Originally Posted by
Nomercy448
Moral of the story, the “average scope” will have plenty of adjustment to get the “average joe” on target with his “average rifle”, so the "average joe" can't blame his "average equipment" for his own lack of shooting ability...
Now, while I'm sure you're pretty proud of all that stuff you wrote, for starters let's clear one thing up. I don't recall that I either specified or insinuated that most scopes don't allow adequate internal adjustment to be suitable for shooting at long ranges. You simply assumed that's what I said.
How about we take one of those you list and try this at home. Since I have four of them, and because I know a lot of "average" guys who have them too, we'll just pick the VX-2, eh? Now, walk me through the process by which you'll apply all that dope to get my .243 out to 800. Let's start with the part where you unscrew the turret caps and dig the dime out of your pocket.
Now, quickly, tell me again how much drop we have at 800 yards? That's how many MOA? I prefer mils, but maybe that's just me. Don't tell me that you have to refer to some kind of trajectory chart that I mentioned previously?! Given that most factory loads aren't provided data beyond 500 yards, we're probably going to have to plug this thing into an exterior ballistics program to make 800. No problem though, most "average" hunters have those....
I'll give you that a couple of the optics on your list probably do bridge some of the gap between the older-style turrets and true target or tactical turrets, but it remains that they are not the norm as of this moment. Until such time as that feature becomes the standard, those "average" optics are at a decided disadvantage in their utility for long-range dope.
And now back to my point, a simple chart embedded in the shooters mind and affixed somewhere on the shooter's rifle lest he forget, detailing trajectory out to 500 yards, is all that most hunters need to engage 95% of the situations they'll encounter, particularly in a hunting environment where there may not be time to apply all that dope, especially if you're faced with fumbling for turret caps and dimes.