Leupold CDS rifle scope

[afullerton]

I am in the market for a new rifle scope. I want to put it on aBrowning x-bolt in 300 win mag. I was looking at the Leupold VX-3 4.5-14 in CDS. I don't know of anyone who has one so any help would be appreciated.

 

[Big Fin]

I have four of them and love them all. Ask away.

 

[fishing4sanity]

In my opinion that would be a great scope, I don't have a CDS turret yet but that will soon change. I'd suggest checking with Predator Optics for a good deal on that scope.

 

[afullerton]

I know when you order the turret they ask for the elavation and temp you will be hunting. If I chose 5000ft and a temp of 50 degrees, how much will it affect it going higher in elavation or down in temp.

 

[Big Fin]

I know when you order the turret they ask for the elavation and temp you will be hunting. If I chose 5000ft and a temp of 50 degrees, how much will it affect it going higher in elavation or down in temp.

Very little, if any. My human factors are the biggest affect.

 

[bighouse]

I have that exact scope on my 300 win mag and love it.

 

[jeffpg]

I have a couple of these and I like them as I do all of my Leupold products.

I went with the recommended 7000 ft. elevation at 30 degrees. It is the same as 5000 at 50 and is a great average for conditions across the West.

 

[mrmedora]

Do you guys have the 40mm or 50mm? I am leaning towards the CPC reticle. Anyone use that one, or what seems to work best for you guys?

 

[Gunner46]

I have a 3X9X40 on my Ruger 77, 7mm/08 (Thanks OYOA). I love it ! They will give you two turrets.

Chronograph your two loads and ball park the elevations, temp & such before you order. Just hit a mean.

If you miss from that point.....blame the jerk that jerked the trigger !

 

[sagebrush]

I use the 40MM objective. I like the lower profile and lighter weight. I think the only reticle available on the CDS is the fine duplex. I can't imagine any benefit from a different reticle since you will be dialing the elevation.

 

[BuzzH]

As far as reticle, I prefer a leupold dot over everything else...much easier to see in low light, more precise aiming point, your eye picks up the dot quicker/easier.

I learned to like a dot scope when I shot coyotes quite a bit, in particular on running shots. I've not purchased a scope since the mid-90's with anything but a dot.

I also still cant see a disadvantage to MOA turrets over pre-marked ones...

 

[Carl]

I also still cant see a disadvantage to MOA turrets over pre-marked ones...

I agree. The only way I would do a custom "yardage" turret would be if I shot my gun and load with the scope and an MOA turret at range first, and confirmed the values. Then I'd give those confirmed values to Leupold for a yardage marked one. I still wouldn't do it (shot angle, load change, elevation change, etc, etc, etc), but if I did, I'd insist on doing it that way.

Sometimes ballistics calculations are dead on, sometimes they aren't. I worked up a load for my 280AI yesterday, shot it over the chronograph, and ran ballistics on it using the program I trust most. I've confirmed the scope on it tracks correctly previously. And I shoot the same bullets out of a different gun which track dead on with the calculator way out there, so I trust that I'm using a ballpark accurate ballistic coefficient. Despite all this, it was off 3/4 MOA at 430 yards. I'd hate to find that out AFTER I got a custom yardage turret made up.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of both Leupold and their turrets. I twisted a turret on every big game kill last year. The M1 on my new VX3 tracks absolutely perfectly in true MOA. I'm just not sold on "yardage" turrets of any color.

 

[Drake4]

I agree. The only way I would do a custom "yardage" turret would be if I shot my gun and load with the scope and an MOA turret at range first, and confirmed the values. Then I'd give those confirmed values to Leupold for a yardage marked one. I still wouldn't do it (shot angle, load change, elevation change, etc, etc, etc), but if I did, I'd insist on doing it that way.

Sometimes ballistics calculations are dead on, sometimes they aren't. I worked up a load for my 280AI yesterday, shot it over the chronograph, and ran ballistics on it using the program I trust most. I've confirmed the scope on it tracks correctly previously. And I shoot the same bullets out of a different gun which track dead on with the calculator way out there, so I trust that I'm using a ballpark accurate ballistic coefficient. Despite all this, it was off 3/4 MOA at 430 yards. I'd hate to find that out AFTER I got a custom yardage turret made up.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of both Leupold and their turrets. I twisted a turret on every big game kill last year. The M1 on my new VX3 tracks absolutely perfectly in true MOA. I'm just not sold on "yardage" turrets of any color.

I agree. I print out my own labels for my M1 turret, marked in yardage, after field verification. That way I can easily swap labels on my turrett if I change loads, conditions, etc.

 

[BuzzH]

Carl,

My very limited experience is almost spot on with what you've posted...I ran several ballistic tables and then verified via shooting. I found the first chart I ran was off about 1 moa at 500 yards. I was using a velocity of 3000 fps, but the chronographed MV was actually 2970. I went back and reran another chart using 2970 for a MV and now its tracking perfect clear out to 710 yards, the maximum range I've shot it so far.

I'm going to run it out to 800-1000 tomorrow, just for the fun of it...I certainly have no intentions of shooting game that far, but I'm amazed at how well the M1 works in MOA. Had to see it for myself to believe it, and even with my plain vanilla 700 bdl in 7 mag...its pretty impressive how well it shoots at long range.

Its also amazing how big of a difference it makes just being able to hold dead on VS holding over...

In fairness though, I think if you're going to keep shots within 500 the premarked turrets would PROBABLY work out on game most of the time. I just want all the precision I can get.

I'm with you, I dont trust yardage turrets and I also definately do not trust the multi-crosshair business either...