John,
Do you think that reticle choices, at least back when scopes were often offered with multiple reticle options, were often a regional thing?
When I started hunting deer in northern New England 50 years ago, low magnification fixed power scopes from Lyman, Redfield, and Weaver were often purchased with post & cross-hair reticles. My first 2 deer rifles were a Remington 660 in 6mm with a Weaver V7 that had a duplex reticle, intended for over-watching open areas, and a Ruger 44 International with a Weaver K3 that had a post & cross-hair reticle, intended to still-hunting in cover.
Since moving to Nebraska in 1990, I've looked at thousands of used rifles that had scopes installed and have come across very few with reticles other than cross-hair and duplex. Also, while Weaver K2.5 and K3 scopes were quite common in New England, their scarcity on used rifles out here suggests that they weren't nearly as popular in CO/IA/KS/MO/NE/SD/WY as they were in ME/NH/VT.
I've become a fan of Leupold's heavy duplex reticle, but most of my deer hunting happens under 200 yards.
EDIT: Leupold's decision to drop the heavy duplex reticle and to raise their fee for changing reticles has forced me to look for other options. Do you have any suggestions?
EDIT2: I had
www.ironsightinc.com install their #1 heavy European style reticle on a couple of Denver Redfield 2-7x scopes that I installed on a pair of Interarms Mark X mannlichers in 7x57 and 9.3x62. They are almost too heavy, thick, but they do take/lead the shooter's eye to center on a POA very quickly.
