What is Parallax?

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What is Parallax?

What is Parallax?
By Earl Hines, Best of the West Master Gunsmith

When we talk about the accuracy of a shooting system, there is one element that most people know little about, don't understand, don't know how to apply, or don't recognize. Many people have indicated that they understand it but when asked, they give an inaccurate response. What I am referring to is that thing called parallax. What is it? How does it work? How do I adjust it? Is it...

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[Josebigsky]

Hey Earl,

Thanks for the explanation. My son naught a new Vortex scope and had the side parallax adjustment. We had a problem at sight in just as you described. Now I know the solution. Thank you!

A couple of questions,
1. When doing this process as outlined, does the magnification matter? In other words, should the scope be set to its lowest, highest or somewhere in between setting? Or does it matter?

If you don't do this process of setting parallax, what kind of error could you see at the target at 300 yards?

Thank you.

Joe

 

[Shootin4fun]

Good article, thanks for posting.

+1 to question #1 from Joebigsky.

Also, would you say that the most "in focus" setting typically corresponds to the best parallax settings. Typically, I use the middle of the range of clearest focus but also check for movement of the reticle against the target. I can't tell you that I know that "most in focus" setting is the one with the least movement of the reticle when changing my angle of view, though I've tried a few times to ascertain . Will have to pay more attention to this next time at the range.

 

[Danehunter]

Good article with good illustrations that clearly explain the text.

The best scopes have a very forgiving range of distance, say from 200 yards to 6oo yards, where the targets appear to be in focus. This can lull the shooter into thinking there is no parallax but the "moving head" test usually shows parallax until the parallax/target focus knob is more finely tuned.

I've found that in the rush of competition I've sometimes forgotten to adjust for parallax. So I train to locate my eye a distance from the ocular lens that gives me a slight "shadow ring" in the scope picture. When that ring is even all the way around I know my eye is centered and little or no parallax will exist. That's faster than adjusting for parallax by moving my head back and forth and adjusting until no parallax exists.

Eric B.

 

[Shootin4fun]

Good article with good illustrations that clearly explain the text.

The best scopes have a very forgiving range of distance, say from 200 yards to 6oo yards, where the targets appear to be in focus. This can lull the shooter into thinking there is no parallax but the "moving head" test usually shows parallax until the parallax/target focus knob is more finely tuned.

I've found that in the rush of competition I've sometimes forgotten to adjust for parallax. So I train to locate my eye a distance from the ocular lens that gives me a slight "shadow ring" in the scope picture. When that ring is even all the way around I know my eye is centered and little or no parallax will exist. That's faster than adjusting for parallax by moving my head back and forth and adjusting until no parallax exists.

Eric B.

Yes, I have found that to be true about the focus range.
And yes, I mainly use the "shadow ring" in the scope picture to be my reference for the same line of sight through the scope as well. However I do sometimes check the movment of the reticle against retcile the target when I first start shooting at a given distance.

 

[gorsebush]

I have a Zeiss varipoint. The parallax is set at 100m with no adjustment. The reticle is on the first focal plane, ant the red dot on the second focal plane. What does that mean, and can that affect zero.

 

[WildWestNM]

I just read this and went through the adjustment procedure to re-set the focus and then the parallax for 100 yards. I have to admit that I always just used the parallax nob to get the target into a crisp picture, however, when I did that now and moved my head around there was obvious reticle movement. I got both of my scopes set up pretty well now. Gonna hit the range this week and see how it goes. Thanks for writing the article in an easily understandable way and having the step by step protocol to make proper adjustment. Well done.

 

[carl.gotwald]

I have adjusted parallax on the bench but never did the head bob to confirm. When in the field I can have shots at multiple distance would you recommend setting the parallax at any distance to cover 100 - 600 and how much change in bullet impact could I be looking at?