Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Need Long range s/a Varmint thumper help

That elk would look a whole lot better if your rifle wasn't wearing a Leupold.....grin.

Not sure what the dusty dirt road truck bed test will prove. My wife has survived that test for years.

Rifles are always in the cab.

John, I do not have a case of LDS. As a matter of fact its the opposite. A Leup is usually the best choice for me. My only gripe is that I've broke a few and POI has moved around a lot. It has happened enough that my opinion is that the scopes can be improved upon; made stronger. Until there is demand, there is little incentive for improvement. My trust is waning, though I am still pretty much married to it. After all, most re-marriages end in divorce, so I'm trying to hang in there. I do not believe other brands are immune to this, some probably a lot worse. I recon I have one more gripe; the lack of a Zero Stop. The CDS addresses this issue but limits to one revolution.

Since the change, do you have a link to the specs on your scope? Seems like I remember it has a zero stop. In the past I have written it off from the start only because of personal prejudice against 50mm objectives on a dedicated hunting rig. Maybe I need to get over it and give it a go.

Brand loyalty is a funny thing isn't it? This whole discussion got started 'cause a couple of guys can't acknowledge that a model line from their beloved favored manufacturer can and does, occasionally (about 20-30% of the time) fail when used under very demanding conditions, far different than a typical hunter ever puts them through. Formidilosus and others didn't bash all Leupold products. Quite the opposite, commented favorably on Leupold products he had observed to be reliable (fixed x Mark 4s, for example), criticizing only those he had observed were more prone to failure.

I've noticed that when folks hear of something they haven't experienced themselves, they tend to discount it. I do the same thing to a certain extent, thinking "Huh... That's never happened to me... Guess I'll hang with my brand x until it I see it fail myself." Not here though. We go waaaayyy beyond that. In this thread, and many others like it, the prevailing thought seems to be, "I shoot products from that same manufacturer and they have never failed me. By God, if the product I'm using fails on someone else, they are making that crap up and everything they say about anything is a lie."

I guess it's human nature to defend your own choices, but dang... Just because it hasn't happened to me, doesn't mean it can't happen to someone else, and surely doesn't mean it won't happen to me in the future.

Not many folks have the opportunity to line up several brands and models of scopes, and twist the heck out of the turrets for hours on end on all sorts of different rifles and actually observe how the various products hold up in statistically meaningful numbers. When I run across someone that does this sort of thing for a living, I'm gonna listen what he has to say, especially when its verified by similar observations from a bunch of others...

John

John (Hondo), well spoken. That pretty much sums it up.

Alright I know you guys were waiting on pins and needles for my test, so here she is....

The test subject- VX-3 3.5-10x40 mounted on a 700 243 Ackley


Fired 2 shots at 100yds to confirm my zero. The first is in the lower left, and I would absolutely put this on "cold shooter error"... The next is the one on the right.



I then fired 2 shots at 470yds, dialing 6.5 MOA. Fired another rifle 3 times, and threw my schit in the back of the truck for the "dirt road test"



Drove approximately 1,000 yards, much of it through this stuff....



And set up again at 100. The next 2 are as pictured, in the group.... (ignore the blue square group, it's a different rifle)



Not only did I dial around on the elevation, but I subjected the scope to the dirt road test, as per ctsmith's request. I'd say the results were in favor of my scope.

So, what does this prove? In the big picture....absolutely nothing. It's an example of one. But, it provides me with a bit more confidence in this scope's ability to both return to zero, and retain a zero.

Your dirt road test doesn't hold much weight when you drive like a puzzy. Ct was expecting some 35mph cruising... haha

I've got a vx-2/cds that's been riding around in the tractor cab all summer. It seems fine swell.

55 ain't a problem on a dirt road..... but 35 on the road pictured will likely end up with a rear differential 3 feet underground....

Yep, or your rifle will bounce out and you'll have to spend a while looking for it.

Tanner. Good deal. My loop is a couple of miles and I don't afford it a cushion but who knows the difference it will make? Nice to see it didnt move. Unscientific, but I think continuous vibration is the culprit for my misfortune. If I have the time this weekend I may make a short jaunt laying on a pad then the few mile loop laying directly on the hard rubber bed mat and see what happens.

CT,

I'll probably hold off on the continuous vibration until I start hunting with a fake shlong in my pocket....

But seriously, I think the amount it got bounced around in the bed is as much as it'll get bounced around with me carrying it, and probably more. I may submit it for the drop test, though...

While you're at it, take two or three of your rifles that may have other brands of scopes on them as well as the ALRZ, and do the "over the cliff" test.

I'll stand by for the results and pics.

You know how we road hunt down south. Sometime we may get distracted and leave our rifles laying in the back of a truck. It is a concern down here. Seriously, point taken on the vibration. Maybe I am setting them up to fail in an unrealistic situation.

I've spent enough time in a old CJ-5 rattling around to know where you're coming from.... BUT, I keep them in a soft case in those situations, and over my shoulder or in a pack is where they spend most of the time...

Thanks for the idea with this test. It was a good one to do.

Maybe I'm scarred from the episode surrounding my first truck bed discovery. Daylight was fading and I was big man on campus, showing some kids how to twist a turret. We were set up to shoot over a field but got uncomfortable with the situation due to hunters in the area. As light was fading we hurried down farm roads to another location, my highly touted Rock laying in the back of the truck. I'd usually be more careful with it but got in a hurry. First shot is nowhere on the radar, neither was the second. Hurriedly stepped off 100 yards and hung a piece of notebook paper in tree, completely missed the paper. Finally got it worked out but it was too dark to go long. The Rock and I was the butt end of a few jokes that night

BTW, I have a similar story but the villain was being off a rotation on the turret, hence my longing for zero stops.

I am good at screwing up! Please remove as many variables as possible. At least none of it has happened in the field, but thats what I am trying to prevent (probably going overboard). I'm sure Formidilosus experience comes from knuckleheads like me.

Tanner: beat the schit outta the leupold w a rubber mallet and then report back to us how it holds up.

In reality ANY optic will fail if beat around enough... Tuners little jaunt like he's driving Miss Daisy has given him the confidence that his leupy will perform to his expectations for the amount of abuse his optic will see... That is great and I'm sure it will... Good job Tuner...

Others here will have a hatred for Leupys do to one experience or lack there of, while others will Champion Leupy's due to their ownership/sales of them...

I have 13 Leupy's that are all 30mm Tubes variables in Vari-X III, VX-III and Mark 4 models... 2 ea of which are at Leupold for repairs right now and 7 of which had been repaired previously... Repairs consisted of canted reticles, erector/tracking problems, side focus/parallex problems and internal problems...

I have 11 ea Nightforce NXS scopes in Compact's, 3.5-15/F1's and 5.5 to 22's...Some with zero stop and some without... 1ea has been sent in for repair due to a turret problem which I created.... I've had no other problems with them...

I have 3 ea Schmidt & Benders... 1ea fixed 10x42 single turn, 2 ea 4-16x42 Single turns, 1 of which has been at Schmidt & Bender for 3 months to repair an elevation turret problem...

I have 1ea IOR Tactical 2.5-10x42 which has been beat hard and have never had a problem with it since new...

Personally I would only purchase Nightforce scopes knowing what I know now... Leupy's have their place as do the others but I can not see myself buying a Leupy anytime soon... Their new "Tactical" product seems very robust... I have used a few on several occasions but until they build a better track record than they have now I will stick with what works for me...

I don't have a bunch of cool pics that I can hang and assign random distances too... I don't have fancy jigs to compare a 2nd focal plane scope verses a first focal plane scope/zero stops with matching turrets, then base my choice on price...

BTW Rick, at what distance do you use that story board/jig and what are the substension measurements on the story board mil side... Just curious...

I don't have cool videos of Tony showing the rigors of a tactical comp... I'd be more worried of Tony busting a seam on that size medium Spandex shirt than I would him wearing out/damaging a scope in that video...

I do know that of all the Optics I own I have had more problems with Leupold than any other brand... Just my experience... YMMV....

Laughin'... thanks bro

That's Mrs. Daisy to you!

elkhuntingguide, you've got a lot of stuff, not to mention at least 1000 Ingrams. You must be a darn good elk hunting guide.

And by the way, if you don't post pictures, no matter the relevancy, whatever you say is false.

Seriously, thats good info. Thanks for posting.