Reticles

minktrapper

Pulling this from the thread on Hawke sights. Can any of ye tell me why reticles have a dreadful thick line going from the outside of the f.o.v. towards the centre. Surely being able to see more of the target is better. Appreciate your view on this.

otmmyboy2

Heavily depends on the intended range, focal plane, and use for the scope.

Different applications favour certain reticle styles, like you can hunt with a bench rest scope, but it won't be ideal.

Thicker lines tend more towards hunting I believe and thinner more to precision, but it does vary between first focal plane(FFP) and second focal plane(SFP).

SFP reticles stay the same at every zoom level, but FFP change with the level of zoom, so what might appear on a FFP zoomed out as really thin may be thick when zoomed in.

But, broadly speaking, thick lines help the eye find the crosshair quicker and follow the lines to the crosshair easier, whereas thin lines allow for more precise aiming.

Feisar

Are you talking about the heavy lines like below:

A lot of rets have this and imho it's a bastardisation of the original duplex or the German Nr 4 that was intended for low light to help "find" the centre of the crosshair. But again imho they fail at this as the thick lines are to far apart.

minktrapper

Yes on the above. They seem a waste of field of view. Clogging up what available viewing space there is. The centre of the crosshair is in the centre of the crosshair. It isn't that hard to find it.

J.R.

https://www.academy.com/expert-advice/scope-reticles-types#:~:text=Thick%20Crosshairs%3A%20Thick%20crosshairs%20can,accuracy%20and%20are%20typically%20illuminated.

.....

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121491401#Comment_121491401

I'm not sure that they do fail. I find the duplex fine, but thick likes don't need to be that close. Pulling the thick lines back to midpoint (of each side) as in your example probably wouldn't slow me down (I haven't used it). In which case the improved view is good. But different strokes for different folks.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121491825#Comment_121491825

If you don't like the SIH Hunter reticule above, I assume you like the duplex style above even less.

If "the centre of the crosshair is in the centre of the crosshair", then you'll probably rather a simple fine/original crosshair.

But taking that to the extreme, the simplest reticle is a centre-dot. I've never used one, but I would imagine the maximised FOV comes comes with being harder to fine.

There are lot of options, i assume it's just about finding what works for you. None are wrong.