Leupold 5HD 7 X 35 X 56

[Dave Hoback]

Haha… yes, it’s good having so much elevation. Yet completely unnecessary for the most part. Just play around in your Ballistics Calculator a bit. Take for instance .264”/6.5mm cartridges. With several 140+ class bullets in & around .600BC or better & with speeds of 2800fps+, even out to One Mile takes less than 100MOA. My scope gives me like 32mil+, so 110MOA & I have a 20MOA rail, LOL! What? Am I going to shoot past a MILE with my 260Rem/260AI? Not with any consistency! But I guess it’s a good thing to know I have the Glass to get them out there, LOL!

[Ernest T]

I went ahead and ordered a 30 MOA rail. I couldn't find a 40 MOA rail for an Axis.

[Dave Hoback]

What’s remarkable is some new scopes now have 40…, 41…., 44 MRAD elevation adjustment. Some 140, 150MOA! Just incredible. I was stoked to have a scope with 32MRAD. Put on a 20moa rail and have enough elevation for any distance I’ll EVER go after. But they just keep putting more & more into new scopes. Still, when I see $2900, $3700, $5200 & beyond price tags; it just doesn’t ring with me.

[Ernest T]

9495

I installed the 30 MOA rail, zeroed the scope at 100 yards, then shot at a 4” gong from 200, 300 and 500 yards. I made 5 shots from each distance with one miss from 500 yards. Then I turned the elevation turret for maximum come up and it stopped at 60 MOA. I got 63 MOA with the stock 20 MOA rail. Any ideas?

[Dave Hoback]

Sorry, I misunderstood.

What is it you’re asking for ideas on?

[Ernest T]

Sorry, I misunderstood.

What is it you’re asking for ideas on?

Why I would have 63 moa of elevation with a 20 moa rail, but only 60 with a 30 moa rail. I lost 3 moa, shouldn't I have more elevation with the 30 moa rail?

[Dave Hoback]

The rail has no bearing on the scopes internal range. The best thing is to test your scope before ever setting it up. Count the MOA number from full stop to full stop. Be mindful as many scopes have dead ticks at some point both up & down. You’ll find the total range will be very close to the specified value. Your MK5 is listed at 120MOA total elevation. With a 30MOA rail, you now have 150. With only a 100yd Zero, I would think it to have quite a bit more than 60MOA in reserve.

[Ernest T]

The rail has no bearing on the scopes internal range. The best thing is to test your scope before ever setting it up. Count the MOA number from full stop to full stop. Be mindful as many scopes have dead ticks at some point both up & down. You’ll find the total range will be very close to the specified value. Your MK5 is listed at 120MOA total elevation. With a 30MOA rail, you now have 150. With only a 100yd Zero, I would think it to have quite a bit more than 60MOA in reserve.

The 7X35 only has 100 MOA of elevation. Its geometry, if I have 60 MOA of elevation up, then I ought to have close to 40 down. If I increase the tilt of the scope by an additional 10 MOA then I ought to have 70 up and 30 down. All the rail does is change the reference point, not the internal adjustment available.

[Dave Hoback]

Oh right, sorry… you have the “7-35” with 100moa, not the 5-25(which has 120MOA elevation)

Yes, I understand MOA completely; being it stands for Minute Of Angle and equal to 1/60th of a single degree, in the 360 degree circumference of a circle. An MOA Rail is just a mechanical advance, so to speak. Whatever the rail is you ADD to the range greater than your Zero & SUBTRACT from range under Zero. (Although, who cares about range under 100yds if that is Zero?)

I was trying to point out its mathematically impossible for you to have LESS range with a 30moa rail, vs a 20moa rail. Although it is mechanically possible if there is something wrong with the Rail. (Albeit highly unlikely.) So I doubt you lost anything. More likely you simply must have miscounted. Sorry… but if it’s your word or the math… I’m going to trust the math, LOL!

[Ernest T]

Oh right, sorry… you have the “7-35” with 100moa, not the 5-25(which has 120MOA elevation)

Yes, I understand MOA completely; being it stands for Minute Of Angle and equal to 1/60th of a single degree, in the 360 degree circumference of a circle. An MOA Rail is just a mechanical advance, so to speak. Whatever the rail is you ADD to the range greater than your Zero & SUBTRACT from range under Zero. (Although, who cares about range under 100yds if that is Zero?)

I was trying to point out its mathematically impossible for you to have LESS range with a 30moa rail, vs a 20moa rail. Although it is mechanically possible if there is something wrong with the Rail. (Albeit highly unlikely.) So I doubt you lost anything. More likely you simply must have miscounted. Sorry… but if it’s your word or the math… I’m going to trust the math, LOL!

Well, since you don't have to count (the turret is marked 0-75), I doubt that is the issue. I am probably doing something wrong, but I haven't found any literature that says to do anything differently than other scopes and I've had no issues with other scopes.

9573

[Whynot]

These are all things that you have probably tried, but-

Check that everything is mounted correctly again-

Verify 100 yard zero

Do the zero out of the turrets again..... it has been a while since I did this on a mark 5..... but believe you can set it so it uses some of your range so that you can dial below your zero? Push the button in and see if you can dial more that a moa or so below zero.

And lastly- even though it should- moa bases do not always work like they should. Adding a 20 moa base to a gun that had a 0 moa has not always given me the correct amount of addition dialing it should- so it could just be the rail doesn't have as much built in as advertised- or the previous rail had more.

[Ernest T]

These are all things that you have probably tried, but-

Check that everything is mounted correctly again-

I did and everything seems correct. I measured the thickness of the front and rear of both the 20 and 30 MOA rails and the 30 has a larger difference between the front and rear than the 20 MOA rail, which you'd expect. I don't know how to calculate how much difference there needs to be for it to be 20 MOA vs 30 MOA.


Verify 100 yard zeroThe average impact of all shots is less than 1/4 MOA from the point of aim.


Do the zero out of the turrets again..... it has been a while since I did this on a mark 5..... but believe you can set it so it uses some of your range so that you can dial below your zero? Push the button in and see if you can dial more that a moa or so below zero.Yeah, with the scope on zero you can dial down 2 MOA below the zero mark so its not a significant source of error and its the same with either the 20 or 30 MOA rail.


And lastly- even though it should- moa bases do not always work like they should. Adding a 20 moa base to a gun that had a 0 moa has not always given me the correct amount of addition dialing it should- so it could just be the rail doesn't have as much built in as advertised- or the previous rail had more.I just don't understand why I get less, the 30 MOA rail definitely has more downward tilt back to front than the 20 MOA. It's puzzling and frustrating. I'm to the point where I'm going to put the 20 MOA rail back on, zero it, then remove it and replace the 30 MOA rail back on and try it again.