Q&A for ZCO 4-20x50mm Field Eval

4th_point

WKR
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Jun 14, 2022
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703
Here's an idea...

Get Jeff Huber, Formi, Ryan, and Unknown Guy on the podcast. If possible, add someone knowledgeable about actual scope design and limitations.
 
OP
Formidilosus

Formidilosus

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Shoot2HuntU
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
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10,077
I mostly see ZCO on low recoil, heavy rifles where they seem to do fine. The parallax issue seems to be more than a fluke though. The Spuhr issue seems to affect ZCO as well, but can affect other scopes too. I have been told that they do not do well on hunting rifles with moderate recoil, but in general are OK for competition, from one dealer.

Horses for courses? Gucci scopes may suit certain people. Hey, if they sell good for them! They have plenty of fans. Just sucks if you expect no compromises.


There are a lot of scopes like that now. Historically people weren’t concerned with “durability” and legit zero retention with hard field use, they just wanted the “tracking” and RTZ to be usable. 10-15 years ago, the hard part was finding scopes that just semi held zero and would dial correctly and RTZ with just pure range use. That has been addressed by most, and now there are lots of scopes that adjust correctly and consistently and generally do fine in low recoil, flat range use.
Consequently when it comes to “working”, for a large part of the scope world it is relatively even- from $500 Chinese scopes to $4000 European scopes, the all work about the same for most uses. But- they aren’t the same when actually used hard and continuously checked.
 

kkp005

WKR
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Jan 4, 2021
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389
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Texas
So what’s the update? Where is this update?
 

zr600

FNG
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Jun 30, 2021
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Location
Bismarck ND
She checked the zero was the rifle ridding in the truck? Any rough abuse? Or just pulled out of safe and went to range and shot it? What are your thoughts on the zco currently?
 
Joined
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northwest
She checked the zero was the rifle ridding in the truck? Any rough abuse? Or just pulled out of safe and went to range and shot it? What are your thoughts on the zco currently?
I've fired Almost 800 rounds through my match rifle that wears a ZCO 5-27×56 in the past 4 months and have yet to experience zero shift. It's been banged around on shooting props and knocked over multiple times at NRL and PRS matches

Probably driven over a thousand miles now with it bouncing around in the back of a 24 year old 4runner too.
If you own a 24 YO 4runner you know how shitty they ride.
 
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Formidilosus

Formidilosus

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Shoot2HuntU
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
10,077
She checked the zero was the rifle ridding in the truck? Any rough abuse? Or just pulled out of safe and went to range and shot it?

As it was stated in the last update, it rode in the truck for about 50 miles- 6’ish on FS roads.


What are your thoughts on the zco currently?

About the same as in the initial eval. It loses zero with drops- anything after that has little value to me. Even still, it is heavy, has a reticle
not suitable for general hunting, is expensive and there is nothing dramatic about the “glass” that I can see- it is good for sure, but so are a bunch of other scopes.
I have had a quite a few people shoot with and look through it, and the general statement has been “looks fine”, not one person initially has thought the glass or image was anything other than good- like other high end scopes.
 
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Formidilosus

Formidilosus

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Shoot2HuntU
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Oct 22, 2014
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Scope was swapped to another rifle and zeroed. See eval thread.
 
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