Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Since I have to wait for SWFA CS to open Monday morning...help!

I believe you are correct in your diagnosis, the parallax adjustment threads are not perfectly aligned with the scope tube. More common than we think, it is very difficult to perfectly jig a short workpiece like an objective lens carrier perfectly true for threading. Hence, your observation of crosshair movement on the target or collimator screen. But, in my experience collimators are poorly made and seldom if ever repeatable. So, using your method with the vise, you have removed one variable from your test. The next thing to consider, which may have skewed your results, is eye position behind the ocular lens. I think you need to move your eye to the rear, well past the optimum eye relief of your scope, until the image narrows and is surrounded by a hazy blackish "donut". Hold your eye as closely as you can in that position, having an assistant turn the parallax adj for you while you try to detect the crosshair drift as the adjustment is rotated. Same for the power adj ring. The further the object is from you, the more validity your test will have. A very distant object, much farther than 150 yds, will be best. I use a white rock, approximately 1 1/2 miles distant.
Addendum: Clamp the barrel in the vise firmly, not the stock.

1. Trade yours for the 3-9
2. Read the SWFA post by Formidolosus
3. read it again
4. Zero your rifle and confirm your DOPE, this is really fun.
5. Shoot from every conceivable position that you can achieve and determine at what distance you can always hit an 8" target 5 times in a row.

6. Go kill stuff w/ confidence, have fun!!


mike r

can't find the post by Formidolosus...

Seems Cameraland unstuck it
Here

Thanks!

Sitrep, SWFA had no issue with me returning the 3-15 for a refund and my 3-9 is on the way to me. They did say that wasn't the first time they'd heard of that though. I'm ready to get back in the stone age days of no parallax adjustment or fancy high magnifications with the 3-9x42 haha

3-9 is a solid scope

Great to hear! Don't worry about the damned parallax, it's a non-issue. Enjoy the 3-9, they're excellent hunting scopes.

Thanks for letting us know and sounds like they took good care of you. Enjoy your hunt.

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine


mike r

That’s excellent. Tough to beat that sorta service and the others are spot on. The 3x9 is a wicked optic.

I am glad they took care of you. POA changing with parallax is not an uncommon issue with many Side Focus scopes, but usually it is fairly subtle, so it is not obvious and people spend a lot of time chasing their zero.

The first person I know who really paid attention to that was Jeff Huber in his Nightforce days when he was getting early NXS scopes dialed in.

ILya