wait just a dang minute.....

[subway]

Can someone please explain to me what the difference is between an elevation dial and a "bullet drop compensation" dial? Maybe I'm dumb as a rock, but I thought the purpose of the "elevation" adjustment was to compensate for bullet drop over the distance between shooter and target. If bullets were not affected by gravity, there would be no need for the elevation dial, correct? But I must be mistaken, otherwise why would Leupold and the others advertise bullet drop compensation dials as the coolest new invention since toast?

My existing Leupold fxiii scope has an elevation dial that I use to compensate for 'bullet drop". But now I need to buy a new scope for a rifle I should receive later this month and the model I'm looking at has one of these fancy "bullet drop compensation" knobs. (needless to say, the new scope costs a lot more than the old one) Am I about to be taken to the cleaners by paying extra for soemthing that all scopes already have?

[Flinter]

Yes and no.

An elevation adjustment dial is graduated for a certain amount of inches at 100 yards. IIRC a Leupold is 1/4 of an inch for every click of the dial at 100 yards.

With a bullet drop compensator, it's already set up with a certain grain bullet/velocity for a given caliber. You just dial in 100, 200, 300 etc and the adjustment is automatic.

[RIKA]

Just be sure the bullet drop mechanism is set for your particular cartridge caliber and bullet weight. A BDC set for 150gr .308 at 2700fps won't work with a 55gr .223 at 3000fps.

RIKA

[DaRkWoLf]

How far do you intend on shooting?

There will always be a little bit of error when a standardized BDC is used, though out to 600-700 you should still be hitting 48" chest profiles... somewhere. If you really want a BDC, and youre going for headshots or farther than that, Id recommend calculating the come ups with the 1/4 Minute you have, get some exterior ballistics data, and get a custom BDC. Remember in different climates there will still be some hold over/under depending.

A tweaked BDC setup can help put rounds on target comparatively rapidly in the field.

A good logbook and 1/4 minute dial scope can do the same.

Depends how/where you are shooting, how good you are with holds, how well you keep books, and most importantly - personal preference!