Who prefers low-power setting to higher?

[pneuby]

I re-discovered something this a/m that I'd found out years back. At that time, I'd had a couple of nice 22RF rifles that I'd scoped. On higher power levels, the bob-n-weave of the reticle dancing around is exacerbated. From 2-4x, I seem to get tighter groups. indeed only slightly better than manual sights.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

[condor22]

 Below 5x parallax is non existant. Parallax is a problem when using high magnification to shoot very tiny targets at long distances, where parallax error exceeds size of target. For example varmint hunting. Hunting big game parallax error is not as critical judged by the target size...

 I use 2-6x 100yd fixed parallax on my 2289 pumper with deadly accuracy to 30yds! 

[pneuby]

Well, I was laying down 5-shot groups at the 10m with an HW, and cloverleafing only 3 of the 5. Sometimes, throwing the 5th one badly. I looked at my power setting of 9x, and thought...what the heck. Dialed it down to 4, and was clover leafing 4 now, with the 5th closer.

Correct me if I am wrong. What I understand of parallax is that it if your eye is not directly centered, the reticle will APPEAR to be where it's not exactly at?

[vigilandy]

Below 5x parallax is non existant.

I'll have to disagree with that as a blanket statement.   I've got two 4x scopes that are shelved because of parallax issues.   Maybe it's because I buy cheap scopes? 

[TheBman]

Yeah lowering the power works for me, I prefer to shoot at the lowest power I can comfortably see what I am trying to sight in on.

[condor22]

Below 5x parallax is non existant.

I'll have to disagree with that as a blanket statement.   I've got two 4x scopes that are shelved because of parallax issues.   Maybe it's because I buy cheap scopes? 

At 4x how much parallax error for 20 or 30 yds?  Brand type of focus? Do some research. Most likely the reticle is not focused correctly.

[gloob]

Parallax is due to the scope hairs not being on the same focal plane as the target. With a 100 yard scope, looking at a 10 yard target, you cannot focus on both at the same time. Either the hairs will be fuzzy, or the target will be fuzzy.

In addition, the scope hairs and the target will not move together if your eye strays from dead center. The scope hairs will move as if they are an object 100 yards away, which means you move your head to the left, and the scope hairs move almost an equal amount with your eye, because 100 yards is pretty far and not too different from infinity. Looking at the sun or moon, for instance, when you move your head, the sun and moon move with you.

OTOH, the target that is only 10 yards away is not going to move as much. When you move your head, you have to adjust your eyes to track this close target.

So if your eye is off to the left on a 100 yard scope on a 10 yard target, the hairs will move more than the target. When you center the hairs back on the target by moving the gun, you are going to miss to the right.

But another meaning of the word, to shooters, when they talk about "bad parallax" is the quality of the optic. Beause there's really no such thing, strickly speaking. Parallax is always correct at a specific distance, at least in a specific part of the glass. But in a bad quality optic, when parallax is set to 100 yards, and when you're looking at a 100 yard target, the hairs might track ok left-right, but not up-down. Or they might track perfectly in one area of the glass, but be distorted in another.

IMO, parallax is a bigger concern to airgun shooters, because they are shooting at smaller targets and at shorter distances where parallax errors get big, quick. Parallax error between 5 and 10 yards is bigger than the difference between 100 yards and infinity. And yes, parallax has an effect at any magnification, and even with a red dot.

But back to the OP. Magnification greatly depends on how stable your hold is. Trying to use too high of a magnification can just be an extra burden trying to keep the target in the field of view. OTOH, from a very stable position, too low of a magnification will mask some issues, such as how your heartbeat is moving the hairs. With too low a magnification, you wouldn't know when to time your trigger break. OTOH, if your gun and trigger ain't that good, anyway, masking your aiming errors by using a lower magnification will allow you to focus on cleanly breaking the trigger, which is often more important.

 

[condor22]

  Have you actually tried what you posted using a 2x or a 4x fixed mag and fixed focus as that doesn't happen when I shoot. If you're using high magnification then of course. AT 2 OR 3x I have good focus/depth of field <10yds to infinity.   All the riflescopes I own on the low mag parallax has no effect. Try setting parallax at low mag then shift to high mag and you will always out of focus.

 Ask the field target crowd why they parallax at highest mag available and then down shift..?.?

[Geoff]

I like the highest zoom I can get when shooting targets.  if I could zoom to fill the screen with the tiny bullseye I would.  I want to see the weave in the paper... lol

[nervoustrigger]

I agree 100% Geoffrey.  No sense pretending the heartbeat and respiration aren't there just because you can't see it at low magnification.

[Not The Brightest Bulb]

I like the highest zoom I can get when shooting targets.  if I could zoom to fill the screen with the tiny bullseye I would.  I want to see the weave in the paper... lol

I agree with high, it just works for me with targets. With pests I drop it down from 2 to 7 power.

[gloob]

All the riflescopes I own on the low mag parallax has no effect. Try setting parallax at low mag then shift to high mag and you will always out of focus.

 Ask the field target crowd why they parallax at highest mag available and then down shift..?.?

The reason the field target crowd (and everyone else who knows how to use a scope) sets their parallax at highest magnification is because it the most accurate way to set the distance/focus, precisely because of this effect. IOW, if you set the scope at 4x, it is very hard to tell where the best focus is, because you can turn the knob quite a bit and not detect any difference in the quality of the picture. So you might set your focus/parallax knob + or - some error and not be able to tell the difference by your eye (but that parallax error will be there).

If "down-shifting" back to 4x made the parallax error go away, then you wouldn't need to set the parallax at the higher magnification to begin with, now would you?