Leopuld VX-II vs VX-III

I have a couple V3s, but not with the CDS system. A friend of mine does though on his .300WSM and he just bought another one for his .270WSM.

I've had him out to my place to shoot 100-550 yards doing "walk-abouts" where we simulate hunting conditions using field rests and a laser on steel targets. One of us acts as a spotter while the other shoots. I've been impressed with the accuracy so far. We chronographed his favorite load and sent the data to Leupold to create the dial and it performs as advertised.

I'd get one, but my laser also does drop computations and to be honest I don't foresee that many hunting situations where I'll have the time to make click adjustments.

Chuck

Is there is a difference between the VX-3 and VX-III? I thought the VX-III was an older model.

I have the scope you're asking about. Great piece of glass though I haven't ordered the custom turret knob yet. I also have two of their VX-2, which are comparable to the older VX-III, and when I take rifles with both othe VX-3 and VX-2 scopes to the range together, I can see a difference between them.

I just purchased the scope in question. You can get it for 450 w free shipping from Optics planet. I have lots of leupold scopes. The vx3 is a little bit better than the vx2. Most of the glass quality difference between vx1 and vx2 in my opinion. I use amazon a lot but not for optics or reloading stuff.

Is there is a difference between the VX-3 and VX-III? I thought the VX-III was an older model.

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I have several of each. There is a very significant difference.

The ones with the III are the older ones

I have several of the Vari-X III's in 3.5-10 and 6.5-20. They are great. I have looked through the new ones and they are probably better, but I don't know for sure. My deer rifle wears one that I bought new in 1977 or so. My coyote rifle has one that is a couple of years newer. I see no reason to upgrade, it is still a superb scope. Shot my deer rifle yesterday, it was right on.

I have a vx2 and have a hunting partner who has a vx3.

The differences I noticed: The vx3 has a little more eye relief.



Last year I was getting onto a herd of elk right at dark and at 200 yards I could not make them out with the naked eye but could still see them clearly through the vx2.

Just yesterday I was hunting Indiana's extended deer season. With my VX-R 4x14-40 set at 4x I could easily see tree leaves across the field at 115 yards. I could tell which were maple and which were oak by the shape. And I could easily make out the stems.

As noted, it was easy to make out shapes with the scope when it was too dark to see with just my eyes.

Concerning the CDS system. I have a Leupold MARK AR 3-9 with CDS caps for 233 rem. The caps are marked out to 650 yards but there is not enough elevation adjustment with my setup to go past about 450. If you pick a load and stick with it and then have the CDS caps made to match that loads ballistics you would be good to go. But if you want to shoot different loads then the error will likely increase with distance. It would be pretty easy to get in the ballpart from about 0-400yds but as you go farther the error is magnified. ex: in my case the CDS is marked for 62gr but it is close enough ballistically to 55grFMJ to get hits at 400. The best way to get a good CDS match would be to shoot your gun/load from 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 to as far as you intend to shoot. Then use that dope to have the caps marked. When sighting in, lets say you have a 400yd range, "sight in" using the 400 yard setting at 400 yards. Your potential to be off target at 300, 200, 100 is less than if you sight in at 100. Ex: if you are off 1" at 400 then you would be off 1/4" at 100, if you sight in at 100 and are off 1" you would be off 4" at 400. With all that said, just shoot your rifle at different distances out to your max and make a dope card. Do this for each load you intend to shoot. Then when you need to shoot, range the target, dial the dope, and shoot.

The VX-II's and VX-III's with roman numerals were replaced years ago with the VX-2 and VX-3. Even those has been though a couple of upgrades in recent years with no name change. In my opinion the current VX-2's are as much scope as I can imagine ever needing. The current versions are a much better scope than a 5 year old VX-3 and much better than any of the VX-III's

I looked at the CDS system. I think it is a good system, but better suited for target shooting than hunting. Leupold offers long range dots on the VX-2's and a similar system on the VX-3 that I think is a better system for a huntign rifle. I have 2 VX2's in a3-9X40 with LRD reticle. They are $350 each and I like them a lot.

The dots are a lot faster to use, but not quite as precise as the CDS. With practice you can quickly select the correct dot for the range and make hits within the kill zone of a deer out to around 500 yards.

I've been out scope shopping the last couple days and WOW Leupold has really upped their game--- even the lowly VX-1 is one heck of a scope for $200.

Maybe I just have not been paying attention enough since my last optical(glass not red dot) scope purchase was a Zeiss Conquest 10 years ago.

Very impressed by all the new offerings out there.

I've been out scope shopping the last couple days and WOW Leupold has really upped their game--- even the lowly VX-1 is one heck of a scope for $200.

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I agree totally for 200 bucks your basically getting the same glass, coatings and mechanicals the vari x 3 used 5 years about for at least twice the money and that's not even factoring in inflation. In my opinion the newest vx1s are the best bang for the buck in rifle scopes period.