Scope parallax - hunting

[rearnakedchoke]

I am putting together a new straight wall rifle for the Midwest. I’m wanting other opinions on optics of fixed parallax vs side focus. Most of my bolt actions have adjustable optics but they’re range guns. My concern with the adjustable is I’ve had deer quickly run in and having to make a quick shot, while minimizing movement. I’m concerned that I get up on the gun quick and the optic parallax being at the wrong focus and missing an opportunity.

Realistically most of the time I have shots 10-100 yards but some of the areas I hunt can be up to 250 yards. If it’s the latter I’d probably have time to make adjustments but I think it’s more beneficial to have less to adjust. Let me know what you think.

 

[glennjones]

I hunt at the same ranges as you here in the south. I usually just set the parallax at 100 and never touch it. I've never felt that it hampered my shooting in any way. As I understand it most no adjustable rifle scopes are set at 100 yds anyway.

 

[Macintosh]

I have had the parallax knob move on me many times on a couple different scopes. Including at least one lost opportunity—pull up and parralax is a total blur, and the deer is gone before I could get it in focus, but plenty of time to make a shot with fixed parallax. Its why other than a really long range rifle I would not own a scope with adjustable parallax. The amount of realistic error cased by parralax at even 400 or 500 yards is insignificant. Past there, sure it makes sense. But if max shots are as close as you are describing, imo adjustable parallax is nothing but a liability without any real-world benefit.

My longer range hunting scope is a S&B 3-12. Parallax is fixed. I added the turret to it and at the same time had them adjust the parallax to 200 yards (it had been at 100 I believe). I have not been able to tell the difference in precision at any range, and it’s still crisp focus from super close to infinity.

 

[SloppyJ]

3x9 Creedo and youre set.

 

[SDHNTR]

No need for a parallax adjustable scope on a woods gun.

 

[hereinaz]

No need for a parallax adjustable scope on a woods gun.

This…

The parallax error is so small it doesn’t matter inside 300 at all.

Also, if you can look through a scope without causing giant scope shade, you have very little parallax error anyhow.

 

[juju]

It's possible to set the parallax adjustment to an extraordinary distance, making the image blurry at further distance. You can set and forget at 100, and never have a care, but some people have to play with things.

Know thyself.

 

[hereinaz]

It's possible to set the parallax adjustment to an extraordinary distance, making the image blurry at further distance. You can set and forget at 100, and never have a care, but some people have to play with things.

Know thyself.

So true,

I apologize for being one of “those guys” but at least I am willing to admit it. I love geeking out.

But, parallax is akin to Eotovos, Corialis, and spin drift. For 99.99% of hunting shots the answer is, “it doesn’t matter.” For 100% of shots inside 400 it absolutely doesn’t matter.

That’s why the best advice is avoid parallax adjustment if you can. Or, tape it so you don’t miss an opportunity like above.

 

[RockAndSage]

As others have said, at the ranges you're talking it really doesn't matter. Most fixed-parallax scopes are set up by the factory at 100 or 125yds, IIRC, anyhow. That said, if it's a concern to you, it's worth knowing how they used to ensure proper parallax in the old days, before adjustable parallax was a thing on scopes. Dig around online and you can find some pretty good videos about how to do it. It all comes down to ensuring your eyeball is literally sitting in the right sweet-spot.

The short version is you mount your rifle, and pull your eye back until you see a little scope shadow - make that shadow perfectly symmetrical all the way around, to center your eye left-right/up-down. Now move your eye forward until just a bit after the shadow disappears. This puts you inside the proper eyebox, centered left-right/up-down.

Now you need to center front-back. If you're in the proper spot, the target will stay perfectly still underneath your crosshairs if you move your eye around a little bit left-right or up-down. Nothing will change. But if your eye isn't in the proper spot front-to-back, the target will appear to move out from under the crosshairs. If that happens, move your eye forward a bit, and keep trying it until the target isn't moving.

With practice, it takes less than a second, and becomes second nature, and will become just part of how you mount the rifle and get behind the scope.

If you want to train yourself to do this consistently and quickly, practice shooting at a half-inch dot, or the spots on a playing card, at 10yds. At that short of a distance, you will not be able to get tight groups at all if your eye isn't set in the right spot for parallax.

 

[seand]

I’m fine at all practical ranges big game hunting with a scope that has good depth of field fixed or adjustable parallax. Example - SWFA 6x has adjustable parallax and the 3-9x42 is fixed but both have great depth of field and adjustable parallax or focus isn’t really needed. I don’t want to have to mess with parallax ever big game hunting.

Optics with side focus often have larger zoom ranges and less depth of field. Some way more than others. Example- a 4-32 variable side focus scope, but a lot of guys seem to like them.

 

[Macintosh]

with a scope that has good depth of field

This is the key point. Many, if not most, of the scopes Ive used with adjustable parallax, do not have nearly the depth of field as a fixed parallax scope. I think this is more important in thicker vegetation where short range is typical and making out an animal among a lot of visual noise is all the more difficult. If the scope isnt visually crisp in focus from 10 yards out past 250 yards WITHOUT ADJUSTING PARALLAX, imo it is a 100% non-starter and doesnt even qualify for consideration as a hunting scope. If you only hunted in very open terrain that would perhaps be different, but given the OP’s location and stated ranges I dont think thats a bad rule of thumb.