Formidilous, you seem to think that I don't know anything about killing stuff at extended ranges, scopes or hunting under a wide variety of conditions.
I've owned several hunting rifles chambered for cartriages like the .308. the 30'06, and the .280 that had scopes which could be dialed for range and even windage. I've made several kills over 400 yds., a few over 500 yds. and one about 700 yds. I still have some of these rifles with scopes like the above. They are actually quite similar to those in the pics you posted.
My arguments against this sort of thing were limited to being too specialized to the point where one is handicapped when he has to hunt under much different conditions. I used the example of a Nightforce hunting scope with short eye relief, a small eye box and fine "range finder" reticle. The scope on my all around, including long range, .280 for instance, is a 6X42 Leupold with an elevation turret. Lots of ER, eye box and a Heavy Duplex for those bad light shots. Still capable of making shots out to 600 yds. but also much more useful in other types of hunting.
I do agree that practicing in the field on rocks and ground squirrels is not only alot of fun, but a useful skill. I've done lots of that too. No, I'ver never put anything like 50,000 rds. through anything. And I odviously haven't done as much dial twisting as you have. But I've killed some stuff up very close in ranges measured in feet and hunted country that gets anywhere from less than 4 inches of rain a year to over 80 inches. I've hunted from sea level to over 12,000 ft. as well.
All this has taught me that long range simply isn't everything, but it is part of the game. The trick is to be able to handle it all, not just some of it at the expense of the other techniques necessary in some places. E
