Interesting thread...l read the whole thing. Thanks to those who took the time to explain the differences and like almost any subject on the CF opinions vary.
I liked Alan's approach finding value in each system depending on distances and circumstances, including the reticle compensation. I have done a hill of beans worth of turret twisting. The thoughts of a turret that will move by accident makes my blood run cold.
I am inclined to find the shortest distance between two dots since too much complication tends to distract in the heat o f shooting animals. I solved some elk killing problems years ago once l fiscovered that the bottom post of a 4x Leupold corresponded pretty exactly at 600 yards to the trajectory of 180 gr or 160 bullets driven 3100 fps from a 300 or 7mm magnum. Crude but effective since it helped me drop a few between 450-500 yards.
4-5 years ago l also figured out that a 162 Amax at app 3200 would follow the dots on a 6-36 leupold with LR reticle to 500 and the tip of the post landed the bullets about an inch above. 6" circle at 600. This may not be as sophisticated as the turrets and limits options somewhat but in 40 years l have been unable too find an animal l really anted further than that.
My own personal opinion (which l don't care to debate) is that no one but hardenef competitive riflemen have much business making wind calls over one MOA on unwounded BG animals at distances much past 400 yards. It's too tricky and unlikely to result in the solid chest hits we all seek. There is no shame in holding off for another day
You're not far off. Having tried a bunch of different techniques with a bunch of non competitive, but trained hunters, using wind brackets and stopping at an "edge hold" has resulted in a pretty high hit rate. An edge being defined as the right or left edge of the vitals, which works out to about 1-2 MOA depending on animal. Reticle with mil or MOA hashes for wind holds stretch that out quite a bit.
