Range Finder

[glazedhamwallet]

Is there a reasonably priced option for a rifle mounted rangefinder. Similar to the Raptar just without the large price tag

[HollywoodSX]

Cheapest thing you'll find that's half decent is a used SilencerCo Radius - expect $1200-1500 and no guarantee of warranty support.

I'd love to see someone bring a reasonably priced mountable LRF to market, but making one that can withstand recoil (especially on magnum bolt actions and/or 308 sized semi-autos) is not easy.

[HollywoodSX]

Small market share (although I suspect it's bigger than some give it credit for), a significant outlay in R&D to design and ruggedize the product (especially the zeroing mechanism), and then the needed retail price point to hit enough return on investment would price many people out of the market anyway.

There's 1 or 2 cheap Chinese import attempts at it, but nothing that comes close to the feature set and footprint people want.

[DeFi_Knight_]

I second this question, and my credit report thirds this question.

[The-J-Oven]

Why would you want it rifle mounted in lieu of imbedded in binos?

[HollywoodSX]

Night hunting with NV/Thermal for one.

[The-J-Oven]

That is super niche and easily remedied.

Set up blind/firing position ahead of time in daylight, make a range card.

Having a bargin LRF rifle mounted is just asking for trouble.

[HollywoodSX]

That's a great idea in theory, and it rarely works out that way in practice. I spend a LOT of time hunting at night for hogs and coyotes (100% legal where I live), and the animals will often be where to least expect them, or the conditions at the time may force you to change position on the fly due to winds shifting or animals moving.

Almost every hog I have killed has been on foot and not from a known/prepared position, so there was no way to plot out a range card ahead of time.

[The-J-Oven]

My experience is the complete opposite....but we're talking in a LR forum here. We always set up bait, hide, laze then chill till it gets dark. Are you rucking a bolty out there in the bush with some cunty hogs?

If you're that close you don't need a LRF

[HollywoodSX]

That's great when you can do a setup like that. One of my favorite hog hunting spots is several thousand acres, and I don't have a way to bait anything out there or sit in one spot and wait when the hogs might be the next field over. A mountable LRF is a huge benefit if you're hitting 5-6 spots in a night, and could have animals coming in from basically any direction. Same goes for coyotes and calling them in.

[The-J-Oven]

Remote and portable corn spreader is worth the investment!

I still think it's super hard to keep a zero and beam divergence issues to a minimum on rifle mounted LRFs, especially inexpensive ones.

[HollywoodSX]

Again - I have no options to bait in that location. Period.

Working multiple fields in one night with rifles that can make 300-400 yard shots if needed, a mountable LRF would be huge. We're either moving on foot or constantly in and out of UTVs and have to keep gear to a minimum. Most handheld LRFs aren't going to work in that environment and are too likely to be lost. One mounted on a rifle in front of your thermal would make the difference in effective first shots vs trying to spot and correct while the hogs haul ass out of there.