Leupold CDS

[ShaneTyTrey]

Anyone have any experience with theses scopes?  Are they effective?  How do they compare to Huskema and some of the other long range dial up scopes?

Your responses are appreciated as I am looking to buy a new scope.

Thanks

[The scout]

they work great, I  have a 4.5-14. no problems. I chose it over the others you mentioned because it was going on my hunting rifle and didn't want the extra weight.

[Blacklab]

The biggest factor is your data imput. Making it accurate and consistant is your biggest challenge the rest is just gravy 

[Karl Blanchard]

They work great as long as you don't hunt in different places where your elevation (pressure) is different or temp is different.  The scope itself is fantastic though.

[ShaneTyTrey]

They work great as long as you don't hunt in different places where your elevation (pressure) is different or temp is different.  The scope itself is fantastic though.

So you need a couple of guns set up with them then where you can have two conditions that are typical and then take the corresponding rifle on your trip huh?

[gutsnthegrass]

Can you set them up for what your average elevation will be?  Or does it have to be within a couple hundred feet elevation?  I guess what I'm asking is if I hunt between 1000' and 7000', could I have it set up for 3000' and be accurate between all elevations?   

[Karl Blanchard]

They work great as long as you don't hunt in different places where your elevation (pressure) is different or temp is different.  The scope itself is fantastic though.

So you need a couple of guns set up with them then where you can have two conditions that are typical and then take the corresponding rifle on your trip huh?

I just learned to dial MOA.  Even if you have a turret set for a certain elevation, big temp swings or pressure changes will throw your dope way off.  Leupold will build you additional turrets for different elevations though for like $60 or close to it.

[Chad E.]

They work great as long as you don't hunt in different places where your elevation (pressure) is different or temp is different.  The scope itself is fantastic though.

So you need a couple of guns set up with them then where you can have two conditions that are typical and then take the corresponding rifle on your trip huh?

You can get multiple dials for the same scope for different loads or senarios.  Blrman  is right though some of the variables are always changing

[Bob33]

Can you set them up for what your average elevation will be?  Or does it have to be within a couple hundred feet elevation?  I guess what I'm asking is if I hunt between 1000' and 7000', could I have it set up for 3000' and be accurate between all elevations?

The issue is not elevation per se. The issue is ambient air pressure. Generally speaking, the higher you go the less air pressure there is. However, air pressure is not a constant at specific elevations. For example, the air pressure at 3,000 feet can change constantly.

Less air pressure means less air resistance on the bullet, and thus it will drop less. How much less depends on several factors including the difference in air pressure, the angle of the shot, air temperature, the bullet's velocity and ballistic coefficient, and other factors.

Up to moderate distances such as 400 yards the differences are likely small enough to not be a factor on big game. As distance increases, the differences become greater. At 600 yards, the difference in trajectory between sea level and 7000 feet could be ten or more inches.

If you do plan to hunt at extreme differences in elevation, you could get two different dials for your rifle and load.

[Karl Blanchard]

Good example, say I'm hunting montana and using my 300 and the Barometric pressure is 29.1 and the temp is 40 degrees.  @500 yards I would have to dial 8.5MOA to hit my target.  The next day a storm comes in and the temp drops down to 10 degrees.  I now have to dial that same shot for 9.75 MOA.

This happened to me in Montana this year except the temp was -20°.  I had to dial a full 2.5 MOA farther than what my normal 500 yard dope was back home where I zeroed my rifle.

[Bob33]

This happened to me in Montana this year except the temp was -20°. 

Yikes. My solution to that is to stop hunting.

[Karl Blanchard]

My favorite pic from this season

[BULLBLASTER]

I will add to this also.
The CDs scope is a great tool and I have one (with a moa marked dial) but into it will never compete with a lr or tactical built and designed scope for shooting long distance (600+)

As stated above environmental conditions have too big an impact on ballistics for the yardage based dial to be trusted past 4-500 yards.
Pressure being biggest but temp and humidity also play a part. Also depending on ammunition, powder temp can make a chunk of difference as well.
  that said for a gun you only want to shoot to 500 ish yards and hunt the same areas year after year, get a CDs and be completely happy 

[ShaneTyTrey]

Only looking to shoot out to 500 yards.

[Bob33]

Get one. You'll like it.

[BULLBLASTER]

Get one. You'll like it.

I sighted mine in at 200 yards and then proceeded to make a first round hit on a 7 inch plate at 420 yards last weekend. Using a ballistic calculator and dialing moa. Then immediately dialed back to 0 and hit at 220 again. Showed repeatability.

The single revolution stops are a nice feature on these scopes. Essentially a zero stop