The RESPONSE – More Than Just a Tactical Rifle Scope
The RESPONSE – More Than Just a Tactical Rifle Scope. From long range competition shooting to hunting, the RESPONSE is more than merely a tactical rifle scope.
When my buddy Brian called late Friday night reminding me that our local gun club was holding an F-Class Shoot (which is to shoot in the prone position at distances of 200-1,200 yards, though on Long Island, the longest available is 200) the following morning, I was conflicted on whether or not to go. I really wanted to test out one of the TRACT riflescopes, but I didn’t have one mounted.
Making my mind up to go, I mounted the RESPONSE 4-16×42 .308/7.62 on my GA Precision in .308 Winchester. While this scope is designed specifically for the AR/MSR platform, I figured this would be a great test to see how it would perform on a bolt action rifle. I bore sighted the scope and, concerned that I would not have enough time to zero the rifle before the competition, headed off to the range.
Despite having just minutes to sight in his bolt action rifle with a scope designed for an AR platform, Jon was able to capture 3rd place in the competition. Here, he explains the RESPONSE’s reticle system.
It had been quite a while since I’d shot in this event. I was a little nervous knowing I had just five minutes of prep time and three minutes of live fire at the “sighter” target to get my 200-yard zero before the competition started. I fired 2 shots and checked my target through the spotting scope. Nothing! Neither shot hit paper.
What Now
Now I was starting to sweat. The guys at the club are a great bunch, but they are very competitive and don’t cut you any slack. And I really didn’t want to back out at this point. Looking through the spotting scope again, I noticed two shots very close together just off the paper on the target backstop board. I wasn’t even sure if those were my shots, but time was running out and I needed to find my zero or I would be forced to bow out.
I made a quick windage and elevation adjustment and fired one round just before the sight-in period ended. I took a look through the spotting scope again and fortunately, there was a single hole in the bull’s eye at 11 o’clock – about a half inch from the X ring. Whew! At least I had a rough zero.
Making Adjustments
The adjustments tracked perfectly and I was ready to start the course. I looked over to the shooter to my right. He was using a 42x Nightforce scope. I felt handicapped with only 16x though I was confident in the rifle and knew the optical quality of the RESPONSE would hold its own in the hot and humid conditions.
The course of fire is 20 rounds in 20 minutes (10 shots per target) followed by a short break to check targets and then another round of shooting. I completed my last 20 rounds well before the timer went off as I have the bad habit of sometimes shooting too fast.
The Results
Since we were the first squad, I packed out my stuff after chatting with a few of the guys and headed home. My scored ended up being 393/400, which I might say made me pretty happy having not shot this event in a long time or having a zero when I got to the range. The icing on the cake was the text later in the day from my friend Brian telling me that my score was good enough to take 3rd place. Chalk one up to the RESPONSE, which is in my eyes more than a tactical rifle scope!