Zeiss Conquest Side Focus with no markings

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Why doesn't the side focus on Zeiss Conquests have any yardage markings? There are marks in the knob but they are meaningless without numbers. This is worthless to me. Why would anyone pay that kind of money for a scope that doesn't even bother to do what much much cheaper scopes do - put yardage marks and an index mark on the tube? I mean, it's a precision instrument made by Zeiss, cripessake... That's what they DO... Calibrate it to be parallax-free at specific distances. Truly perplexing.
 
Well, you should adjust it to remove parallax, so where it ends up is where it needs to be. Worse is the scopes where the yardage markings are off.

My Leupold 36X Benchrest scope was off. It wasn't on 100 or 200 where the parallax at those yardages was adjusted out.

I have seen what seems to be a new trend of not marking yardages on them.

The markings were a good place to start though.
 
I’d happily pay more for one correctly marked. Imagine not having to guess yardage on game or fiddle with the rangefinder when seconds count.
 
As with others, the markings are generally meaningless. Look thru the scope and adjust accordingly. When I'm shooting prairie dogs, I never look at the markings.
 
I beg to differ. The markings aren't meaningless at all - they mean what they say; the yardage at which it's parallax-free. If not, it's a rubbish manufacturing job. Even if one was to expect non-calibration from a lower end scope, I certainly wouldn't expect it of a Zeiss. Who has time before taking a shot to mess with it while moving your head around to check for parallax error? Seems very weird.
 
If your eyepiece is set correctly that generally works well. Besides, the parallax doesn't have to be adjusting 100% gone for most shots, and if your eyeball is dead center, it doesn't matter at all.

If your eyepiece is not set right and you use the parallax adjustment to focus on the animal parallax may very well still be there, and vice versa, if you have time to adjust the parallax until it is gone, the sight picture may not be clear if the eyepiece isn't set right for you.
 
I was taught to set the ocular so that the reticle is crisp when viewed quickly at a glance, and then set the side focus or AO to provide the sharpest visual image. Is that correct?
 
My understanding is you are supposed to look up at the sky and adjust the ocular to get the reticle crisp but I bet your way works equally well.
 
I was taught to set the ocular so that the reticle is crisp when viewed quickly at a glance, and then set the side focus or AO to provide the sharpest visual image. Is that correct?
Yes, but....

That should work, but to use the parallax adjustment knob to remove parallax you need to have the gun in a rest where you can move your eye around and see if the crosshairs stay on center or move off center a bit. Adjust it until the crosshairs stay dead center when moving your eye around behind the eyepiece.After that, if that isn't clear and you have to move it from where it is to get a clear sight picture, you will have parallax.
 
My understanding is you are supposed to look up at the sky and adjust the ocular to get the reticle crisp but I bet your way works equally well.
That is what I was taught, but I never had good luck doing it that way.
 
I prefer a normally lit room with white walls to provide contrast to the reticle and increasing magnification to max which keeps anything in the background (the wall) from being in focus.

For those who may be lost in the discussion, we’re talking about aligning the reticle (crosshairs in a basic scope) so that they are adjusted to your eye, which may, and probably will be different than other people who have occasion to look through your scope.

Many newer rifles provide a fast focus feature at the rear of the occular (closest to the eye) with a “+” and “-“ but most scopes require you to loosen a threaded lock ring and turn the entire occular until the reticle is sharp then tighten the lock ring again.

The reason for the quick glances is to keep your eye from concentrating and forcing it to focus thereby adding strain. When crosshairs are extremely out of focus you will see a second crosshair that appears as a shadow. Once aligned however the crosshairs will be sharp.

Back to the discussion at hand, Walkalong is correct that using AO or a “Side Focus” knob won’t guarantee that your target is in focus when parallax has been eliminated, but should be very nearly so if you take time to focus your reticle beforehand. Some AO rings are equipped with a small EASY TO ACCIDENTALLY STRIP friction style set screw (meaning not aligned to a recess in the inner housing) that will allow you to rotate the outter housing such that focus and yardage are coincidental but you will need to know the distance to your target before attempting this adjustment.

And, if you are lucky enough for all of those stars to align, you’ll hopefully have had the foresight to know your bullet drops and you can use your scope as a rangefinder. Even without yardage indicators, it’s easy enough to add a piece of tape with yardage marked to the knob’s body or use a Sharpie fine paint marker to do the same.


The lock ring which must be loosened on most scopes to allow the occular housing to turn and focus the crosshairs. My fat finger is pointing to the thin ring not the zoom ring which changes magnification.
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I prefer a normally lit room with white walls to provide contrast to the reticle and increasing magnification to max which keeps anything in the background (the wall) from being in focus.
That is how I do it as well.
 
In messing with my non-side focus AO scopes that with the passing of the years distance appears to change. Adjusting AO for clarity does works. For me, the numbers on the AO really don't mean that much any more. Even getting the reticle adjusted changes with the eye sight. Getting old is not for sissies.

Addendum: In the day I'm thinking Unertl's instructions suggested sky. IIRC
 
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In messing with my non-side focus AO scopes that with the passing of the years distance appears to change. Adjusting AO for clarity does works.
We are not saying it doesn't we are just saying if one uses it as a focus and the eyepiece is not adjusted for their eye the parallax will likely not be adjusted out when it is 'focused".

Despite the makers calling it a focus (Which it can do) knob in the last few years, it is a parallax adjustment knob. It has to work in unison with the focus of the eyepiece.
 
Now we are on the same page. Back in the day it seemed like there was more adjustment on the ocular end. Thanks, that's then this is now. Be safe and have a great Thanksgiving.
 
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