Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leupold CDS elev turrets: report

A week or so back, I received 3 CDS elev dials from Leupold. Yesterday I was able to test the 5500' ele dial.

Purpose built Alaska Pre 64 M70, Custom by Lee Christianson (Redneck) and Charley Santoni
D'Arcy Echols Legend stock by McMillian
9.3x62
250 Accubond running 2606 fps, .8 MOA, 5 SD (60 gr Varget)
VX3 1.75-6x32mm with standard duplex reticle
CDS dial was marked for 2606 fps, 50 deg F, 5500' elev


Sighted @ 200 yds, 5144' elev, 50 deg, 24.38 baro

Shooting condition:
34 deg F
6565' elev
22.9 baro
6-13 mph winds switching from 9 to 4 from mostly from 7 to 5.
Fired from prone off 6-9" Harris bipod and rear sand bag.


Out to 350 yds, I had zero problems hitting any of the plates.

300 yd pig


The turkeys, @ 385 yds needed the dial turned to 400 yds

385 yd turkeys


The 400 yd plate needed the dial turned to 420 yds to get hits.


I got numerous hits on the 8" plate on the left @ 400 yds. We call this set up "Know Your Limits".


The 500 yd plates/Rams were a bit more of a challenge. Even with a spotter directly behind me, he had to walk me in to get hits.

Had to dial up 550 to get hits @ the 500 yd ram.


Even though the dial had a number 6 on it, the dial would not turn past 550.

What confused me was that I was shooting @ 6565' and the sight in elev is 5144'. I should have been hitting high as the air is thinner.

I ran my Droid Shooter ballistic program

Sight-in day

Baro 24.38
temp 50 deg F
500 yd drop = 48.7"

Shooting day

Baro 22.9
temp 34 deg F
500 yd drop = 48.1"

I should not have been missing either the 400 yd plates nor the 500 yd rams, low.

What do you think is the issue; parallax or the dial? Possibly a bad 200 yd zero. I'll check it next week!

Alan

A friend emailed me and suggested I try a 100 yd zero. I originally ordered the dials to use with a 100 yd zero as seen here.


Being a tactical/sniper competitor, I fully understand and agree with the 100 yd zero concept with twisty turrets. In this case I used a 200 yd zero because I could only get 3/4 turn on the dial from 200 to 550-560 yds figuring I'd limit my max range 100 yds less.

With that said, I'll re-sight in my rifle for 100 yds and see where that takes me. Then I'll report back with my results.
The reason being is that the # of clicks/graduations between each 50 yd mark from 200-250-300 is 5. Between 300-350-400-450 their are 6 clicks each and between 450-500-550 their are 7 clicks each. And as you can see below, between 6 (600 yds) and 2 (200 yds) their are 8 marks. That means for me to have a 100 yd zero, I'll need to be two marks below the 6.

Here is the dials side


Alan

Good review.

I have a CDS scope but I haven't sent off for the custom turrets. I probably should but I can't see the need to right now.

It came with one MOA turret without a zerostop. I printed off a drop chart that I can go shoot and verify at various ranges. I also have some extra elevation to play with due to the non-zerostop knob.

Before I go hunting I can adjust the corrected chart for temp/alt/pressure and be pretty confident with the result.

Kudos to you for actually checking the settings though. I bet most CDS users have never checked the dial vs reality at longer ranges.

A friend of mine had the CDS setup with the yardages marked on his turret, same format as yours. He went to the range and his was off too. He originally told them his POI at 100 with all necessary data for them to crunch the numbers in THEIR ballistics program. Second time he supplied them with HIS data and it came out right. We use JBM with BCs suggested by Bryan Litz. We use G7 for many of our bullets. THEN we shoot at our silouette range doing exactly what you did. Dan supplied the finalized data and his setup is now correct.

I got my first CDS and tried various MOA comeups via JBM. At longer distances it shot fine with a front rest and rear bag. When I went to the bi-pod and rear sandbag it was off. The #2 barrel was slapping the fiberglass barrel channel with bi-pod installed! Some careful sanding to open up channel solved the issue. I am not saying your rig has issues but don't discount bedding, insufficient barrel clearance or some issue as a possible cause for your comeups not being correct.

As far as the turrets, I have no clue..

But I'll take that rifle, and I would love to have access to a range like that..

Could also be the B.C. of the Accubond being a bit "optimistic".

AZ

Rifle was sighted on the tripod so POI should not change; I think . It's totally free floated, glass/pillar bedded by the best (Charley Santoni). No need to worry about those issues.

Alan

Kenneth,

You too can have a rifle like mine. I'll point you in the right direction; to Redneck and Charley Santoni of CS Sports.

That's only a portion of our range, just South of Price, Utah. The North Springs complex has a 100, 600 (pics were taken there) and 1000 yd ranges. The police complex, where we shoot too, has automated pop up steel, running/turning targets; and a shoot house. The 600/1000 lines are enclosed on three sides and have propane heaters to ward off the cold winter temps; as does the police range. They provide elec golf carts and a Kawasaki Mule to run down and back or allow us to run our own vehicles down and back. Cost is $5 day for the whole complex that also has 3-D archery, a shotgun range, a world class SASS town and a camping area.

http://www.carbon.utah.gov/nssr/

Alan

Well, yeah! Then theirs that!

Alan

Wow that is great for the price we pay a lot more per year for a lot less. Cool range.

Hmmm...I have a CDS scope but haven't sent in my ballistics data yet. If the yardages are off, it may be just as well to stick with the standard clicks and put a chart on the stock.

that is the best range in utah that I know of based on the info and pictures. its too bad its about 130 miles from me, up spanish fork canyon, I hate driving that canyon.

I've been dancing with the idea of a CDS equipped Leup. I would shoot it extensively with the MOA turret, then have Leup make my yardage-calibrated caps from my data.

I'm doing a redneck version of that now with a few other scopes; a yardage scale superimposed on an MOA scale... it's a pretty slick setup once it's all working.

I kinda figured the rifle was sound but still worth mentioning.

Let us know how you resolve your issue.

Is the CDS only designed for one full revolution?

Are you kidding me?

That is a public range for 5 dollars? C'mon man your killing me.

The only real range close to me goes out to 300 yards and I'm glad to have access to that. All day will run you 25.00.

Just one hour is I believe 15.00.

As far as Lee and Charles, ya, so tempting..

I have two Leupold VX3 3.5-10 CDS scopes, one on a .280, the other on a 270 WSM. I carefully chronoed my intended loads before sending off for dials, and carefully sighted in at 100 yards, the zero distance I requested the dials for.

Result- accurate repeatability out to 400 yards. Both dials will give me range to over 650 yards, longer than I ever intend to shoot at game.

Pretty happy with the setup so far, but I can sure see setting both on 250 yd., and forgetting about them for most of my hunting.

Two of my rifles will never see any kind of turret setup on them- my .257 and .300 Wbys are so flat out to practical shooting ranges that it's just unneccessary.

"Practical range" is a malleable concept, prone to revision with lots of practice at longer ranges (and equipment upgrades). The impossible becomes routine, and once my hits at a given range get routine I'll start considering a shot on game at that range. At least that's how it's gone for me.

This may be a dumb question, but why the 100yd zero? Most sight at and inch or two high at 100 with a conventional scope, so why would that change?

Or does it reduce variation as you are closer to the natural flight of the bullet (not sure if that makes sense).

Bascially at the end of the day you want the dial at zero to be as close to the flight of the bullet at zero then work your way up together.

The whole concept of the CDS system is to be able to set the dial at whatever range your target is, and be dead-on. Whether your CDS dial is calibrated with a 100-yard zero or 200-yard zero is up to you at the time you provide the vital statistics (bullet weight, BC, MV, elevation, temp.)