Zeiss Diavari-ZA elevation adjustment

[AZ Hunter]

I have a Mauser SP66 with a Zeiss Diavari-ZA 1.5 -- 6x42 T* scope. It shoots about 12" high at 100 yards and I do not know how to set the elevation.

Here's the gun



Here's the scope


The elevation turret has a 100m marking. I can get about 3 MOA of adjustment going from the lowest to highest rotation on the turret.


I'm guessing the scope was meant to be zeroed once to a standard load. While the windage turret has a more standard way of adjusting, I'm not sure how to set the elevation properly at 100m.

There are two screws accessible from the top. I loosed these, and concluded these alone aren't the way to set the elevation.

There are 2 small screws on the top ring of the elevation turret and 3 small screws on the bottom of the elevation turret. (A little hard to see in the picture.) It's possible (likely?) either loosening one set or a combination of loosening both sets of these screws, and then rotating the turret is the way to go. Since this is such an old rifle and since the screws are tiny, I'm not sure how easy it will be to loosen these. Before I try that I'm hoping someone knows the right procedure to set the elevation so I don't unintentionally mess up the vintage scope.


Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Israeli? Italy?

there are several of here with SP66.

how much travel has your erector got on elevation?

One possibility is that the windage is set extremely far left or right. Limiting elevation.

run windage lock to lock counting clicks. Then set in center… half the clicks.

then set elevation in center. Same way. Top to bottom. Count clicks. Set at half the number of clicks (or turns.)

you might have to do this a couple of times
To get the reticle/erector in its actual center. Then mount and bore sight on your crosshairs.

That should maximize the erector travel. No down bases for those rifles… unfortunately.

but may be that your erector is bound up and may not be mounted centering on windage. Jamming up elevation.

More rifle pix and history, please. I think we figured that 5% of SP 66 production is owned by SH Vintage members. Do tell more about your rifle!!!

Sirhr

 

[AZ Hunter]

Israeli? Italy?

there are several of here with SP66.

how much travel has your erector got on elevation?

One possibility is that the windage is set extremely far left or right. Limiting elevation.

run windage lock to lock counting clicks. Then set in center… half the clicks.

then set elevation in center. Same way. Top to bottom. Count clicks. Set at half the number of clicks (or turns.)

you might have to do this a couple of times
To get the reticle/erector in its actual center. Then mount and bore sight on your crosshairs.

That should maximize the erector travel. No down bases for those rifles… unfortunately.

but may be that your erector is bound up and may not be mounted centering on windage. Jamming up elevation.

More rifle pix and history, please. I think we figured that 5% of SP 66 production is owned by SH Vintage members. Do tell more about your rifle!!!

Sirhr

Thanks for the advice. Didn't think of that. The windage turret has a total of 165 clicks. It was set 140 to the right so it wasn't all the way at the end of range of travel. I set the windage back to the middle and turned the elevation to see if it changed. Turned through the turret ranges a few times. I'm in my garage looking at a laser bore sighter to test so it's not prefect but nothing appears to have changed on the elevation. I can see the shift in my windage though. Might be a while before I can get to test at a range. Interestingly, the elevation turret is only designed to have 45 clicks of travel. Right now I suspect the elevation turret is messed up somehow.

Here's the caliber stamped in 308 Win and the proofmarks. I would have thought these rifles would have been 7.62 instead of 308 given German make and military ties, so that's a little surprise. I don't know anything about proofmarks.

l

Here's Mauser's factory stamp on the receiver left side.



Here's another Mauser mark on the right side. There's a number there that's not a serial number.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Once you get the erector centered up, take the top cover off the top adjusting knob. There 'should' be some travel screws or a way to loosen up the top knob.

@buffalowinter may be familiar with this scope. But I suspect nothing is wrong internally. You have to work pretty hard to kill one of these scopes. I do suspect that there is a limit stop built into the top knob, but not the windage. If you have 145+- clicks of windage... you'll have that in elevation.

Ideally, you can mount that scope with the windage almost centered and the elevation set 'low' so that you get the most out of the elevation at longer ranges. Having it mounted 'centered' limits your utility. Having it mounted 'down' (if your bases allow it) will let you get the most out of that scope.

And it is a wicked nice scope!

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[Random Guy]

There are 2 small screws on the top ring of the elevation turret and 3 small screws on the bottom of the elevation turret. (A little hard to see in the picture.) It's possible (likely?) either loosening one set or a combination of loosening both sets of these screws, and then rotating the turret is the way to go. Since this is such an old rifle and since the screws are tiny, I'm not sure how easy it will be to loosen these. Before I try that I'm hoping someone knows the right procedure to set the elevation so I don't unintentionally mess up the vintage scope.

You should email Zeiss USA and see if they have a PDF manual they can email re those old scopes. Give them all the info re your scope and a picture if possible. That's my recommendation. It might take a few days to hear back, but you don't want to mess up that old scope.

If its not available from Zeiss, you'll need to reach out to other owners of your rifle and other European Sniper rifles that used the same scope back in the 1970s-80s, and hope that one of them has a copy of the process for those turrets. (The Finnish M85 comes to mind as it used the same scope). The elevation adjustment on those old scopes is a little quirky. For example, attached are some instructions for the Austrian made Khales ZF84 scopes which are similar - but a little different from your Zeiss, but you are correct that removing the turret cap is part of the process and those small screws are likely what you use to get your zero.... Good luck, and your SP66 looks really nice. Wish I had one...

 

[AZ Hunter]

You should email Zeiss USA and see if they have a PDF manual they can email re those old scopes. Give them all the info re your scope and a picture if possible. That's my recommendation. It might take a few days to hear back, but you don't want to mess up that old scope.

If its not available from Zeiss, you'll need to reach out to other owners of your rifle and other European Sniper rifles that used the same scope back in the 1970s-80s, and hope that one of them has a copy of the process for those turrets. (The Finnish M85 comes to mind as it used the same scope). The elevation adjustment on those old scopes is a little quirky. For example, attached are some instructions for the Austrian made Khales ZF84 scopes which are similar - but a little different from your Zeiss, but you are correct that removing the turret cap is part of the process and those small screws are likely what you use to get your zero.... Good luck, and your SP66 looks really nice. Wish I had one...

Contacting Zeiss is a god idea. Here are some better close up photos.

From the front you can see the elevation turret is made of three layers. Once you zero the rifle the 100m mark will most likely not be centered, so there must be a way to rotate the turret to line up the 100m mark. The elevation turret does have only 45 clicks of adjustment. There's a mechanical hard stop when the end of the silver center serrations (visible to the left of the 100m mark) contacts a bump located in the bottom layer (not visible). Interestingly you can see a small ball bearing at the 100m mark. The ball bearing sits in a small notch and advances the turret in equal distances as you turn it and the bearing passes each serration on top.

To adjust the turret you most likely need to loosen the small screws visible on the top and bottom turret layers, as well as the screws recessed in the turret top.

Here's a top view where the two screws are visible. I was easily able to unscrew these, which loosened the top two layers. I'm holding off on attempting to loosen the ring screws in case there's a specific order of operations.

Here's the windage turret. Pretty standard stuff. This says 1 click = 1cm @ 100m. If the top turret also moves 1cm/click I should get 45cm of elevation travel -- about 18" -- but I'm getting about 3". Either it's bound up or broken.