One further point would be that the Nashorn (with a range finder value of 8) appears to have the Scherenfernrohr 14 as it "rangefinder" see the last picture in
http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/Milita..._Hornisse.html
So two points here, maybe all the other vehicles with Scherenfernrohr 14s should also get rangefinder 8?
and
in-game the German 88mm AA gun also has a Rangefinder value of 8 though (as with all german AA) it comes with a 'real' standard 1m rangefinder. Note this rangefinder (I think the "EM 1m R 36") has a magnification of only 8x compared the the Scherenfernrohr 14's, 14x. Now either the Nashorn Rangefinder value is wrong or the Scherenfernrohr 14 can give a range just as good as the 1m rangefinder. Looking at Nashorn's "legendary" accuracy I would go for the latter.
Also the main advantage of using a rangefinder seems to be not hitting moving targets but extending range. This is why the 88 was so deadly in the desert and the 88 and Nashorn on the Russian steppe, It could hit a target accurately at a range where none of the oppositions direct fire weapons had any hope of hitting them. This seems to be because of the rangefinder/Scherenfernrohr 14.
As far as the "too high" rangefinder values for shermans see
http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/Zeiss_Optics.htm
"The americans had poor optics and could NOT measure the range through them. All shots beyond 800 meters were lucky guesses on their part."
and before you tell me this guy is rubbish, check another of his pages,
http://64.26.50.215/armorsite/tiger1.htm
Also of interest I have a little book which gives these effective ranges for AT guns.
______________________________________in game range
2.8 cm Panzerbuche 41_______500m_______1250m
37mm AT gun M3___________457m_______2000m
37mm Pak 35_______________600m_______2000m
40mm 2 pdr________________1000m_______2250m
47mm Model 01 (Jap)________1000m_______2500m
57mm 6 pdr_______________1500m_______2500m
50mm Pak 38______________2500m_______2500m
75mm Pak 40______________2000m_______3500m
76.2mm Model 1942 (rus)____2000m
88mm Pak 43/41___________4000m_______4500m
12.8mm Pak 44____________3500m_______5500m
In the game it looks as though ranges are determined by calibre looking at the above table it would appear that muzzle velocity (in-game value "accuracy") multiplied by weight of shot (times a factor) or perhaps something similar, would be a better indicator of range for direct fire "AT" guns, tank guns etc than calibre.
The table suggests to me that generally ranges are a bit too high.
Best Regards Chuck.