1st plane and 2nd plane

[stokesrj]

It really is a matter of personal preference with gives and takes on both sides. The reticle in the second focal plane is by far the most common set up and the one that I prefer. The drawback is that you must have it on the highest magnification or multiples of to use the ranging function. The downside of a first focal plane reticle is that it appears very large at high magnification and very small at low magnification which is exactly the opposite of what you want. But you don't have to worry about the magnification being set to a specific power to use it for range finding.
What I have found to be most satisfactory for actual field use, and by that I mean hunting big game at extended range, is a moderate power scope and a reliable turret system customized to your load. My favorite is a custom version of the Leupold VX3, 30 mm tube 4.5-14X 50 mm objective. Here are a couple of links to this scope and a video of it in use in the field.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aNyJB60_6o
http://www.greybullprecision.com/index.p...ticle&id=5
http://www.greybullprecision.com/index.p...ticle&id=5