Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Dialing/Turret installation on a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40?

I have a Zeiss Conquest 3-9X40 that I bought new about 12 years ago and have mounted on a 257 Weatherby. The scope has been absolutely solid from day one. Sighted it in at 200 yds and haven't touched it since the install 12 years ago. Still holds zero after all these years and rounds fired.

Anyway, thinking of sending it off to Kenton for a generic MOA turret install. Just curious if anyone has had this done? Seems there's been a few reports over the years of the Conquests failing, but for the most part they seem pretty solid/reliable. Just wasn't sure how it'd hold up to dialing? The gun is hunted with a few times a year and taken to the range for banging steel occasionally, but for the most part, wouldn't see a whole lot of use/dialing. If I were using all the time, would certainly be looking for something a bit more rugged, but for minimal usage... what do you guy's think?

I had Zeiss add one to a 3-9 years ago. Took a coyote at 666 yards with it. And some others at 500+ worked at the time. But that ws very early on for me learning long range. I have no idea how well the scope actually tracked. I guess good enough for those distances. One problem I did have was that it wasn’t marked for what revolution the turret was in. Ie no zero stop. I was on a cow elk hunt and almost ruined my hunt because the turret was in the wrong turn. Zero stops are an absolute must for me these days.

I had a couple of those back in the day. Still have one in the box someplace.

While they gave me good service on a couple of heavy kickers that were shot and used a lot, I'm not sure I'd stick any money into turning them into dialing scopes. Aside from the fact that they weren't really designed to be twisted on, there's the fact that your reticle likely isn't well suited to making wind holds, which is the most difficult part of hitting farther off targets.

Not saying that they definitely won't hold up to your expectations, just saying that I'd put the money towards a scope that is built to be twisted on and has a measuring reticle.

If you like MOA, SWFA is running a crazy deal on their 6x in MOA.

One man's opinion, YMMV, etc, etc.

Certainly not the best tool for the job, but for your uses and minimal dialing, I bet it does fine.

I have a couple of those scopes that I sent to Zeiss USA for the turret. My understanding at that time was that FIRST you had to do that, THEN Kenton could do their thing. And I’m pretty sure Zeiss no longer services the older Conquests at least as far as adding a turret.

Could be mis-remembering, could be flat wrong... but that’s how I’m remembering it. Good luck! Those 3-9 Conquests are one of the all-time great bargains.

Whats your take on Oregons push for neutering the 2A?

lmao this ought to be good even if we get an answer

That it’s blatantly unconstitutional liberal bullshït that I of course voted against and I will not comply with.

Outta here. Good luck to the OP—

Thanks for the reply’s all. I went ahead and “pulled the trigger” so to speak. I’m sending the scope to Kenton tomorrow and they’ll be installing a generic MOA turret with a Zero stop. I think for the minimal amount of dialing I’ll be doing, it should be fine. Sighted in at 200, my go to load only drops 5.5 moa at 500yds, so not many clicks required. 500 is the furthest I’ll be shooting. Not too worried about lack of windage as my load only drifts 1.35 moa at 500.

Oh well, cheap experiment. It’s only costing me $100.00. If I wreck the internals, I’ve certainly gotten my $$ worth from the scope. Only paid $300 for it when new and it’s provided me with lots of trouble free shooting over the years. Additionally, it’ll give me the excuse to buy a new scope.

lmao .. liar .... that's what stupid [bleep] like you getting for voting Democrat

you should post pictures of the setup. I am very interested in how they are adding a zero stop to that scope. I am surprised they are able to do this. like others have said, to my knowledge it was send the scope in to zeiss first. (which was actually meopta) get a turret added, then kenton could sell you an etched turret. I wasn't aware they modified scopes too,

How can you say your load only wind drifts X moa? Where I’m from winds are variable.

Will do. Should take appx 3 weeks before scope is returned.

Is this coming with custom or standard turrets?

Just a standard turret with a Zero Stop.

I am REALLY curious about this. I had Zeiss add elevation turrets to two of my 3-9x40 Conquests (I’ll add a pic later) and the only way to zero-stop them is with a shim under the turret. I make those on a lathe for my own use but, they need to be custom-fit to the rifle/scope combo once it’s zeroed. Wondering what the heck Kenton has got going here.

This is the turret Zeiss USA installed. You can see the zero stop shim under it.

Received my scope from Kenton. So far so good. Mounted and sighted it in at 200yds. Dialed 3 separate times for 3,4 and 500 yard drops using a ballistic app. They were right on the money and scope returned to zero. Only time will tell if it holds up. Not planning to do tons of dialing, so thinking it should be fine.

I know some were interested in what the installation looks like. See pics below. With removable Zero Stop ring/pin removed, I have appx 2 and 1/2 full turns available on the dial. Only 1 with the ring/pin installed. I'll never need more than 1 turn with the cartridge/load I'm using.