Michael ,,,, RDM416 ,,,,,
the Reason I asked about the accuracy of scope drop compensators, is this,,,,,
up to a few years ago, I was a regular at the 1,000 yard shooting matches here in Tucson, and I would very often shoot my own personal hunting rifle during some of the relays in the match,,, we even had a HUNTER class at the matches, using certain types of hunting rifles etc ,,,,
I used a Schmidt & Bender 4-16X50 PMII with 34mm tube and big drop compensator ,,, and just to test the accuracy of the compensator, I would dial it down to zero and back up to the 1,000 yard setting between relays ,,,
Doing this I would see a variance somewhere between 6 & 14" on point of impact, and would have to fine-tune the clicks, to center my shots vertically back on the bull's-eye,,,,
I was shooting with Col Craig Boddington one day a few years ago, and while testing loads at various ranges out to 700 yards, we experienced this same phenomenon with other brands of scopes with drop compensators,
that is why I personally use ONLY a front focal plane mounted mil-dot reticle in my hunting rifle, I zero at 200 yards, first mil-dot is 400, second dot is 550, third dot down is 700 & 4th is 820 yards, using the 168gr HPBT factory load, 7.82 Warbird caliber ,,, I zero the windage at 550 yards to compensate for spin-drift, and if I am an inch or so left of center at 300 yards, it won't matter in the field ,,,,,
and I CHECK and SHOOT at each one of those ranges to verify the point of impact, I don't rely upon hand-held ballistics programs to tell me where to hold at long range ,,,,
as for accurate range calculations each and every time, I agree with you that the range finders have gotten much better, than the old Swarovski "brick" I paid $3,000.00 for in the middle 90's, but not THAT much better ,,,,
today I use the Swarovski hand-held monocular range finder, and it is good to 1,400+ yards on a big target like a rock, tree or building, but put an antelope, mule deer, caribou or elk, out on the flat, 600-900 yards away, bright sunlight, with no other big tree or rock to get a hit off of, getting as steady as possible with the rangefinder, and you cannot always get an accurate range to the target ,,,
on a recent mountain goat hunt in BC, we spotted two large Billy's lying down way up in the rocky peaks toward the top, after about 3 1/2 hours if climbing, we got within 900 yards, then decided to climb some more to get closer and found a somewhat flat spot in the terrain, to allow me to go prone ,,,,
the Billy's had positioned themselves so that they could watch everything below them ,,,, I tried to get a rangefinder hit on the biggest of the two, and just could not get one on the Billy himself lying in the flat moss, but I was able to get a hit on the rock face right behind him ,,,, rangefinder said 658, so I subtracted 50 yards which was my estimate, from the Billy to the rock ,,,,
I put the 550 yard mil-dot right at the top of his shoulder, slowly squeezed and BOOM!, my guide called the shot just inches over the goats back ,,, goat jumped to his feet, I ran the bolt, put the 550 yard mil-dot, low on the front shoulder and JUST as the rifle fired, the goat stepped forward, and the bullet hit him right in the paunch, he ran forward about 50 yards, slowed to a walk and this time with a slight lead right at the front of his body, I hit him in the chest cavity and he stopped, I hit him again in the chest cavity, ((goats are very tough little suckers)) and then he started to roll down the hill ,,,,
I was very embarrassed by the small pile of brass that had begun to accumulate on the ground to the right of my rifle ,,, as here I was, the "supposedly" deadly accurate every time John Lazzeroni, and I had made a range calculation error, then shot the poor goat in the stomach before finally getting him down ,,,,,
as for windage calculations in the field, across canyons, at long range, with winds fairly high and gusting, I don't think you can make accurate calculations on an exact dial or windage hold ,,,,,
a few years ago in Mexico, we had a nice buck bedded down across a canyon at 590 yards, ((got a good rangefinder hit off the big tree he was lying under)) ,,,, I did not want to shoot him in his bed, as the vital area target is smaller when they lie down, so I got prone and just waited about 45 minutes for him to stand up ,,,
,, during the wait I was making my wind calculations, with my trusty wind gauge, trying to figure out how much harder it was blowing high across the center of the canyon, and how hard was it blowing where the little Coues deer was bedded ,,,,, and to make matters worse, the wind was gusting in cycles ,,,
I know at this range, my wind drift is about 2X the speed of the wind in inches, again using my 7.82 Warbird rifle, 168 gr HPBT, ,,, I was showing a steady 10-12 mph where I was with gusts up to 20 mph, and the wind was blowing about the same at the deer, from what I could tell by looking thru the scope ,,,,
so using an "average" of 15 mph wind ,, I quickly calculated about 30" of wind drift to the target, the deer was facing into the wind, and if he stood up facing the wind, I decided that if the wind WAS blowing a lot harder over the center of the canyon, the worst that would happen is that I would hit him in the backside, which would still put him down ,,,,
30" of wind drift is about 1 1/2 mil-dots at 600 yards, so I practiced the hold while the deer was still lying down, 550 yard dot high on the body, 1.5 mil-dot into the wind, from his chest ,,,,
he finally did stand up, facing the wind, I took the hold I had been practicing and BOOM ,,,, you guessed it, shot him right in the AS_ ! ,,, but he did go down, and all I had to do was walk up and finish him off ,,,,,,
I have so many stories and experiences like this, that I cannot recall or count them all, but these real-world hunting experiences have taught me that "I" want the most velocity that I can get my hands on ((without sacrificing accuracy)) to flatten out the trajectory at all practical hunting ranges, and enough bullet weight and integrity when it hits the animal, to get the job done, every time ,,,,,
if you guys are able to make one shot kills, in the field, every time, to 1,000+ yards, with the long, slow VLD bullets and scope mounted dial elevation and windage adjustments, and you don't have to have a wheelbarrow to carry it all up the mountain, you are in a whole nother class of hunter and shooter than I can ever hope to be ,,,,,,
