My Hammer 3-9X32AO scope is sighted in for 25 yards and performs beautifully. But... if I want to make say a 5o yard shot, can I use the MilDots in my reticle to determine elevation or do I just need to guesstimate elevation allowing for what I think the projectile drop will be? I'm don't think I'm using the scope to its fullest... am I missing something?
If zeroed in at 25 yards then more than likely not knowing your gun and pellet weight and speed that you are shooting it is most likely going to be hold over shots closer and farther than that.
What I would do if I were you is to just shoot it at 50 yards as is when sighted in at 25 and notice what dot it falls on then you use that dot to hold over. I would only use it at 9x whenever doing it.
Do the same for all distances just put paper targets at various ranges and write notes where you holdover at those distances.
The Hammers is a budget friendly scope so I wouldn't try to dial in the distances for every shot and I would just set it once as you already did and forget it and just hold over.
HA
" can I use the MilDots in my reticle to determine elevation"
Well, they're not just there for giggles. If you have a chronograph, you can determine the velocity, and that, along with pellet weight and a few other things, will allow you to use a program like Chairgun, to plot and predict trajectory to the point where you can pretty closely predict Mildots at various ranges.
Lacking a chronograph, you can just go out and shoot groups at various known ranges (say every 5 yds., out to maybe 60 yds.), and record the Mildot offset. You can create a little range card with that info, and carry it with you.
SHNAZ;
Please read this:
https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/mil-as-in-milliradian
This will explain what a miliradian is and how you can use it. It will also lay down a procedure to measure the REAL subtension (angle) between YOUR dots.
If you have the time, also read this:
https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/how-to-understand-rifle-scopes
It will help you "see" a little bit into the problem.
Lastly, if you want a software solution that allows you to NOT fire ALL the distances, look into this app:
https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/pellet-path-calculator.html
Once you understand what subtension your dots really represent, and with just a rough estimate of your MV, the app will calculate a trajectory for you and display a reticle with all the aimpoints.
If you can get TRUE MV's, then you can also use the app to find out the REAL Line of Sight (LOS) height, the REAL BC, and then you know a lot more about your shooting system.
HTH and keep us posted!
HM
My Hammer 3-9X32AO scope is sighted in for 25 yards and performs beautifully. But... if I want to make say a 5o yard shot, can I use the MilDots in my reticle to determine elevation or do I just need to guesstimate elevation allowing for what I think the projectile drop will be? I'm don't think I'm using the scope to its fullest... am I missing something?
Heed what all these other guys are saying for the best technical explanations and suggestions. But, simply stated, yes, you can use the mil dots to give you aim points for multiple distances without having to do any clicking of your scope turret for elevation (or even the one for windage) once you get a good feel for using the dots. That's the very beauty of having a scope with a mil dot reticle. Elevation is pretty straight forward once you know which dot corresponds to what yardage.
Using the dots on the horizontal plane of the reticle to compensate for windage is also doable, but it's a little trickier and requires more practice IME, because compensating for wind speed and direction is a learned and 'best guess' skill, unless you have scientific measuring instruments on hand, or at the very least, a wind sock or flag set up where you like to shoot.
Compensating for windage: You may have seen golfers use the trick where they pull out/pick up some blades of grass or leaves, hold their hand high, and drop the debris from their hand, watching to see how far the debris is deflected from straight down/vertical by the wind, and in which direction. With a little practice, that can also work. That said I don't shoot competition FT, so I don't know what tools are available or 'legal' to use there. I'm speaking strictly of 'personal fun' shooting or hunting, where you're free to use whatever you want. (The FT experts can chime in here to guide you as needed).
A footnote about making full use of the duplex (or 'multi-x') reticles, for those who might care: The wonderful, multiple aim points provided by the use of a mil dot reticle are just a more-advanced version of what is afforded you by making full use of the much-simpler duplex reticle that a lot of people have on their existing scope, but fail to understand or use (like the way your intuition helped you recognize what was being offered you by using the mil dot system).
You can look at the duplex reticle as a very-simplified 'dot' reticle (I'm not assigning that dot a defined size--may vary), and thus use it in a similar fashion: the crossing of the two lines is still the center aim point, of course, but each of the 4 thick-thin intersections corresponds to 1 dot each, for a total of 4 dots. That gives you 3 verticle aim points (for elevation/distance), and 3 horizontal (for windage--still a best guess but better than Kentucky windage).
It gets better...
Now imagine a vertical line passing through each thick-thin intersection on either side of the crosshairs (that's 2 vertical lines), and a horizontal line passing through each thick-thin intersection above and below the crosshairs (2 more lines). Now, imagine the 4 points where those lines would intersect if they were actually there as 4 more aim points/dots. By that, in total, the 'simple' duplex reticle provides 5 actual aim points, and 4 more 'impled' aim points for a total of 9 aim points that don't require you to use Kentucky windage at all. If all you have to compensate for is elevation or windage alone, use one of the first 5 aim points I mentioned. But, if you have both elevation AND windage to compensate for, try using one of the 4 implied aim points I described. IME doing so is better than just a total guess (aka a 'Hail Mary' in some corners).
I love mil dot scopes for the reasons mentioned above. But, sometimes I can save a lot of money by using a duplex reticle scope and still get a fair amount of precision for the kind of shooting I do. (Worth noting is that some excellent scope models aren't even offered with a mil dot reticle, so I end up with a better selection to choose from without breaking the bank).
Some of my tuning customers are surprised when I explain what's waiting for them by making full use of the 'simple' duplex reticle on their existing scope, but many have said they liked it when they try it-- because it works!
My apologies for any boredom caused to those who already totally-understood some of the hidden nuances of the duplex reticle. I proceeded because, if things are still what I've seen before, at least a few people will probably have learned a useful new trick or two.
