Zeiss Conquest ZRF Reticle

Does this reticle work like a TDS in a Kahles or Swawrovski?  The marks look like they are spaced similarly.

 

For those who have used it, how difficult is it to aim accurately with the marks to the side instead of on the post?

 

Thanks,

 

BobbyD

" The opening between the two horizontal corresponds to 32 inches at 100 yards with the 3-9X40 MC model and at 5X power. This corresponds to 89 cm at 100 cm. In the 3.5-10X44 MC and 4.5-14X44 MX models, these dimensions are obtained on 10 X power. The six horizontal lines provided in the quadrant on the bottom right can be used for estimating ranges. ( 1 = 100m, 2 = 200m, 6 = 600m) The distance between the center line and the different horizontal lines is used to determine the range: if a 50 cm high target covers the distancefrom the center line to the lowest line the distnace to the target will be 100m. If the same target (with a height of 50 cm) only covers the distance from the center line to the horizontal line marked by 3 then the distance from the target is 300m."

 

 

 

Now in laymen terms

 

 

The 32 inch measurement is really irrelevant. It does not factor in to the range estimation in any way. The concept was really designed to be used mainly for hunting to determine a ruff estimation of range for a deer. The 50 cm measurement is roughly 20 inches which is the size of the brisket on your average deer. This ZRF reticle is designed to really only range a target 20 inches in height. So basically if you have a 4.5-14x44 scope put it on 10X. Now bracket the brisket of a deer with the given horizontal lines. Now read the # beside the line that is at the bottom of the brisket. Add two zeroes then bam you have your range. It doesn't matter what caliber you will be shooting. The reticle is not calibrated for any specific caliber. It can be used on all types. As it is strictly a feature within the scope to calculate range.

Thanks, Brady.  That makes a lot more sense to me now.

 

It looks like someone could use the lines as a makeshift bullet drop compensator if they didn't mind the guesswork of having the hold over lines offset from the verticle axis of the crosshair.  They look like they might correspond out to 500-600 yards for most calibers.

 

I guess the rangefinding feature could be useful on quick shots where a laser rangefinder could not be brought into action, but it would probably require a bit of practice and quick thinking under pressure.

Brady, I always thought that with second focal plane scopes that these range finder/hold overs only worked at the highest magnification.  What gives?

 

ranburr

Thats usually the case with every other manufactures scopes. Not on the Conquest though. Their catalog reads: "to do this set the Conquest 3-9x40 MC to a magnification of 5 times, and the other three Conquest models to a magnification of 10 times."

This is one of the reasons that i'm not terribly fond of the ZRF reticle is that it's not as flexible as others out there that put their ranging stadia directly on the vertical axis. This provides for quite a bit more flexibility in that a ranging reticle can then be used as a ballistic reticle AND VICE VERSA. Tom Smith of TDS fame was a  pretty sharp guy in that he devised a reticle ranging system that's better than anything the big factories have come up with so far, BUT Burris Ballistic Plex, Ballistic Mil-Dot, custom reticles, etc. etc.-- basically any reticle that has at least 2 stadia along the vertical axis can be easily adapted for both ranging, and downrange zeroing.

I couldn't agree more.

 

If Zeiss had a real bullet drop compensator (especially with windage marker bars like the TDS and the B&C or Varmint reticles), it would gobble up even more of the market than it already has.

 

Anyone have any idea if they have one in the works?

One more question on this magnification issue:

 

What about the mil dot reticle Zeiss Conquests?  Must they be set on 5 or 10 magnification for the ranging, holdover and windage to correspond to standard mil dot distance specs or are they correct at maximum magnification?

 

Thanks!

BobbyD wrote:   What about the mil dot reticle Zeiss Conquests?  Must they be set on 5 or 10 magnification for the ranging, holdover and windage to correspond to standard mil dot distance specs or are they correct at maximum magnification?

 

On the 3-9x40 model it must be set at 5x. On all other models magnification needs to be set at 10x.

Thanks, Brady.

 

Is there any way to figure mil dot spacing at 14 power other than shooting trial and error?  Is there a chart or formula or anything that shows or calculates distance between mil dots as magnification increases?

If you try and range on other powers everything will have to be recalculated. Would be a lot of trial and error to come up with the correct measurements. Not sure if it's even possible to do so on other magnifications. I've never seen any charts that break each power down.

 

 

Here is a zoomed in mil dot reticle with all the measurement that would have to be re calculated:

 

 

 

Just happened to notice the end of the discussion here. If the power ring is properly calibrated for magnification then u should be able to recalculate the subtensions at any magnification by using a simple inversely proportional equation, since as magnification INCREASES reticle subtension DECREASES, and vice versa. Truth is, it'd probably be just as accurate as being able to reproduce the subtensions when adjusting the magnification back and forth from the magnification the reticle is supposed to be calibrated for mil subtensions (10X), but might just check it on a ruler or graph paper. Here's the calc.--

 

3.6"/x" = 14X/10X......... X=2.57"

 

Actually that'd probably make for a nice "modified ballistic reticle", with the 1st stadia zero @ 2.45 MOA, 2nd @ 4.9, 3rd @ 7.35, 4th @ 9.8, and 5th @ 12.25.

 

Here's the "modified mil-ranging" equation then for 14X--

 

tgt size (") x 100/2.57/quantity of bracketing gap occupied by tgt. = range in yds.