Leupold CDS

[Mortenson]

We're getting my dad set up with a Savage 220 slug gun. I have the gun, scope, bases and rings all in possession now. The scope came from Bass Pro today. Ordered the VX-3i 4.5-14x40 with Side Focus. That's what got sent, except they mistakenly gave us the CDS model. We wanted to keep this thing simple, and being a shotgun, shots won't exceed 200 yards often if ever. My question is, can this scope just be zeroed and used as a normal duplex scope? Or since it's a CDS does it get more complicated? I need to get it set up rather quickly. Trying to decide if it should be returned or used. Thanks.

 

[Telemark]

Do you think anyone in your group/family will ever use a CDS? If not, I would probably swap it out. I haven't used a CDS reticle, but I would worry about it getting bumped in the field.

 

[Mortenson]

Thanks Telemark. We probably won't ever have the need for it on this gun. That's not to say it can't be put on a rifle someday. We had to make the call though, and dad said on she goes. In trying to quickly learn what the CDS does, I also have that concern about it getting turned accidentally. I think we'll make a line on it so that at least it's something to look at if there's suspicion it got bumped. Any other ideas? I mounted it today and bore sighted it. Anxious to put the Barnes Expanders through it to see how they do.

 

[Mortenson]

First time for Dual Dovetail mounts. Hope they work out. It's good lookin gun, by Illinois standards!

 

[247Deer]

It works no different than a normal scope except you can get a dial make for a specific caliber. Once the scope is sighted in you can loosen the dial on the top and zero it out so you know that it’s never moved

 

[Mortenson]

Thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear. Especially since we made the call to keep it. Should we even bother to send in for the custom dial since it'll probably always be a sub-250 yard gun? Like say the gun prefers Accutip slugs, would there still be a benefit in having the scope "know" an average accutip drops whatever inches at 225 yards? Or are shotgun slug ballistics just too variable for it to even mess with?

 

[Bill]

I had an old savage bolt action 12 gauge years ago. I believe it was a 210. That’s sucker was on! I gave it to my brother when I quit deer hunting.

That was before I bought the farm and started again....

 

[Mortenson]

I still use the 210, Bill. She hasn't given me a reason to quit. Bought it used in '97 from a slick gun dealer in Bloomington IL. I was a college kid and couldn't believe the deal I just pulled off. I remember he had a gold colored corvette. I'm remounting it on new mounts/rings as we speak. It didn't like the Warne lows I just got on Amazon, so I had to return for mediums. The same old Diavari Zeiss will go back on. Here's the 1st deer I got with it back in 97.

 

[Kooch]

Slug guns. They're fun. I hunt rifle zone now. But I have a H&R Ultra Slug Hunter in 20 that is an absolute slayer. It's deadly. I had it duracoated because it'd rust just looking at it, like an 870 express. I should take it hunting again sometime. I have a dozen slugs for it still. Man, I like that gun. I have an 870 express with a cantilever on it. It's sweet too. The thing about that is it's dinged, scratched, has rust patches I can't seem to get rid of. It feels good in my hand. I put a smooth bore on it and kill grouse.

To keep this scope related. They both use Leupold VX2 2-7. Perfect scopes for a slug gun.

Sometimes I miss the slug gun Southern MN days. Cannon Falls sure was warmer than Orr.

 

[247Deer]

i wouldn't bother you need to know BC of the slug speed of the slug feet above sea level. You can just use the dial as is and make a cheat sheet out to 225 yard

 

[yoderjac]

We're getting my dad set up with a Savage 220 slug gun. I have the gun, scope, bases and rings all in possession now. The scope came from Bass Pro today. Ordered the VX-3i 4.5-14x40 with Side Focus. That's what got sent, except they mistakenly gave us the CDS model. We wanted to keep this thing simple, and being a shotgun, shots won't exceed 200 yards often if ever. My question is, can this scope just be zeroed and used as a normal duplex scope? Or since it's a CDS does it get more complicated? I need to get it set up rather quickly. Trying to decide if it should be returned or used. Thanks.

I've got a Leupold with a CDS. They are just a normal scope and can be sighted in just like normal. Mine has a parallax adjustment as well. For a rifle, you sight it in a a specific distance, say 200 yards and then provide the ballistics of the load you plan to shoot to Leupold. Based on those ballistics, the etch a new dial and mail it to you. It is custom for your load. You replace the turret with it. It has appropriate markings on it so that you can dial in longer ranges for long range shooting. It will simply raise the cross-hairs as based on the yardage so you can hold them directly on target at the range you dial in.

With a 20 gauge shotgun, you will have similar bullet drop as a rifle but at much shorter ranges. I suggest you call Leupold tech support and tell them you want to use it on a shotgun. They can tell you what distance to sight it in for and if you provide them the ballistic of the loads you plan to use, I'll bet they can etch something up for you that will allow you to dial in ranges for more accurate shots inside 200 yards.

There are no issues with CDS getting bumped in the field. Leupold has done a fine job engineering it. It has a positive zero stop/lock.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

By the way, I've hunted with slug guns for many years. Mine was a Benelli Super Black Eagle 12 gauge with an interchangeable barrel. I'd use the rifled barrel with lighfield hybrid slugs for deer and the smooth barrel with a rhino choke and nitro load for turkey. It was accurate to about 100 yards with slugs. After that, they would tumble. At the time I bought it, it was about as accurate as you could get.

In recent years, 20 gauge slug guns have made a huge leap over 12 gauges. I came very close to buying one last year. Just before I was ready to pull the trigger, the county I hunt in changed the rules and is now allowing rifles. I had an old 30.06 so I put the money into new glass and got a high end leupold with the CDS for it.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Mortenson]

Sounds good, thanks Jack. I recall elsewhere you saying you nearly got the 20 then changed. Rules always changing everywhere on everything, got to stay with it. It's our 1st Leupold scope in the fam, but we love our binoculars from them.

 

[Bill]

Here’s one for you on slug guns.

Back in the 90’s after the savage 210 I bought a browning gold deer full rifled barrel semi auto. Spent $ hundreds trying to find a slug that would shoot accurately, to no avail. Sent it back to browning in MO twice and they said it was fine. 12 inches at 50 yards was acceptable. This went on for over a year.

The internet was the Wild West back then and I ran an ISP. So I registered the domain name browningguns.com. (How did they not have that) and I posted all I had gone through and how my savage walked all over their fancy gun. I still have the letter of apology from the CEO in my safe. Gave up the website and They gave me a new gun and reimbursed me for shells! True story.

That gun I still have because of the story and the fact that it was a factory tested shooter...

 

[Bill]

They own it now

 

[yoderjac]

Yes, I realize this is an old thread, but I'm bringing it back up with a slightly different twist.

First, I'm a big Leupold fan and love my CDS. I have them on my rifles and just got one for my smokeless muzzleloader. It response to @Telemark's speculation, they don't get bumped in the field. In fact, they are less susceptible to that than most other externally adjustable scopes. They have a zero lock. In order to rotate the dial and adjust the scope, you have to push a button. Once pushed, you can rotate to any distance. When you rotate it back to zero, it locks in place again until the button is pushed again. So, that is not an issue.

Basically, the way the system works is that it comes with a standard dial. It just has arbitrary markings around the dial with numbers. These numbers probably relate to MOA or something. One could simply go to a long distance range and figure out which dial position was on for each range and memorize it. The Custom Dial gets rid of that process and memorization. Instead, you sight in your gun at a specific range (Typically 100 or 200 yards). You then provide that sight-in range along with the characteristics of the load you plan to shoot and some other parameters (altitude, temperature...) to Leupold. They run that through a ballistic calculator and then etch a custom dial for your gun and load. Instead of the MOA numbers, this dial has yardage on it. You replace the dial that came with the scope and now you just range the animal and turn the dial to the yardage and hold dead on.

NOW FOR MY PROBLEM AND QUESTION:

When hunting from a treestand the CDS works fine. If there is enough light to shoot, I can read the dial. The problem comes in with a blind. It is much darker in my blinds (for obvious reasons) than it is outside so I can't read the dial. I have my smokeless sighted in at 100 yards. No adjustment is necessary inside that distance. If a deer is beyond 100 yards, I'm not too worried about movement in the blind so I can drop the gun below the window to adjust the CDS. By the way, this would be true for any external scope adjustment system.

So, I'm looking for a very dim tiny LED light. Preferably a stick-on type light that I could attach to the scope or gun so I don't have to find it. The dimmest light I can find is 13 lumens and about the size of a quarter. Dimmer would be better. I may put some red cellophane or something over the LED if necessary.

Anyone else have this issue or know an even lower lumen tiny button light?

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Gravel Road]

Maybe you could dip the led into some red food coloring or some thinned latex paint to dull the light output. Not sure if you will be able to find that low of output light.

 

[yoderjac]

Someone pointed me to this: https://iotaoutdoors.com/product/zerolight/. but they are out of stock (at least for my 34mm tube).

 

[yoderjac]

Maybe you could dip the led into some red food coloring or some thinned latex paint to dull the light output. Not sure if you will be able to find that low of output light.

Well, given no better answers I think I'll try this route. I just ordered some electronics that will let me run a single red led from a 3 volt CR2032. It has a switch. I'm thinking of putting the LED in some kind of tube so I can point it at the turret. It comes with a switch so I can turn it on when needed. The electronics are simple. The ingenuity will be figuring out how to attach it to the scope.

 

[yoderjac]

The electronics came in the mail today. Here they are:

Nothing more than a battery holder, switch, and 1 mm red LED. The LED is way too bright and non directional. The next step is to figure out how to connect it to the scope. I'm thinking of inserting the LED into a black straw and putting electrical tape on it, or maybe just a small piece of shrink tube or something and mounting it somehow directly behind the turret so the turret blocks most of the forward light but is illuminated.

I'll probably just use Velcro or even a rubber band to attach it to the scope. If it works out, I'll put one on all my CDS scopes.

Thanks,

Jack