Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Parallax Question

Probably a dumb question...

I've got an older Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40mm shotgun scope that has the parallax set at 75 yards. It has the Turkey plex reticle.

Got a friend that wants his kid to start practicing with his .223 Rem bolt action, but he has no riflescope (and not in budget). If I loan it to him, is there going to be much if any difference with him shooting out to maybe 200 yards with the parallax set at 75 yards??

I'm thinking probably not. Even on deer size game. Or am I off base?

Oblige.

Won't hurt a thing.....👍

My belief is that for informal shooting and larger game hunting, parallax is of no consequence. Maybe someone can quantify this. If a scope is set at 75 yards, on 9 power maximum parallax error at 200 yards would be________ inches.

Might be a good time to teach him how to be consistent behind the scope.

Put the rifle on the bags, on the target at 200, wobble your eye around the eyebox and see how much error you have. If it's bad, refer to Barsness' explanation of moving your eye to the rear of normal eye relief distance, and as the edge field reduces, parallax goes away.

For a 40mm objective with the parallax set at 75 yards, the theoretical maximum parallax error at up to 500 yards is as follows:

100yds: 0.26 inch; 0.25MOA
200yds: 1.31 inch; 0.63MOA
300yds: 2.36 inch; 0.75MOA
400yds: 3.41 inch; 0.82MOA
500yds: 4.46 inch; 0.85MOA

You will notice that while the error increases by about an inch per 100 yards. Even up to 1000 yards, the maximum error is still under 1MOA.

NOTE: The Theoretical Maximum error assumes that you are trying to get behind the rifle somewhat properly. If you are just trying to see how far off you can be by peering through one side or the other, then double the numbers above.

Much obliged gentlemen.