Vari-X III glare

[Crop Damage]

I've got a Vari-X III 4.5-14x50 that is about 10 years old. It has the fine duplex reticle, and I like it for daylight target and deer shooting. In the evening, it gets really tough to see deer, there seems to be a bad glare through the scope. I have to cup my hand around the eyepiece to block out light, which helps a little, but it has cost me several nice opportunities on bucks over the years.

Has anyone else experienced this, and is there a fix? I am hoping I can send it back to Leupold and have them address it. Hope there is a solution to it.

Anyone know if that model scope can have a mil dot reticle installed? If not, I may have them make a BDC turret for it.

I'd like to work with this scope if I can, instead of spending a lot on another this year.

 

[Buffalobob]

If you are cupping your hand around the eye piece then what you need to do is head on down to Florida and pick up where Ponce de Leon left off. There are only two cures for that and the fountain of youth would be the preferred one. Failing to find it, then I suggest you get a long bill hiat and velcro on a sunshade. A sunshade on the objective of the scope will help a little too.

If glare on your eye is the problem then you should also be having trouble driving at night and especially hate the BMWs and Mercedes with their blue lights. If this is true you will also benefit from moving up to a 56mm scope so you might as well dump your old scope and just buy totally new what you really need.


Your description of exactly what is the problem leaves a some question as to the angle of the sun and perhaps you have been improperly cleaning the eyepiece and it is either too dirty or has about a million scratches in the optical coating which will cause a problem with reflecting a lot of light.

 

[Bravo 4]

A sunshade on the objective of the scope will help a little too.

Your description of exactly what is the problem leaves a some question as to the angle of the sun and perhaps you have been improperly cleaning the eyepiece and it is either too dirty or has about a million scratches in the optical coating which will cause a problem with reflecting a lot of light.

The angle to the sun is my first guess. Get a sunshade (the name says it all).

 

[Crop Damage]

There's a good chance the coating is scratched, I've wiped it off plenty of times with my shirt tail. I can't really see any scratches, but that doesn't mean much I guess. And I am looking west in the evenings during deer season. The sun is behind the woods though. Maybe a combination of re-coating the lenses and a sunshade will help. Thank you for the comments.

Does anyone make a rubber eyepiece that surrounds your eye, to block out almost all the surrounding light? I think I saw something like that once at a gun show, but never seen one since. I think that would be great on almost any scope.

Anyone had this model scope fitted with a mildot reticle or a BDC dial?

 

[Boss Hoss]

Junky scopes and the main reason I quit using them 20 years ago(besides breaking) was try using one to look into a dark field in an elevated stand when the sun has just set!! You will see a fog if you will because the brighter sky reflects off of the objective.

Cost me the biggest buck I have ever seen--next night in the same condition with no big buck used the Zeiss and no problems... Lesson learned.

 

[Crop Damage]

I called and talked with a tech at Leupold. He also said it was most likely scratched lens coating that caused the glare, and advised a sunshade. You folks were right on. I also found out that I can have a mildot reticle installed, and BDC style target turrets calibrated to my load for both elevation and windage. Very cool. I'm sending it in right after gun season ends, and will have a new trick for the bean eating deer over the summer.