ZERO COMPROMISE OPTICS ZC527 5-27X56 FFP

There’s an old saying: “Pay twice as much for your scope as your rifle!” It’s an adage that’s easy to follow, but for this test, your rifle would need to cost £2,150. I speak of Zero Compromise Optics, which claims to offer possibly the best glass on the planet. This is a bold claim, given competition from Kahles, Nightforce, Schmidt & Bender, and Vortex — all of whom know what the customer wants and how to build it.

Super scopes
The ZC527 5-27x56 falls into the ‘super scope’ category: high magnification, first focal plane (FFP), a 34 or 36mm tube, superior optics, and tactile, practical controls and reticle functions. Built for long and extreme long-range shooting, it’s primarily a sniper optic but also appeals to well-heeled competition shooters, like the precision rifle crowd, who spend serious money on guns and glass.
To compare, I selected four similar spec models: Kahles’ K328i 3-28x56 DLR (£3,400), Schmidt & Bender’s 3-27x56 PMII High Power (£4,450), Nightforce’s ATACR 5-25x56mm F1 (£3,500), and Vortex’s Razor HD GEN II 4.5-27x56 (£3,049). Only the Schmidt exceeds the ZCO’s £4,300 price. So, who are you buying from, and what are you getting for your money?

Who?
ZCO produces a small, select range of speciality rifle scopes. All models are prefixed with ZC and a three-digit number. The ZC420 (4-20x50), ZC527 (5-27x56), and ZC840 (8-40x56), for example, all have a one-piece, 36mm body tube and feature FFP reticles. Components are made and assembled in Austria or the USA, using renowned Schott glass with 92% light transmission.

Chunky boy!
My tester was a real ‘chunky boy’, at 2.4lbs and 15.4” long. It came with a ZCO one-piece mount, similar to the Spuhr design, with a swing-out bubble level and a slot-and-wedge system for reticle levelling. Designed for Picatinny mounting, it only has one lug, but the large claws ensure security. So, once fitted, you’ve got 3lbs on top of the gun, and before you get too excited, the mount costs an extra £445.
The finish is a pleasing flat black, with flat dark earth (FDE) also available. All markings are in white and contrast nicely for easy viewing.

Something old, new, and borrowed
Rear focus uses the old lock-ring system—retro but secure. The big magnification ring has angled slots for grip and a raised fin for easier dialling. There’s no throw lever, which would help, as movement is a tad firm but smooth. With most scopes in this class featuring fast focus and a possible throw lever, it shows what manufacturers consider important.

Plenty of adjustment
Now, moving on to the massive 36mm body tube and its huge saddle, which houses the usual three turrets: left (illumination and parallax), middle (elevation), and right (windage). All feature the same angled gripping slots as the magnification ring.
The 527 offers the choice of MRAD (on test) or MOA, with the former offering 0.1 MRAD click values, giving a quoted 35 MRAD of elevation and 20 MRAD of windage. What’s confusing is that ZCO says both turrets are of the lift-to-unlock (LTU) type, but on this example, it was only the windage. Given the choice, I’d go for the elevation turret to have that facility, although having both would be best.

Pop-up
The elevation turret offers 3.6 rotations, with 100 clicks per turn, with each MRAD graduation showing two numbers above to indicate where you are in elevation. For example, 0 has 10 and then 20 above to indicate the turret’s overall position. Backing this up is a plunger that rises as you dial, marked with rings, so you have a tactile, secondary visual indicator. In the heat of the moment, it’s all too easy to get lost in elevation, so this is a useful feature. I think it was Kahles that first offered this concept many years ago. Turret movement is firm but smooth, allowing individual clicks to be easily felt and heard.
Windage is the same, which makes adjustments easy. Notations are split 0–7 either way, indicated by R and L markings, which are again useful as a quick reference. Both turrets can be set to zero by loosening small grub screws, while the elevation offers a zero-stop function, too, if you like that sort of thing. As you can see, little has been left to chance.

Red or green?
Like a lot of scopes, the parallax turret also includes illumination. Range marks go from 25, 30, 40, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 500, 800, and infinity, with reference stadia in between. In testing, the figures stayed near the distances but should not be considered accurate for range-finding.
Powered by the usual CR2032 coin-type battery, the reticle can be selected in either red or green. There’s also AIM (Automatic Illumination Management), which offers several shutdown options: after a two-minute run time, if the scope/rifle is moved outside set horizontal or vertical parameters, and a full shut-off after two hours. These two separate functions are easily accessed by removing the battery cover. When lit, even at its highest setting, the reticle does not blow out and get fuzzy, as some cheaper systems do.
The mount is big and solid, with the bubble level swinging out to the left, which is reversible for left-handers. At the front of the base, there is a vertical stud intended for the rear attachment of a mirage band, should you choose to use one. The mount also features an angled slot for a wedge that slides under the saddle to level the reticle easily and precisely.

Long
The length of the 36mm rings means that there is not a lot of front-to-back adjustment for initial eye relief, so this has to be taken up using the base. Chances are that your gun will offer a chassis system with a full-length Picatinny rail, along with adjustable length-of-pull and comb height, so there’s no problem. When fitted, the scope sits quite high above the bore line as well. Overall, it’s a practical design dedicated to this sort of high-mag optic.

MRAD available
Although 35 MRAD of elevation and 20 of windage is generous, you must factor in how much is used for zeroing, so in real terms, these are purely top-to-bottom, side-to-side figures. I used Hornady’s data for their 147gr ELD Match bullet with a BC of 0.351 in a 6.5 Creedmoor at 2,567fps. Setting zero for 100 yards with a maximum range of 1,000, I factored in a 20mph wind at 3 o’clock, too—a bit high, but we’ll see.
At 1,000 yards, the figures were good: drop -342.54” (-9.51 MRAD) and wind 135.12” (3.75 MRAD). At the other end of the scale, Hornady’s .338 Lapua 285gr BTHP Match at 2745fps gave -288.42” drop (8.01 MRAD) and 116.37” (3.23 MRAD) for windage. OK, these are theoretical figures based on optimal velocities, but it’s clear that the ZC527 can push you beyond 1,000 yards with plenty to spare, even after zeroing.
With the promise of very generous windage and elevation—but the caveat of how much movement you use up for zeroing—I counted the clicks. From top to bottom, you get 360 in elevation, which works out to 3.6 rotations, with 100 clicks per turn, which, by my count, makes 36 MRAD. You get 140 in windage and a single turn, making 14 MRAD in total. So, you get one more than quoted in elevation and six less left-to-right. However, the ballistics above show a lot of spare adjustment range at 1,000 yards.

Reticles
ZCO offers a good choice of reticles, and the ZC527 gives you six options, all in the preferred FFP. The MPCT 1X is a simple crucifix with plenty of information, featuring a clear top section for improved target identification. However, there is no pyramid of lead marks in the lower section. The MPCT 2X is much the same but with the pyramid. The MPCT 3X offers a blockier, Horus-like style. The MOA is again plain but with enough hash marks for wind and lead calculations.
Then we have the two Tremor reticles. No.3 is USSOCOM’s (United States Special Operations Command) choice. It uses the HORUS grid, which easily allows range and windage corrections using precise aim points, along with bullet time-of-flight dots that can be used easily without a ballistic solver or having to count multiple aim points. No.5 is aimed at competition shooting, such as PRS, and is a simplified version for a clearer field of view.

Worth it?
In truth, the ZC527 is nothing special in the world of super scopes, as the likes of Kahles, S&B, etc., offer the same, but that’s what we expect from glass of this quality and ability. The choice, as always, is down to you, and to be honest, in this class, it’s a difficult one if you’re serious about competition. GM