hello, i am posting this here instead of the optics thread since in my mind this seems to a skill set vs. equipment (if im wrong i am sure someone will move it or yell at me later)

this question came to mind after using my Bushnell 3x9x40mm no mil-dot scope (scope only no rifle attached) to check on a unfamiliar car parked in a field near my house. a person got out and i zoomed in so that the image was clear and noticed that the person fit perfectly between the center-point of the vertical  cross-hair and the point at which said cross hair goes from thin to thick. (this is difficult to describe so bare with me) this person was standing at an unknown distance. my best guess would put the person at maybe 400-600 yards from me. again that's a very rough guess. to get to the point, my question is, is there anyway to use a non mil-dot scope reticle to figure out a rough range of your target? do those gaps have a calibrated distance between them? i have included a link to my scope's reticle below to help describe what i'm trying to depict. it may be impossible but if it is, someone on here is my best bet.

thanks in advance.

Your pic isn't showing so I imagine that you just have a duplex reticle. It may be possible to range, but you would need the sub tensions on the optic  and then it would take much more math than it normally does. In short it could be done, but wouldn't be worth the hassle. A mil or MOA reticle is much easier to use.

Ok that's odd the link to the image worked when I previewed the post. The image that someone posted below is like mine but min doesn't have the horizontal hash marks it's just an old school cross hair. I was hoping some one would say. "Oh yea those are 60 MOA gaps" or something like that. But I agree, by the sounds of it it's more work than it's worth. Once I have the money for a good mil-dot scope It won't be a problem. Thanks!

There is no standard for a duplex reticle.  Save for a mil scope and it is easy.

You can measure the reticle on a known 100yd target (grid type would be best) and develop a formula based on that. Remember that it is probably a SFP scope, so the measurement will only be valid at the magnification you measured at.

That makes sence, thank you all.

I made a chart for my 3 x 9 duplex scope for reticle size vs power at various ranges.   Its also handy to know what the effect on zero is if you use the duplex as a holdover.

Ranging with the duplex reticle is doable even if they are sfp.

Ranging with a duplex has been done for hunting for years.

Here's a link

duplex ranging

I have been doing this for a long time with a Leupold VX-III, works well.

whoops...  double tap

yep.....

I have an older range finding scope that uses this method.  It has an extra horizontal cross hair that is say 18 inches from the main cross hair at 100 at 3 power.  You zoom the power until 18 inch part of the object is between the lines, from this, you get the distance which you use to adjust the elevation.  In theory, this can be accurate enough to do some pretty good shooting.  However, the coyote usually dies of old age before I get all this figured out.

heck, back when the duplex reticles were becoming the standard in the 80's all the makers touted the range estimation feature of them.  They had instructions for using them in the manual.  I know my first tasco 3-9 scope did.  

Then they also had some range estimaters built in the scope, I'm thinking the Bushnell Banner had one, where you slid a lever or a knob to move a stadia inside to bracket a deer chest and on the side you could read the estimated range.

It was called the 30/30 reticle. Tasco and many others used it. I still have a 1960's era Japanese made first focal plane 3-9x scope with a 30/30 reticle. Neat stuff and can be fast once you learn it.

I think Carlos Hatcheck used a Redfield Accu Track on a rem mod 700 when he wasn't using the winchester mod 70 with the 8X unertil.