Leupold VariX-III 6.5-20x50 Mil-Dot Reticle, Side Focus, Matte Finish, Long Range, 30

[ae_ted]

ok tell me i dont know anything. i shot one of these scopes working on loads for a rem 300ultra. this is the dangest scope iv ever worked with. makes me wish for my zeiss.
ok here is the prob.
when i go from low power to high, the EYE RELIEF CHANGES!!!! not a bit but a LOT. its got me bobbing back and forth on the stock like a yo yo. when i get clear at one power and want to crank it up i got to go all through the process again. it may be me , but i find that annoying to say the least. this is a EXPENSIVE scope and i feel i shold not have to put up with such foolishness.
ok now tell me what i doing wrong or are these scopes really worth all this aggravation?????

 

[Nate Haler]

Hmm, maybe you gotta bad one (and of course Leupold will fix 'em forever, for just the cost of shipping to them in Oregon)...

But let's cover the basics. The eye relief does normally vary somewhat on a variable scope. Eye relief is more 'critical' (meaning there's less of a margin where your eye needs to be to see the whole image) at higher magnification than lower.

With a variable scope, you should adjust your eye relief when mounting the scope on the rifle at Maximum magnification. And don't crank the mag ring up after you've got the scope sitting in the rings -- that's how you get scratches! Crank the mag all the way up before you set the scope in the rings.

I think you will find that this step will largely solve your problem. You don't want to be moving your head back and forth like you're doing the Funky Chicken or whatever.

Otherwise, call the good folks at Leupold and hear them out, or let a knowledgeable shooting buddy set behind your rifle to see if the problem occurs for them too.

The Leupold 6.5-20x50 LR is (IMHO) an excellent scope, and perhaps the most sensible all-around choice if your budget is less than $900. For those of you not familiar with it, it has 30mm maintube, side focus, and 72 MOA of internal elevation, and weighs twenty ounces. Dealer cost of about $711.00 for the mil-dot version.

Compare that to $1,300 and 36 ounces for the NF NXS 5.5-22.

That's what makes it a horserace.

 

[ae_ted]

thanks. the scope had been mounted on another rifle of my friends. i used to manage a large sporting goods store many yrs ago for a period of 15 yrs and have mounted literly 1000's of scopes. but this leupold is a model im not familiar with and very well may have had some sort of lock on it or it may have been bad. i ask the owner about the large shift in eye relief and he said it was common to shift 3 or 4 inches. hehe glad he satisfied whith that "performance" as it wold drive me nutts. finding a bad scope could not suprise me. thats way my luck goes. im used to it. once bought a new sako varmit .222 and zeiss 10x and sako fac. rings to put it on. decided that for a $1500 outfit i shold buy some "store bought" ammo and bought 2 boxes of fac. ammo. set it all up and went to range. shot at 100yds and not even hit the target. mumbled to myself and checked everything again and shot soem more....nouthing. grumbling and not feeling to "hot" about my new outfit i went to a nearby competer and sheepishly ask him to bore shight the rig for me . back to range and STILL NOUTHING. by now i was using not to nice language and moved target to 25yds and finally hit the target..bad news the bullets were KEYHOLING. i was really sick of my new outfit now and was about to go through the 2 boxes of fac. ammo. reached for my reloads and started aagain..everything worked as it should. back to 100yds and .5 groups no probs at all. what are chances to get bad fac. ammo and go to range with new outfit...hahahaha thats me!!! sent the remander(3 or 4 rounds) of fac. ammo to fac. and they gave me 4 boxes new ammo and it shot fine. just a fluke i guess. never did exactly figure what was wrong with that ammo but i suspect wwrong dia bullets. oh well could be same with that scope iv never seen any scope of any type vary THAT MUCH on eye relief. i was wanting to know about this as im in market for new scop of that type and wanted to know if that was common for this scope. if so i want no part of one hehe thanks for input!!!

 

[ae_ted]

[ 09-29-2003: Message edited by: ae_ted ]

 

[Nate Haler]

per the Leupold website (link below), eye relief at 6.5x should be 5.3" and at 20x it should be 3.6".

1.7" variation, not 3-4" variation.

See details here: http://www.leupold.com/products/products_specs.asp

 

[H-BAR]

That is still alot of change!!!

 

[Vern Harrison]

I bought a new Leupold 8 1/2x 25 LR M1 with mil dots. Fired it four time lost my point of impact. i sent it back to Leupold and they fixed it in two weeks and returned it. I shot it at the IBS 1000 yd Nationals and it worked fine, just goes to show you, regardless what you pay for them, they all can go bad.

Vern

 

[Nate Haler]

Having just ordered the Zeiss Conquest you mention, I will be able to do so (presuming prompt shipment) in a week or so.

Here's what I've learned so far:

Leupold LR 6.5-20x50 Conquest 6.5-20x50
-------------------- -------------------
weight: 20 ounces 21 ounces

maintube: 30mm one inch

elevation: 72 moa 45 moa

side focus side focus

The Zeiss apparently features a BDC (bullet drop compensator) but what that comprises I won't know until I receive it.

The Zeiss can be had for $620 from Highland Gear in Quincy, IL. The street price of the Leupold in question is typically $750.00.

I've ordered the Zeiss in the mil-dot reticle, so despite having less internal adjustment (as you'd expect in a 1" tube), I'm planning on using the mil-dot holdover technique (and perhaps a tapered base) to ensure I can hit targets to 1,000y.

I'm quite familiar w/Leupold optics (VX3 and Mark 4 series anyway), so it will be interesting to compare the Zeiss in this regard.

Cheers!

 

[barongcw]

has anybody ever compared the Leupold III 6.5-20*50 to the Zeiss conquest of same magnification?

Would be keen to read the results