BD
01-17-2011, 03:49 PM
About 20 years ago I decided that I was at a point in my life where, if I was careful, I could afford to put together the sort of hunting rifle I'd always wanted. This was made possible by my brother finding a NIB .270 WBY MK IV at an auction for $400. I bought it, floated and pillar bedded the barrel, and topped it off with a Leupold Vari-X III, 3.5 x 10 AO that I bought used for $300. Over the years that gun has been deer hunting in the east, elk hunting out west and caribou hunting up north more than a few times. It really served me well, accounting for a fair share of game, right up until this past fall when I took it to the range to sight in for an Idaho elk hunt.
I benched it up at the 200 yard line and put three on the paper and for the first time since I first mounted the scope they made a crappy 7" group, high and 4" wide to the left. I dialed in the corrections and fired three more, now low with one round off on it's own someplace. I figured it was time for a re-tightening and took the rifle home, pulled the barreled action, cleaned it good and re-torqued into the bedding and then re-torqued the scope rings. The next Saturday I was back at the range but the results were even worse. With my departure date just 4 days off I pulled the scope, mailed it back to Leupold with a letter, and went to Bass Pro to buy a replacement. A friend of mine had recently bought one of the new Nikons with the BDC reticule and was pretty happy with it so a Nikon 4.5-14 AO with the BDC came home with me. I mounted it, sighted in and off to Idaho I went. The hunt was fun, but no Elk were located, and I was feeling a bit jinxed.
Now for the good part; When I got home I had a letter from Leupold asking me to give them a call. I did, figuring they were gonna bill me for shipping or some such. As it turns out they had determined that my old Vari-X III was not repairable and as they no longer offer a 3.5-10 AO Vari-X III, they were giving me a choice between a 3.5-10 VX-III with the new custom elevation knob system, or a 4.5-14 VX-III AO! Hard for me to believe that they would replace a scope I'd bought used 20 years ago with a new higher power VX-III worth twice what I'd originally paid, but that was the deal. I felt so good that I ponied up the extra $150 to get the 4.5-14 with the AO and the custom elevation dial. I gave them the ballistic info on my load and a couple of week later there it was in the mail. I took it to the range last week, bore sighted it, fired one shot and 100, dialed it in and shot a three shot group on the paper at 200. I dialed in the corrections and shot a second group at 200 dead center. I zero'd the knob for the 200 yard sight in, tighten the set screws and dialed it to 300. Three shots, dead center at 300. :) :)
Back in business, better than before!
BD
I benched it up at the 200 yard line and put three on the paper and for the first time since I first mounted the scope they made a crappy 7" group, high and 4" wide to the left. I dialed in the corrections and fired three more, now low with one round off on it's own someplace. I figured it was time for a re-tightening and took the rifle home, pulled the barreled action, cleaned it good and re-torqued into the bedding and then re-torqued the scope rings. The next Saturday I was back at the range but the results were even worse. With my departure date just 4 days off I pulled the scope, mailed it back to Leupold with a letter, and went to Bass Pro to buy a replacement. A friend of mine had recently bought one of the new Nikons with the BDC reticule and was pretty happy with it so a Nikon 4.5-14 AO with the BDC came home with me. I mounted it, sighted in and off to Idaho I went. The hunt was fun, but no Elk were located, and I was feeling a bit jinxed.
Now for the good part; When I got home I had a letter from Leupold asking me to give them a call. I did, figuring they were gonna bill me for shipping or some such. As it turns out they had determined that my old Vari-X III was not repairable and as they no longer offer a 3.5-10 AO Vari-X III, they were giving me a choice between a 3.5-10 VX-III with the new custom elevation knob system, or a 4.5-14 VX-III AO! Hard for me to believe that they would replace a scope I'd bought used 20 years ago with a new higher power VX-III worth twice what I'd originally paid, but that was the deal. I felt so good that I ponied up the extra $150 to get the 4.5-14 with the AO and the custom elevation dial. I gave them the ballistic info on my load and a couple of week later there it was in the mail. I took it to the range last week, bore sighted it, fired one shot and 100, dialed it in and shot a three shot group on the paper at 200. I dialed in the corrections and shot a second group at 200 dead center. I zero'd the knob for the 200 yard sight in, tighten the set screws and dialed it to 300. Three shots, dead center at 300. :) :)
Back in business, better than before!
BD