Mr. Teemu Rintala is the Nordic Champion in IPSC Rifle 2016 and shoots for the GP Rifle Team. He just got the (fairly) new Swarovski Z8i 1-8x scope with the two different reticles BRT-I and LD-I to compare and he allowed TFB to share his views and photos.

He has mainly focused on doing close and mid range tests between the Swarovski Z8i 1-8 BRT-I and LD-I reticles. He used both .22LR and .223 Remington for the tests in his JP Rifles.

Swarovski BRT-I reticle

With the Swarovski Z6i I did similar tests a few years ago, between the LD-I and the BRT-I, and for me the LD-I won. Perfect for 50-200 meter zero, but there was room for improvement with a smaller dot. The dot on the BRT-I was smaller and the one I preferred, you can’t have it all sometimes. It is now on my AR-10 .308 Win. When the Zeiss V8 1.1-8x arrived that’s what I got and still use.

Teemu’s reflections:

I have been using Z6i with LD-I reticle since 2011. I have nothing bad to say about scope or reticle. I was quite skeptical about BRT-I reticle. I thought that all those lines would be on the way by blocking the view. Even though the picture seems to be “smaller” and “tighter” with BRT-I, I really can’t say that LD-I would be much better. I just couldn’t find a clear winner with the timer. Both reticles are really good and the biggest difference is the tree under the dot. I really don’t notice it at all when shooting with dot. Dots are same size in Z8i series at least between BRT-I and LD-I.
For now it looks like I’m going to use BRT-I on my JP this year, and I’ll mount it with Spuhr mount of course.
I will do some long range test later, and will write the results and my point of view here.

To my knowledge, the dot size on the Z8i is 2.6 cm on both reticles (8x at 100 m).

I think that most Finns dial. I normally dial the far distance or difficulties target, and then shoot rest with different holds. At least in Europe, in IPSC rifle, there are plenty of stages with different distances, so you need to know your ballistics.

Example Nordic Rifle last year, stage no. 9.

SETUP NOTES:
Target T1 to T4 at ca 380m. Only visible from window to the left (wooden wall)
Target T5 to T9 at ca 160m. Only visible from cable drum
Target T10 to T11 at 100-230m (one set of auto reset steel)
Target T12 to T14 at 20-30m
I shot it with Z6 LD-I and didn’t see any problems with it.

Below: Swarovski LD-I reticle. Not much in your way, but you can use the bottom vertical line for an approximate hold over at about 300 meters.

Below: Finish Sisu winter training. Warm up is done by shovel.

Below: JP Rifles .22LR with Swarosvki Z8i in Spuhr mount. Ancient timer.

Below: More Swarovski, Aimpoint and Spuhr porn.

Below: “Ballistic Turret Flex and throw lever arrived.”

Below: Great of Swarovski to offer a throw lever of their own brand.

Now I just have to find out which one is going to my competition rifle, LD-I or BRT-I. Need some serious range time.

TFB did an interview with Teemu last year: here.