4-12X Scope out of focus at 12X on 25yd target

wilbar

wilbar

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Hi all,

I love spending my evening searching the web for the "perfect" scope.... Then trying to find one that doesn't require a new mortgage. I found a 4-12 with decent specs and great FOV. I happened to be at WSS grabbing ammo the other day and decided to handle the scope to see what it was like in the real world. I don't try to evaluate optical quality in the store just get a feel for mechanicals, and check all the little things that you can only tell in real life. Of course I still looked through it and there was a line of ball caps above the archery section 25yds away. I wanted to get a rough idea of the size of the duplex do I twisted it to 12X and the image was way out of focus. I twisted back down to 4 and it was clear, back to 12 and blurry. I tried the fast focus eye piece and it was a little better but no where near sharp.

There is no parallax adjustment so I'm not sure what to make of this. I suspect it might just be the physics of having a fixed focus, fixed parallax optic with a variable magnification that limits the close focus distance at high power.... Or that one's a lemon.

I'm hoping to learn something new about scopes through this. Does anyone know of a technical reason for this situation?

Willy
 
If the parallax is fixed at say 100yards, you might not be able to focus that close. Try looking at something further away. What scope is it?
Generally, the only scopes that work well at very short ranges are airgun scopes.
 
The ocular adjustment is to focus the reticle.
Unless the scope has adjustable parallax - either on the turret or objective, what you report is not surprising.
 
If my understanding is correct, 12x is probably adjusted at 100m. If you had an adjustable objective scope, you can adjust the target focus.
 
Adjustable parallax should start after the 9x.
I've had 12x non adjusting parallax scopes and after 10x,
the focus starts to be like looking thru a fish bowl.
 
Thanks guys, that's what I was thinking.

Elite 3500. FOV is supposed to be 40'-8.5' which would make a great all round scope for my 7-08. I was wondering how well it would work in real life but it's hard to put it to the test when it's not mounted to anything and all you can look at is the inside of a store.

I have read that 12X is max for fixed parallax. My friend has the VX3 4.5-14 without parallax adjustment but I've only shot it at 100&200yds so I can't say one way or another if it causes issues. Nothing adverse at 14X on targets.

Thanks again for the input,

Willy
 
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