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Zeiss Victory FL Diavari

Zeiss Victory FL Diavari

Low light shooters will often go to a 56mm for those important last few minutes of available daylight, or to help select quarry shaded under canopy. Zeiss now offer an even larger 72mm option, is this just a publicity stunt, or the ultimate optic for certain uses? Let us see…

Mount Up

The scope when seen alone is of normal proportion but when sat side by side with another, the differences show. Mounting requires careful thought and selection of accessories to achieve the desired height to clear that 80 mm objective bell. Moving rearward the increasingly common one-piece 34mm aluminium body tube is no longer an issue with many rings available in various specifications. Centrally the saddle enlarges to 35mm and here we find all the controls, a capped windage on the right side. On the left a combined a parallax (side focus) and rheostat drum, on top, the new ASV elevation turret.

All click values are clearly marked in 1cm @ 100m increments, corresponding precisely to the more ballistic nomenclature of 0.1 Miliradian. The Parallax adjusts smoothly from 50m to ? and shows no signs of backlash, it is marked with distance increments but these are small and most users will use it to get then target in focus and not for basic rangefinding! The rheostat pulls out and pushes in to turn ON and OFF and rotates smoothly without detents in both directions to increase or decrease intensity; there are no numbers, as again, you will be looking through the scope. When switched OFF it remembers the last setting and returns to it when switched ON again. The No. 60 reticule is in the 2nd focal plane and is a fine crosshair broadening at 3, 6 and 9 0’clock, similar to a German #7. Only a tiny central dot is illuminated.

ASV?

The new ASV elevation turret is offered to the burgeoning market for those wanting quick adjustability of the point of impact on a hunting rifle. It is not what I would term a truly ballistic turret for one very good reason; it only offers 6.8 Miliradian from zero stop to full stop. That said this is not for target shooting and this amount of adjustment will get something like a 300 Winchester Magnum from 0 to 930 yards in one rotation with no chance of getting lost.

Zeiss offers a ballistic calculation program allowing the user to enter their specific cartridge data and zero distance. A selection of stickers are included that can be applied to the turret to exactly correspond to your chosen range increments. This seems a clear and simple solution to the requirements of those wanting to engage targets at 2, 3 or 400 yards. The offshoot to having limited travel in a single rotation is that the distance markings are well separated so won’t be confused.

Moving rearwards the zoom ring is clearly marked with grip provided by the machined knurling of the aluminium ring. The eyebell tapers into a fast-focus eyepiece that offers from +2 to –3 dioptre correction. A slim rubber eyecup sits at the back, although eye relief is perfect at 90mm. Along with full instructions on the turrets and all scope features, a spare battery is included along with rubberised elastic scope caps.

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Built For Field Use?

It seems ridiculous to doubt the quality of lenses from Zeiss; they are at the pinnacle of worldwide optical technology in many fields but how about our field? The FL designation acknowledges the latest light transmission coatings with reduced chromatic aberration along with Lotutec external lens coatings which `pearl` water droplets allowing them to run off without diminishing visibility. The scope is Nitrogen-filled and waterproof to 400 mbar pressures with a working temperature range of -20 to +50°.

Would You Boast 72mm?

As the primary use of the scope was a little uncertain, I used it on a 300 Winchester magnum for long range target work and a 243 Winchester for a bit of rabbit/fox dusk shooting and lamping. I twigged one of this scopes finest attributes before reading the advertising blurb, even at full magnification, the exit pupil is huge. At 3mm diameter it is 30% larger than even its smaller 56mm brother. Zeroing was no problem at 100 yards and all dialled click corrections at long ranges proved accurate. After zeroing was completed with the ASV turret removed, I re-fitted it on its zero stop and liked the slight lift to turn characteristics of the knob, preventing any accidental movement but smooth with positive clicks and no overrun. Return to zero was spot on!

Oh I’m Tempted

In field use I took it to an early evening fox/vermin hotspot and I was able to happily aim and click onto rabbit after rabbit coming out from the bottom of a hedge between 2 and 300 yards. I carried on doing so 15 minutes longer than my friend with an identical scope but with the 56mm objective. Image quality, colour definition and edge-to-edge clarity were excellent. It provided the low light ability the 72mm objective boasted, but the large exit pupil was the highlight for me! More forgiving of uncomfortable shooting/head positions (if combined with parallax correction at high mag) and quite simply, easy on the eye.

I found the reticule a good combination of fine/precision in daylight on small targets, with the single, central illuminated dot enough to draw my eye for evening forays into the fields on rabbit or fox and under the lamp. The size of the scope is a downside but you don’t get any freebies with physics and as a long-range varmint or low light scope it’s an excellent choice.

There is always a design compromise between mechanical adjustability, internal optical component sizes and main tube diameter on any scope and on a technical level; Zeiss have made hard choices here. At the cost of producing a pure long-range target or tactical scope, they have made a superb low light, long-range hunting optic. It is good enough to have tempted me!

PRICE: £2550

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  • Zeiss Victory FL Diavari - image {image:count}

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  • Zeiss Victory FL Diavari - image {image:count}

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  • Zeiss Victory FL Diavari - image {image:count}

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  • Zeiss Victory FL Diavari - image {image:count}

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  • Zeiss Victory FL Diavari - image {image:count}

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  • Zeiss Victory FL Diavari - image {image:count}

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  • Zeiss Victory FL Diavari - image {image:count}

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gun
features

  • Reticule: No. 60
  • Illuminated: Yes
  • Click Values: 0.1 Miliradian
  • Clicks Per turn: 68
  • Full rotation: 10.9 Miliradians (total elevation adjustment without ASV)
  • Body Tube: 34mm
  • 50m - Infinity: Parallax
  • Field of View: 6.1-1.7m at 100m (6/24 mag)
  • Eye Relief: 90mm
  • Weight : 1060g
  • Length: 378mm
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