Nightforce DD2R (.095 center dot)reticle VS March High MasterCrosshair/dot (.125)

[HopperH]

Wanted to invest in a March High Master scope for F Class Long range competitions. I have had really good luck with the DD2R on all of my open rifles but it is sometimes difficult to locate that center dot on cloudy/dark days. A number of the shooters I normally compete with use the High Master with the fine cross hair/dot reticle. The only one that I have actually looked through appear to be .093 dots. March also makes a .125 dot (1/8). Is that a little large, would it occlude too much of the target? I am a Grand Senior so my eyes were the 3rd thing to go. The second was memory and I can't remember the first. It was probably important! Sure would appreciate your help. Thanks

 

[JEFFPPC]

The middle is the middle. A dot you struggle to see at any time is the wrong dot.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Wanted to invest in a March High Master scope for F Class Long range competitions. I have had really good luck with the DD2R on all of my open rifles but it is sometimes difficult to locate that center dot on cloudy/dark days. A number of the shooters I normally compete with use the High Master with the fine cross hair/dot reticle. The only one that I have actually looked through appear to be .093 dots. March also makes a .125 dot (1/8). Is that a little large, would it occlude too much of the target? I am a SuperSenior so my eyes were the 3rd thing to go. The second was memory and I can't remember the first. It was probably important! Sure would appreciate your help. Thanks

I only shoot F-class.

There are three models of the March-X 10-60X56 HM.
The first one has a wire reticle either dot, or crosshair, LR crosshair, or Diplex. Lots of folks love the dot which does come in various sizes. These wire reticles can be swapped for other wire reticles.

The second and third modesl use an etched glass reticle, which can be swapped for a different etched glass reticle. The difference in these two models is illumination.

When I bought my frist March-X 5-60X56 almost 10 years ago, it came with the MTR-2 reticle, which is similar to the NP2DD reticle from NF. About 7 years later, I could no longer see the dot in too many situations. I sent my scope back to Jaan and they swapped the MTR-2 for the MTR-5. That did the trcik for me. When I got my March-X 10-60X56 HM a few years back, I made sude it had the MTR-5 reticle which works perfectly for me in my late 60s.

 

[Ned Ludd]

I have also experienced the age-related decrease in near-vision, complete with about 15-20 pairs of reading glasses laying on every horizontal surface in every room of my house. It gets even worse as my contact lens prescription for near-sightedness has increased slowly over time. I noticed a few years ago that the aiming dots were getting harder and harder to visualize against the target black, particularly in the early AM or on cloudy days. So I did a comparison of the reticle aiming dots using three different scopes I own: Nightforce Competition with FC/D reticle, Nightforce NXS 12-42x56 with NP-2DD reticle, and an IOR-Valdada 36X BR with a floating dot reticle.

Because the IOR-Valdada is a fixed 36X scope, I set the other two as close as I could get to 36X. The relative angular subtensions of each aiming dot at ~36X calculate to 0.125 MOA (IOR-Valdada), 0.116 MOA (12-42 NXS), and 0.106 MOA (Competition). Not surprisingly, my ability to easily see the aiming dots against the target black under moderate to low-light conditions was directly proportional to their angular subtension. The Comp aiming dot (0.106 MOA) is almost impossible for me to see well, even in good light. I struggle a bit at times with the NXS dot (0.116 MOA), particularly in low light. However, it usually works ok The 0.125 MOA dot of the IOR-Valdada is pretty much "in your face" easy for me to see under all conditions I have used it so far. Notably, it is nowhere near large enough to cause any issues such as occluding too much of the X-ring/target face. The X-ring is basically 0.5 MOA, so there's plenty of room to play with in terms of reticle dot subtension.

The main concern about this type of vision issue is that it will typically only get worse over time. So you might want to think ahead a bit. For example, the 0.125 MOA dot is working well for me right now, but will that be true in 5-10 years? I don't know. But I have strongly considered picking up a couple March scopes due to the fact they offer aiming dots even larger than 0.125 MOA. As Denys posted above, I think the MTR-5 reticle would be just about perfect for me. However, if at all possible, you will want to look through a few different scopes to get a better idea of what will satisfy your vision requirements. I would not be concerned about going with an even larger aiming dot in terms of occluding part of the target. Realistically, it's just not a concern for an F-Class target with the aiming dot sizes we're talking about.