FT Scope Review • Classic Rifle• New Products • and lots more ...

Hunter Field Target Scope TestThis is the first part of a four part series on scopeswhich lend themselves to the sport of Hunter FieldTarget or HFT for Target Shooter online magazine.HFT has not been going for that long but, as FieldTarget did, it has driven forward the technology andTim Finleyunderstanding of the rifles and scopes that are usedin the discipline.The over-riding factor with HFT is the ‘scope rule’-the aiming device cannot be altered by the shooteronce they have shot the first targeton the course. With targets from 8yards to 45 yards it is asking a lot ofthe scopes and lenses, Why?Because scopes suffer fromparallax error. The yellow star is thereticle and the coloured squaresthe target as viewed through thescope.. In real terms the reticleis not focused in the same imageplane as the target, so it movesposition on the intended target asyou move your eye/head about atthe rear of the scope.The practical upshot of whichis, if you do not have your eye inexactly the correct same spot in thecenter of the scope, the reticle will notactually be aiming where you wantit. That is if the scope has not hadits objective lens adjusted to eliminate the parallaxerror.Zeiss eye bellIn FT we use this adjusting of the objective lens tofocus the image and eliminate parallax error andit also rangefind’s the distance to the target whenwe read off the ranges marked on the parallaxadjustment front lens or side-wheel.Not so in HFT, the objective and therefore theparallax, cannot be changed once you have started62 Target Shooter