Is it safe to infer that the larger the spread of degrees from 10-55 the more likely ranging will be accurate? In other words is there a direct correlation between the two?
Could one expect that a scope that people reported that ranged very well - the Falcon 503? for example - would have a large spread. A friend at MAFTA reported that he had one, but it didn’t have IR which he preferred for our shaded course.
@Croxton63 - the short answer is yes.... but, and there is always a but.... repeatability is also important.
A scope needs to be able to return to that exact spot (or distance) each and every time it is ranging... we call this repeatability.
Many things can affect this, including "lash" which is slop in the way the lenses move as they engage the forward and backward force of the parallax knob. the more slop, the less repeatability or room for errors. the tighter the movement or the less lash means greater repeatability.
Although some scopes may spread the numbers out further, they may lack repeatability because of lash, esp if the user doesn't understand the need to range the SAME way they set up their ranging wheel.
This is why you will hear many FT shooters talk about using the parallax wheel exactly the same way every time... going from either near to far .... or from far to near .... or going slightly past clear image and then returning to it, but doing it exactly the same way you did it when you set up your ranging wheel.
Since we are sort of on topic, let me add this... the ability of a scope to range accurately also involves the end users ability to create the same eyebox when looking through the scope... sometimes difficult for those people wearing glasses, esp progressive / bi-focals etc.. skinny little glasses provide skinny little windows to get the picture just right... owning a set of birth control glasses (big and ugly) will provide a bigger sweet spot in the middle of the lens. Other factors are cataracts, Macular degeneration, high or low blood pressure, high or low blood sugar... or anything else creating changes to the human eye like jaw clenching when stressed or headaches. Because of these things, if you have cataract surgery your wheel will need to be re-calibrated once your eyes heal.; or if you had high blood pressure or high blood sugar... once those are under control... you will probably need to re-do your wheel as those things affect your vision or ability to focus.
Add to this whole ranging wheel set up, one more tidbit... while setting up a scope, our eyes can fatigue, it is important to constantly "look away" from the scope and and blink and yawn, then come back to the image because if we stare through the scope too long, our eyes and associated muscles try to bring the image into focus instead of the scopes lens system doing the work.
Illumination, to me, or my older eyes is essential, esp when in a dark wooded course where an evil match director has placed a dark brown, dark blue or dark green painted target because after all.... they can.
