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The Leupold Mark5 claims 34.9 mils of adjustment but the turret clearly only travels from 0 to 30.
- Thread starter JustPassingThrough
- Start date
Literally nobody has answered where the extra 3.4 mils are. I only posted here because I thought there were experts.
The Mark 5HD’s generous tube diameter gives it an impressive elevation-adjustment range of 120 m.o.a./34.9 mils, and a windage range of 60 m.o.a./17.5 mils.
An Official Journal Of The NRA | Tested: Leupold Mark 5HD 5-25X 56 mm Riflescope
It’s no secret that long-range shooting has become extremely popular in this country. Whether participating in precision rifle competitions, hunting at extended ranges or merely plinking on steel targets, America’s rifleman are interested in shooting farther than ever.
I dialed down to bottom before zeroing. I had 30mils elevation plus .5 below zero. I expected to spend about 5-8 mils compensating for the 20moa base which would give me 22-25mils left. I have 19. Nobody has explained where the other 3.5 mils lay. I only dialed 3 clicks for windage zero.
Which is completely acceptable but instead it's just memes and insults. Foolish of me to expect better I guess.
I'm using a nightforce 20moa rail and arc m10 rings
@beetroot explained it in this post:The Mark 5HD’s generous tube diameter gives it an impressive elevation-adjustment range of 120 m.o.a./34.9 mils, and a windage range of 60 m.o.a./17.5 mils.
An Official Journal Of The NRA | Tested: Leupold Mark 5HD 5-25X 56 mm Riflescope
It’s no secret that long-range shooting has become extremely popular in this country. Whether participating in precision rifle competitions, hunting at extended ranges or merely plinking on steel targets, America’s rifleman are interested in shooting farther than ever.www.americanrifleman.org
I dialed down to bottom before zeroing. I had 30mils elevation plus .5 below zero. I expected to spend about 5-8 mils compensating for the 20moa base which would give me 22-25mils left. I have 19. Nobody has explained where the other 3.5 mils lay. I only dialed 3 clicks for windage zero.
Which is completely acceptable but instead it's just memes and insults. Foolish of me to expect better I guess.
I'm using a nightforce 20moa rail and arc m10 rings
As above, no matter how much you dial up or down you are being limited by the travel in the turret, the "missing" mils lay somewhere out side of this.
If you loosen the set screws on the turret and move it round half a turn you'll be at a different point in the travel range and discover those lost mils.
Dude I just saw your 3.4 MILS blow by in the wind storm this morning. They were headed for KS at 107 MPH. Shit, I would have caught them had I known they were yours.
Thank you this is only answe that makes sense. In each of the three 10 mil rotations of the turret there could be a mil spread out between clicks depending how the set screws are tightened.
I'm hoping when I zero again at 200 or 300 I'll have slightly more elevation range.
Lets make the numbers bigger... If you had a 100 mils of adjustment in your scope the turret only allows 30. So if the erector is completely centered you have 50 on both ends. But you can only dial up to 80.0 and down to 49.5. 30 up and .5 down. The mils just didn't disappear. The zero stop on the turret only allows you to go .5 down regardless of where your at.
Having a 20 or 40 moa base will take more away from the bottom end and give it to the top end. So just say 60/40 now. Using nice round numbers so no one gets lost. So now you start at 40 and can dial up to 70. This is with the 30 mil turret just so we all remember. And you can go down to 39.5. The mils are still there. We just can't use them because the turret is limiting us. Scope still has them available.
Use that same thinking with the scopes available adjustment of 35 mils. Round numbers here. Like all the others mentioned. We start at 17.5 up and 17.5 down with the erector centered. That's what the scope has available. We can only go up 17.5 because that's all the scope has, and down .5 because thats the turret limiting us. We aren't limited by the turret dialing up like the very first example, we are limited by the internal amount of travel we have in the scope.
So now we need to get some back. Let's use a 20 moa base and some more round numbers. 6 mils. To bring us back to zero, we have 23.5 mils up and 11.5 down. We can only dial up 23.5 and dial down .5 to 11.0.
Let's put on a 40 Moa base and that brings us to 12 moa off our starting point of 17.5. We now have 29.5 available left in the scope on the top end and are getting close to what the turret will do for us. And we can still only dial down .5. This is about as close as you can get to maximizing your total travel in the turret. Remember that the scope still has more internal room on the bottom end.
Using a 45 Moa base. We now have 32.5 available in the scope on the top end. Our turret limits us to 30. And we'll be almost to the bottom of the erector. This is where our turret now is the limiting factor on the top end instead of us being limited by the scopes internal adjustment.
Having a 20 or 40 moa base will take more away from the bottom end and give it to the top end. So just say 60/40 now. Using nice round numbers so no one gets lost. So now you start at 40 and can dial up to 70. This is with the 30 mil turret just so we all remember. And you can go down to 39.5. The mils are still there. We just can't use them because the turret is limiting us. Scope still has them available.
Use that same thinking with the scopes available adjustment of 35 mils. Round numbers here. Like all the others mentioned. We start at 17.5 up and 17.5 down with the erector centered. That's what the scope has available. We can only go up 17.5 because that's all the scope has, and down .5 because thats the turret limiting us. We aren't limited by the turret dialing up like the very first example, we are limited by the internal amount of travel we have in the scope.
So now we need to get some back. Let's use a 20 moa base and some more round numbers. 6 mils. To bring us back to zero, we have 23.5 mils up and 11.5 down. We can only dial up 23.5 and dial down .5 to 11.0.
Let's put on a 40 Moa base and that brings us to 12 moa off our starting point of 17.5. We now have 29.5 available left in the scope on the top end and are getting close to what the turret will do for us. And we can still only dial down .5. This is about as close as you can get to maximizing your total travel in the turret. Remember that the scope still has more internal room on the bottom end.
Using a 45 Moa base. We now have 32.5 available in the scope on the top end. Our turret limits us to 30. And we'll be almost to the bottom of the erector. This is where our turret now is the limiting factor on the top end instead of us being limited by the scopes internal adjustment.
It’s been explained 12 times above. You are not listening. The turret gives you 30 mils of travel up. If you are not below the center (via canted rails) you can’t use the 30.
You get 30 to dial if you set it up right. 34.5 is so you can zero.
The turret itself is limited in it's travel. If you were to remove the cap and turn the inner turret while counting clicks you would get at least your 34.9 mils, likely more.
More importantly, if this isn't a troll you need some serious help dude.
First of all, there is NO reason to zero at ranges further than 100 yards in your case. The ONLY reason anybody who properly uses mil/moa adjustments in their scope is if they physically cannot zero at 100 because they're using an extremely large base (60 MOA or more) to gain more vertical head. You have 19 mils remaining, and you're topping out in the true top of travel, not just the turret travel. To get out to 300, you're going to adjust about 1.5 mils, give or take. Then you'll have 17.5 remaining regardless of whether or not you set your zero stop. The only way to get that remaining adjustment back is to go to a more aggressive base. Doing the math, you could get away with a 50 MOA base (40 would be a safer bet) and have enough travel to zero at 100. This would give you somewhere in the ballpark of 29 (25 with a 40 MOA rail) mils of adjustment. Keep in mind that the further you go from optical center, the worse the image quality will be.
As far as why someone would want to zero at a further range, it's when they need so much adjustment that they bottom out the turret before they can zero at 100. Example: Shooter is using a 60 MOA rail to use all the adjustment available in the scope and then some (30 Mils available). When trying to zero at 100, they will still be way too high when they bottom out the erector adjustment (say 1 mil or so). They will then zero at a range long enough to absorb that height, say 300 yards. The result is a 300 yard zero with 29.5 mils left approximately, and a reach of ranges that will require 29.5 + 1.5 or 31 mils from a 100 yard zero.
In summary, the only way to get more travel is to get a more aggressive cant on your base or scope mount. Trying to zero at a further range does nothing unless you're bottomed out and still need to go lower at 100.
Not knowing this tells me that you're pretty new. Find someone who knows what they're doing to help you learn the ropes when you're at the range and/or take a precision rifle class with someone reputable or you run the risk of getting very frustrated very quickly especially with a 308 at those ranges.
I hate to give up on the guy if he's not a troll... But damn
Ok there are multiple explanation attempts at this point how the zero stop could limit travel, and how the turret being limited to 30 is a separate measurement than the 34.9 total travel available.
We've also mentioned that having your windage out of center may limit elevation travel
And you go back to I'm going to move zero to 300 to get mils back... Even though we tried to explain that you'd need more inclination on your rail or rings not just change zero...
If none of this is getting the light bulb on yet (which I get sometimes things don't click until they click) put the crack pipe down, go eat breakfast, drink some coffee, get rid of your preconceived understanding, and make sure you have time to reread this slowly... The answer is already here but people are struggling how to explain it to you in a manner that makes sense to you.
Once the lightbulb goes off you'll likely understand why folks are making jokes if you read it again.
If you can't come up with a different line of questions or actually understand it after that you really need to find a local mentor...
If you are just a troll.. well played sir as I'm still feeling bad for you lol
Ok there are multiple explanation attempts at this point how the zero stop could limit travel, and how the turret being limited to 30 is a separate measurement than the 34.9 total travel available.
We've also mentioned that having your windage out of center may limit elevation travel
And you go back to I'm going to move zero to 300 to get mils back... Even though we tried to explain that you'd need more inclination on your rail or rings not just change zero...
If none of this is getting the light bulb on yet (which I get sometimes things don't click until they click) put the crack pipe down, go eat breakfast, drink some coffee, get rid of your preconceived understanding, and make sure you have time to reread this slowly... The answer is already here but people are struggling how to explain it to you in a manner that makes sense to you.
Once the lightbulb goes off you'll likely understand why folks are making jokes if you read it again.
If you can't come up with a different line of questions or actually understand it after that you really need to find a local mentor...
If you are just a troll.. well played sir as I'm still feeling bad for you lol
It's been s'plaind multiple ways, all correct. If you aren't tracking, just accept that it is what it is and that you don't understand at this point. Wait for the "light bulb moment" as mentioned before. Nothing is wrong with your scope. Leupold did not misrepresent its capabilities.
Otherwise check in the box maybe they fell off and are still in there.
Otherwise check in the box maybe they fell off and are still in there.
This is the reason you have problems!!
You cannot mix mil and moa, they are incompatible. Order a 6mil rail.
I started reading through the thread but I don't know if anyone answered your question sounds like it got heated and there's some frustration.
In case no one answered the question, the scope does have 34.9 mils of adjustment. You only have access to a MAXIMUM of 30 mils, but probably less. It depends on a lot of things such as scope/Ring height, built in cant in your base and/or in your mount all affect the relationship between you scope and barrel zero intersection.
For example, from my own personal experience with my Mark5HD. Initially, I had my Mark5HD in a 20 MOA ARC M-Brace Unimount at 1.5" height sitting on a 20moa base built into my impact action. When I zeroed my rifle what was preset wasn't enough so I removed my scope cap and had to dial further down with a flat head screwdriver on the turret column that controls your vertical travel (also that's how you access the other 4.9 mils). When I hit my zero point I was 2.5 mils from the very bottom. When I put my scope cap back on at "0" I had all 30 mils that the scope cap allows. And I could still dial down the 0.5 mils. The 2 mils below that and the 2.4 above 30 are unaccessible.
Now I didn't like this set up comfort wise so I changed my mount to a 0 MOA mount at 1.25" height on the 20 MOA base and when I rezeroed my rifle. I now only have 24 mils of adjustment on the turret cap. The rest is unusable because I used up the other 10.9 mils to reach my 100 yard zero.
There are a lot of variables that go into it. It does have all that travel but only so much of it is accessible depending how all those variables come together.
FWIW for my 6.5cm I only need 14.5 mils of adjustment to reach 1400 yards at sea-level. For my .308 I remember needing about 14-15 to get to 1,200 yards so you don't NEED all that adjustment and mind you this is all before we start using the reticle to hold over. Hope that helps clear things up a little in the event no one else has for your understanding.
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