In our last article we discussed the importance of verifying your drop data with real shooting.  In this article we will examine Ballistic Compensating Reticles, the different types available, how to use them, and what their limitations are.

For guys shooting 400, maybe 500 yards, good groups at 100 yards can translate into decent accuracy and shot placement.  When we start shooting past 500 yards on out to 1000 yards, relatively small changes in muzzle velocity from shot to shot will have a large effect on the vertical dispersion for your shot string.

There are so many simple ballistics programs available that using charts is obsolete. Excellent programs like Exbal and RSI are really affordable and offer some unique features. You just install them on your computer, and they are available anytime. Several programs are free to use anytime using your internet connection.

Bullet Drop Compensators (BDC) are simply target style elevation turrets on a rifle scope which are calibrated in yards rather that the standard MOA (or ¼ MOA clicks).

As shooters have evolved and rangefinders improved, more advanced compensation has become mainstream.  Dialing an exact adjustment into the elevation turret is the most precise method to compensate for bullet drop at extreme ranges. 

In a trophy hunting situation, it's important to have the equipment and preparation to ensure that you can make the shot at that once-in-a-lifetime trophy, even at 800 yards!  Part of that preparation is understanding, in simple terms, the external ballistics of a typical long range shot.

There are many different rifles built for many different purposes. Many become works of art. For a long range shooting system, I have five points on a checklist to qualify a rifle for long range.