I'm helping a friend setup a new rifle and the scope he has is a VX3 with the CDS system. Problem is he is not a turret user and no experience with anything like this. He's also hard on gear so really needs a set and forget type setup. Question, can these be retrofit with a fixed cap? Basically if I took off the CDS dial will a standard cap fit? Anybody done this. Thanks.

Leupold needs to make a regular turret cover for real riflemen that don't want that crap on their scopes.

Just saying

A “real rifleman” should be able to utilize and become proficient with a feature such as cds or WAY better yet, a mil or moa based turret. It is the future. Also, if you’re trying to dial any Leupold short of the MK5 you have already set yourself up for failure. Leupold is the biggest joke in optics right now.

I agree, I don't care for that stuff on a hunting scope. I have a VX5HD (171386) with the plain turret covers. But I REALLY wanted one with firedot/duplex reticle, but Leupold only caters to the CDS crowd for the firedot/duplex reticle.

Give me a 3-9 or 2-10 Leupy with good glass and without any special dials. Duplex reticle. Sight it in. Know what my bullet drop is. Don't shoot out past the calibers capable killing range. Keep it 6x for most situations. Aim anywhere in the kill zone. Done.

Says the China scope queens....

You talk a big game Licker....in the real world hunting there isn't time to use these children's toys.

Do you even know what a Mildot was designed for ?

He probably can't afford them so he has to hate on them to make himself feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

How about just buying a different scope if you don't like the turret?

Maybe he likes everything about the particular scope except that one thing?

Well, you just can't please everyone...

LOL I would trust a mid-tier Athlon over a VX series Leupold.

If you were well versed in your equipment you would have more than enough time to twist a turret. I know because I’ve been in that situation. Absolutely, but where did I say anything about a mildot?

Every thread turns into a [bleep] show.

Too many here think that their way is the only way and everyone else should follow suit or they don't know what they are doing.

Don't push your narrow minded opinions on all of us. Lots of different applications out there.

you all know that you can use a CDS scope as a set and forget scope too don't you?

Huh?

No,

Please educate us.

In the real hunting world, how much time is there, and what was a mildot designed for?

Not too elegant, but if his concern is accidental movement of the elevation dial on the VX-3i, he could just sight in as desired then put a couple wraps of duct tape around the turrets to make sure they don't get moved.

Sorry for being constructive - y'all can get back to your bickering now.

;o)
Rex

Different horses for courses. Depending on talking about a typical deer hunter, hunting where most deer are hunted or a “rifleman” someone into rifles and optics to get the most out of them. A precision long range rifleman absolutely has to be competent with turrets and needs repeatable optics. To be a very good deer hunter in the locations most of us hunt deer very repeatable optics are great but not absolutely needed at the expense of weight or durability and I’d prefer a lightweight scope that holds zero to bulk and spinning turrets inside of 300-400 yards. I kill most my deer well under a hundred yards. Probably more killed between 20-60 yards than between 60-100. For having fun shooting steel at the range and local clear cuts turrets are the only way to go. For hunting if I lived somewhere where longer range shooting was something I expected to do I’d want turrets but that describes very few deer hunters East of the Mississippi unless hunting over large farm fields but even then it usually isn’t necessary and a good percentage of that type of farm area is shotgun and straight wall cartridges only.

This scope forum reminds me of a bird dog forum on another site that I like. To many people with to much pride to except that different people have different hunting styles and likes. It always turns into everyone no matter age, experience, hunting style ect should have a hunting dog that’s a high powered big running field trail horseback dog washout. Everything else in inferior in mental and physical makeup and a boot licker. The other side turns everything into any dog that’s hunts more than (pick a distance) is a hunts for itself run off and no good in the bird woods. Of course there’s nothing wrong with either. Pick whichever suits your likes and hunting style and space to hunt.

Same with these here threads. I like Leupold for there at least assembled in America, lightweight at an affordable price hunting scopes. I like collecting rifles and hunting them but could never afford to scope them all with high end glass for the amount that a lot of them get hunted and unlike rifles optics lose money over time. For my longish range range guns I like other brands a lot better and would choose those scopes for hunting if I hunted somewhere that made the added bulk of those scopes justifiable for precision shooting.

For red dots I like other brands than what I scope either of the above with. Seems simple. Buy what you like for the type of hunting and shooting that you do. Not sure why these threads always turn into one right way my way arguments.

Well if you were really hunting you'd get closer.
Nice S&B.
Dave

If you were really hunting you'd jump on their back and choke them out.

Good points lemming..

Guy asks a question about how to get around something he doesn't care for and it turns into a Leupold bash and China scope advertisement.

Screw the Chinese and Philippine made scopes....

Stop shooting the 6.5 pip squeaks and get a real long range magnum caliber and you wouldn't need to jack your Chinese scope up and down to hit deer sized game from zero to 400 yards.

That wasn’t what I said. Most 6.5 “pip squeaks” have great trajectories inside and out of 400 yards. I do try to avoid China like the plague for anything beyond cheap garbage for pride in ownership and to avoid a garbage communist country that despises the US. Different horses for courses. Leupold makes affordable lightweight low profile scopes that do everything most hunters need that are more than bright enough for legal shooting hours. I can’t see hating on someone that wants more but at added weight and price tag for something that most don’t need. I can’t see hating on those that want it was my point.

I said "you made some good points"...



The rest I said and it had nothing to do with what you said.

Not sure you ever got your question answered (typical here), but if I"m not mistaken, Leupold's custom shop isn't operating anymore, so there is no retrofitting available. The standard caps won't fit because they are threaded, and the CDS dials are not.

Could you take a standard cap and drill a couple holes in the sides and thread it like the cds cap? This might sound weird but you could also take a standard cap that fits good and put velcro on the inside top of cap and the other part to the top of the exposed turret.

I don't think a standard cap is tall enough to work.

The brainwashing continues...."In the future", you can only hunt if you dial, use dots, read wind, check the atmospheric pressure and have a book taped to your stock.

While the Benoit thread on Deer hunting is getting pounded with hits ....and some talking about skinner sights for that type of hunting....Over 2,500 in a couple days....."Back to the future" perhaps...

Go to the ranges here and Leupolds are like Toyotas...they're everywhere....Most of the other high end "scopes of the future" are more akin to Ferraris....Of course most of them have yet to shoot a Deer over 300 yards...they have yet to become the real hunters of the future..."There is a bruiser 4 point out there a ways"....a couple minutes later..."You got all your calcs? I'm in the glass...Send it...."

"Oh, [bleep]....I just bounced a bruiser out of his bed at 15 yards and he was gone in seconds...there was an opening, but I was thinking about getting set up...this future hunting may not be for everyone."

Leupold is very good about answering the phone.

One of the interesting things that has developed with this forum is, at least for me, to read the first post and before going further try to guess what argument or dispute will break out. To listen to most of us on any given day one would think that options and personal preferences are somehow a bad thing.

I can appreciate the fact another drives a high end auto, made to the best of standards...Be it a Ferarri or Baja winning 4x4...

But it gets old when they have to continually remind you that your 300Z or Chevy 4x4 is not up to getting you around...

If the VX3 owner bought the CDS scope new, it came with a non-yardage cap. Mine did, though it’s a VX5. If it’s to be used as a set and forget, there are two options:

- sight the rifle in at the desired range (100 yds or whatever) and then reset the scope cap to zero and thereafter use it as a set and forget.

- Or, order the CDS cap (first one is free) specific to the ballistics of his rifle, caliber, and bullet, then sight the rifle in at 100 yards and put the cap on to show the 100 yard mark. You have to read the directions. That’s the approach I used, but after all was set properly, I turned the dial to 200 yards. I leave it there most of the time.

I love the VX5 with CDS and Firedot. Last season, just as the light started to get real dim, I saw a large hog out in my hay field. From where he was standing, I knew him to be 400 yards off. I went to set the CDS dial to 400 yards, when I found the only flaw in the CDS design. It was too dark to see the yard marks and set the CDS dial. I used a small flashlight, set the dial, turned on the firedot and shot the hog. By the time I was ready to shoot, it was very dim, but I got him. I have never had another scope that would have allowed me to make that shot.

Immediately thereafter I got some glow in the dark tape and cut three tiny triangles to put on the CDS dial at 200, 300, and 400.

I almost never see that sentiment posted. It’s usually “there are scopes that work better, but most hunters may never notice the difference, given their usage.” It’s usually round count, dialing, and rough usage that separate the upper echelon from mechanically lesser scopes, and most hunters typically do none of the three.

A question for the OP.

Is your friends scope have the ZL (zero lock) button feature or the older style CDS without any lock?

If it has ZL just sight it in, loosen the screws and rotate it to lock it at the zero, then tighten the screws. Just use it as a set and forget, just as stated by 603Country above.

If it does not have the ZL feature, I would tape it up after zeroing as TRexF16 stated in an earlier post. Maybe not duct tape but electrical tape?

Or get a scope with the turrets he wants. As also stated by 257Bob.

You taking a nap…took longer than usual for you to chime in.. I told you, you couldn’t help yourself😁😁😁😉

Anyway, I’ve come around to acknowledge most of your reasons have merit….Including “most hunter’s typically, etc, etc”, thus they get by….and have valid reasons to drive something that costs less.

Rough usage I may still have issues with….in that I’ve bounced a couple Leupolds a few times. Hard enough I put them away until I could check them later. They passed.

Once an an important hunt that I had no choice but to carry on. It passed…. Off hand at 50 yards with no time to fool around. Mill dots would have been useless….even if they are others future. And later on at the bench also.

Hah, well yeah. Why else would I use this forum if not to discuss and post on threads that interest me?

The idea of losing zero with rough use is likely the hardest claim to verify, since it happens more rarely and less intentionally than either round count or dialing, but it is certainly correlated with both. I have no doubt that Leupold scopes are some of the best at holding zero among scopes that I generally don’t trust mechanically, but compared to scopes with rock solid internals, I’ve observed more zero shifts from knocks, vibrations, and recoil with the Leups. JME.

DJ,

Not a newer one. He might want to watch the classifieds for an older model lightly used VX-3 without the CDS.

After I read this thread I went to Doug’s website and looked at every single VX-3 Leupold riflescope he sells. Not a single one comes without the CDS.

It is pretty ridiculous that you can’t buy a Leupold VX-3 without the CDS nowadays!

Whose counting the beans at Leupold now?

Don’t tell me there’s no market for scopes without ballistic turrets anymore. As soon as Leupold announced the VX-3i(non-CDS) was discontinued(despite all the haters) those scopes prices skyrocketed and were quickly bought up inspite of the higher prices.

I’d venture to guess if Leupold offered a VX-3 non-CDS line again they’d sell plenty of them.

Leftybolt

LFC:

Saying screw Asian sourced scopes is tantamount to saying screw Leupold. There's a reason they can't just roll stamp "Made in USA" on their product.

I don't care to support off shore brands either; however, I care even less for scopes that don't hold zero.

I hunt thick logged over country where you can't see 50 yds. I also hunt western states. There's plenty of instances when there's time for dialing a shot even at 400yds once you've developed that skill set. Dialing is also much more precise, and, thus, more humane, than hold and hope with a standard duplex at anything over MPBR. Stating that there's not a practical application for it does prove a point about your hunting experience, but not the one you're trying to make.


To the OP:

I can't speak to the current crop of Leupolds, but a few years back, a tall turret cap would thread onto a vx-3i once the CDS cap was removed. As has been stated, the the standard cap is too short to fit the threads. Leupold had been good about sending them out when asked. However, you are then stuck with a taller than need be cover to catch brush and clothing. I'd advise your friend to buy a used non CDS version if he doesn't care to twist on it.

To answer the question yes Leupold does have a cap. They sent me 1 for my daughters rife. Remove the CDS cap and the new cap screwed on. Its on a VX2 with CDS.