicker and the top of that post could be used too. There is also a line above the cross-hairs that is supposed to be 50 yards. I've not paid much attention to that line.

In my first session, I got close to zero at 100yards and moved out to 192 yards to see what that was like. I was shooting 460gr and 385gr no excuses. The 385s were a 4-5" group at 192 while the 460gr were less than 2". So the 385gr get put away for now. The 460gr were landing about 19.5" low. That was 1/3 the distance between the 2nd line and post. I shot a group using the 2nd line to aim and those were 5" low.

In my 2nd session, I came with some more target stands so I could shoot several distances without running out and moving them. Without a spotting scope, I still got my exercise.

I zeroed the scope at 100 yards and then moved on to 125 and 150. Those were on either side of the 1st aiming line. I then tried 140, 160, and 175. 140 and 175 were pretty close to to the 1st and 2nd aiming lines. I did not shoot multiple groups at each range so my drop numbers are probably good to +/- an inch.

100, 0"
125, -3.5"
140, -7.0", 1st aiming line at 9x
150, -8.5"
160, -9.5"
175, -15", 2nd aiming line at 9x

I would like to get another range session in before season starts but I feel good about the results.