Hey Matt,

I think I woke up with my tiny brain turned off. The charts aren't making sense to me.  The reticles in the Accupoints I have are generally an equilateral triangle. (Some appear to be slightly higher than they are wide at some illuminations due to the dark corners, but are mostly symmetrical. All sides are the same length. For the TR21, at 4x magnification the triangle is 11 moa per side, and at 1.25x it is 4 moa per side.  Here is where I lose you on the charts.

Since MOA is not dependent on the range, it stays the same at all distances. Your numbers seem to be moa multiples based on the range. 100 yd = 11 moa, 200 yd = 22 moa, etc. (at 4x). This makes sense if you are converting moa to inches at a given range, but not moa values.  Is this what you meant? If so, good, but I still don't get the other reading, which appears to be the width measure times three.  Can you explain the idea you have?  It would only be valid (as I am seeing it) if the triangle on the reticle was 3 times as tall as it is wide, which isn't the case.  Maybe I missed something in your charts?

I mount a lot of TR21's and I would have to say that the triangle is consistently "close" to being an equilateral triangle. It may be perfect when it starts out but in practice the shape's appearance changes depending on degree of illumination and to a lesser extent amount of magnification.  probably good enough for minute-of-man ranging, but nothing more precise than that.

I typically zero them at 300 yards (tip of triangle). This keeps POI on a man silhouette from 100-400 yards and the whole triangle used as a "red dot" from contact to 100 yards.  If I need to shoot small targets at longer ranges I want a different optic. For fast shooting and targets close and far, the Accupoints are great.

Matt,

Certainly not pointless! Any advantage for quick and dirty ranging is good.  Just understanding the limitations of the optic.  I love the Accupoints for a lot of uses. Not for all though.  

The ammo I am shooting is Black Hills 50gr V-Max and Black Hills MK262 Mod1 (77gr SMK cannelured). I rarely shoot the 50 gr beyond 300 yards, but the POI is almost identical to the 77gr out to 400. Not windage though, the 77 gr has much less wind deflection.  The SMKs also spank steel tagets with much more authority, so I tend to use them for longer targets more. The V-Max's work okay too, but I like them best for under 200 as they have move the gun very little.  The BH 52gr HPs are also good and shoot softer than the V-Max's, but they are not quite as accurate 2-400.

I shoot these in 16, 17 and 18" barrels, and occasionally a 14.75" when stages are all inside 200 yards. The 17" is my all around favorite, edging out the 16" mid-length by a hair.  We sell way more 17" than anthing else for competition, at least 95%.  The balance is near perfect for most shooters and with a rifle length adjustable gas system they are very soft-shooting.

Pale Rider,

First, the caveat. The Accupoint reticle has no BDC built into it and no ranging scale.

If you want to use in field expedient mode then try this.

First, to keep it simple, assume a TR21 and pick a power setting, say, 4x.  Assuming that, then refer to Matt's chart and you will see that the triangle is 4moa wide and 4moa tall. (Approximately). So, let's say you see a bad guy who needs to be shot (or a paper silhouette of one). For illustration, we'll say the shoulder width is estimated at 18". If the base of the triangle spans the shoulder width, the range is approximately 450 yards, maybe a bit less. If it spans half the shoulder width, then from the chart it looks like 225 yards or so.  The average head is maybe 6" wide, so if the triangle base is 1/2 the width of a head, range is around 275-300 yards.  As long as you can estimate the size of something at the target, you can approximate the range.

Along the same lines, hold over can be estimated too. Since the reticle is 4moa tall, the "apparent" height at a given range is shown on the chart. So if you estimate the target at 500 yards, the triangle will appear 21" tall. I zero my Accupoints at 275 yards. That puts impact around 37" low at 500 yards. So I would need to hold over that amount to make a shot.  Since the triangle is 21" tall at 500 yards, I can hold two triangles over center of mass and I should hit around 5" high (just below the neck).  If the wind is blowing across at a steady 10 mph, I will have 47" of deflection too, so I will need to hold two triangles into the wind, plus another 5-6" and i should still get a COM hit (a little high, but still a good hit).

Hope this helps...