Rifle Scopes Leupold VX3i LRP Eye Relief Issue

[Marksman_92]

I had a very weird experience yesterday with the above mentioned scope. A buddy of mine asked me to come over and help him mount the scope to his new rifle.

As I always do I mounted the rings and laid the scope loosely in the rings so I could set up the eye relief properly. I had my friend lay in the prone and place the scope on max power and moved the scope forward and back until he could see clearly through the scope without any head adjustment.

Once proper eye relief was achieved I made sure the scope was level and secured it in the rings. I got behind the gun (in the same position , prone) and it was perfect on max power (25x). However when I dialed the scope down to minimum power (8.5x) I completely lost picture and had shading all around my picture. I moved my head forward and back and was able to see the picture clearly again.

I’ve mounted several scope in my life from very high end to very low end and I’ve never had a scope that I mount and adjust using max power become less clear when I dial down. This includes second and first focal plane. So I loosened the scope and tried the opposite and mounted it on low power and the same thing happened. The scope became very shadowed when I dialed up.

I’ve never seen and issue like this before. Essentially you cannot use the full range of power settings no matter where you mount the scope. It appears the eye relief is changing so much that no matter where you mount the scope, you will not achieve a consistent cheek rest.

When mounting the scope we were outside and were in the prone every time we made adjustments. Has anyone experienced this or have this scope with the same issue?

 

[spife7980]

I have a previous model4.5-14x50 vx3 and it has the same thing. There is a bit of overlap but basically the very front of the eyebox at max power is the very back of the eye box at minimum power. I just have to shift my head forward half a inch if I dial down. I guess they really didnt change the design, just the glass, when they went to the i series.


I fixed it by leaving it on 14x lol.

 

[Duffman1975]

So you set the scope up for him, but you couldnt use the full range of power? What did he say about it? Did you try to set it up for yourself?

 

[Trigger Monkey]

That Leupold has an eye relief range of 1.6" going from high to low power.

 

[Marksman_92]

Very bizarre, I don’t know why they would make a scope that you can’t get a consistent cheek weld with the whole power range. Not a good design in my opinion.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Not a good design at all but it's not uncommon for some Leupold scopes to have an eye relief that changes as you change magnification.