Have you tried a ballistic elevation turret, marked in yards or MOA for a specific load/trajectory? Any problems? Where did you get it? Did it have zero stop or return-to-zero feature?

I recently took delivery of a Leu VX3i from the Custom Shop. I ordered a BDC type reticle (with aiming points below the crosswire) and gave them the trajectory data, as they requested. I believe they installed a generic rather than a custom reticle, because the points of impact are off by 4" at 300, 7" at 400. Two emails and a voice message to the Custom Shop have gone unanswered.

So far as I know, Leupold offers the CDS model with a turret adjustment customized for a particular Ballistic Coefficient and velocity. The CDS is usually paired with a conventional reticle, not a range compensating reticle. The Leupold range compensating reticles are NOT offered customized, but rather have a generic spacing which mostly fits the typical high velocity load within a few inches at a given yardage.

If your scope has the CDS turret adjustment then you should set it for and use the primary crosshair. If it instead has the range compensating reticle then you will have to test fire at varying ranges to determine what range each hash below the primary crosshair is correct for.

BTW: I much prefer the range compensating reticle. It is quicker to use and there is less to fiddle with and have set at the wrong place than with the CDS system.

I currently have four scopes with that type of turret.

The way I set the turrets up is to zero at 100 yards and then shoot and re-zero at 200 or 300. Always check and zero at the longest reasonable range you have available.

The advantage is obvious. Once zeroed in you just turn the turret to the proper distance and hold the crosshairs on target. It is not a perfectly precise system but no system is. It is faster and easier than any other other system and more than precise enough for hunting shots, even at several hundred yards.

I have Leupold CDS (Custom Dial System) scopes and a Schmidt-Bender scope I fitted with custom turret dials made by Kenton Industries. Kenton makes them for several brands of scopes, including Leupold.

Another company making ballistic turrets is Gseven but I do not have any experience with them.

quote:

Originally posted by Brice:
...the points of impact are off by 4" at 300, 7" at 400.

Before you blame Leupold you should go back out to the range, shoot it at 400 yards and adjust it so it shoots spot on at the 400 yard range. Then, when you dial it back to 300, 200, and 100 any variation at those distances should become small and inconsequential.

Thanks Stonecreek and Grenadier for the helpful posts.

My beefs with Leupold are:
-The adjustments on many of their scopes are inaccurate and inconsistent. The VX3i in question is especially bad. (I have a VXIII 4.5-14 that is excellent.)
-The CS indicted that the reticle would be indexed for this particular rifle/trajectory, not for a generic class of calibers.
-Two emails and a voice mail to the CS shop went unanswered. Not typical of Leupold service.

I'm prepping this rifle for a friend who has lots of $$ and confidence, but who shoots very little. Consequently, and as you suggested, I chose a compensating reticle.

I've ordered a Zeiss Conquest HD5 and will send it to Kenton for a Speed Dial ballistic reticle. The scope will require some modification.

The whole business is complicated by the fact that I live in Seattle and ranges of more than 200 yards are more than an hour's drive.

Again, thanks for your help.

quote:

The adjustments on many of their scopes are inaccurate and inconsistent.

I'm a Leupold advocate (for a number of reasons) and use virtually nothing else on my rifles. However, I agree with you that the internal adjustments on many Leupold scopes are somewhat inconsistent in terms of just how much they move with a given "click" or given number of "clicks". At the same time, once adjusted Leupold reticles don't move. That is just one reason that I much prefer using range compensating reticles like the LR Duplex or Boone & Crockett instead of going to the CDS type adjustments. No telling where your scope is pointing after fiddling with those things for a while -- which is unfortunately true of nearly any scope, not just Leupolds.

BTW: The most consistent image-movement scopes I've ever seen were the old El Paso Weaver fixed power scopes. A click was a quarter-inch at a hundred yards no matter whether it was May or December.

In the same vein, can anyone explain the difference between Leupolds "finger click" and "field click" turrets?

Are the CDS and bullet drop compensating the same?

I am ordering a custom 3x scope and cannot find the answers on the Leupold site, they offer the options but do not explain the differences.

Thanks,

The Leupold Custom shop recommends that you run the turrets all the way each way several times to break them in and then test them at range or at mid range using a box test. Once broken in, they work very repeatable and well in my experience.

AFA a custom reticle for your bullet/bbl length-velocity etc- I have not heard of that, rather they make, like most compensated ranging reticles, classes of reticles for generic BCs/velocities. Not something I would use past 300 yards, but then you don't need anything other than a duplex to do that....

M1 turrets are the way to go.

I have no use for BC/FPS specific anything as I change projectiles as my mood strikes me to.

If you want yardage marks vs MOA my advise is buy MOA turrets and a roll of white vinyl tape and wrap it around the turret and mark yardage with a fine tip sharpie.


******NOTE******
Balistic reticals are scope power specific

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
M1 turrets are the way to go.

I have no use for BC/FPS specific anything as I change projectiles as my mood strikes me to.

If you want yardage marks vs MOA my advise is buy MOA turrets and a roll of white vinyl tape and wrap it around the turret and mark yardage with a fine tip sharpie.


******NOTE******
Balistic reticals are scope power specific

I do exactly that for some scopes, but my dedicated long range guns I don't bother; my BR2 RF is set to display in MOA, so I just click to an MOA value.

The benefit of your (our) method of using tape is the you can easily change if have to.

I have had Leupold custom cut turrets for me several times and they all work well.

About breaking in your turrets, it's a must do. Most people in my experience are afraid to do much dialing.

And it's always most consistent to set your yardage with your turrets in the tightening direction. Dial past your yardage then come back down to the range you are shooting.

JTEX; Thread lash is always a matter of physics/mechanics so yes, always go past and the return-even with high end micrometer aperture sights it is advisable to do the same-but not always necessary since the screws and nuts and bushings are so much larger than one can fit into a 30mm scope tube...

I believe the threads in a scope are in the range of 72 TPI or faster and a MOA adjustment is on the order of .001" or less. Even on a NM AR15 with 1/4MOA sights, an MOA is aprox .0056"

I have the Swarovski Ballistic Turrets and love them. I have custom turrets for mine and they are set to 200 yards. I can dial up to 700 yards if I need to.

Norm Johnson also used to write about the breaking in of turrets. May have to try it sometime if needed. Have a buddy who's using Leupold's Varmint Hunter's reticle on his 243 AR-10, and applies it as designed and has killed a number of 600ish-yd. coyotes using that system under similar std. conditions. Missed a 425-yd. coyote sitting watching me just today, probably due to a bad wind call. I have a 3-9X Burris Timberline Ball. Plex reticle matched to the trajectory of the 69 TMK at 3075 mv out of my 223AI AR. My calcs. called for 1.8 "subtension units" below reticle axis for the shot. I always calc. a system for my rigs, trajectory vs. subtension in avg. conditions and stick it into a Butler Creek scope cap cover, quickly and easily referenced.

What would Aldo Leopold think? Tools to find the range, dial up the distance, a trigger that pulls itself when the reticle crosses your target.

Has anyone availed himself of the trailcam that rings your phone when a stag comes to the wallow? I must start working on a rifle carriage that will roll out to shoot it.