leupold scope quandry

[orch]

hoping someone here can reassure me i'm not going crazy....

i recently picked up a used Leupold Mark 4 6.5-20 LR/T mildot to replace my 3-9 zeiss on my 25-06 ackley...

i have it zeroed at 300yrds shooting a 115gr berger @3250 fps. With the zeiss it would take about 21 moa to get to 1030yards which was pretty much bang on with my ballistic program on my ipod.

so this past weekend was my first trip to the 1030 yard target since i switched over to the leupold. dial in 21 moa, with 0 windage, pull the trigger... bang but no clang of it hitting the steel like i am used to... not even a puff of dust from the gravel i have piled behind the target... after the 4th round, about 2 mil high i finally spot a clump of sod jump up from the dam that i have as the backstop. So i dial it down (thinking huh this is weird) Finally get on target at 16 moa and it groups good, but now i'm thinking i must have bumped something and thrown my 300 yard zero off.
Pack up, go back to 300 yards crank my elevation back down 16moa to zero on the dial and it is bang on...

so i'm now really perplexed.... and i crunch some numbers

21.3moa is 85 1/4moa clicks = 230 inches drop at 1030 yards

16moa is 64 1/4moa clicks which is what i had to have clicked in to hit at 1030yrds

230 inches drop @ 1030 yards is 6.2 Milrads or 62 0.1Milrad clicks right? Am i crazy or does this scope have Milrad internals with MOA markings on the turrets?

Did leupold ever make second focal LR/T scopes with Milrad adjustments and they just put the wrong turret caps on? Has anyone else ever run into this...

[SBruce]

I dont think you're crazy.

I haven't personally had this happen to me, but if seems perfectly reasonable that they could've had a manufacturing error and your adjustments could be 1/10 mil and marked on the housing as 1/4 minute.

Seems I do remember seeing somewhere that they make 1/10 mil adjustments for those scopes.?

[MHO]

I have heard of it happening before. I would call Leupold. Maybe send your scope back to them. They will take care of it.

[Bravo 4]

I've had them make a similar mistake, but it was 1/10 moa adjustments and 1/4 moa turrets. You should check it yourself, it's pretty simple. Don't send it back to them and expect it to get a real thorough check. In another incident I have sent a scope in that came back with a receipt that said they checked it with a collimator and had a clean bill of health. However, when I checked it the adjustments were off by 10%. It got sent back... again.

[orch]

hey guys figured i would give you an update....

its not the scope... i clamped it down on my bench and verified the reticle subtended properly in mils (mildot ret) and then ran her through a bunch of elevation and windage changes and it tracked perfectly in 1/4 moa clicks all throughout the max/min elevation and windage range...

i then took it back out to my 1030 yard target and did some shooting... this time i was at 18.75 moa to get on target(data and previous scope say 21.1 moa and previous range trip it was 16moa.

I am begining to think i was victim of mirage and all that optical-refractive fun stuff...
for the 16 moa day it was pretty much the hottest day i have shot in (32+ celcius) and there was definetly mirage happening and high humidity
the 18.75 moa was in the high +20's with noticable mirage as well

most of my longrange shooting has been in cooler weather (below 15c down to minus 20s) where i havent been hampered by mirage as much
i didn't think mirage would cause a perceived 5moa change in POI but thats what i think it has turned out to be...

so in short i can't pin it on the scope! just on inexperience.... or maybe i am crazy...


orch