Optics Definitions

[silverdalesauer]

Can someone help me better understand:

Plex?

BDC?

Out of these two - what's your personal preference?

[MtnMuley]

A plex is a crosshair, + . A BDC is a ballistic drop compensator, with dots/lines/ or circles below the center of the crosshair. This allows one to use the lines/dots/circles to accurately shoot longer distances. A standard crosshair is fine for shooting out to 400 yds, but a BDC or turret is better for longer distances. I prefer the turret style, which lowers or raises the crosshairs for shooting. Usually in MOA.

[AWS]

Actually a "Plex" is short for Duplex which are crosshairs/reticle that are thicker and then get thin near the center.  The thick outer lines give you fast aquisition and the thin center gives you a precise aiming point.  Once you get to know a duplex you can use the thickness of the crosshairs and the distance between the thick cross hair for range estimation.  I prefer the Plex/duplexs uncluttered image and fast aquisition on a hunting scope.

I only hunt coyotes and a Duplex is simple and there is nothing to move or change and I rarely take a shot over 300yrds so I can hold on fur  without having to change anything. KISS goes a long way on a coyote stand.