{"id":374,"date":"2018-03-26T09:46:50","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T09:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tma65.com\/blog\/?p=374"},"modified":"2026-05-21T11:37:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:37:54","slug":"dial-or-not-to-dial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/dial-or-not-to-dial\/","title":{"rendered":"Dial or Not to Dial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p><p><\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\"><div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\"><p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p><span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/dial-or-not-to-dial\/#Dial_or_Not_to_Dial\" >Dial or Not to Dial<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/dial-or-not-to-dial\/#Back_in_the_Day\" >Back in the Day<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/dial-or-not-to-dial\/#Shooting_is_a_Perishable_Skill\" >Shooting is a Perishable Skill<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/dial-or-not-to-dial\/#Fast_Forward_to_Today\" >Fast Forward to Today<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/dial-or-not-to-dial\/#Many_shooters_of_yesterday_Dial_or_Not_To_Dial\" >Many shooters of yesterday: Dial or Not To Dial<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/dial-or-not-to-dial\/#Custom_Dial_Options\" >Custom Dial Options<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div><h2 style=\"text-align: justify\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dial_or_Not_to_Dial\"><\/span>Dial or Not to Dial<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">To dial or not to dial ? That is the question many of us are faced with as we prepare for another <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"hunting\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"976\">hunting<\/a> season. I remember the days when once you had your <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/videosview\/toric-30mm-2-5-15x44-sfp-rifle-scope-turret-reset-to-zero\/\">rifle<\/a> sighted in, you never touched your windage and elevation turrets. The sighting in process for many people was a very time consuming, expensive and frustrating thing.<\/p><h2 style=\"text-align: justify\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Back_in_the_Day\"><\/span><strong>Back in the Day<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p style=\"text-align: justify\">I recall going to the <a title=\"Building Your Own Rifle Range\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/building-your-own-rifle-range\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">range as a kid with my dad and uncle to make sure their rifles<\/a> were properly zeroed for the upcoming whitetail season. At the time we were living in Queens, NY and the closest range was out in Suffolk County Long Island. Back then unless you were a target shooter, you merely fired a few <a title=\"The Growing Popularity of the 6.5 Creedmoor Rifle Round\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/the-growing-popularity-of-the-6-5-creedmoor-rifle-round\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rounds just to make sure the rifle<\/a> was not \u201cbumped off.\u201d<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\">Today, I fire countless rounds through various <a title=\"TRACT TORIC 2.5-15\u00d744 Review\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/tract-toric-2-5-15x44-review1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rifles<\/a>. I&#8217;m always testing <a title=\"30mm Versus 1-inch Scope Tubes\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/30mm-versus-1-inch-scope-tubes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scopes<\/a> and ammunition. As well as just trying to keep on top of my game.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Shooting_is_a_Perishable_Skill\"><\/span><strong>Shooting is a Perishable Skill<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Just like any sport, proper practice makes perfect, and repetition helps breed consistency, which breeds accuracy. Many of the guys I used to watch at the range were content with hitting a softball size bullseye at 100 yards. Today, if my shots are not touching I am not happy. Granted the equipment today is far greater than the equipment my dad and uncle had access to. So, when it came time to dial those adjustments many times uncertainty followed. When the rifle itself is only capable of <a title=\"6 Tips for Shooting Tighter Groups\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/6-tips-for-shooting-tighter-groups\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shooting a 2-3 inches group<\/a>, getting the rifle to hit where you want can be challenging. Many of the scopes were friction dials and were not properly marked, so you never really knew how much to move the adjustment, and many times the adjustments were not responsive (remember seeing guys at the range tapping the adjustment to make sure they \u201cmoved\u201d).<\/p><figure id=\"attachment_1626\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1626\" style=\"width: 720px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1626\" title=\"Dial or Not to Dial\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.tractoptics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Dial or Not to Dial\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002-533x300.jpg 533w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/2017-10-23_14-34-20-002.jpg 1648w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1626\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dial or Not to Dial<\/figcaption><\/figure><p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00a0<\/p><p><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">When it came to long <a title=\"5 Long Range Shooting Tips\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/5-long-range-shooting-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">range shooting<\/a>, because many shooters were not confident that the adjustment would move the correct value and return to zero properly, the result was what was called \u201cKentucky- windage\u201d. This is where you would hold over the target and hope (and pray) that the bullet lands where you want it to. Not very efficient or accurate.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fast_Forward_to_Today\"><\/span><strong>Fast Forward to Today<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Scopes have come a long way in just the past 10 years, both optically and mechanically. Every <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/versatility-of-the-tract-bino-chest-pak\/\">TRACT<\/a> <a title=\"adjusting scope turrets\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/tag\/adjusting-scope-turrets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scope features hand turn reticle adjustments<\/a> with a positive \u201cclick\u201d for each adjustment value. No more coin or screwdriver is needed like the old days. Or guessing how much to move the adjustment.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\">The precise value of each click is listed on the turret so you can easily make corrections quickly and easily. For example, most <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/riflescopes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"scope\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"975\">scope<\/a> adjustments are calibrated in \u00bc MOA. This is approximately .25 inches at 100 yards. When you are sighting in at say 100 yards, 4 clicks are equal to one inch of movement.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\">Let\u2019s say you fire your rifle and the impacts are 3 inches low and 4 inches right. You simply move the adjustments in the direction you need the bullet impact to move to hit the center of the bull. In this case you would move the elevation turret in the UP direction 12 clicks (.25\u201d x 12 clicks = 3\u201d) and the Windage turret in the Left direction 16 clicks (.25\u201d x 16 clicks = 4\u201d. This should now place the bullets impact in the center of the bullseye.<\/p><figure id=\"attachment_1263\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1263\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1263 size-full\" title=\"The Debate For Three- or Five-Shot Groups\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.tractoptics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/5-shot-group.jpg\" alt=\"The Debate For Three- or Five-Shot Groups\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/5-shot-group.jpg 700w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/5-shot-group-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/5-shot-group-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/5-shot-group-150x100.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1263\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Today\u2019s adjustments are designed for accuracy and repeatability.<\/figcaption><\/figure><p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00a0<\/p><p><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Many_shooters_of_yesterday_Dial_or_Not_To_Dial\"><\/span><strong>Many shooters of yesterday: Dial or Not To Dial<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Many shooters of yesterday were afraid to dial once they had their scope \u201cset\u201d. Today many shooters <a title=\"How to Box Test your Riflescope\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/how-to-box-test-your-riflescope\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">test their scopes to make sure they track<\/a> properly. Tracking means a <a title=\"adjusting a rifle scope\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/tag\/adjusting-a-rifle-scope\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scopes ability to adjust<\/a> up and down and right and left accurately and repeatedly. If you dial the turret for a long range shot, it MUST track accurately or you will not hit the target. Since dialing has now become very popular among long range shooters, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.tractoptics.com\/rifle-scopes-and-extremely-cold-weather\/\" title=\"Rifle Scopes and Extremely Cold Weather\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"1583\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scopes today are designed and engineered to track extremely<\/a> accurately.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">This shows the extreme precision that TRACT <a title=\"The Convenience of Scope Throw Levers\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/the-convenience-of-scope-throw-levers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scopes<\/a> provide. Gone are the days of old with the fears of worrying if the adjustments will work properly. In fact, every TORIC <a title=\"Why the 2.5-15x Rifle Scope is Ideal for Hunting\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/why-the-2-5-15x-rifle-scope-is-ideal-for-hunting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rifle scope<\/a> comes with High Profile Turret Kit with a zero stop and lock feature for improved accuracy.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Custom_Dial_Options\"><\/span><strong>Custom Dial Options<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">To <a title=\"Improving Accuracy of a Factory Gun\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/improving-accuracy-of-a-factory-gun\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">improve accuracy<\/a> even to a higher level, every TRACT scope features the ability to have a custom engraved turret made to match your specific load. To make it even easier, you can now forget about counting clicks. This means you simply dial the actual distance on the turret itself. Provide us with the detailed information regarding your cartridge and environmental conditions and we can take care of the rest. Checkout our custom dial options by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/accessories\/custom-turrets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Now if you are still leery about dialing we still have a solution for you. Every TRACT scope features a <a title=\"rifle ballistics chart bullet drop\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/tag\/rifle-ballistics-chart-bullet-drop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bullet drop<\/a> compensating reticle that provides reference points for log range shots. The great thing about using the <a title=\"rimfire bdc reticle\" href=\"https:\/\/tractoptics.com\/blog\/tag\/rimfire-bdc-reticle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BDC reticle<\/a> is that you can match your exact load to the reticle using the online Impact Ballistic program, but again that is a Blog for another day!<\/p><p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dial or Not to Dial | TRACT design and engineer performance-grade optics without the added retail costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2255,1],"tags":[2597,2625,3024,3032,3033,3034,3035,3036,3037,3038,3039,3040,3044,3045,3046,3047,3048,3049,3050,3053,3054,3056,3057,3058,3060,3189,3318],"class_list":["post-374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-extra-topics","category-uncategorized","tag-dialing","tag-extra-topics","tag-rifle-optics","tag-rifle-scope","tag-rifle-scope-accessories","tag-rifle-scope-adjustment","tag-rifle-scope-adjustment-knobs","tag-rifle-scope-adjustments","tag-rifle-scope-attachments","tag-rifle-scope-covers","tag-rifle-scope-crosshairs","tag-rifle-scope-elevation-adjustment","tag-rifle-scope-moa","tag-rifle-scope-mount-types","tag-rifle-scope-objective-lens","tag-rifle-scope-objective-size","tag-rifle-scope-reticle","tag-rifle-scope-reticles","tag-rifle-scope-reticles-explained","tag-rifle-scope-turret-knobs","tag-rifle-scope-turrets","tag-rifle-scope-windage-adjustment","tag-rifle-scope-with-ballistic-calculator","tag-rifle-scopes","tag-rifle-scopes-for-sale","tag-shooting","tag-turrets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11492,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions\/11492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tract-optics.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}