Reticle for correcting parallax shift in aiming telescopes

A method for eliminating parallax error when aiming an optical instrument, such as a riflescope, at an object of interest, such as a target, the optical instrument having a housing, an objective lens mounted in one end of said housing, an ocular lens mounted in the opposite end of said housing, said objective and ocular lenses defining an optical axis through said housing and sharing at least one plane of focus within said housing;

• and, a reticle mounted within said housing on said plane of focus, said reticle carrying a primary indicator on said plane of focus and a secondary indicator spaced apart from said primary indicator on said optical axis for forming a composite image of said primary and secondary indicators, said composite image and said object image being viewable together by an operator by means of said ocular lens;
• said method comprising the steps of:
• (a) pointing said optical instrument at an object of interest;
• (b) centering the image of said object of interest on said optical axis;
• (c) centering said composite image of said primary and secondary indicators relative to one another;
• and,
• (d) activating said instrument.

An improved telescopic riflescope for use with a firearm for accurately aiming said firearm at a target of interest, comprising:

• (a) a housing, including means for mounting said housing to said firearm;
• (b) an objective lens mounted in said housing at one end thereof;
• (c) an ocular lens mounted in said housing at the opposite end thereof, wherein said objective and ocular lenses define an optical axis through said housing, said objective and ocular lenses sharing at least one common plane of focus within said housing;
• (d) a reticle mounted within said housing on said plane of focus, said reticle having a horizontal crosshair and a vertical crosshair, said crosshairs crossing on said optical axis, and a primary indicator on said plane of focus for viewing together with an image of an object formed by said objective lens within said housing to facilitate alignment of said telescopic sight with said object;
• and,
• (e) a secondary indicator of substantially equal diameter to said first indicator carried by said reticle and axially centered with regard to said primary indicator and spaced apart therefrom on said optical axis for forming a composite image of said primary and secondary indicators, said composite image and said object image being viewable together by an operator by means of said ocular lens,
• whereby the relative alignment of the images of said primary and secondary indicators may be corrected by the repositioning of an operator's eye so that the image of said first indicator fully covers the image of said second indicator when the operator's eye is directly aligned with said optical axis thereby eliminating parallax error to assure accurate alignment of said optical axis of said riflescope with said target.