You pretty much described the process well. If you want the reticle in perfect tune to MOA and you are going to count lines you need to be on 22x. That is where my long range rigs are 90% of the time if not more. If you encounter conditions with mirage where you need to crank back the magnification, then you can go to the line at 11X, (you will find it indicated for this). Then simply remember that your 1 moa lines on the reticle now indicate 2 moa.
Using the lines and measuring the distance to the miss in moa is a good tool and works well. But let me try to explain what I do after I improved my wind reading skills. I do my best analysis of the wind or any other drift that could be there, as well as having my rifle drops down to a T in my ballistic program. This gets me on or close for the first shot. Then, in decent field conditions I will be on or close with the first shot. I take the shot and watch for the hit, I take a visual picture of the distance off and simply visually correct for the follow up. The lines are there for reference, but I don't count on them for a MOA correction number. They are simply a gauge to assist. Although I almost always shoot on top magnification, this method allows me to shoot on any power as the visual image and spacing is not going to change between my first and second shot. This may not be the best method known to man, but it is fast and has been very effective for me. More than once I have heard comments on how fast my follow up was. Remember this, no matter what power you have the scope on, the distance between the subtension will not change unless you turn the power adjustment. So if you were 2 lines left and 1 line high, simply bring it down one line right 2 lines for the follow up. After skills are honed, 2 lines would be a large miss at 1000 and the corrections are usually less. So the correction I see are typically less.
Now, the method I use only works for me shooting without the aid of a spotters call. And it only works for a follow up using a corrected hold. If you want to redial the knobs or follow a spotter call in moa, it will be best if you are on 22x or 11x as we talked earlier.
Hope this helps, I have become more than confident with my method.
Jeff
