Review: Zeiss Conquest V4 1-4x24 rifle scope

The Zeiss Conquest V4 1-4×24 has characteristics that are essential in a low-power riflescope if you’re going to get the best from it, chiefly excellent clarity and a true 1:1 ratio at its lowest magnification.

The clarity of the view ensures the low magnification doesn’t become a handicap because your target is clearly defined in the distance and easy to see.

Zeiss Conquest V4 1-4x24 rifle scope — The 1-4x Zeiss is a nicely compact rifle scope

The genuine 1x magnification at the bottom end gives you the both-eyes-open shooting ability that makes red-dot sights so effective.

Any low-power scope without both factors in its favour fails to fulfil the potential in this kind of optic, in my opinion. The littlest Zeiss V4 does fill all the potential, being a scope that will serve you extremely well at very close range, on running game and at ranges of a few hundred metres.

Admittedly, you need confidence to shoot at an animal 300m away with a mere 4x magnification, but the fact is you’re no less likely to hit than if you used 12x, as long as the 4x scope gives you a good enough view. The Zeiss T* coatings on the Conquest tweak the colours and increase the contrast to produce a significantly more well-defined view in which targets stand out better than they do to the naked eye.

With a second-plane reticle, the crosshairs remain fine at full magnification, so they do not obstruct the target. The intersection of the wires in the #60 reticle covers a 2.5cm square at 100m on 4x magnification, a tiny bit less than 1MOA, so at 300m range it’s covering the equivalent of about a 7.5cm square on your target — probably a smaller area than what you can expect your bullet to land in unless you and your rifle are really good.

And it’s well within the kill zone of a fallow deer or pig, so making a successful long-ish range shot is just a matter of confidence.

Of course, it’s true that if long shots were the main goal you probably wouldn’t buy a 1-4x, so let’s talk close ranges.

The beauty of the V4 is it has true 1.0x magnification at the bottom end, not 1.1x or 1.5x like many scopes. This means you can comfortably use it in lieu of a red-dot sight, shooting with both eyes open. This increases you field of view and situational awareness, speeding up target acquisition, improving success on running game and boosting safety in fast-flowing scenarios.

And unlike a typical red-dot, the diopter can be focussed to your eye to make up for any poor vision, a big advantage for those of us with longsightedness, for example. I had to give up my beloved red-dots because of middle-aged eyesight, but the Zeiss brought this kind of shooting back into my life.

Having the dot illuminated during 1x shooting gives you the edge but of course you can choose to light it up at any magnification, when it serves to quicken the process of aiming as well as helping no end as the light drops and the crosshairs fade against an ever-darkening background. The stepped illumination levels go from the dimmest glow up to very bright, catering to any amount of ambient lighting.

Zeiss’s glass is excellent, with clarity and contrast that enhance your view noticeably. The Conquest provides a claimed 90 per cent light transmission, almost as good as it gets. In very low light on 4x magnification you might see a little dimming if your own eyes have dilated further than the 6mm exit pupil size of the scope but wind back to about 3x and its exit pupil will be larger than your pupil.

Whenever I used it in fading light the Zeiss was always as clear as I’d expect it to be.

Edge to edge, the view remains sharp. Considering the view is 38m wide at 100m on 1x, and still 9.5m wide on 4x, you can see a lot of ground! Target acquisition comes quickly.

The V4 has a 30mm main tube (the 24mm objective lens is contained entirely within the main body). The wider tube allows about 100 MOA of crosshair adjustment.

Each click of the turrets moves the point of aim 1.4cm at 100m, or close enough to ½MOA. In a low-power scope designed for medium to large game, that’s fine enough to get the results you need. The clicks are sharp, so easy to feel. The turrets can be lifted to re-set to zero once you’ve zeroed your rifle.

For the most part I used the Zeiss on a 9.3×62 Sauer 100 hunting rifle, which seems an eminently sensible setup. The scope’s 90mm of eye relief was plenty for the recoil of the cartridge. For a while the Zeiss topped a .308 Ruger Scout, making an excellent combo for culling mobs of goats and pigs. I’d be unlikely to run it on a rifle intended for shooting smaller, more distant targets.

There’s lots more to say about the little V4, including that it’s shock-tested and built very strongly, as well as to high quality standards.

The Zeiss Conquest V4 1-4×24 scope fulfils its role perfectly, mainly because of its true 1.0x base magnification, its great clarity and the fact that all its features are worthwhile and they work as they should.

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