I grew up hunting with 4X and 6X scopes..I still have a box of old steel tube weavers and denver redfields..[I killed my first deer, a desert mule deer at seven years old, and have killed more than some on two continents since] As I approach concluding my seventh decade, I'm somewhat more openminded. INMHO the 4.5X14 Zeiss are fine scopes..I have two, one with a rapid Z 800 and the other #4 reticle. They are bright, big sweet spots and more than adequate eye relief. The Zeiss website has good data on the rapid Z reticles..I use a combination of the Zeiss data, my ballistic program and real shooting to use the reticle for my loads and conditions..That may seem somewhat involved, but, in real application, it's easy to do. I hunt in big open canyon country a lot, and while these are primarily my coyote scopes, I sometimes kill a pretty nice buck with em' One is on my .300 WSM [Hart barrel, etc], the other on my 7mm Rem Mag. For me, the Z800 reticle is somewhat faster to use when the coyote is traveling through the sage and cedars..
