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Ffp scopes???

I do not understand the appeal to FFP scopes but that does not mean i wouldnt like to learn. What i dont get is the reticle on low power you can hardly see it and on high power over half the reticle dissapears so maybe they are used in a way that i dont know so explain
 
I'll give my LR hunting experience with them. Low power to spot the game, high power to shoot. MOA reticle, dope chart in MOA, in a situation where a quick shot is required, no need to turn the turrets.
 
I'll give my LR hunting experience with them. Low power to spot the game, high power to shoot. MOA reticle, dope chart in MOA, in a situation where a quick shot is required, no need to turn the turrets.
So your setting it to a certain power and if its past your zero your using your reticle? Dialing up? But im caught up on the reticle vanishing on high power. So i guess people dial alot and when they run out of turret they use holdover?
 
The reticle gets progressively small at low power, not high power. The option is to dial or use the reticle. With a good high end FFP scope with a large amount of elevation, at least in a hunting situation, it's doubtful the scope will run out of turret. The most I've used was 22 3/4 minutes, not even one turn on turret. That scope had 100 moa or 50 moa from the center. Scope ring height and rail MOA also enter in to the equation.
 
The reticle gets progressively small at low power, not high power. The option is to dial or use the reticle. With a good high end FFP scope with a large amount of elevation, at least in a hunting situation, it's doubtful the scope will run out of turret. The most I've used was 22 3/4 minutes, not even one turn on turret. That scope had 100 moa or 50 moa from the center. Scope ring height and rail MOA also enter in to the equation.
And gets huge at high power
 
Yea still dont get the appeal other than sub tensions are the same at all powers
That is 100% of the appeal for me. I do a lot of dynamic shooting with multiple targets at multiple distances where hold offs for wind are a must. The field of view on a SFP is generally too small at max power to find the targets, or mirage is too heavy for good clarity and the scope power setting is situation dependant. The FFP allows me to set the power shere it works for the situation and have a scaled hold off for wind.

The reticle changeing sizes can indeed be extreme. a 4x or 5x in a FFP isnt too bad, but when you get to 7x and 8x you can be faced with thein cross hairs you cant see at low power and 6x6 fence posts obscuring the target at max power. My NF NX8 is ridiculous like that and almost unusable at the extremes. Strangely though, my 7-35 ATACR doesnt seem as bad. The 5-25s are my favorites though.
 
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Yea still dont get the appeal other than sub tensions are the same at all powers

That’s the whole thing with ffp though. Once you get use to them they are extremely usable through all powers. When I first started shooting ffp I also thought similar to you. Follow up shots are so fast with ffp, quick shots are night and day better with ffp, and competitions are significantly easier shot with ffp. When you have multiple targets (4 let’s say), at varying ranges, 12 shots ( 1 shot each going near to far, then 1 shot each in order of target 3, 1, 2, 4, then 1 shot each far to near) that’s a lot of dialing, all in a 1.5-2 mins. If you are able to hold over at any given magnification, or hold wind as it increases value as target distance increases it makes the situation significantly smoother. In a hunting situation if you miss or make a poor shoot god forbid, a ffp is way easier to make the proper correction for a follow up shot.
 
That’s the whole thing with ffp though. Once you get use to them they are extremely usable through all powers. When I first started shooting ffp I also thought similar to you. Follow up shots are so fast with ffp, quick shots are night and day better with ffp, and competitions are significantly easier shot with ffp. When you have multiple targets (4 let’s say), at varying ranges, 12 shots ( 1 shot each going near to far, then 1 shot each in order of target 3, 1, 2, 4, then 1 shot each far to near) that’s a lot of dialing, all in a 1.5-2 mins. If you are able to hold over at any given magnification, or hold wind as it increases value as target distance increases it makes the situation significantly smoother. In a hunting situation if you miss or make a poor shoot god forbid, a ffp is way easier to make the proper correction for a follow up shot.
Makes sence. But only reason i started this thread is it looks like im missing out on alot of good middle the road scopes and price wise because i dont understand them i just need to figure out how people are using them
 
I do not understand the appeal to FFP scopes but that does not mean i wouldnt like to learn. What i dont get is the reticle on low power you can hardly see it and on high power over half the reticle dissapears so maybe they are used in a way that i dont know so explain
The reticle hash marks are always correct in terms of MOA at all magnification levels; on a SFP there will be only a single magnification level where the MOA demarcation lines are correct.
 
Mostly as a practical matter it just makes it so you can hold windage to known amounts and if you need to adjust up on a follow-up shot you don't have to grab dials. I will frequently not use my dials at all and just hold elevation and windage and to do that means FFP. FFP usually comes with the cost that (at least on variables) the reticle will be thicker than is ideal at maximum magnification and thinner than is helpful at minimum mag.
 
You can in theory get a middle of the road ffp scope with a nice reticle that MAYBE doesn't track well and learn to just use the reticle.
 
As to hunting, FFP is maybe more suited to 300yds plus, where you have some time on the target. Inside of 400, an SFP scope with a reticle with a couple of extra horizontal range lines is good enough as long as you know where the extra lines actually shoot at what power on the scope, and they are lighter. For range work with varying yardages, FFP with the right Xmas tree reticle is excellent, for fixed yardages a lot of people like an SFP still, the FFP has some advantages though, with the constant reticle subtensions being easier to work with on mag power changes. For the 22LR stuff to 1-2-3-400yds, definitely an FFP scope.
 
I have drifted to FFP scopes on all my rifles. I've several March F-1s I've used for 8 years, but now I'm in love with the Leupold Mark 5s. They come in really handy when you get old, you don't have to do any math on power settings.
 
Yea still dont get the appeal other than sub tensions are the same at all powers
You just hit the nail on the head! If you are using the reticle a lot for holding wind or hold overs its nice for it to be correct at all powers instead of just one power. And as far as the reticle disappearing at low power, it doesn't. Its just zoomed out so to say and its harder to see the substations, but the reticle basically looks like a duplex reticle which is fine on the lower power because you shouldn't need the substations on low power most the times and if you do just turn up the power a bit. Its basically all in what you are using the scope for.
 
I do not understand the appeal to FFP scopes but that does not mean i wouldnt like to learn. What i dont get is the reticle on low power you can hardly see it and on high power over half the reticle dissapears so maybe they are used in a way that i dont know so explain
i think the differences have been explained very well here and in other articles and posts.
I think the biggest problems are shooters are so used to 2nd fp, because it works "good enough" for them and really not into changes.
I used 2nd all my life up to maybe 5 or so yrs ago (lol or longer) then went ffp for hunting mainly and absolute wished i would have used them long ago! i love them.
i hear all the time that the reticle is "small"
BUT you are so used to cranking up to max power and you dont have to. Put it where you like the picture and holdover works on all power. faster than dialing especially in low light when you should not be using max power anyhow.
99% of the time 2nd pwr variables are on max pwr, why even buy a variable then?
mainly because holdover dont work on anything but max or 1/2.

as stated above 2nd for tgt
ffp for tactical/practical/ hunting all the way for me
 
I just discovered dual focal plane scopes only 2 companys i know of now that make them. Quigley-ford and March. I hope that catches on because i would invest heavley in that tech
 

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