Leupold CDS, Free custom dial with purchase of scope

[Airedale56]

Last fall I bought a Leupold

VX-5HD 3-15X44 CDS-ZL2 SIDE FOCUS HTMR

Part #
178027

with 1/10 Mil adjustments

and installed it on my Weatherby 307 Range XP chambered in 22" (without the factory muzzle brake) barreled .243 Winchester 1/7.5" Twist.

I started searching for a load to settle on for wolves and coyotes in NW Wyoming. I settled on the Berger 108 Elite Hunter at 2850 fps with 43.8 grains of IMR 7828 SSC, WLR primer and Starline .243 Win case, bullet seated .030" off the lands. The load groups five rounds inside 1/2 inch out of my rifle in my hands, off the bench at 102 yards at the Cody Shooting Club range.

I finally got around to submitting an order for the free Custom Dial offer that was included with the purchase of the scope. I ordered it online October 21st and it was delivered today November 9th, 2024.

I was STUNNED to discover that the laser engraved graduations run from 100 to 1800 yards(!) in UNDER TWO FULL TURNS of the dial.

So I opened my Revic (GunWerks) ballistic calculator (I use an Revic BR4 Laser Rangefinder) and took some screen shots to go along with the settings to share with you guys.

One full turn lines up at 1200 yards (10.3 mils) from a 100 yard zero

 

[Airedale56]

1800 Yards is 22.3 mils up
(Edit) And that's where the dial stops turning.

 

[Airedale56]

1000 yards is 7.6 mils up

I've got A LOT of shooting to do to confirm these settings.

 

[Airedale56]

Aaaaand, No, I do not plan to shoot at a wolf or coyote at 1800 Yards

 

[Tuktu]

nice scope. I have several vx3hd with the cds zl feature, I've used 1 on a 7rm to 500 yds. for Caribou, it worked well. 1800 yards is a helluva range of adjustment.

 

[LDHunter]

Aaaaand, No, I do not plan to shoot at a wolf or coyote at 1800 Yards

Wait Wait.... I saw a guy on youtube do it with a 3-9x40 Chinese knockoff scope and a 223 AR-15 so you should be able to.... LOL

In all seriousness I have the same scope but mine has the 56mm lens up front and the TMOA reticle and I absolutely love that scope. However with my old eyes seeing a coyote at anything beyond 800yds might be a bit difficult for me. Did yours come with that camo pattern or did you apply it?

 

[BrentM]

Interesting as the moa version is good for 38 moa. Seems odd they are allowing for a close to 80 moa in your mil configured scope. Usually doesn't work like that as travel is travel.

 

[Airedale56]

I sponge camo-ed the entire rifle and scope to blend in with my sagebrush country.

It works pretty well, I think.

The first time I painted a rifle and scope was late 80s.
It's a gloss finish, target knob, 6.5-20x AO Leupold.
My hunting buddy had a conniption fit! Heresy!

 

[Airedale56]

Interesting as the moa version is good for 38 moa. Seems odd they are allowing for a close to 80 moa in your mil configured scope. Usually doesn't work like that as travel is travel.

I don't understand it either, but I can aim at a cloud above a target and lob a bullet downrange and look for impact. I have LOTS of elevation options

There's a life size steel bison about 900-ish yards at the Powell Wyoming range.
John Linebaugh hosted an annual Big Bore revolver shoot there for many years. I've caused it to almost stampede a couple of time with a near miss from a .500 Linebaugh. Was aiming at a cloud above to the left of it.
I may have even splashed dirt on it…

 

[BrentM]

I don't understand it either, but I can aim at a cloud above a target and lob a bullet downrange and look for impact. I have LOTS of elevation options

There's a life size steel bison about 900-ish yards at the Powell Wyoming range.
John Linebaugh hosted an annual Big Bore revolver shoot there for many years. I've caused it to almost stampede a couple of time with a near miss from a .500 Linebaugh. Was aiming at a cloud above to the left of it.
I may have even splashed dirt on it…

That's a poke. We played the Glock game on 200 yard 10x10' steel. It was hard enough to hit

 

[Wendet]

I have an sig cross and a vx-5 3-15x44 and have hit steel deer out to 1200 yds with the cds dial so far have loved it. Fastest way to go out to distance I have found. The better the info you send them the better result.

 

[Airedale56]

Great job.
Would you share your rifle/cartridge and load?

 

[Wendet]

Great job.
Would you share your rifle/cartridge and load?

Sig cross 6.5 creedmoor factory 143gr eldx

 

[Airedale56]

Brent's comment about elevation travel in MOA got me thinking.

In studying the hash marks at the bottom of the new dial they appear to be MOA based i.e., zero, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4… etc while the elevation distances appears to be engraved to correspond to the impact distances at range. When I get the time I'll spin the dials and count clicks to how close to my data the dial is.

I'll get around to placing some random water jugs at distance and see if I can nail 'em on the fly after ranging.

Or maybe first, I'll check out YouTube to see a video of a guy who has already thought of this and made a video of his results.

Right now, I'm gonna trust Leupold like I have since the late '70s.