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From: John De Armond
Subject: Re: Experience with range finders ?
Date: 11 Nov 90 06:29:29 GMT

Ed.Harris@p0.f417.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Ed Harris) writes:
>My experience is 
>that small range finders are useful for golfers and archers, but for a 
>rifle shooter to gain any advantage you would need to have a pretty 
>bulky range finder, since up to about 300 yards, range estimation 
>errors won't hurt you much with modern rifles properly zeroed.  I have 
>also found that most of the popular ones have poor light gathering 
>ability and don't perform under poor conditions when you need them.

I have a Rangematic Mk 5 soooper-doooper 1000 yd optical rangefind.
This is the kind you commonly see in the sporting goods stores and at
gun shows.  It has a separation of about 1 foot.

It is a pretty sorry unit.  The optics are very bad.  Instead of
split screen which is easy to use, it uses a colored filter, in this
case, yellow, for one image.  Except under ideal conditions, the 
yellow image is indistinguishable from the clear one.

Secondly, it has a rather cheap plastic dial that I'd have little 
confidence in regarding stability.  The scale is very non-linear and
is so coarse by 300 yards (50 yds, div) as to be pretty worthless.
I've found that I can estimate distance visually about as well without
the unit as with.  I've never checked the calibration so I don't have
any idea as to accuracy.

john



From: toby@stein.u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw)
Subject: Re: Range finders
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <240@ecsa01.encon.pge.com> dxbq@ecsa01.encon.pge.com (Dimitar Bojantchev) writes:

#Hello group,
#
#just came to the realization that serious sniper shooting can't
#be achieved without the help of a range finder device. I am aware
#of some simple and imprecise techniques for range measurement but
#was wondering if there are any optical devices on the market which
#are reasonably priced. Answers by e-mail welcome.

The standard for long-range hunting is the Barr&Stroud rangefinder,
which comes in 500 and 1000 yard models, I believe, and is good to
+/- 1% at its maximum range.  They run about $1000 if you can find
one.  An optical rangefinder can be made from two riflescopes and
a metal bar to serve as the baseline, as detailed in a recent
Precision Shooting.  Not having a prism or mirrors connecting the
two scopes, it would be less convenient to use than the Barr&Stroud,
but can be built for $300-$400 (and the scopes can be removed and
used for their intended purpose).

Toby Bradshaw
Department of Biochemistry and College of Forest Resources
University of Washington, Seattle
toby@u.washington.edu

"A well-educated electorate being necessary to the prosperity of
a free state, the right of the people to keep and read books, shall
not be infringed."  Do you believe that all "inflammatory" books should be
stored in libraries, since no honest person needs such a book at home
where a child might read it?


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