after work yesterday my buddy had his new Christensen arms classic in 6.5 Creedmoor he wanted to shoot. He owns the exact same rifle in .300 win mag and bought this one to practice with for upcoming hunts. After a generous ribbing on him buying a rifle in 6.5 creedmoor, we went to a spot where we could shoot across a canyon at some distance. Gun had a 2.5X 10 nightforce scope with a weird tactical reticle I've never seen before.


Popping softball sized rocks at 200 yards was no problem. we looked across a canyon and found a basketball sized rock we wanted to shoot at. neither of us brought a rangefinder so we guestimated the distance. Here is where some learning took place....



After last weeks discussument over reticles I decided to utilize the ballistic reticles. I guessed what the drop was and instead of using my Kentucky windage guestimation I picked the appropriate crosshair (again a guess because I didn't know what the numbers meant) below the standard crosshair and let it rip. surprisingly to both of us the rock had a big chunk taken out of the lefthand side. we both traded off using the ballistic drop reticle ( we both dislike them and never use them....he is the same style shooter as me, doesen't target shoot, but hunts a ton and has killed piles of game) and were able to make very accurate shots. We checked the distance on our mapping program and figured out the rock was 492 yards away.



So.....the take away from my shade tree experiment.....That even though I would never take a shot at a game animal that far at an unknown yardage....the ballistic reticle DID in fact make it easier to hit. I know I would not have been able to hit the rock consistently like I did with just a basic duplex at that distance with a 10x scope. Maybe with a 14x or 16x it would be differetnt. At 400 yards I still feel confident I would have been able to make hits with a basic reticle, but it would be easier with a ballistic reticle.



Also.....the 6.5 creedmoor, shooting 143 grain ELD's....is pretty impressive. Recoil is very mild and it would reach out there.

Again, we are talking about shooting rocks of unknown and varying sizes at unknown and various ranges


And that's all I have to say about that

Don’t be jelly cause I can kill the chit outta rocks at 500 yards with stock rifles


When you got it, you just got it

“Stock Rifle” isn’t a fair term for that rifle. But either way, stock or full on custom, a first round hit on a unknown size object at an unknown distance is always a job well done.








And it bares the question: What scope are you going to buy now?

Good thing you've already bought the last rifle in your lifetime

I own a .270 and a .257 wby so me acquiring a 6.5 creedmoor solves nothing

But the Christensen arms is a cool rig

Probably the V5 Leupold 4x15 with the B&C reticle but I’m not 100% sure yet

Well, it was a NF scope, so maybe the BDC use can be forgiven by the purists.

It occurs to me that if the reticle is complicated enough, maybe it doesn’t have to be called a BDC reticle, so the turret twirlers can use it without shame.

Love busting rocks at unknown distances, had a place for years with a box canyon on it that was great for making big rocks into little rocks. Been a while but last rock I shot was at 600 with a Grendel.

We have 1800 acres and not 1 rock. I’d be happy with cactus to shoot, but that’s. Dry limited andbin hard to reach spots.

Why errything gotta be about turrets, mayne? Is it the color?

Why did the target shooter cuss all the time?


Cause he had Turrets.......wha wha whaaa

Lmao . That, and he got a reply from NP. I know that'll make me cuss on a Sunday.

And to think I thought those marks were just there to look cool

The poet lights the light and fades away, but the light goes on and on.

Good one Jeff.

Help me to carry the fire. To keep it alight, forever

Moral of the story: You can guess and get lucky one time and still have no idea what you're talking about.

Thats my boy, you tellem J, its who's got the coolest brightest colored stock. MOA, MIL, Turrets, Ky hold-off, it dont matter as as you are lookin good doing it