60X March Shakedown

M

Mike Marcelli

Guest
Well,
The Fed Ex truck pulled up late Saturday afternoon with a brand spanking new March 60X52 scope. Wow. 60X -- I was concerned that I might have gone too high this time.

LW and I ventured to the Angeles range to test some theories. Still nothing worth reporting on yet, but perhaps soon . . ..

Anyhow, I was shooting my bumped 55X Leupold and the mirage was so bad, I actually had some white out episodes at 100 yds. That may be a first with that scope, but it happened -- the rings disappeared.

Anyhow, I figured this would be a perfect test for the new 60X March -- if it works here, is should work anywhere. Here's what I found.

First, I've never really taken a hard look at a March scope before. It has little features that I guess you expect to find on high dollar scopes -- but since I've never owned a high dollar scope -- well.

The front and rear tubes have a line scribed in their centers to help alighn the scope in the rings -- no more canted crosshairs. This is great.

While I didn't do it, it also appears that you can zero the turrets.

But the best is the glass. Superb. I had no trouble whatsoever seeing the rings, all be they blurry and washed out at times at least they were still visible. When the mirage "snapped back" the site picture was crystal clear. (I forgot to mention, the rings washed out in my 36X Sightron as well).

One thing worth mentioning. The scope came with the side focus set to 100 yds. I fiddled with this to get the image clear. Big mistake. The parallax this created was HUGE (like an 1-2" diameter movement at 100 yds -- WOW). I reset the side focus to 100 yds and screwed the eyepiece to get a good site picture. Never had another problem with parallax again.

Conditions for shooting a bag gun sucked -- the mirage alone would move the cross hairs clear across the mothball and up and down. But from what I could tell, the scope held zero like it was supposed to.

Is it worth the $$? Well, if the match conditions get as bad as they were today -- absolutely. Its tough to aim when there are no rings, and they definately disappeared on the Leuy and Sightron today.
 
Origin of the 55X Leupold...

Mike,
What was the 55X Leupold before it was bumped?...was it a competition series, or a BR-D, or a BR, or older...???
 
Glenn Chism said:
...Did you have an opportunity to use the modifier disk that screws onto the objective? If so. What affect does it have in the mirage?





Glenn
Click to expand...

Glenn:

Actually, I didn't have a chance to try it. I'll try it on the next outing and post the results.

Mike
 
Mike,
Thanks for two things. Obviously, the scope is of great interest. The other thing is the confirmation that someone else has used the same method that has worked for me to get a sharp image and zero parallax. You have no idea how many folks have denied that what you did (and I have done, more than once), is possible. I will be interested in your followup on the disc. It may be that ,on bright days, a balance can be struck, reducing the mirage, while still leaving it readable, without darkening the image excessively. I would guess that my first step toward the latter would be to get some clear shooting glasses, since to this point, I have been doing everything with my Photograys.
Boyd
 
Glenn Chism said:
...Did you have an opportunity to use the modifier disk that screws onto the objective? If so. What affect does it have in the mirage?
Glenn
Click to expand...

I may be the only person that isn't familiar with "the modifier disk". But, what is it?
 
March 50X

I shot my March 50X at the Super shoot for the first time and was amazed at how the depth of field improved and the mirage disappeared when the reducer ring was screwed in. The reducer ring is just a ring with a smaller hole than the front lens diameter. It works like closing down the aperture on your camera. Simple and effective. Love the scope. -----Bill :)
 
I too just got my 60x and it is amazing. It is on a rimfire BR rifle and after using it some, the 40x looks like a 20x. I never had a white out that day and the mirage was fierce. I had the rifle on a one piece rest and it was interesting to watch the scoring rings dance around, so I have another indicator to go by.
 
Mike said:
One thing worth mentioning. The scope came with the side focus set to 100 yds. I fiddled with this to get the image clear. Big mistake. The parallax this created was HUGE (like an 1-2" diameter movement at 100 yds -- WOW). I reset the side focus to 100 yds and screwed the eyepiece to get a good site picture. Never had another problem with parallax again.
Click to expand...
Mike were you trying to recalibrate the dial or did just trying to refocus at 100 cause the parallax? How did it focus at 200 or another range?

One feature I really like about the Leupold Com Series is that parallax is a non issue regardless where it is focused.

And yes, bumped scopes not only magnify the target they also magnify the mirage.
 
JerrySharrett said:
Mike were you trying to recalibrate the dial or did just trying to refocus at 100 cause the parallax? How did it focus at 200 or another range?

One feature I really like about the Leupold Com Series is that parallax is a non issue regardless where it is focused.

And yes, bumped scopes not only magnify the target they also magnify the mirage.
Click to expand...

Trying to refocus caused the parallax. In other words, the parallax knob was dead on at 100 yds as set from the factory, but my tired old eyes were not. Usually, the side knob is a focus knob, but not with the March. It is a true parallax knob. You have to focus using the eyepiece.

I didn't get a chance to shoot at any other ranges.
 
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Shipped

Hey Mike, Are the scopes being shipped on time? Mine is due any day now an i wanted to kno if they are running behind?

Thanks Mike
 
maverick said:
Hey Mike, Are the scopes being shipped on time? Mine is due any day now an i wanted to kno if they are running behind?

Thanks Mike
Click to expand...

The scope pretty much showed up when Hobie said it would, so I guess they are on time.
 
I used a new March 50x at the Super Shoot and must say it was superb. On Friday and Saturday it was sunny and I tried the aperture ring (modifier disk) for the first time. Darn if the thing doesn't work. Yes, the image is a bit darker (NOT dark, but darker than the very bright ED lenses) - it reduces the allowable light by 50% according to the directions, but the image contrast is improved. I found the mirage easier to see with an improved sight picture. In fact, I shot one 200 yard group (a good one) exclusively using mirage, a first for me. At that bench and time of day there was a medium amount of mirage. Heretofore, I pretty much tried to ignore mirage as much as possible and looked only at the flags. Later, on bench, 5 the mirage was not so kind...so it is not a magic bullet, but another useful tool in the right circumstances. Time will tell if the mechanics are as good as the optics.

The only beef I have is the non-transferable warranty, but that is grist for another thread (I can live with the 5-year limit).
 
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