leupold scope with the bit cut outta the objective bellhousing

[dieseldogg]

How does it work?

is it purely a gimmick?

I might be attracted as it will apparently let me fit a higher mag scope to the Sako Quad, & can change barrels without removing the scope

Plus as far as I can establish, from my tinternet searches, leupold are a tad shorter o/all

Is there any kinda tinter-net "virtual" scope & mount fitting service available

I am having difficulty in getting owt over 10mag in a compact package

the VX-7L 3.5-14*56 might be a contender

otherwise limited to the VX-7 2.5-10*45 ( seeing as I got 9 mag already, this is no move forward, and I fancy more power for lazy zeroing)

cheers

M

Ps

I DID search ( first)

[cooter]

With a bigger objective lens the theory is you can gather a lot more light in, and the FOV is bigger, but make sure you are not looking at a lot more of the moderator.

Buy some high mounts to go with it, and you should be ok.

 

I use a Bushnell Elite 6500, which costs a lot less than the VX7, and you can almost see in the dark with it.

 

Cooter

[dieseldogg]

Cooter,

oi mai bie from Ireland

But I was aware of the larger objective lens gathering more light

& devide by the mag for pupil dia etc etc ( optimium of 7mm required)

what i was wishing to ascertain was the physics ( if any) behind Leupold's "gimmick"

ie

does it WORK

But as I measured up this evening

I tink i need some sort of one piece bridging mount to span the cut out in the action

And then perhaps a wheen o extra inches screwed to the butt for eyebell clearance

[chrisv]

I think the theory behind it is to give a 56mm objective without increasing the height. This means you can get the centre of the scope nearer to the centre of the barrel than with similar size objectives. You should get away with lower mounts and be able to keep your cheek more firmly on the stock.

 

Personally, I think they are massively overpriced, and even though i like certain Leupold scopes, I wouldn't even consider one of these.

I only use 50 or 56mm scopes, and don't have a problem with mounts or actually seeing through them.

[dieseldogg]

Thanks

Chrisv

I see Sportsmatch do "reach forward" mounts, which I shall of course fit backwards

I suspect these will get around some of my mounting diffs

[Rem223]

I think the droopy Leupy is a bit of a gimmick but I can see the advantage of having the scope closer to the bore. Leupold do have a fitment guide if it's any use http://www.leupold.com/_pdfs/BaseFit_RingHght.pdf

[webber]

I fitted a VXL scope a few years ago when they first came out, Sent to the states for it, and saved a few bob on the price that they were when they eventually reached the UK. I fitted it to my Anschutz .17 HMR. No problem to fit, and ajoy to use. If its a gimmik, fair enough, but its one that works.

 

webber

[cooter]

But as I measured up this evening

I tink i need some sort of one piece bridging mount to span the cut out in the action

And then perhaps a wheen o extra inches screwed to the butt for eyebell clearance

 

Diesel,

 

I have a Falcon with a 56mm obj lens , and a shooting buddy uses a Nikko with 60mm lens, neither of which are as good at gathering light as the 50mm Elite I have.

It is more the quality of the glass and the coatings than the size of the objective lens, but the larger obj should give you a larger FOV, and a lot more hold over options.

 

Even on 10 X the Elite works right down to dark without fogging, and it is excellent in the pre dawn light.

 

The Elite was on my HMR, but it is now on my .223, as it is 4.5 - 30, and I find the extra mag is great for the longer ranges.

 

The Elite is shorter than the VX7 by 1.5 inches, and the Elite eye relief is not so fussy, which may save on the butt extension.

 

The Elite is a good scope for less than £600.

 

Sorry if it sounds like an advert, but when I got the Elite (about six months ago) I was not impressed with it, but the more I use it the better it gets, and when I need another scope it will be another Elite.

 

I also have a Bushnell Legend, and there is no comparison between it and the Elite.

 

Either Sportsmatch or BKL 302's will give you lots of reach, but the BKL's are proving hard to get hold of lately.

 

 

HTH

[flyingfisherman]

I Have to agree with Cooter..

 

I have a couple of Leupolds, a VXIII 4.5-14x50 AO on my .223 and VXI on my .243.. I recently got a Bushnell Elite, it was half the price of the leupold and as cooter said, you can see in the dark (nearly!) with it! Im not saying that Leupolds are rubbish, but it may be worth thinking outside the box.

 

However, this does not help with your original question RE: changing Quad barrels and having enough clearance.. The Leupold series your on about are verrrry nice scopes.. Have you tried opticswarehouse? Ive used them and for an online retailer, its been fantastic.

[dieseldogg]

Thanks guys,

Yes I have lusted over the Bushnell elite series in the past

I was having a look around thinternet there now

And iffen the site is correct

I can get a 3200 Elite in 7-21*40 , which is ( & ****** if I wrote it down) just over 12" long

Looks a likely candidate

Or the side focus Hawke Frontier @ 6-24 *40 odd likewise

decisions decisions

[swift4me]

Definitely no gimmick!

 

I sold more than 50 of these scopes after they came out. Several went to Alaska on wet hunts, a few went to Africa on 3 week deals and the rest were used locally for pigs and deer. I never got one back, except one that the customer had mounted himself, but that's another story.

 

When you're shooting small calibers off sticks or a bipod, you can hold your face almost anywhere on the stock, but when you want a rifle to REALLY fit you, getting the scope lower is more often than not a good thing.

 

In fact, after they introduced the scope, Leupold had to engineer the set of Extra Low rings as they were getting more clearance than they thought. On a Remington 700, you could almost always use the Extra Low even with the 56 mm bell.

 

I'm not an English rabbit killer, but if I had to kill an angry wild pig or a bear, or anything else that wanted my hide, I like a gun that throws up with the scope ready to use.

 

If you're shooting bunnies or paper, save your money.

 

Just my two cents, but I hate it when someone calls something a gimmick when they have no first hand experience with it.

 

 

Pete

[dieseldogg]

Dear dear Swift4me/Pete

I really should have bought that snake oil from that lovely Nigerian gentleman on the internet.

It was after all a bargain.

**********************

However, in my defence

I did ASK if it was a Gimmick, by which I understood it to mean

as per dictionary definations :

An ingenious or novel device, scheme or stratgem, esp one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.

Or

To equip or embellish with unecessary features in order to increase acceptance

As

i was aware that Leupold is a reputable company

PS

I can only presume they got the patents well stitched up

***********************

If I can get a look at & through one I might yet consider

Cheers

M

Edited November 24, 2009 by dieseldogg

[dieseldogg]

My wife will NOT advise me (on this particular matter leastwise)

Looks like a toss up between the Hawke 4-16*40 Fontrier side focus @£313.00

And

the 7-21*40 Bushnell Elite 3200 @£333.00

both from the optics warehouse

whereas

The VX3 4.5-14*40 is £599 (loud sigh)

I think I am suffering from internet information overload at the moment

[tweedledee]

i personally would go for a leupold.hawke is a hawke and won`t have the pedigree of the leupold. try for cheaper leupolds they are out there.

[swift4me]

Don't take my post the wrong way.

 

I read several posts from people who had not owned one telling you to buy something else, or that scope height was not that big a deal, and one man who actually owned one and liked it.

 

Having been in the business, it is sort of a pet peeve when someone like you asks on a forum, "should I buy one of these.. does anybody know anything about them", and most of the responses are, " no I don't own one of those, but you should buy what I bought."

 

What I used to tell guys in my store who would tell me that their buddy's Bushnell binoculars were as good as the Swarovskis, (or whatever), I'd tell them, (because I knew they were B.S.ing and didn't have any intention of buying either one), OK, for the next minute, they are both the price of the Bushnell. Which one do you want now? There is a difference in performance and the purchasers valuation of that performance relative to the use.

 

Like a chainsaw or a power tool... there are things to get you by, and then there's the real stuff.

 

Buy what you want and be happy.

 

 

Pete

[dieseldogg]

:blink:

Thanks Pete, i understand what you are saying

&

I bes a sucker for quality

Well the wifes Prussian bred for a start ( :blink: So it must have been my side of the breeding wot afflicted the weans )

I might yet sccumb to quality

Tee hee......Certainly i would take a Leupold at £300 odd ..... Over the other two

**************

Mind I got a Hakko 10-40*56 which is a nice piece of glass imho, a rip-off copy/patent infringment of a Tasco I was told.

One does not always get what one pays for, in terms of quality

HOWEVER one most certainly does NOT get what ones does NOT pay for.

Can anyone tell i'm NOT busy at work?

cheers all

M

[Mr_Logic]

I wouldn't get the Hawke, personally.

 

Bushnell should be a sound bet, but what about Burris? They're around for that kind of money - I have a 3-9x50 on my Hornet, and it's excellent for that price, pretty good in low light and very dependable.

 

Leupolds are good, and at the old pricing they were good VFM. The new pricing on the other takes the ****, and as such I would buy something else. Nikon Monarch is also worth a look, and again at the same sort of pricing.

 

I got one but had to send it back, because the eyepiece lens would not fit on my CZ.

[cooter]

Pete, I agree with you all the way on the above.

 

My initial post was to advise that I found, on more than one occasion, half my scope was looking at the mod, which then becomes a lot more if you put a cover on the mod, and more still if you use the same scope/mount combination on a centre fire.

Not a problem in the day time, but what I found is that as the light drops it gets as though I am looking through mist or fog, and this affects my opportunities to take a shot.

 

To get around this I use high rings or mounts, which would then defeat the object of having a scope which is apparently designed to hug the barrel, thus allowing the use of low mounts.

 

JMO

[swift4me]

Thanks Cooter:

 

I had not thought about your compensators as we cannot use them in the US or here in France... legally at least. I know that low power scopes, llike a 1.5-6 will show the front sight on most rifles, so seeing a big silencer could get annoying.

 

In my experience it is obvious that the playing field is getting very level in optics, so there are definitely values around, depending on what the end use is. That said, the best still has an edge. I have a great love of Leupold and other good makes for their unwavering customer service. No questions, no cost, period.

 

Ask the guy who pulls off one or two great "tough condition" shots with a great scope if he'd rather have the extra 200 dollars or those last two kills.... the answer is easy. Whether it was a fox on the edge of the woods or a 70" Yukon moose. Some guys get to hunt every day, and others don't, so it is like everything else in life.

 

Thanks,

 

Pete

[dieseldogg]

I am, as mentioned, restricting myself to a length of as near 12" as poss, as the furthur forward I go the excessively higher I gotta go to allow clearance for barrel changing.

I think the Nikon Monarch are longer for the magnification

I suppose I kin argue that I kin spend the price of two scopes on one

Cheers

M

Edited November 24, 2009 by dieseldogg

[swift4me]

If you had a buddy in the US who could send it to you as a gift, the VX III 4.5 - 14X40 would only be around 350 pounds.

 

Also, I think the VX II series is really as good as the other scopes you mention if not better. I used a VX-II 3-9 on a coyote rifle and was very happy in low light.

 

Just a thought.

 

Pete

[dieseldogg]

, I know a guy with holiday property in Florida who bes back and forward regular like

And, quite genuinely, thanks again for the advice.

PS

Do I really need an adjustable objective scope or is that really aimed (pun intended) at the air rifle users?

[swift4me]

There are many discount optics sites in the US. Eagle optics is one, but Cabela's is usually about the same price.

 

As for the adjustable objective, for my hunting, the range of the shot varied too much as some coyotes would come into your lap, and others might hang up at 200 yards. It was on a 220 Swift, so I wasn't against the occasional long poke. For me, it was not something I cared about unless I was at the range. If you are shooting things that stay still for a while, then why not?

 

Pete

[dieseldogg]

Pete,

I found Cabela's site

cheers

M

[Rem223]

There are many discount optics sites in the US. Eagle optics is one, but Cabela's is usually about the same price.

Cabelas were fined a few years back for exporting rifle scopes without the proper license http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/420 very few US retailers will risk exporting scopes now. I doubt you will find many places that are prepared to ship them outside the US. This company http://theopticzone.com/services/6/Custome...tional%20Orders is one of the few that will, alternatively there is Ebay but you run the risk of the item being seized if it doesn't have an export license (which they invariably don't)

 

If you had a buddy in the US who could send it to you as a gift, the VX III 4.5 - 14X40 would only be around 350 pounds.

This comes under the "straw purchase" laws and strictly speaking is a felony in the US if the purchaser does not obtain an export license. You run the risk of the purchaser being prosecuted and the recipient added to the US "no fly" list. I admit the chances are low but you need to be aware that this is a legal minefield. As for declaring the item as a "gift" you should be aware that UK Customs will pay no heed to this and will charge probably 5% duty plus 15% vat on the purchase price plus duty. Then you need to add in the Post Office clearance fee of £8 or whatever it is now. So your "£350" scope will be more like £425 time you add in all the various taxes and charges. Still a good price as long as it makes it to you! Edited November 25, 2009 by Rem223