Hakko - ZOS - Sightron Triple Scope shoot-out!
By Vince Bottomley
Of course, somewhere along the line, we need to consider eye-relief. I prefer to set mine a bit on the ‘long’ side when I mount the scope – if you don’t, you could get a nasty case of ‘scope bite’ when you least expect it – bit of an off-putter at the start of a competition! Yes, if you are a bit too far back you could get ‘shadowing’ around the edge of the picture but so what? We are looking at the centre of the reticle. Lastly, check for parallax. Although you are set up correctly, you may see a very slight movement of the crosshair as you gently move your head. Just tweak the side-focus slightly to eliminate parallax – your sight-picture should remain sharp.
The tests
Forget lens test charts and the like - I’m going to compare these three scopes as simply as possible with tests you could easily repeat with your own scope.
The ‘return to zero’ zoom test.
Fire one shot on full-power – i.e. 32X, zoom out and fire another on minimum power – 8X. Most scopes fly through this test but it’s always a ‘fear’ of some shooters that the zero will alter.
When shooting F Class, it’s advisable to keep an eye on the targets either side of you for signs of sudden wind-changes and this is where a zoom scope is really useful. Also, some prefer to wind down the power in the event of mirage. Yes, it does lessen the appearance of the mirage but I’ve never found it to help with the accuracy of shot-placement but, as always, it’s your choice.
Results: (Distance between the two bullet holes) ZOS – Shot-holes touching. Hakko – Shot-holes touching. Sightron – Holes overlapping.
To some extent, the thickness of the crosshair can affect the result as it may totally obscure the aimpoint at minimum magnification. Nonetheless, the results were very good for all three scopes
Incidentally, we always have ‘factors’ which can influence test results – accuracy of the rifle, accuracy of ammunition, wind effect and not least ‘the nut behind the butt’. I’m attempting to eliminate these as far as possible by using the most accurate and ‘shootable’ rifle I own – my 6PPC benchrest rifle shot from rests.
Lens resolving power Normally, I would be reaching for the lens test-charts but not today – I’m relying on the Daily Telegraph. A good selection of newsprint. Let’s see what we can read with each scope at 100 yards.
ZOS
I could read the ‘Stelios drops EGM’ but struggled with ‘Collins Stewart warns on profits’ Hakko
I could read ‘Collins Stewart warns on profits’ but not quite ‘There is nowhere quite like Australia’ Sightron
I could actually read ‘There is nowhere quite like Australia’
With the ZOS, there was just the slightest detectable image fall-off at the edge of the lens but it would in no way affect the performance of the scope. With the Hakko and Sightron, I couldn’t detect any edge fall-off.
Accuracy of adjustment
For this test, we’ll carefully zero and fire a shot, then wind on 30 MOA and fire another shot. One MOA (minute of angle) is approximately 1.047 inches so, we are looking for a measurement of around 31.41 inches.
Here’s what we got: ZOS:
Hakko: Sightron:
We’ll also see if the image looks sharp at the edge of the lens as well as the centre - not too much of a problem with a riflescope as we usually have the centre of the crosshair on the centre of the target.
36
32.75 inches (Less than 5% error) 27.75 inches (An error of about 12%!) 31.0 inches (Just over a 1% error)
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