Parallax?

[MUP]

I'm not a long range shooter, and I don't know a whole lot about scope terminology. That said, I can shoot fair I suppose, but could someone explain, in layman's terms, what parallax is and how it pertains to the shot? Thanks!

 

[280longshot]

I watched this youtube video and just got schooled, looks to be very important for long range shooting not so much deer hunting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ziKTDIMCig

 

[MUP]

Thanks for the link buddy!

 

[Deer Assassin]

to quote mr big

"you do not need a scope wiht adjustable objective to hunt deer in tn "

and he is right
but it makes a difference at distance

 

[MUP]

And from what I gather from the video, it takes quite a distance at that. Seems not much more than a softball sized group out to 600 yds, if I heard them right. They definitely say it's not much of an issue for hunters, but more for target shooters, at least out to that distance. I feel better anyway.

 

[DaveB]

The glass inside a higher-powered variable scope causes the image being viewed to actually be viewed from two slightly different angles. So what you see is not exactly correct. If you aimed to shoot a deer in the eye you would miss the eye. You might crush his head but you would miss the eye. The parallax adjustment would theoretically allow you to hit the eye. In the world of BenchRest shooters they not only want to hit the eye, they want the iris at 600 yards. Its why you see fixed power scopes at 24x up to I think I have seen 42x.

 

[infoman jr.]

The glass inside a higher-powered variable scope causes the image being viewed to actually be viewed from two slightly different angles. So what you see is not exactly correct. If you aimed to shoot a deer in the eye you would miss the eye. You might crush his head but you would miss the eye. The parallax adjustment would theoretically allow you to hit the eye. In the world of BenchRest shooters they not only want to hit the eye, they want the iris at 600 yards. Its why you see fixed power scopes at 24x up to I think I have seen 42x.

 

[mike243]

I have a scope that you can set it, it is useless to me on a HP hunting rifle . it does work well on the 10/22T I have it on though for target work. a rimfire scope is normally set at 50y and a HP at 100y but have never tried to see what difference it would make if it was set wrong and might try it with the 22"cheap" to try lol

 

[fairchaser]

It sb noted that consistent cheek weld will eliminate a lot of parallax differences. Also, I have found the cheaper scopes tend to have more parallax. I've seen as much as 2 inches at 100 yds. When I shoot someone else's gun, my point of impact is usually way off from the original since I shoot left handed my view through the scope is canted compared to a right hand shooter. This can be explained with parallax. I would argue that it can make a difference to hunters even at reasonable distances. For these reasons never let someone else sight in your gun.

 

[7mminatree]

A standard 4x32 has an error correction of 2/10 of an inch at 100 yards. Parallax is pretty much an optical illusion. Kinda like when your riding as a passenger in a car and you look at the speedometer. What you see doesn't match what the driver is seeing.