You don't have to imagine it. In very low light whether you lose the finer crosshair of a 2cd plane #4 or the center tip of a 3-post #1, your eye finds center. You can think your way out of it, however..
I also like the #1 3-post with a sharp point, rather than a rounded one. I tend shoot a bit high on game with a #1 but it is not an issue concentrating on a paper target. When the light gets lows enough and the point fades, center matches the horizontal bars. Personally, would like to see the point just below horizontal.
But some of us have to be re-trained after every coffee break. So I do prefer a #4, because I can't screw things up in those split second reaction moments hunting whitetails...:)
If a guy learns to use these old mechanical reticles and adjusts power to fit the situation, they are every bit as effective as illumination over most short to medium hunting ranges and possibly more effective at short range in very low light. The old boys knew what they were doing. IMHO, a very fine illuminated dot does have a precision advantage at longer yardages than the mechanical stuff in poor light.
My humble apologies, tomk; by 'imagine' I meant 'your eye finds center', and it does, being a neatness Nazi.
Not so sure about your liking of sharp pickets in #1 reticles, though. Within my largish collection of scopes with #1 reticles, only some have the picket tip centrally located on the thickness of the sidebars. More seem to have the tip line up with the upper edge of the sidebars, which can droop over time, unfortunately.
Obviously my education has been neglected, as I have never seen a #1 picket with a rounded top. My favourites do have a blunt picket, however, but not so blunt I can't shoot sub-MoA groups with them on occasion. I like having the blunt picket top central to the sidebar thickness, because sidebar tops then become a useful reference for mid-range shots where the impact may be three or four inches high.
I agree with you on the utility of these old reticles. Being one who worries about the erosion of ethics posed by electronics in hunting, I think that when you can no longer see the top of a (blunt) #1 reticle against your target, maybe it's time to go home for supper.
