Zeiss Victory HT 2.5-10×50 rifle scope.

Zeiss Victory HT 2.5-10×50

Courtesy of Zeiss UK and Zeiss Hunting EU I bring to you the Zeiss Victory HT 2.5-110×50 Scope with the Rapid Z bullet drop compensation (BDC) reticle.

Here is the geeky stuff that everyone needs to know before I start my full in-depth review of the Zeiss Victory HT 2.5-10×50.

Magnification    2.5 x      10 x

Effective Lens Diameter 37.7 mm              50 mm

Exit Pupil Diameter          15 mm  5 mm

Twilight Factors 7.1          22.4

Field of View at 100m     14.8 m  4.1 m

Subjective Viewing Angle             8.5 °       2.3 °

Diopter Adjustment Range          +2 | -4 dpt

Eye Relief            90 mm

Parallax-Free     100 m

Adjustment Square at 100m        140 cm

Adjustment per Click at 100m     1 cm

Centre Tube Diameter   30 mm

Eye Piece Tube Diameter              42 mm

Objective Tube Diameter              56 mm

LotuTec®             Yes

Nitrogen Filling  yes

Water Resistance             400 mbar

Functional Temperature in °C      -25 | +50 °C

Length  321 mm

Weight – between 525gr and 550gr depending if with or without rail.

Now back to talking about the scope.

Test 1.

Mount and Zero.

With every scope the first and most important part is to mount and zero.

I mounted the scope on to the Tikka T3 .270, this was very simple and with the weight of the scope being so light it made the rifle more balanced than what it is with the Meopta I have, I really could not believe the difference it made to the weight and feel of my rifle.

Zeroing the rifle at 100m was very easy also and with a couple of rounds I was grouping dead centre with the Sierra Pro-hunter 130gr home-loads.

Turrets felt like “breaking glass” very crisp and firm on the turn and not too light to cause any problems.

The Illuminated reticle was also very nice to use and I am not a fan of illuminated reticle.

So zero went very well and initial reaction to the clarity of the glass was very impressive.

To be fair I move scopes on and off my rifles all the time for reviews or to just change the set up so I pretty well know what to expect.

Test 2.

Long range shooting.

The reticle on this model I have been reviewing was a “Rapid Z 5” with a Bullet drop (BDC) compensation. I wanted to see how accurate this hold over system was with my load data and to do this I had to take it beyond a range of standard stalking distances.

My target was a pumpkin, 4 inches high and approx. 4.5 inches wide, this is a perfect target size as for deer stalking that is roughly your target size and the pumpkin was set on top of a fence post below a large backstop.

The range was 500yrds, this is a very long way for a .270 but I have comfortably shot out to there before and the reticle data, using both the Zeiss app and Strelok Pro app, advised that I could get 825m.

Ammo, 130gr Sierra Pro-Hunter homeloaded with 59gr of Alliant Re19 powder. BC of the round is 0.37 which is not ideal for long range shooting but the speed of the round is 2960fps.

My magazine takes 5 rounds with one round extra in the chamber so I limited myself to the 6 rounds.

Next to where the pumkin was on the fence post I have a 4-inch steel plate hanging off the top wire of the fence, so I decided to take a test shot onto that plate striking it with the first shot. With the 2mph wind I could see the plate was hit around half inch from the centre of the plate, so I adjusted and took aim on the pumpkin.

Clarity through the Zeiss Victory HT 2.5-10×50 was very good and although the 10x was limited on magnification I found it very easy to see the whole of the pumpkin.

First shot was centre, and as you can imagine I had a huge grin on my face, so I aimed again at the exact same spot as I aimed before holding the reticle just below the number 4 line and dropped another onto the pumpkin, if it was not for the fact I could see a bit of pumpkin fly behind it I would not have though I had hit it as it went right into the same  hole as the first shot.

Shot 3, 4 and 5 all again hit the pumpkin leaving a 2-inch hole centre mass of the pumpkin, I was pretty chuffed.

With this I felt very comfortable using this for stalking.

Test 3

Stalking.

Over the space of the weeks I had this scope on test I had shot 24 deer in total using this set up in various locations and species.

The most memorable would be the day I was Roe Doe stalking, I had the also with me the Zeiss Victory HT 10×54 binoculars working alongside.

I had quite a good day already with 1 Sika hind and calf taken during the day. The scope performed excellent but it was not day time shooting I wanted to test this scope, I really wanted to test the Zeiss Victory HT 2.5-10×50 in low light conditions and as close to dark as possible.

The Zeiss boasts 95% light retention which is 3% more than its SF models and in real time that is a difference of 15 to 30 minutes extra shooting time. I had already experienced the low light capabilities of the Binoculars and with this scope having the same HT (High Transmission) boast it was a must to try this out.

Evening was setting in, so I decided to head to a small area I control deer on for the owner. Sunset here, at this time of year, is 1535 so this was a perfect last light opportunity to test Zeiss Victory HT scope.

Using the Zeiss HT binos I spied 4 deer, 2 Does with kids, within a heavy covered area of the ground deep within hardwood that needs protected.  When I first saw them they were currently sitting at 590yrds from me and the Does with their kids were around 200yrds apart from one another, so the stalk was going to be a difficult one.

Sun had set and darkness was settling in as I was crawling into a position that was suitable to see all four deer. I crawled into within 250yrds of the furthest away deer and I knew I would not be able to get in closer due to their elevated position above me and the wind, elements were against me.

With the Twilight I was struggling to see the deer now with the naked eye, but a quick glance with the binos I was able to see them perfect, I settled down behind the rifle and caught my breathing and looked through the scope and was very surprised to find that all deer were crystal clear with no issues at all, even though by now it was almost impossible to see their location with the naked eye.

I scanned using the scope practicing, without firing, my motion of shots and getting the locations of the deer so I knew exactly where to move from one shot to the next.

1^st shot dropped the Roe kid 2^nd the Doe just below it, I then scanned left to the other 2 and noticed they had not moved, again 1^st went into the kids shoulder the number 2 into the Doe beside. All four went down on the spot within minutes of each other.

I was impressed.

On walking in to recover the deer it was now very dark and to find them in the deep cover would have been impossible without using the thermal imager and the dog.

In near Dark conditions the scopes clarity was amazing really holding up to its HT name.

My Thoughts,

The Zeiss HT 2.5-10×50 scope is a high-end scope, and with this I would expect it to deliver on all the promises Zeiss has made about it and to me it does.

The 95% High transmission lenses work very well giving you clarity when you need it most but not compromising on vision when the light is at its brightest. There is no glare or loss of sharpness on the edges either giving you edge to edge vision at all times.

I coined a phrase when testing the Victory HT Binos, “On the edge of darkness Zeiss has the edge”, and I am sticking to that with the Zeiss Victory HT 2.4-10×50 scope as in low a poor light they are phenomenal.

People who know me know that I have used a variety of scopes over the years from high end marketed scope to budgets and I have to say the Zeiss Victory HT is definitely up there with the best scopes on the market, in fact, I would easily say that this scope is probably the best stalking scope on the market.

This particular scope is a hunting scope primarily, there is no exposed or locking turrets for dialling out to your ranges, it is a straight forward point and shoot scope using hold overs at your various ranges and the “Rapid” reticle helps you achieve this. So if your looking for a long range scope for shooting at a range etc then this particular model is not for you, but, for staling it is amazing.

As said before all the technology in this scope is designed to give you the best out of your hunting environment and extra hunting time.

Price of this model is around the £1700 which is around the price of the Zeiss  V6 model which I own and love myself, if you want the higher magnification and objective (2-12×56 HT) then you could be talking about £2000, but what you get for your money is the freedom to shoot more accurately and for longer.

I have to say and I am going to be fully honest here, IF I had the money I would be purchasing the Zeiss Victory HT without hesitation. I have looked through many scopes deep  at all hours of the day and night and I have to say this Zeiss has to be the best I have used and that is against Swarovski products that cost far more than this one.  I would love this on my standard stalking rifle.

You will not be disappointed what so ever in what your buying.

I would like to say Thank you again to Zeiss for loaning me this product to test.

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and I hope to be able to bring you more great products to review in the new year.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.