The new Omega 3-9X is a dedicated muzzleloader scope and is the first to offer a bullet drop compensating reticle designed specifically for muzzleloading loads and ranges. Its oversize turrets are easy to operate and have audible and tactile click adjustments.

Omega Muzzleloader Scope
A second noteworthy dual-purpose optical tool from Nikon is the new Omega 3-9X 40mm muzzleloading riflescope with patent-pending BDC-250 reticle, which was created to help shooters take advantage of the full accuracy potential of today's advanced muzzleloaders.

The Omega is an actual dedicated muzzleloading riflescope, the first riflescope to offer a bullet drop compensating reticle designed specifically for muzzleloading loads and ranges. The Nikon Omega BDC-250 reticle is designed and calibrated specifically to encompass .50-caliber muzzleloading loads--150 grains of Pyrodex (pellets or powder), 250-grain bullets--and ranges (out to 250 yards).

Designed to provide fast, simple aiming points for various shot distances, the unique BDC-250 system integrates a series of small "ballistic circles" (each subtending 2 inches at 100 yards) that also allow an unimpeded view of the target. (At 200 yards, the circles are 4 inches; at 250 yards, they are 5 inches.)

The reticle is designed to be sighted-in at 100 yards, with aiming-point circles at 150, 200, 225, and 250 yards. Initially designed and tested with the popular Thompson/Center Arms Omega .50-caliber muzzleloader, the Omega scope with Nikon BDC-250 reticle provides the muzzleloading hunter with practical and effective long-range shooting accuracy to 250 yards--the kind of accuracy normally expected from a centerfire rifle.

Nikon's lens multicoating technology gives the Omega a maximum of 92 percent light transmission with a generous field of view of 25.2 to 8.4 feet at 100 yards across the 3-9X magnification range. The oversize windage and elevation turrets, easily operable even with heavy hunting gloves, offer precise 1/4 MOA click reticle adjustments and a full 5 inches of eye relief for even the hardest kicking, magnum charge loads. The Omega measures a compact 11.3 inches in length and weighs 13.8 ounces. It is offered in matte, silver, and Realtree Hardwoods HD camouflage finishes.

Dual purpose? I don't do much hunting with muzzleloaders, so when I first read the specifications for the Omega's 250-yard BDC reticle, what I immediately realized was that the specification intervals of a .50-caliber muzzleloader trajectory between 100 and 200 yards are very close to the trajectory profile of any of today's new-technology, high-performance sabot slug loads--for 12- and 20-gauge loads.

I put an Omega on one of my 12-gauge slug guns and tried it out. I used the BDC-250's 225-yard aiming circle (the third one down) to zero the gun at 150 yards (which provides the optimum MPBR for whitetails with 12-gauge sabot loads) and plotted the trajectory. Crosshairs were zero at 50 yards, the first circle was zero at 100 yards, the second circle at 125 yards, and the bottom circle at 200 yards. So the new Nikon Omega BDC-250 reticle "muzzleloader scope" is also a perfect sabot slug gun scope.

The ED50 Fieldscope is Nikon's newest and smallest spotting scope. Three digiscoping eyepieces are designed to fit with Nikon's Fieldscope digital camera bracket, which will accommodate a Nikon pocket-sized P1 digital camera. The components are so small that the complete kit will easily fit in one corner of a daypack.

Fieldscope/Digiscopes
Like everybody else in America, most hunters and shooters these days have a digital camera they carry to the field. When I first started using a digital camera about five years ago, it didn't take long for me to realize that the fact that there was a "viewscreen" on the back of most digital cameras meant I could stick the camera lens up against the eyepiece of my riflescope and see on the screen exactly what the crosshairs were aiming at, and I could take a picture of it.

It wasn't even all that hard to hold it steady; at least no harder than holding the crosshairs steady in the first place. I took a bunch of images that way; some of them even made it into the magazines.