Parallax setting for rifle scope?

[offshore]

Hello to all. This is my first post on the Excal Forum. I have been a "Lurker" for a long time. . .just never got around to signing up. Over the years I have found tons of useful information from the Ladies and Gents here. . .and many good laughs too.

I have a question regarding parallax for a crossbow scope. I recently have decided that I want to up grade my Exocet 200 with a quality sighting system and optic, so I went ahead and purchased a HHA Optimizer and I plan on mounting a Vortex Viper rifle scope to it. This scope comes pre-set with parallax at 100 yds. I contacted the service center at Vortex and asked if they offer custom services and could they reset the parallax? They were very helpful and said it could be done for $75 with a 7 to 10 business day turn around ! ! ! That sounds great to me. . .damn near as good of service as I get with my Leupold products. I do not target shoot (other than practice) and tend to keep my shots on big game under 65/70 yards. What distance should I have the parallax set at for this scope? I have read of different folks setting it from 20 to 50 yards, but never a definite answer as to why or what is best. Let me know what you all think and if there is any science behind it. Thank you.

[Species8472]

Two things:

1. If you can keep your eye centered on the optical axis of the scope than parallax is irrelevant no matter what distance you are shooting.

2. At the distances crossbows are shot the parallax effect is essentially negligible even if your eye is not lined up properly.

If it was me I wouldn't worry about it. Any shooting past 50 yards and stuff like wind and ranging errors will affect your accuracy far more than any parallax errors. Actually wind and ranging errors will be far more of factor than parallax will ever be at any range with a crossbow.

[Significent]

What Species8472 said X2

[Kegbelly]

Hi Offshore, welcome to the forum.
Most crossbow-specific scopes I've seen have parallax set at 30 to 50 yards. I'm no expert on the subject but what Species said agrees with what Vortex told me. I called them maybe a month ago to get some information on one of their red dots which has the parallax set at 100 yards. The parallax was one of my main concerns, and the tech told me for all practical purposes it would make no difference at crossbow yardages, worst case the POI might be off an inch at most on a 50 yard shot. He said as long as you're lined up reasonably straight behind the scope, parallax wouldn't be an issue. Hope this helps.

[Deerstalker]

What Species8472 said X3

Parallax in optical sights[edit]
Further information: Telescopic sight#Parallax compensation
In optical sights parallax refers to the apparent movement of the reticle in relationship to the target when the user moves his/her head laterally behind the sight (up/down or left/right),[27] i.e. it is an error where the reticle does not stay aligned with the sight's own optical axis.
In optical instruments such as telescopes, microscopes, or in telescopic sights used on small arms and theodolites, the error occurs when the optics are not precisely focused: the reticle will appear to move with respect to the object focused on if one moves one's head sideways in front of the eyepiece. Some firearm telescopic sights are equipped with a parallax compensation mechanism which basically consists of a movable optical element that enables the optical system to project the picture of objects at varying distances and the reticle crosshairs pictures together in exactly the same optical plane. Telescopic sights may have no parallax compensation because they can perform very acceptably without refinement for parallax with the sight being permanently adjusted for the distance that best suits their intended usage. Typical standard factory parallax adjustment distances for hunting telescopic sights are 100 yd or 100 m to make them suited for hunting shots that rarely exceed 300 yd/m. Some target and military style telescopic sights without parallax compensation may be adjusted to be parallax free at ranges up to 300 yd/m to make them better suited for aiming at longer ranges.[citation needed] Scopes for rimfires, shotguns, and muzzleloaders will have shorter parallax settings, commonly 50 yd/m[citation needed] for rimfire scopes and 100 yd/m[citation needed] for shotguns and muzzleloaders. Scopes for airguns are very often found with adjustable parallax, usually in the form of an adjustable objective, or AO. These may adjust down as far as 3 yards (2.74 m).[citation needed]
Non-magnifying reflector or "reflex" sights have the ability to be theoretically "parallax free." But since these sights use parallel collimated light this is only true when the target is at infinity. At finite distances eye movement perpendicular to the device will cause parallax movement in the reticle image in exact relationship to eye position in the cylindrical column of light created by the collimating optics.[28][29] Firearm sights, such as some red dot sights, try to correct for this via not focusing the reticle at infinity, but instead at some finite distance, a designed target range where the reticle will show very little movement due to parallax.[28] Some manufactures market reflector sight models they call "parallax free,"[30] but this refers to an optical system that compensates for off axis spherical aberration, an optical error induced by the spherical mirror used in the sight that can cause the reticle position to diverge off the sight's optical axis with change in eye position.[31][32]

[Limbs and Sticks]

Welcome aboard and save your money on scope work

Wes

[dabluz]

What the others have said is absolutely true.

You can completely forget anything about parallax error if you place your eye behind the scope exactly the same way each time. So, la good stance, a good snug fit, exact same cheek placement on the stock, exact same cheek (no swellings or changing the amount of fat in the cheeks etc and you will shoot where you aim.

One of the worst things for parallax error is those scope rings that allow the shooter to use the iron sights under the scope. Use must disengage your face and cheek away from the stock and thus allow parallax error to take place.

If you want to check parallax error and where it has the least effect here is what you do.

Place crossbow or firearm on a sold base or just place the scope on a solid base. Look through the scope and aim it at a target and leave it there. Stand up behind your weapon and look through the scope without touching the weapon or the scope. Slightly move your head behind the scope while looking through it. You will see the crosshairs of the scope move around on the target. If you do this at different distances, you will find where the parallax error is at it's least. Usually it's at 100 yards for rifle scopes.

The most accurate sights are still iron sights but the problem with that is the fact that you need very good lighting and real tiny sights for those long shots.

Yes.....paying more money usually decreases parallax error. I've never had the chance to aim and shoot with expensive scopes. I had Leupold scopes on my rifles and they were great. I did have a Bausch and Lomb Elite (before it was bought by Bushnell) and it was pretty good but not as good as the Leupold at the same price.

[Kegbelly]

What Species8472 said X3

Parallax in optical sights[edit]
Further information: Telescopic sight#Parallax compensation
In optical sights parallax refers to the apparent movement of the reticle in relationship to the target when the user moves his/her head laterally behind the sight (up/down or left/right),[27] i.e. it is an error where the reticle does not stay aligned with the sight's own optical axis.
In optical instruments such as telescopes, microscopes, or in telescopic sights used on small arms and theodolites, the error occurs when the optics are not precisely focused: the reticle will appear to move with respect to the object focused on if one moves one's head sideways in front of the eyepiece. Some firearm telescopic sights are equipped with a parallax compensation mechanism which basically consists of a movable optical element that enables the optical system to project the picture of objects at varying distances and the reticle crosshairs pictures together in exactly the same optical plane. Telescopic sights may have no parallax compensation because they can perform very acceptably without refinement for parallax with the sight being permanently adjusted for the distance that best suits their intended usage. Typical standard factory parallax adjustment distances for hunting telescopic sights are 100 yd or 100 m to make them suited for hunting shots that rarely exceed 300 yd/m. Some target and military style telescopic sights without parallax compensation may be adjusted to be parallax free at ranges up to 300 yd/m to make them better suited for aiming at longer ranges.[citation needed] Scopes for rimfires, shotguns, and muzzleloaders will have shorter parallax settings, commonly 50 yd/m[citation needed] for rimfire scopes and 100 yd/m[citation needed] for shotguns and muzzleloaders. Scopes for airguns are very often found with adjustable parallax, usually in the form of an adjustable objective, or AO. These may adjust down as far as 3 yards (2.74 m).[citation needed]
Non-magnifying reflector or "reflex" sights have the ability to be theoretically "parallax free." But since these sights use parallel collimated light this is only true when the target is at infinity. At finite distances eye movement perpendicular to the device will cause parallax movement in the reticle image in exact relationship to eye position in the cylindrical column of light created by the collimating optics.[28][29] Firearm sights, such as some red dot sights, try to correct for this via not focusing the reticle at infinity, but instead at some finite distance, a designed target range where the reticle will show very little movement due to parallax.[28] Some manufactures market reflector sight models they call "parallax free,"[30] but this refers to an optical system that compensates for off axis spherical aberration, an optical error induced by the spherical mirror used in the sight that can cause the reticle position to diverge off the sight's optical axis with change in eye position.[31][32]

Exactly what I was going to say

[offshore]

WOW ! ! ! Yeah. . .Deer Stalker blew me away with that one. Thanks for all the great input. I will go ahead and mount this scope up and play with it for awhile. I have a few more goodies that I'm waiting on from the "Brown Santa Claus" and hope to get things all set up before the weather gets much hotter. . .I need to go on Piggy Patrol. Thanks again everyone.

OFFSHORE

[awshucks]

As has been said, you can eliminate parallax w/ same hold every time. Get or make a cheek piece is my advice.