Raymond270

Hi everyone, I am going to be ordering a new Browning A Bolt in 270 WSM and I am trying to decide which scope to buy. A Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10 with a 44mm Obj Dia. or a Leopold Vari-X III 3.5-10 with a 50mm Obj. Dia. The Leopold seems to have more eye relief while the Zeiss has more field of view. I can get either one for about the same price. Any suggestions or info would be helpful as there is no store around my area that has both. I had a Leopold Vari-X II on my 270 Win. before.

Thank you

woodseye

Well I own both mentioned scopes and like them both.To compare them head to head I would say -

brightness - the conquest has a slight edge here despite the larger Obj. lens on the leupold.Its not great but a couple minutes extra shooting time on an overcast day down in a dark section of woods perhaps.

FOV - The leupold is 29.5-10.7 while the conquest is 35.1-11.6.

finish - I prefer the thicker slightly rougher finish on the conquest for better holding in the rings and it seems more scratch and mar resistant.

weight - The leupold at 14.9 has a .9oz advantage over the conquest at 15.8.

adjustments - The leupolds are coin slot and will rezero when sighted in,while the conquests are finger adjustable and will also rezero.Both scopes track well and are very repeatable.Both feature crisp metal to metal clicks.

eye-relief - The conquest is rated at 3.5" of constant ER that does not change with power adjustments,for me it actually measures 3 3/4" from occular lens to my eye.The leupold ER varies with power from 3.6-4.6" Both scopes are ample on ER and the conquest has a rubber eye ring on occular end.

focus - The leupold uses the threaded occular end with a lock ring while the conquest uses the euro style diopter (bino style)focus.I MUCH prefer the euro style and find it to be much easier and faster to work with.You can make slight adjustments at different ranges for maximum defination.

tube length for adjustment - The leupold is quite short and can require off-set or extension mounts to work on longer actions.I hit this on a savage long action where it had no adjustment room to set for ER.The conquest has a long tube that gives much more adjustment leeway back and forth.

warranty - Both scopes share the same no hassels lifetime transferable warranty with quick in state service and fast turnaround.Conquest is in Va. and leupold is in Oregon.

resale value - They both have incrediable name recogonizition and high resale value.If kept in mint condition with box and papers and care is taken in lens cleaning and they are ding and dent free they can fetch up to 80-90% of wholesale price and sell pretty fast.The transferable warranty really helps here.

general user friendliness - The conquest has power adjustment numbers and turret numbers visible from the shooting position while the leupold requires raising your head and looking down to see either.A small thing but noticeable when shooting from the bench for groups or sighting in.

reticle - The leupold offers a fine-standard-and heavy duplex with other styles offered by premier reticle.The conquest offers a standard plex(about mid way between the standard and heavy leupold)and a range finder plex.I find the conquest reticle to stand out better than the standard leupold and cover less target or game than the heavy leupold.The Z-plex seems more prominent and is easier to see in low light conditions.The leupold is a wire reticle so it sometimes appears to be a bronze color due to light reflection off your cheek.The conquest reticle is etched glass amd always appears to be black.

clarity and resolution - The clarity of both scopes is superb and lacks nothing in their price range.The conquest does better on resolution charts and seems to have slightly better color resolution than the leupold.

Well there you have it,the best I can do to compare both scopes head to head.They run about the same in price wholesale with the leupold and conquest both running about $450.I think you will like either scope and they are both the cream of the crop for their price range.The last thing I would mention is the conquest with 44mm obj. will mount in lower rings than the leupold with the 50mm with a standard contour barrel.Good scope hunting! With these two you can' t make a bad choice.

woods

stubblejumper

I would choose the conquest for the superior lens coatings and the fact that the smaller objective allows the scope to not only be mounted lower but also to fit better in saddle scabbards or atv gun boots.

JD IN ALBERTA

I was in the same boat a couple of months back and Woods covered everything in the past forums with 1 post. You can look back and see some other opinions but I opted for the Zeiss. It looks great on my gun and has performed flawlessly so far. I am real happy with my new scope Good luck JDinAB

Raymond270

Thanks guys for all the info and especially you woods, great comparisons of both scopes. I have noticed that bronze coloring on my Leopold before and I do like the idea of the lower rings so I will get the Conquest. It is fun to have so many choices in guns and scopes. Although I do feel a little guilty as my dad only used a 30 30 with open sites for deer hunting.

GTBuzz

It looks like you have already made your decision, but I will say my opinion is basically a carbon copy of Woodseye' s. I give a very slight nod to the Zeiss, but as mentioned - both are excellent.