January 13, 2012
By J. Scott Rupp
I'm a big fan of Zeiss 's Rapid-Z reticle. I have a Conquest so-equipped on my Savage .300 Win. Mag., and I think it's one of the more effective, easy-to-use long-distance hunting reticles on the market.
Now Zeiss is partnering with Hornady to bring users of Superformance ammo a scope that's automatically set up for effective long-range shooting. Serious long-range shooters have been using load-customized reticles for years, and now this same capability is available directly from the manufacturer in a "mount, zero and go" setup.
If you aren't familiar with Superformance, it's a family of loads that outperforms standard ammunition without excess pressures and with little additional recoil. I've shot it in various calibers and found it to be accurate in most rifles, and it certainly delivers in the performance department.
The new Conquest Superformance Rapid-Z scopes combine these two great technologies. All you need to do is match a select Hornady Superformance cartridge and bullet weight with one of the six select Zeiss Conquest Superformance riflescopes.
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Conquest 3.5-10x44 (RZ 600) for 7mm-08, .30-06, .338 Win. Mag.
Conquest 3.5-10x44 (RZ 800) for .300 RCM, .300 Win. Mag.
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Conquest 3.5-10x50 (RZ 600) — same as 44mm version above
Conquest 3.5-10x50 (RZ 800) — same as 44mm version above
Conquest 4.5-14x44 (RZ 800) for .270 Win., 7mm Rem. Mag., .300 RCM, .300 Win. Mag.
Conquest 4.5-14x50 (RZ 800) — same as 44mm version above RZ is shorthand for Rapid-Z obviously; 600 and 800 indicate the max yardages the reticles are set up to handle. (Yes, you can use them to shoot farther than that, but the additional aiming references only go that far.)
Current Superformance loads that match up to these reticles include 7mm-08 (139-gr. GMX and SST), .270 Win. (130-gr. GMX and InterBond), .30-06 (165-gr. SST and InterBond), 7mm Rem. Mag. (139-gr. SST and GMX), .300 Win. Mag. (165-gr. SST and InterBond), .300 RCM (150-gr. GMX and SST), .338 Win. Mag. (185-gr. GMX).
Zero the scope for 200 yards and in the field the additional aiming points are automatically set up for 300, 400, 500 and 600 yards (and out to 800 for the RZ 800). Then in the field it's just a matter of hold and shoot. We look forward to testing this new concept. Watch for it in a future issue of RifleShooter .