I can hold or dial.
I can dial on elevation to my 100 yards zero, and then I hold under three inches at anything inside 150 yards, and hold the crosshair for everything else point blank out to 400ish yards. Beyond 400 yards, I can range and hold the rest or finish dialing.
I can do lots of things, whether it is a second focal plane or first focal plane or MIL vs. MOA.
I learned mostly on second focal plane/MOA scopes to start, but then started shooting with and learning from people with first focal plane and MIL scopes.
Both can be deadly accurate. What some people don't realize is that their turret and their reticle both need to be confirmed, so if you dial and can't figure it out, it might be your scope tracking. Not all turrets dial 100% of the amount, so your 25 MOA you dialed on might only be 23 or 24.5. It matters at far distances. So, until you confirm whether your scope tracks 100%, dialing could put you off by as much as 5%. A calibration error is not uncommon up to 2%, even for expensive scopes. Additionally, the further you hold in the reticle, towards the outer third of the glass, the more optical error you are inducing. There are also perception issues. Things like parallax errors also come into play.
So, when it comes to deciding whether to dial or hold, you have to know the possible errors and how to correct for or eliminate them. Fortunately, inside 500 yards, it really doesn't matter given the limited drop and relative size of the kill zone of deer. Beyond that, the errors start to compound and magnify. And, believe it or not, the way your manage recoil will mean hits or misses once you start stacking on the yardage. A big recoiling and light hunting rifle exploits weakness in shooting form.
There are strengths and weaknesses to all systems. I prefer first focal plane and milradians, but am just as confident and competent behind my buddies' second focal plane and MOA scopes. They are just different.
Yes, there are people who buy stuff cause it is "tacticool" and don't learn the system. I don't like those people either. But, if you think that FFP and mils are for "tacticool" then that tells me you don't really understand what I am doing with it, or you just really like your system cause it works best for you. I get that, and as long as you understand your second focal plane and MOA, it doesn't matter. I don't call SFP and MOA guys "fudds" or other derogatory terms, just because I disagree and prefer a way that works faster for me.
Bottom line, is pick a system that works for you and learn it. It will do everything you need. I can hold or dial.
I can dial on elevation to my 100 yards zero, and then I hold under three inches at anything inside 150 yards, and hold the crosshair for everything else point blank out to 400ish yards. Beyond 400 yards, I can range and hold the rest or finish dialing.
I can do lots of things, whether it is a second focal plane or first focal plane or MIL vs. MOA.
I learned mostly on second focal plane/MOA scopes to start, but then started shooting with and learning from people with first focal plane and MIL scopes.
Both can be deadly accurate. What some people don't realize is that their turret and their reticle both need to be confirmed, so if you dial and can't figure it out, it might be your scope tracking. Not all turrets dial 100% of the amount, so your 25 MOA you dialed on might only be 23 or 24.5. It matters at far distances. So, until you confirm whether your scope tracks 100%, dialing could put you off by as much as 5%. A calibration error is not uncommon up to 2%, even for expensive scopes. Additionally, the further you hold in the reticle, towards the outer third of the glass, the more optical error you are inducing. There are also perception issues. Things like parallax errors also come into play.
So, when it comes to deciding whether to dial or hold, you have to know the possible errors and how to correct for or eliminate them. Fortunately, inside 500 yards, it really doesn't matter given the limited drop and relative size of the kill zone of deer. Beyond that, the errors start to compound and magnify. And, believe it or not, the way your manage recoil will mean hits or misses once you start stacking on the yardage. A big recoiling and light hunting rifle exploits weakness in shooting form.
There are strengths and weaknesses to all systems. I prefer first focal plane and milradians, but am just as confident and competent behind my buddies' second focal plane and MOA scopes. They are just different.
Yes, there are people who buy stuff cause it is "tacticool" and don't learn the system. I don't like those people either. But, if you think that FFP and mils are for "tacticool" then that tells me you don't really understand what I am doing with it, or you just really like your system cause it works best for you. I get that, and as long as you understand your second focal plane and MOA, it doesn't matter. I don't call SFP and MOA guys "fudds" or other derogatory terms, just because I disagree and prefer a way that works faster for me.
Bottom line, is pick a system that works for you and learn it. It will do everything you need.