Discussion Forums

Nathan Foster

Hi Drew, thanks, I am glad you enjoyed the first book.

My little .308 wore a VX 1 4-12 retro fitted with target turrets for years. Its even pictured in the book, with sniper tape (tactical section). These days the rifle wears a 6.5-20 Sightron.

The Leupold turrets track reliably and the clicks are solid, no mistakes there. As AJ has pointed out, the turrets have two weaknesses. The grub screws strip easily, that being the hex heads, not the threads. I cross slotted mine so I could use a jewellers flat head screw driver, a quick, easy and successful fix. The second negative is not so easy to deal with. The turrets are calibrated in inches, not MOA. This means that you must convert software calculations using a second calculator, to convert from MOA to inches. I use Microsoft Excel as it is the most functional and accurate program, not just for conversions but for actually making drop charts. It is a tedious process and you don't want to go changing loads as you'll have to go through it all over again.

You can if you want to, use the turret correction factor in the Shooter Iphone app. But to be honest, I try to use Iphone apps as a back up only, referring to printed charts. Apps are two slow when tracking game shifting back and forwards 5 yards, here, 10 yards there, phone screen goes blank in the mean time, or the sun hits the screen and makes it difficult to read. I prefer to try and keep the phone for emergencies, not to be played with like a toy. People spend too much time looking at the screen, not looking out into the field, reading wind and environment. App on, brain off.

But until you get your head around Excel, a phone app may be the go. I will put all of this into an upcoming book with detailed instructions for making conversions on Excel.

This engraving business is a load of nonsense. I think Zeiss may have started the IGT (instant gratification turret). As AJ said, it is a hopelessly inaccurate system with up and down hill shots.

Up to you whether you get both turrets. I got both both but only use elevation, holding off for wind. Its handy to have the windage turret if you share the rifle with another hunter who shoots slightly left or right to you. My wife Steph is a lefty, always shoots a half minute left of me.