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This is a field evaluation of the Swarovski Z3 3-10x42mm scope. This scope was sent to Ryan Avery for an evaluation.
The scope:
Turrets:
Capped, resettable by pulling up, spinning, and then pushing down. Marked at .25 inch per click at 100 yards.
Reticle: 4A
Drop Evaluation RTZ and “Tracking”:
For an explanation see- Scope Field Eval Explanation and Standards
The “test” consists of three 18” drops on a mat- one left/right/top with a shot to check zero after each drop. Then the exact same thing repeated from 36”. Then three drops on all three sides for nine drops on the last part- 15 drops total. This is not “abuse”. The 18” drops are a joke really. The 36” start showing something. And when a scope make/model consistently goes through the whole thing without losing zero, and makes it through the high round count portion, failures in actual use are almost unheard of.
This one was conducted on soft soil, with a 1/2 rubber padded mat top.
The rings were degreased and installed with 65 in-lbs on base screws, and 20in-lbs on ring cap screws.
Note: the rings were not removed after the Revic scope eval, the scopes were just swapped in place.
Ammunition used was Federal 168gr Tru. The 20 round proof group with this ammo was 1.2 MOA.
Zeroing:
Zeroing went without issue. Bore sighted and fired 2 rounds. Used spotter to measure adjustment. Went to left dot and fired the remaining 8 rounds. Made on up .25 and right .25 correction.
Drop eval:
Shots as marked. Top drops caused the largest shifts, and the single top 36” drop made the image fuzzy last about 60 yards, and seems to have slightly bend the eyepiece.
Drop eval was a total failure. Z3’s are nice to look through, but have always been very fragile scopes. The scope was removed as there is not much point in continuing.
Note: While the image is slightly fuzzy past 60’ish yards (it seems like the parallax has been reset), after the drops it did seem to rezero and adjust fine.
The scope:
Turrets:
Capped, resettable by pulling up, spinning, and then pushing down. Marked at .25 inch per click at 100 yards.
Reticle: 4A
Drop Evaluation RTZ and “Tracking”:
For an explanation see- Scope Field Eval Explanation and Standards
The “test” consists of three 18” drops on a mat- one left/right/top with a shot to check zero after each drop. Then the exact same thing repeated from 36”. Then three drops on all three sides for nine drops on the last part- 15 drops total. This is not “abuse”. The 18” drops are a joke really. The 36” start showing something. And when a scope make/model consistently goes through the whole thing without losing zero, and makes it through the high round count portion, failures in actual use are almost unheard of.
This one was conducted on soft soil, with a 1/2 rubber padded mat top.
The rings were degreased and installed with 65 in-lbs on base screws, and 20in-lbs on ring cap screws.
Note: the rings were not removed after the Revic scope eval, the scopes were just swapped in place.
Ammunition used was Federal 168gr Tru. The 20 round proof group with this ammo was 1.2 MOA.
Zeroing:
Zeroing went without issue. Bore sighted and fired 2 rounds. Used spotter to measure adjustment. Went to left dot and fired the remaining 8 rounds. Made on up .25 and right .25 correction.
Drop eval:
Shots as marked. Top drops caused the largest shifts, and the single top 36” drop made the image fuzzy last about 60 yards, and seems to have slightly bend the eyepiece.
Drop eval was a total failure. Z3’s are nice to look through, but have always been very fragile scopes. The scope was removed as there is not much point in continuing.
Note: While the image is slightly fuzzy past 60’ish yards (it seems like the parallax has been reset), after the drops it did seem to rezero and adjust fine.
