Minox ZA 5 3-15 x42 Review

Purchased scope for light weight mountain rifle in .308 specific for alpine deer hunting where 2-300 yd shots are the norm.

Nice light weight alternative to Leupold, however. Ballistic reticle didnt match up to the .308 very well till the power was dialed down to about 9x. All the extra magnification wont do a lot for you if you want to use the ballistic reticle.

When initially bore sighted and zeroed, the windage stuck. All corrected after turret knobs cycled back and forth, no worries since. Suspect single vss double acting spring set up may be the culprit. Not very confidence inspiring.

Parallax is set at 100 yds by the factory.

Optics are not as nice as Leupold. To my eye, the clarity of the Minox at longer ranges was not so good.

I was only able to use the Minox for four outings to the range. It did the job except for initial hiccup, held zero and adjusted precisely enough.

Latest build, I went back to Leupold VX3 4.5-14 x40 AO with Boone and Crocket, a much nicer scope in comparison. I like to be able to adjust parallax at the range and hunting you could just set it up and leave it alone, live without the extra turret to snag stuff.

Minox USA customer service is good. However I wonder if Minox will be able to live up to the standard set by Leupold. Time will tell. Leupold custom shop is very good, they have always answered the phone for me.

Suspect a worthy comparison would be to stack the Minox ZA 5 2-10 x40 with a ballistic reticle against the Leupold VX3 3-9 x40 with a Boone and Crocket.

Richard Saltonstall