Range finder advice

[Sciurus]

Hi

I looking for recommendations for an easy to use (& hopefully inexpensive) range finder.

I mainly shoot squirrels at distances upto 20m (I think) but I have missed one or two easy shots and suspect I might be missestimating the distance.

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[billytheghillie]

Hawke ones are good.

[timmytree]

I think for those distances a rangefinder will be overkill or next to useless. I think your problem is not getting to grips with the holdover required at short range.

[Walker570]

3 minutes ago, timmytree said:

I think for those distances a rangefinder will be overkill or next to useless. I think your problem is not getting to grips with the holdover required at short range.

Plus one on that.  My AA S 200 .22 is zeroed for head shooting squirrels at 12yrds on a feeder but I know that it is shooting about a 1/2 inch high at 30yrds, so I just perch a magpie on the cross hair(4 died today perching there) because I check fall of shot at distances in between.   Range finders are great for over 50yrds with air rifles and even maybe 22RF but nothing beats setting some targets at 10, 20 30, 40yrds for your air rifle and set zero at the most frequented shot and make a note of fall of shot at other distances.     Spend the money on more pellets

[Ultrastu]

I dont often disagree with you walker .but 

I think if your shooting a .22 airgun a range finder is very useful .if your zeroed at 30 yds (pretty common ) then lile u said around 22 yds the pellet will fly around 15 mm higher than the cross hair zero and even more if your taking an elevated shot at 22 ish yards .

Making for a very easy miss on a squirrel ..a get a range finder set targets from 10 - 45 yds in 5 yd increments and see where on your reticlule (at your prefered magnification) the pellet lands .

Ps i reccomend a 25 yd zero instead of a 30 yd one for a .22 .as your much less likey to miss over the top ..

Some people are great at estimating range .(im fairly competent even out to 100 yds ) others are terrible .my buddy struggles to tell the difference between 30 and 50 yds often .but he knowns this and always has his range finder with him .even when we are out with the shotties .

[timmytree]

20 minutes ago, Ultrastu said:

I dont often disagree with you walker .but 

I think if your shooting a .22 airgun a range finder is very useful .if your zeroed at 30 yds (pretty common ) then lile u said around 22 yds the pellet will fly around 15 mm higher than the cross hair zero and even more if your taking an elevated shot at 22 ish yards .

Making for a very easy miss on a squirrel ..a get a range finder set targets from 10 - 45 yds in 5 yd increments and see where on your reticlule (at your prefered magnification) the pellet lands .

Ps i reccomend a 25 yd zero instead of a 30 yd one for a .22 .as your much less likey to miss over the top ..

Some people are great at estimating range .(im fairly competent even out to 100 yds ) others are terrible .my buddy struggles to tell the difference between 30 and 50 yds often .but he knowns this and always has his range finder with him .even when we are out with the shotties .

The OP states 20 metres so roughly 22 yards so anything past that isn't really needed.

It sounds like he would be best zeroing at the longest range for the squirrels and then use chairgun to plot everything inbetween or just put out a few cards to practice. Any aquirrels I've come across rarely give you a chance to use an LRF, especially that close.

[bruno22rf]

A Range Finder for a little over 22 yards.....are you being serious?

[Mice!]

3 hours ago, Sciurus said:

Hi

I looking for recommendations for an easy to use (& hopefully inexpensive) range finder.

I mainly shoot squirrels at distances upto 20m (I think) but I have missed one or two easy shots and suspect I might be missestimating the distance.

Any advice gratefully received.

 

I would ask what position were you in when you missed? Standing leaning against a tree is my guess, a slightly rushed shot while leaning into the tree might mean you have pulled the shot slightly, anyone can miss and those that haven't are full of wind, or have never pulled a trigger.

[Houseplant]

Personally, I think a rangefinder is over the top for these distances, but if you really want one... many NZ hunters are chuffed to bits with one of these, myself included.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SNDWAY-600m-Handheld-Monocular-metre-Laser-Rangefinder-Distance-Meter-hunting-Telescope-trena-laser-range-finder-measure/32669917632.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.17.7f86518c15poRQ&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10344_10068_10342_10547_10343_10340_10059_10341_10548_10696_100031_10084_10083_10103_524_10618_10307_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620,searchweb201603_6,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=1f4d7c23-3083-4ddf-a2e1-bd387b11b369-2&algo_pvid=1f4d7c23-3083-4ddf-a2e1-bd387b11b369&transAbTest=ae803_1&priceBeautifyAB=0

 

[bruno22rf]

I've bought 25 yards of string and tied a knot in it every yard - where do you want it posted?

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 minute ago, bruno22rf said:

I've bought 25 yards of string and tied a knot in it every yard - where do you want it posted?

hello, thats what i did bruno it was to go 50 yards but i cut the string to short 

[bruno22rf]

Christ on a Bike OPP - should have gone to specsavers - biggest problem I had was writing the distance on each knot - found a pen with a fine enough point but forgot that I cant count - wasted more bits of string than I have fingers on one hand (6ish?).

[jam1e]

17 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Plus one on that.  My AA S 200 .22 is zeroed for head shooting squirrels at 12yrds on a feeder but I know that it is shooting about a 1/2 inch high at 30yrds, so I just perch a magpie on the cross hair(4 died today perching there) because I check fall of shot at distances in between.   Range finders are great for over 50yrds with air rifles and even maybe 22RF but nothing beats setting some targets at 10, 20 30, 40yrds for your air rifle and set zero at the most frequented shot and make a note of fall of shot at other distances.     Spend the money on more pellets

I was going to say Hawke as i have a Hawke LRF 400, and its been great even out to 450 yards. However, having just read Walker570s post, at the ranges you're talking about i think he's bang on the money....

?

Edited July 9, 2018 by jam1e
Spelling

[Sciurus]

Thanks for your many replies.

I am shooting with a 177 Daystate Huntsman with Barracuda Huntsman Extreme pellets, which I thought had a fairly flat trajectory. I carry the air rifle when I am inspecting the traps just in case I see a grey loitering about, but most of the shooting takes place at feeders (at various distances in different woods). My chance encounters are generally very successful, it’s the planned shots I fail at!

3 times in the last few weeks I have missed some very easy shots. Each time,  I have been sitting comfortably, using shooting sticks and have waited until the grey sits up to eat the peanut, aim for its forehead, fire and then completely miss as I hear the pellet hitting the backstop! The last time, the grey looked round and carried on eating, giving me a second shot, which I still missed but by then it beggered off....

Logically, the pellet must be hitting high or to either side, but when I take another shot aiming at a nearby thin branch or small leaf, I have no trouble hitting it. Back at home, I set up the target at (what I guess) is the same distance and then shoot very respectable groupings. Obviously, I am doing something wrong, as Walker suggested it is probably my holdover, hence my enquiry about a range finder, but it doesn’t explain why I can miss a grey but put a neat hole in the centre of a leaf at the same range. I am mystified and more than a little brassed off!

[Hamster]

Sounds like buck fever. 

[Ultrastu]

28 minutes ago, Hamster said:

Sounds like buck fever. 

This. 

[Rewulf]

1 hour ago, Sciurus said:

Thanks for your many replies.

I am shooting with a 177 Daystate Huntsman with Barracuda Huntsman Extreme pellets, which I thought had a fairly flat trajectory. I carry the air rifle when I am inspecting the traps just in case I see a grey loitering about, but most of the shooting takes place at feeders (at various distances in different woods). My chance encounters are generally very successful, it’s the planned shots I fail at!

3 times in the last few weeks I have missed some very easy shots. Each time,  I have been sitting comfortably, using shooting sticks and have waited until the grey sits up to eat the peanut, aim for its forehead, fire and then completely miss as I hear the pellet hitting the backstop! The last time, the grey looked round and carried on eating, giving me a second shot, which I still missed but by then it beggered off....

Logically, the pellet must be hitting high or to either side, but when I take another shot aiming at a nearby thin branch or small leaf, I have no trouble hitting it. Back at home, I set up the target at (what I guess) is the same distance and then shoot very respectable groupings. Obviously, I am doing something wrong, as Walker suggested it is probably my holdover, hence my enquiry about a range finder, but it doesn’t explain why I can miss a grey but put a neat hole in the centre of a leaf at the same range. I am mystified and more than a little brassed off!

I think what you are doing wrong is not understanding trajectory.
You talk of 'flat trajectory' but there is no such thing.
If you zero at 25 - 30 yards with a .177, there is very little difference in POI impact between 15 and 35 yards, so for the ranges you are shooting at, a range finder is completely irrelevant.
If its under or over that ,then holdover is necessary , depending on scope height a 10 yrd shot can require an inch of holdover.

Buck fever is a good point, its the difference between a pressure shot (live quarry ), and a non pressure shot (inert target)

You may hold the gun differently, eye position on scope changes, you get excited and rush the shot ?
If you can shoot targets at various estimated ranges with 99% success, there is nothing wrong with your combo or ability.
If it  falls down with live quarry, I would suggest disciplining yourself prior to taking the shot, checklist, breathing ect.

[Walker570]

1 hour ago, Hamster said:

Sounds like buck fever. 

Yep even the most experienced of us get it occasionally, almost did this morning when I had a sudden chance at a magpie only 20yrds away as I walked back to my Land Rover and only had my Land Rover wing mirror to lean on.

More by luck than judgement I hit it. 

Many years ago I had a chance to shoot a big mouflon ram, the guide was no other than the late Finn Aagaard. The ram was laid down in some trees and I had an easy crawl to a spot where I could take the 80yrd shot.  Short story, I missed it clean, then as it ran away, hit it clean as a whistle at the base of the neck. BUCK FEVER for sure.

Cannot offer any help to cure it either, other than D'ONT HOVER...you start doing figures of eight if you do.

[bruno22rf]

PM'd the OP suggesting Buck Fever now reading your replies I see that it has already been suggested - I suffered for many years but now I use a simple technique whereby I imagine the Squizzers eye is a penny piece and fool my mind into thinking I'm plinking (easy when you are short of brain cells) - by watching and waiting till Nutty is enjoying his meal before releasing the shot I find that I rarely miss although, as discussed many times before, a pellet thru Nutties head does not always mean a deceased pest. 

[Guest]

Shooting from sticks, if you're not used to it, can send shots a touch high as well. Solution: practice, practice, practice.

[Mice!]

I've just been looking at pictures of the daystate huntsman, is the barrel free floating? if it is and the barrel is touching your sticks this will alter your POA, same if anything is on the barrel.

If as you have said you have missed a couple of shots from a set position, take a long tape measure out with you, i have a 50 meter reel tape, it sounds like your closer than you think.

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, i use sticks with my CZ 455 and air rifle and always placed the fore end in the V yoke so never touching the barrel, 

Edited July 9, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper

[Sciurus]

Thanks all, much food for thought and I think my problem might be a combination of some of the above factors, which I hadn’t thought of. In no particular order, my breathing isn’t great when taking a shot and needs practice. My air rifle is zeroed to 15 yds so shall increase it to perhaps 25 yd to give me abit of flexibility and use holdover for shots under 10yds. I have  6 feeders in 6 woods at various distances so shall take my tape measure and measure them all for future reference. I don’t think it’s buck fever, I was pretty excited when first using the gun but I’m pretty chilled now, sat comfortably listening to radio 4 and the last big miss I waited a couple of minutes for the grey to stop messing about and sit up properly. However, I do rest the barrel on the shooting sticks and definitely  hold it firmly down when shooting a grey- Eureka! Thinking about it, when practicingI sit in a chair and  gently rest the barrel on the sticks and often shoot one handed which is why I get good results at home. Mice, my gun has a band over the barrel and fore end, but obviously the barrel Is still flexing.

Thanks very much everybody, you have saved me a fortune and hopefully my kill rate will improve.

[Walker570]

I don't breath when I decide to shoot.  Breath in normally, very short pause ..splat.... breath out ...2 seconds max. My view if you have taken longer you are hovering.

If the squirrel moves , start again.    I have a friend who used to 'hover' for ages and was all over the place, you could see the end of his barrel doing figure eights.  I solved his problem.  Used to do it myself way back when, but having been berated by keeper up in the Lake District ..."Get the ######## shot"...... hissed sharply in your ear tends to be remembered.  

[Robertt]

Buy a rangefinder.

I have a Nikko Stirling which is brilliant. 

Definitely a great bit of kit for the Air Rifle shooter.

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Robertt