deflave
I have not tried to teach the use to younger guys or gals. But the ones I am teaching tend to be mid to late 60's and they just have trouble getting their heads around the concept.
We find that it's easier to teach the "what" to do, i.e.. find the range on the card and spin the turret to the number it tells you to, and then slowly introduce the "why" and "how".... For older people sometimes dialing is like MAJIC...
An example of the difference we've seen with hunters between dialing elevation and holding.
I taught several classes to a man last year who goes on 6-8 BIG guided hunts a year. The gun he mainly uses is a Kenny Jarrett built rifle chambered in 300 Jarrett. The scope was a Zeiss Diavari FL 6-24x72 with the Rapid Z-800 reticle and locking turrets. No I didn't pick the scope out....
His load was 180gr Accubonds at 3,250fps. The rifle averaged around .75 MOA. (As an aside, I have yet to see a single hunting rifle come through that averaged .5MOA or less. Despite a whole lot of custom rifles.....)
Anyways, when I met him he was dead set on the reticle thing as he was able to, on several occasions, hit 20oz water bottles at 500 yards using it. He had been on a bunch of hunting trips all over the world taking numerous record book and B&C animals, yet like almost all hunters he really didn't know how to shoot. He certainly thought he did, and he could zero a rifle, and hit animals, but he was slow, with bad technique and habits. He was uncomfortable in awkward positions, and really didn't know anything other then standing or prone.
From the bench he could slam the 8-12in steel gongs all the way out to 650 yards using the reticle. I also had him build a drop card using the turrets. When we got to prone off of a pack he was still getting decent hits, but when it came to anything other then prone rested, it got bad. Like a 25% hit rate. He was getting discouraged so I had him dial. He went 7 or 8 straight. I explained to him that there is something mentally comforting about seeing the crosshairs IN your target rather then above, below, or around it that makes it SO much easier to hit when you excited, tired, or in an uncomfortable position. I did quite a few more classes with him and he got better and better to where he could use the reticle and the turrets very effectively.
One of the last times we shot together was in a valley with some really crazy switching winds. Sustained 10+mph with gusts up to 25. We started just warming up prone off a pack dialing elevation and holding wind with me on the spotting scope giving the wind calls. He went just about 1 for 1 getting a second round hit on the 550 yard IIRC. So I told him to try it using the reticle. Everything went fine up until the 450 yard plate. That took him two shots to hit. A couple of shots for the 500 and 525 yard plate too. Once he got to the 550 it fell apart. He missed 8 or 9 in a row. Every shot was just off the edges of the plate. He commented that while he knew where to hold in between the hashes, with the wind and having to hold off left and right he just couldn't get it to "look" right. (hmmm.... that sounds familiar.)
So I said- ok dial it.
Hit.
"again"
Hit.
He ran through the plates at 360, 400, 425, 450, 500, 525, 550, 600, and 650 yards two or three times only dropping one or two shots. He's a dialer.....
This has has been a very common experience for us. YMMV....
