Looking at the bare basics of what it takes to execute a shot at long distance.
You need to know the exact range. Thank God for quality rangefinders.
You need to know your dope for the conditions.
You need to have a way to precisely account for your dope and wind call through your sights.
That's it.
I stole this image from Dave3575. I hope he doesn't mind.
The modern scopes of today aren't full proof. They don't always track well. Holding a zero is not guaranteed. Thankfully, most scope companies offer lifetime warranties. To be efficient they will likely have matching reticles with knobs and many other features that make getting hits easier. A lot of these features are costly, and add undue weight.
The reality is. If you practice, having a reticle like the one Dave posted above in the First Focal Plane is all thats needed to make quality hits at long range.
You simply zero that scope at (x) yards, cap those tiny little turrets, and apply your dope.
You don't have to have matching turrets to the reticle, exposed turrets, locking turrets, zero stops, revolution indicators, etc, etc.
You just need a scope that will hold a zero, and a well thought out FFP reticle.
Parallax is nice to have at higher powers, but that's about all you need.
I'm constantly surprised more scope companies don't offer a bare bones basic scope with a kickin reticle. Too easy in my opinion.
