For example, if your turret is cut to 70 degrees at mean sea level (MSL) using Federal 168 grain Gold Medal Match, it isn’t going to work at your elk camp at 7000′ MSL in 35-degree temps using Hornady 178 grain Precision Hunter. The Twilight Light Management System is the basic series of lens coating that Leupold applies on its budget-friendly scopes such as the VX-Freedom line. Scope Review: Leupold VX-3i CDS-ZL Optics Line. I can think of only one reason not to buy this scope for a mid-range hunting rifle. Twilight Max has around 12 to 16 total layers – roughly twice as many layers as Twilight. I would really have preferred the Wind-Plex reticle, so I will probably have Leupold swap it out at some point. Scope image quality and low light performance are getting better and better, so I have replaced most of my older scopes even though they still technically work. Just before SHOT Show 2020, Leupold & Stevens, Inc., announced four new models of the VX-3i riflescope line, all featuring the company’s ZeroLock CDS dial for the first time. For some reason, guys are always willing to get in line to be the beta tester for some fly-by-night company. If you are looking for a rifle scope to help you get on your target faster, this is it. Quantity. Quality: * * * * * Leupold’s Custom Dial System® (CDS®) helps you easily compensate for bullet drop and make ultra-quick adjustments on the fly. I tried and tested the Leupold Custom Dial System (CDS), and here is what I learned. Leupold Specifications Quick Review magnification range: 2X to 10X scope weight: 16.4 ounces scope length: 12.5 inches eye relief: 3.8 inches scope finish: matte black. The system works if the conditions equal the data used to cut the hashmarks on the turrets. Rather, the parallax is set at the factory for 150 yards. Thus, when you think about a lifetime warranty, you have to wonder if your scope company is going to be around ten or twenty years from now when you need it. $849.99 New---- Used; Ratings and Reviews. The windage turret remains a capped design, which is reflective of the fact that few hunters will dial windage solutions. 2. I guess if you can hold your head in the exact same spot every shot, then it doesn’t matter that much, but I find that difficult to accomplish in practice. The company’s VX-Freedom 3-9x40mm for the .350 Legend ($365) takes its CDS system and matches it to the round’s ballistics—specifically a 150-grain bullet running at 2,325 fps, which is what Winchester’s 150-grain Deer Season XP load does. Once installed, the CDS works well, but is limited insomuch as it is calibrated to only one bullet trajectory, and any changes in bullet grain size, temperature, and altitude can affect the results. The Leupold VX-Freedom 3–9x40 CDS Scope is built for simplicity and accuracy. 1 of 2 Go to page. ReddIt. For around $500.00, you get a great scope with adjustable parallax and objective focus rings. It takes all of two minutes and after that, I was finished. Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14x50mm Side Focus Riflescope, 30mm Side Focus - Duplex (170709) (170709) Excellent article. I needed a change, but I was terrified of all the new long-range scopes that seemed too fancy for my taste. $652.49 New; $650.00 Used; No ratings or reviews yet. HD) glass, you will have to pay for it. We’ll customize your scope’s elevation dial to match your exact load, velocity, and conditions for unprecedented precision. 3. My T&E sample VX-3i 4.5-14×40 came with the basic “duplex” reticle. Our test optic is Leupold’s VX-3i CDS-ZL in 3.5-10x40 with the standard Duplex reticle. $899.99. Other Boring Technical Info Reticle. This feature allows the shooter to lock the turret at the zero position. I also am a big fan of Leupold, I’ve got maybe 7 different kinds, all but 1 are gold rings, all but 1 are mounted on hunting rifles, the one I have on my A R 15 is different. Leupold’s in house design, which is known as the Impact 29 MOA reticle, is a great choice. The Leupold VX-3i is the standard by which all other mid-priced scopes are judged. The reticle subtends along the horizontal axis in 1-­MOA increments. Needless to say, I have a lot of experience with this brand going back 40 years. Linear FOV (ft/100 yd) – Low 19.90 That makes sense, since the VX-3i is now a mid-tier product line for Leupold. 10 oz. For 2020, Leupold has added a zero-lock feature to the CDS turrets. That’s one of the reasons I have 30+ Leupold scopes. The scope industry is changing every day and not always for the best. Really unbelievable, at least for this hunter. I was sold, and now I am a huge CDS fan. Leupold VX-3i 6.5-20x40mm EFR CDS Target Rifle Scope. My specific dial is good out to over 600 yards, but I think I had better practice some more before taking a poke that far. Leupold is described as making very tough optics as well. Twitter. I have to say that I really missed that feature, however. Leupold scopes with the Leupold CDS System are some of the most accurate ballistic scopes I have had the pleasure of using. The new scopes track better and have better coatings. Pinterest. leupold vx3i CDS-ZL ! If you are going to rely on your CDS turret to dial your elevation solution, the Wind-Plex reticle is ideal because it gives you points of reference for wind holds while otherwise remaining uncluttered. Josh Wayner-December 28, 2020. Leupold VX-5HD Riflescope Review by Steve Monk From the May/June issue of MuleyCrazy Magazine As the years click by, I’m increasingly impressed with the quality of optics a guy can get for a better and better price.Maybe it’s competition among the various manufacturers, or simply the result of advancing technology (probably both), but in either case, the consumer is the winner. I have never felt perfectly confident at that distance before now. In addition to having excellent glass, the Leupold VX-5HD … The two nodes tell me that I probably have a pressure point on the barrel and need to inlet the stock a bit more to ensure a free-float barrel. The Leupold CDS dial and custom reticle won’t make you a better shot—that takes hours of practice and pounds of burnt powder—but they will give you confidence that your bullet will go where it’s supposed to when you do your part. While that information may be useless as an objective measure of quality, it does give you a sense of how Leupold rates their three tiers relative to one another. Again, whether you want a side-focus feature will depend on the type of hunting you do. Leupold VX-5HD 2-10x42 CDS-ZL2. For my tracking test, I shot to zero at 100 yards, and then dialed 12 MOA and shot again at my “zero” target. To use the CDS system successfully, the shooter needs to provide Leupold with key data points: It is critical to get this data correct, because garbage data will result in bad shooting results. Again, a BDC turret is marked with distance hash marks in either yards or meters, which allows the shooter to select the desired distance instead of counting or memorizing the clicks. There’s more information here than 90% of the optics articles out there. The scope uses a 1-inch matte tube, second/rear focal plane, and 3:1 zoom ratio. Now where can I purchase a 3i, 4.5×14, 40mm with a 30 mm tube. Leupold’s factory is about 10 miles from my work, so I ran over there one day and they replaced that old scope with a brand new VX-3i 3.5-10×40. 0. Sure, the VX-6 line of scopes has better HD glass and a 30mm main tube, but it will add a half pound or more to the rifle’s weight while also lightening your wallet more. Be the first to write a review. The coatings are engineered to help hunters resolve details in low light. Likewise, if you’re shooting elk-sized targets inside of 400-500 yards, you probably don’t need it either. 1241. The CDS-ZL2 turret is a great feature for hunters who are pursuing game in open country where shot distances can easily vary. The theory behind a BDC turret is that if the hunter knows the range to the target, the hunter need only turn the dial to that distance hashmark and take the shot. Leupold also offers a free custom dial, matching your ballistics, with the purchase of every CDS system. The user provides ballistic data for a specific load and gun, and Leupold creates a CDS dial engraved with range markings that correspond to the given bullet’s trajectory. For my 6.5 Creedmoor, that gets me out to roughly 700 yards at 7000′ MSL. Each prototype has to survive 5,000 impacts in order to validate the scope design. Jan 5, 2020 #1 R. riley Active member. Most of those companies don’t actually manufacture anything; they design a scope and have produced in Japan, the PI, or China. I tried it out at 300 yards right away and managed to shoot a 1.5” group of three shots. I bought the least expensive model of scope that featured the CDS, the Leupold VX2 4-12×40. the version of the 4.5-14×40 that features a side focus. Leupold 171714 VX-5HD 3-15x44mm CDs Zl2 Matte 30mm Tube SF Duplex. For Leupold, that was a fair trade to gain my continued confidence in their product: I am a customer for life. If I’m shooting beyond 500 yards out to, say, 1000 yards (my record is a 735-yard hit on a central Oregon coyote), I really like a 3-18×44 or a 5-25×56. … I did buy a used 1979 Nikko Golden Eagle rifle for $600 in NRA 98% condition that was equipped with an older Leupold VX-3 3.5-10×40 scope. (1.047 x 12 = 12.56 inches). But if the scope if being used on a .308 Win, that will only get you out to 600 yards at the same elevation. The whole transition from old-school to new-school was painless and the process was simple. Adjustments Are Repeatable And Reliable. If you want better (i.e. Leupold now adds a significant improvement to their venerable VX-3i design: zero lock turrets on their VX-3i 4.5-14×40 CDS rifle scope. All I had to do was turn my new dial to the distance I was shooting and pull the trigger. Performance is king and the Leupold VX-5HD 2-10×42 mm CDS-ZL2 is certainly part of the firm’s royalty. my kid put a vx-3i on his 6.5 creed ar pattern rifle Next Last. Weight (oz) 13.00 Leupold has three levels or tiers of lens coating systems: Twilight, Twilight Max, and Twilight Max HD. 0 users rated this 3 out of 5 stars 0. Zero-stop solved that problem by allowing the shooter to simply dial clockwise until the turret stopped, which brings the turret back to the rifle’s zero. When I sighted it in, I put together by far the best groups I’ve ever shot, the combination of the rifle and optic is magic for me. The next step was to simply replace your factory dial with the new custom dial. The glass is great, the scopes are rugged, and best of all, they are incredibly lightweight compared to the competition. Overall: * * * * * Leupold’s CDS (Custom Dial System) elevation dials allow you to quickly dial your elevation adjustment to different ranges with a custom dial matched to your specific ballistic information. At 15.8 ounces and the need for heavier 30mm rings, the side focus model will impose a weight penalty, but that is probably worth it on anything other than a mountain rifle. As much as I think the CDS turret is a great feature to have on any hunting scope, Leupold’s Wind-­Plex reticle is equally important. Leupold requires that you sight in dead-on at either 100 or 200 yards with the standard adjustment dial that comes with the new scope. If the dial is cut specific to a special pet load, elevation, and temperature, the results can be quite impressive. From the center of the reticle, there are 10 MOAs in each direction. Think of these three systems as “good, better, best.”. Right now, I am totally comfortable shooting out to 450 yards. Linear FOV (ft/100 yd) – High 7.40 Check great and honest reviews! However, I’ve used other Leupold scopes since the late-1970s and never had a problem. 3 In Stock. There are 10 “one-MOA” hash-marks in each direction. This ultra-light rifle was built with parts available from Brownells. A few of those scopes are shown above. Leupold has been around since 1907 and will undoubtedly be around for a good long time. The trend in the industry is to move to 30mm tubes, which provide a greater turret adjustment range. See all. 5. The nice part about today’s AR platform is that it can be readily modified for virtually any end use. MSRP: $779.99 (about $600 retail). If the game you’re hunting is too skittish to allow you the time to dial your firing solution, a more complex reticle with subtensions will be your huckleberry. I have always thought that Leupold makes a great scope, but the new versions are better than the ones made ten or twenty years ago. The VX-3i takes weight off your rifle while leaving some cash in your pocket, and when ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain, trimming weight from your rifle is the right answer. The Wind-­Plex reticle subtends along the horizontal axis in increments of one minute of angle (MOA). Eye Relief (in) – High 3.70 These days, there are tons of new scope “manufacturers” out there. Elevation can also vary up to around 2,000 feet (+/-) or so before problems arise. Before moving to production, every prototype has to survive 5,000 impacts on the Punisher, which replicates recoil roughly that of three times that of a .308 Win. One of my rifles typically needs 11 mils to hit steel at 1000 yards with Federal GMM 175 grain. But if you hunting experience involves short stalks or ambush techniques (tree or ground blinds, etc. Word is that Leupold engineers hate the Punisher, because if the prototype scope fails to perform in any way during the tests, the engineers have to go back to the drawing board, make adjustments, and test it again. Made in America You also get to enjoy edge-to-edge brightness plus a full clear sight picture that will fill your eyepiece entirely.The scope has the company’s classi… Add to Cart. Leupold’s traditional VX-3 line featured capped turrets and weren’t really designed for dialing up your firing solutions. 0 users rated this 4 out of 5 stars 0. I’ve been shooting for 40+ years, and I’ve seen these companies come and go. I shot that test group with my new Boyds Spike camp stock. And by “mid-range,” I mean that this scope is, generally speaking, optimized for shots between 100-500 yards. If you are like almost every other hunter, you are used to using a fixed or variable rifle scope. In 2018, Leupold launched the VX-Freedom line at the SHOT Show. This set-up was supposed to end that old practice and I was eager to give it a try. Muzzle velocity is especially critical. 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