Also, for many years I have used my own 3-12 Zenith on my Ruger M77/17 17HMR. There’s a spare battery for the rheostat in the extended windage cap too.īoth turrets offer four compete rotations with the drum divided into 34 x 1cm clicks, that’s 134 cms top to bottom, or 54.5” in old money, about right for a hunting scope!įor testing, I mounted the Zenith on my Mauser M03 in 6.5x55mm, normally I have the older S&B 3-12x42 Klassik with A9 Flash Dot reticle. There’s also a slip ring around the circumference that allows you to set a 0 position, should you want to dial up. As the scope is dialed, the pointer moves to show how much movement is left, as in green available, red not available. This incorporates a dial with a circle split into 2/3rds green and 1/3rd red sectors. Click values are 1cm 100m, turrets are low hunting-types under screw-off caps, but have Schmidt’s unique, Posicon turret position indicator system. The magnification ring is rubber with tapered fins and at the rear a fast focus eyepiece. The finish is a semi-matte black with silver markings.
#SCHMIDT BENDER 3 12 PLUS#
These are controlled by a drum-type rheostat on the left of the saddle that gives 0-11 positions with night and day setting plus a switch off point in the middle of the run. Finally, the FD1 – three thick outer posts with the 6 o’clock coming to the open centre with a dot on it.
![schmidt bender 3 12 schmidt bender 3 12](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/42UAAOSwQT5bkr7Q/s-l400.jpg)
Lit – Flash Dot FD4, FD7 and FD9 are identical to the A4, A7 and A9 apart from a centre red dot. The A7 - identical with a wider inner cross hair and the A9 - like the A4 but with a fine circle on the intersection of the thick and thin posts. The non-lit models offer four A1 three thick posts at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock, A4 - three thick outer bars at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock with a finer inner cross coming down from 12 o’clock. The Zenith comes with the option of illumination or not, which also dictates reticle choice. But for the UK, the 2.5-10x56 or 3-12x50 are top choices, with selection being controlled by either the bigger 56mm objective for improved low light work, or the higher x12 magnification. Of these four specs, the 1-4 and 1.5-6 are more driven hunting/dangerous game-orientated and I have the 1.5-6 on one of my pig rifles.
![schmidt bender 3 12 schmidt bender 3 12](https://schmidtandbender.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/3-12x42_kk50_sr-1536x456.jpg)
Zenith, as a product line, is still going strong, with four models all with 30mm body tubes: 1-4x24 (straight tube), 1.5-6x42, 2.5-10x56 and on test the 3-12x50. Still in the first focal plane (FFP) the majority of Brits still had yet to get their heads around that feature, they were a top-quality product! With subtle re-jigs of the magnification ring, their most notable feature was the long objective bell with its curved shoulders, which always put me in mind of a MagLite torch. I think it was in the early 2000s that Schmidt launched a new range of hunting scopes called the Zenith, which, design-wise, was a step forward from their earlier models.
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Why? Easy, they are top-quality and given you do your bit, will allow you to do it longer and better. I aspired to S&B but could never afford it, but it left a lasting impression in my mind about quality and as the old and true saying goes, buy the best scope you possibly can!Ĭompared to the sort of optics I could afford, looking through a Schmidt was like coming out of a dark room and stepping into the light and let’s not forget image quality! Nearly 40-years later I’m on first name terms with most of the big European scope manufactures and have an eclectic mix of their products on my own guns. I think my first understanding of what German optics could offer was back in the 1980s, before I got involved as a gun writer! I’d never heard of Zeiss and could barely pronounce Swarovski! But as a novice Practical Rifleman, I noted that regardless of the top shooter’s choice of self-loading rifle, they all seemed to favour a brand called Schmidt & Bender.