Leupold Reflective Reticle

[Picher]

I'm generally happy with my Leupold, despite the hard-to-turn power adjustment ring in cold weather. One thing that was very apparent during early morning hours was the reflection of my orange hat in the reticle, causing it to show somewhat orange and close to the color of a deer in sunlight.

The crosshairs actually disappeared in the fall foliage, which disturbed me to no end. I can't understand why crosshairs shouldn't be dead black as seen from the eyepiece.

Picher

 

[Horseman]

Laser etched reticles found on better scopes do NOT suffer from this.

 

[j.chappell]

What model?

What power?

Were you looking into the sun or have it at your back?

Just a few questions as I have shot Leupold for years and years and never had this experience.

J.

 

[Horseman]

I've seen it on almost every scope I've ever owned at one point or another. It usually occurs when direct light shines in the ocular lens as you look through it. The light is reflected off the wire and you see a mirrorized or grey look to the reticle IME. This is the primary advantage of laser etched reticles which remain black as coal.

 

[j.chappell]

Maybe I never took notice to it, but I think that if it were so bad that the reticle almost disappears in fall foliage that I would have noticed it. I just found it strange that I have never really seen it or took notice to it before.

Heck I've missed 4" trees that were not but 60 yards in front of me. I shot one last year instead of a doe making her way through the woods, lol. So it is possible that I just never took notice.

J.

 

[pbrktrt]

it may be a case of simply not being focused properly. my Leupolds are perfect in my opinion but i do have to adjust the ocular to my eyesight to get the reticle clear.

 

[Horseman]

This is not a case of the reticle being out of focus. It is a particular lighting situation that reflects light off the wire reticle and shows it as metallic. It's not just Leupold's that do this. It's every wire reticle scope made. The finer the reticle the less it can happen. It's not a big deal and I still like my Leupy's.

The downside of a laser etched reticle is the reticle is on a lens that's in the focal plane. If a small dust particle breaks loose inside the scope body and lands on the lens with the reticle you will see it in the image. I've owned etched reticle scopes this happened to and seen several others. This is not the case in a wire reticle scope because the lens' are never in the focal plane. The wire is in the focal plane and it's suspended. A piece of debris on a lens in a wire reticle scope will never be visible because your eye is never focused on the lens.

 

[Picher]

My Leupold is a 3-9x Vari-XII, probably one of the more popular Leupolds around.

It's a good scope otherwise, enabling me to shoot a 6/10" 4-shot group at 200 yards last week when sighting in with my souped-up .270 Win. hunting loads.

Picher

 

[Horseman]

Picher

I have that exact scope on a Ruger M77 MK II in 270. That combo has taken a lot of deer. I like the scope. It's not the fanciest or brightest available but it gets the job done dependably. And if it ever doesn't Leupold will make it right.

 

[Fremmer]

The crosshairs actually disappeared in the fall foliage

I have a VX III w/ duplex reticle. It seems like the Leupold's duplex is slightly finer than the duplex reticles in other scopes.

I have seen the color change of the reticle as you have described, but only once or twice, and IIRC it was when the sun was at my back and going right into the scope.

Perhaps heavy duplex is the way to go with Leupold scopes. Or maybe our eyes are just getting old.

Edited to add: I just saw this:

It's a good scope otherwise, enabling me to shoot a 6/10" 4-shot group at 200 yards last week when sighting in with my souped-up .270 Win. hunting loads.

Heh. If the Leupold is clear enough to obtain that accuracy, I'd leave that scope alone!

Oh yeah, and good post, Horseman; good way to explain it. Go Big Red (sputter sputter).