Leupold VX3 B&C vs Zeiss Conquest Rapid Z
 

Iam looking for a good holdover scope for my 7mmSTW. Looking for experiences with or opinions on the Leupold VX3 4.5-14X50 B&C reticle and the Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x50 rapid Z 600 or 800. Appreciate any input you may have. Any other options I may want to look at are welcome aswell. Thanks

I have a 7mmSTW on the way myself, and unless you download your ammunition, or use bullets with a poor BC, neither of those options works well with the trajectory of the 7mmSTW.

If you bump your zero to around 225 yards it will put you awfully close with the Rapid Z 800....depending on your load of close.

Bumping the zero to more than 200 yards made it even worse. Reducing the zero to around 170 yards got me the closest, but the only way to get good results was to drop the velocity by about 200fps, or drop the velocity by around 100fps, and drop the BC by about .07.

As I said...it depends on your load :) Just pointing out that you can get it awfully close by changing zero. Mine worked well on my 7STW.

The reason that the Rapid Z-800 reticle does not work with many 7mmstw loads, is because the trajectory of virtually all 7mmstw loads is too flat. In this case, increasing the zero distance from 200 yards to 225 yards only makes the situation worse,whereas reducing the zero distance to less than 200 yards improves the situation. In cases where the actual load trajectory is not flat enough for the Rapid Z-800 reticle, increases the zero distance helps the situation.

Kind of and again depending on your load but in those cases, I'd rather make my 500-800 yard crosshairs right on the money and sacrifice some at the lower end where it's not as critical. You really need to play with the calculator to see what works best for a particular load.

Thanks for the info guys. I was kind of partial to the Zeiss as by looking at there online calculator you can input your load and it will do the work for you, has anyone used this calculator to determine the holdover points? Maybe a turret scope is best for the STW.

Input your load into the Zeiss calculator and be sure to select a Rapid Z 800. After that just play with your zero and you will see how it changes the secondary hashmarks. I had mine basically perfect at 500-800 yards with the 300 and 400 yard crosshairs represently slightly higher yardages if I remember correctly which really wasn't an issue. The 7STW is a tough one to get perfect throughout the entire ranges but by playing with zero you sure can get it close.

With my 139/140gr load(GMX or Accubond), I had to drop the velocity to 3275fps to make the numbers work well, and with my 160gr load(Accubond) I had to drop the velocity to 3150fps. Both would be very mild 7mmstw loads. Using my normal velocity 7mmstw loads, I had to go with a zero of around 150 yards, which made the point of impact low at 300 to 500 yards, and it was still high from 600 to 800 yards. I went with a Swarovski Z5 3.5-18x44 myself, as the BRH hashmarks worked out better with my loads.

I had 140 grain Accubonds working well at 3400 fps. Run the numbers again...you'll see what I mean....by changing the zero that is. The key with a few of the really hot loads is to play with your zero. Try around 175 yards if I remember correctly. My 7STW now has a new home so I don't have the info any more.

Seems like a lot of work, might want to look into the CDS.

I ran many numbers, and none worked well at normal 7mmstw velocities. I just ran the 140gr Accubond at 3400fps with a sight height of 1.6" and an altitude of 1100ft,and a temperature of 70 degrees and the numbers came out as:

Hash Marks---- Actual zero
300----------- 287
400---------- 400
500---------- 510
600 ---------- 620
700---------- 731
800---------- 840

Those 600,700, and 800 yard hash marks aren't close enough for me. A difference of 40 yards at 800 yards is way too much. Even 31 yards at 700 yards is too much for hunting.

A turret would be a better option in this case.

What zero did you use? With the same load I was able to get within 17 yards at 800 and that was the furthest out. I'm not sure you understand about changing the primary zero. Once you have all the info for your load entered, it's just a simple matter of playing with the primary zero. It only takes a few seconds to run the numbers. It's amazing the fine tuning you can do on hot loads like this. When running the number, set the parameter so bat 6 = 600 yards and that will get your higher yardage hashmarks much closer. It appears yours was set for 400....that's likely where you ran into issues. It all sounds complicated but it only takes a few seconds.

I used 175 yards as you suggested.I tried zeros as close as 150 yards, and the numbers still weren't very good.

Perhaps it was 180 then...I was going from memory. all set your parameter so that bar 6 = 600 yards. Looks like you had yours set at 400.

Bar 6 was set at 600 yards. A zero of 180 yards makes it slightly worse. The best that I could find was a zero of 150 yards, and that still gives 721 and 832 at with the 700 yard, and 800 yard hash marks.