Help buying a Rangefinder
 

Saw a lot of "way out there" shooters here and was wondering what kind of range finders you guys were using?

I've seen the Bushnell that cabelas sells for 250ish with some crappy scope. Actually messed with a Leupold ??1000 and a Leica. The Leopold was nice no suprise, the Leica only has a tiny little square on the inside kinda hard to see...any suggestions?

How far are you shooting? Don't really think you need a range finder until you start shooting past 300 yards.

Tom

I have a Nikon 800 and I've maxed it out, so I'll be upgrading to a Swaro, Zeiss or Leica pretty soon...

I figure that 500 yards would be the maximum. I have a place to shoot up to 1000. In a hunting situation maybe 500 max, but only if I've practiced enough to have the confidence for the shot. Probably be mostly punching holes in paper. It looks like the price difference between 500 and 1000 range finders isn't much, I figure spending a little extra would be ok.

The difference is what they will actually range...a bright house or an animal...

I've owned the Bushnell and Leica (currently). Range finders can be used for a bunch of things. I bought mine after I shot a Calif mulie that looked to be standing with a bunch of does. After shooting him, I discovered he was actually about 100 yds BEHIND the does and after looking for blood, I found that bowl was loaded with red obsidian and EVERYTHING was red and shiny! I found the deer (finally) but bought a range finder shortly thereafter. I've also played with the Leupold which is cheaper than the Leica and Swarovski but still nice.

animal at 1000 yards?

Leica 1200 CRF. You will not be dissapointed with this unit. It will range an animal at 1000 yards. It's a great unit for both long range and archery. The nice thing about using it for archery is how easy it is to use one handed compared to the LRF models. The CRF is simply a sweet set up:wink:

im not really one of the way out there hunters but i have good success to 500 yardw with my old bushnell yardagepro 1000. it wont range deer sized targets out to 700 but it seems fine out to about 625. when i need more range i borrow a friends leica 1200. its not the very best out there but it can read coyotes out to about 900 and deer out to 1100 with +/- 5 yard accuracy. the very best ive used was a elcan marine model. it could range shorelines out to 10 miles with about a 20 yard accuracy and it could read boats out to about 1 mile with what i think is spot on accuracy

Woof, that puppy is pricey. So non reflective to 500 yards would probably be best then reflective to 1000. That would allow for deer to 500 and a target up to 1000????

If I'm correct on this, then that would be the type I'm after....

Suggestions on that deal??

Yeah, what he said! Can't go wrong with the Leica, a bit more expensive but you'll be happy with it. I sold the Bushnell to buy the Leica, should have bought that one first.

For game to 500 yds, either a Nikon or Bushnell 1500 will do it for you in virtually all conditions. Individual rangefinders of the same brand can vary, by Bushnell 1500 is only good to 600 on game/800 on terrain or trees but my buddy's of the same age will do 800 on game/1100 on terrain or trees.

If you want to go further, get the Leica. Zeiss is great but is even more expensive. No need for that for the ranges you mention.

I have the very first year model of the Nikon 880 Buckmaster (I think thats what it is). That rangefinder can't laser a pickup 500 yards away. It is basically an over-sized archery hunting laser.

I bought a Leica CRF 900 this summer, and I can laser deer/antelope/coyotes out past 800 yards with it. There is no waiting with it either, you put the lil square on what you want to laser, tap the button and BANG the yardage appears.

Another vote for the Leica!

Im going to check the Lieca out today, I'd still like to know if anyone has messed with the Leupolds..

I have a buddy that has one of the Leupold angle rangefinders. He feels he wasted his money on it since he can't laser a deer past 300 yards. His is about a year an half old version of it.

Ok...having never been a long range shooter, and looking to learn about it, I decided to do a little recon. I never shot past 100 yards at anything. First off, 500 yards is a long freakin way. At least to us on the east coast! I did a little measuring off of Google Earth and also paced of a few spots where I hunt. Distances are a lot shorter than they appear. Anyway, I don't see any need for a rangefinder that measures up to 1200 yards. So, what about some of those jobbies in the $200 range?

Sorry, I kinda got outta whack there....

500 yards for Targets and Deer. That's it. After "getting in the field" I realized that 500 yard is out there (at least for me). I can't see wanting to go further than that with a typical factory hunting set up anyway, at least for now....

I'm looking at a few rigs now, either 270 or 7mmMag. I don't reload, so I'd like to take advantage of calibers with the most offerings out there. I wouldn't mind a 7MM-08, but it doesn't seem to have the offerings that the 270 does. Same goes for the Short Mags.

Anyway, since long range shooting is new for me, I plan to take some time to develop skills to be proficient. Not that I plan to run out and try it in a hunting situation any time soon. Any suggestions for tips, while I'm at it??