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

200 yard zero is the way to go, the CDS dial does limit you to one turn, I sure wish they made the dial a bit fatter and allowed say 24 MOA in a turn and limited it to one turn. for my rifle I can get to about 800 in one turn.

i do 100 yd zeros on most all of my CDS scopes. the exception being the 6x36 with LR dotz and CDS. that retical is set up for 200/300 yard zero depending on the cartridge.

reason being, 100 yards is quick and easy to find just about anywhere to check zero, and if i want to hunt with a 200 or 250 yard zero, i just dial it and go hunting.

but i also run the generic moa knob and a range card instead of the custom knob. this knob doesn't have the 15 moa stop and changing the load is as easy as printing a new range card

100 yards is useful for turrets if you are running MOA dials. Your drop is affected by enviromental conditions (temp, pressure, elevation). Once you have them set up and tested for whatever elevation/elevation and zerod at 100 yards for say 200 ft elevation, you can swap out your dope sheet for a 8000 ft elevation and your data should be very close. Less close if you were using a 300 yard zero, as the trajectory from the muzzle to the zero range changes more.

GSSP,

I would try zeroing at 500 or so. Adjust your scope is it hits at "5". Then you should be closer at 600 and 700 then you are now, and your impact at 300 and 400 wont be off by that much. Or do the same thing and zero at 400 if you want it closer at the shorter ranges. Just a thought.

I can see spec'ing a 200-yd zero in this case to get more "up" out of the single turn the CDS is limited to*... but in general I much prefer a 100-yd zero on my turret-equipped rigs. Easy enough to click up to a 200-yd zero in the field if so desired.

*the zero stop is removeable

100yd zero for a flat-ahooting hunting rifle is silly. It might make sense for a police sniper, shots will likely be close and they may have to thread a bullet through a small opening. For big game, 200yd or a tad further is far better. With a flat shooting, high BC bullet at 2800fps plus that puts you within a couple inches of your line of sight out to 250yd.

GSSP- I'm new to the turret game, so I really have no knowledge to base this off of, but I'm wanting to do sorta the same thing as you did. That is, use CDS turrets on a rifle that doesn't exactly have super flat trajectory. In my case a .338 federal. While I like the 1.75x6, I'll probably go 2.5x8 or 2x7 VX-R. While browsing the Leupold specs on line, I noticed a big difference in adjustment range. The 1.75x6 shows 45 moa of adjustment, while the 2.2x8 shows 74 moa and the 2x7 shows 75 moa. I'm wondering if that has something to do w/ you running out of adjustment before reaching the long yardages? My thinking, and I'm not sure if I'm right, is that I would want the most adjustment possible on a cartridge whose trajectory is gonna require a lot of "come up" at longer ranges? The 1.5x5 shows 120 moa adjustment, and I already have 2 of those, but I think I want just a bit more magnification for this application. I guess my questions are: is the CDS turret the limiting factor, or is it the moa adjustment range of the particular scope model? second: if it says 45moa of adjustment, does that mean 22.5 moa up and down from zero or could you expect 45 moa of upward adjustment? or would it be something in between, based upon a 100 yard zero?

You don't have to hunt with your rifle turret set to 100 yards. You can have it zero'd at 100 and twist to 200 and hunt. I even run my whelen this way

I thought one of the features of the CDS was a zero stop. If you do as you describe, you won't be utilitizing that feature.

A friend of mine missed a chance at a LARGE buck last year 'cause he got "lost" on a 1/4min turret. He's now a big fan of zero stops.

Wyoguide,

Great thought! I just took the rifle out of the safe and 3x counted the clicks from bottom to top; 46 clicks which means 11.5 MOA. So I would say it's not the 45 MOA that is limiting the range of elev.

I hope to get back out on Saturday am and give it a zero of 100 yds then see what I can reach out to. It will be at a different range though. More like open BLM land. 45 mile drive vs 80 miles to the North Springs range.

Lots of great replies! Thanks.

Alan

Was this with the CDS turret on it? If so it is possible that your zero is only 11.5MOA from the end of the adjustment range. To really test, I think you would need to remove the custom dial and install the MOA dial. Then from you zero point, see how many clicks/what MOA you are from either "end" of the adjustment range. Does that make any sense?

TXRam,

You're on to something there! I replaced the 5500' elev dial with the original generic turret that has 15 MOA per revolution. I was able to back it down 39 MOA but going up I could only get 11.25 MOA. With a 200 yd zero, G1 BC and the weather condition I was shooting in on Saturday, 11.25 MOA would get me out to 555 yds.

With a 100 yd zero, it would get me to about 505 yds. As I said before giving myself a 100 yd zero would limit my max range the dial would give me; that's OK with me! Though running Nosler's suggested 1800 fps minimum for reliable expansion, a skootch over 600 yds would work and 1900 fps would put me at 525 yds.

Hopefully all the math will prove out on my next range visit to sight in at 100 and verify it all out to 500 yds.

Alan

I agrre with TXram It sounds like you are near the end of adjustment range.
Did you check the scope closely to see if 1/4 per click was accurate before ordering the CDS?

Not sure I follow your question?

Alan

If your scope isn't moving precisely a 1/4" with each click than it's not going to be accurate with whatever dial you put on it.

I'll more than likely run a 3 MOA box test @ 100 when I zero it.

Alan

Something you might not be aware of is that Leupold does have a Long Range version of the CDS dial. It allows for two rows of BDC data. The numbers are of course smaller and it does not have a zero return stop. But it does allow you to go out 1400 yards depending on the cartridge. You just remember where you are on the dial is all.

Typically yes but there is Long Range version availalble that allows two rows of BDC data on the dial. Less the zero stop it does allow to go twice the distance. Draw back is you could get lost in remembering where your at on the dial or you could run out of travel on that long distance shot. Depends on the scope, mounts and rings used.

Tommy,

Thanks! Didn't know this. With the 9.3x62 I doubt I'll be needing the LR dial version.

Alan

GSSP, Sorry for the unclear question on the 1/4 moa clicks. Cal74 got it correct, Does your POI move 1/4 per click?
As you said a box test should tell you about that. good luck.