I just picked up a Nikon 4-16 x 42 Monarch with the Nikoplex for my .204. It is one hell of a nice scope for the money. I think it is a lot better than my Leupolds and I got it for only $400.

After seeing this scope I think it is superior to my Leupold VX3 and want to take it off the 22-250 and put a Nikon on it identical to the 204 but was thinking about the Mildot. Any pros or cons of the mildot? I would love to go prairie dog hunting in the future and was curious if the mildot was good or bad for pdogs? Thought the mildot would be good for yardage compensations, but possibly bad if the dots covered long range targets too much? I prefer a thin crosshair for long range stuff, but the mildot looks pretty sweet. What do ya guys think?

The mil-dot models leave the center of the cross hair unobstructed and would generally be decent for small targets.

The milldot is the way to go. Simple yardage calculator built in. I used two for pdog hunting and it was no problem.

I have 2 Monarchs and am very pleased with both. You get more for the money.

Looked through one the other day. They're pretty cool. Wish I could have gotten the first in mildot. Looks like one will be ordered shortly. Now the dilemma of putting the mildot on the .204 or the 22-250. Nikon has impressed me, not sure I will ever go back to Leupold.

I recently was at a gun show and I had the luxury of looking through a monarch, IOR, and a Zeiss. I have looked through the Leupolds as well and for the price, the clarity on the monarch was very nice. Even at 24x zoom there was no distortion of the picture. I like how they come with interchangeable turrets as well. I def plan on purchasing this for my long gun as soon as I get the funds.

A mil dot reticle works good for finding the range to the target but the dots on most would cover a small target at long range if you were to use them as a drop compensation reticle. But if it was used to mil or range the target then crank your elevation appropiately and use the crosshairs.

I don't really know much about how to use the mil dot reticle. The BDC reticles aren't they usually designed for a specific weight bullet? Or are you using the mil dot as a BDC somehow? I was just thinking of the standard duplex reticle or is it worth paying the extra for the mil dot? I am just going to be using it for long distance shooting.

I've got a pair of Mil Dot 4.4.5X14'S Buckmasters on my varmint rifles (two others have the 6X18's on them) I taught with Mil Dots for years and they are the cat's butt on PD's. I like them as they are so fast once you get the math down in your head. They can really be used like a scalpel if you know what you are doing.

The Mil Dot Master is a nice accessory for those just learning also.

Greg