On all of my (5) Bushnell 4200s, the AO markings match the focal distance. I don't think any of my Leupold match.
I just bought a new 25X, and the smallbore rams are clear at between 400 yard and infinity. Chickens are clear at 100 yards. It also seems to vary a bit in the AO adjustment, day to day. Anyone else have problems with the 25x FX3? I just bought another one at a match last week, and I am afraid to mount it. I now have 4 of these beauties, and I am wondering if these are drifters. I have the other two on airguns that I only use indoors at 10 meters utilizing two fifty foot adapters.
I just sent Leupold an email, and I will be sending this one back.

I've noticed the same thing, but even if they didn't range it correctly they seem to be the same (or close) day to day.

That's absolutely normal for Leupold's. The ring marks are suggestions, and absolutely consistent, but inaccurate.

same here, dont go by the yardage marking on the bell. my chickens are past 50, pigs are almost to 100 and turkeys are 140/150 and rams are past 200. just focus it till its clear on the animals and shoot. I used to mark the bell but going from range to range i've noticed that each range is a little different and the marks dont always line up.

My chickens are at 150, and it seems to drift. The AO is very loose, and the zero keeps changing on a pillar bedded Pharr stock. Anyway, leupold responded, and they will repair it. I have to pay to return it.

BCloninger wrote:That's absolutely normal for Leupold's. The ring marks are suggestions, and absolutely consistent, but inaccurate.

+1
I simply mark the location on the AO ring with a sticker corresponding to each distance. My newer Leupolds, both 6.5-20 EFR's don't seem to suffer from this malady.

Boyd L. wrote:My newer Leupolds, both 6.5-20 EFR's don't seem to suffer from this malady.

Good to know! I have used stickers, but these days just mark with pencil.

The zero shifts really bugged me. I think something was loose. So I sent it back. Silly to pay that kind of money, and have to send it back in to be calibrated and tested. This kind of thing wastes a lot of time.

Leupold called today concerning the AO markings. Seems that they can not calibrate the distance to the ring settings. He even wanted to make a new ring with custom numbers, but he could not do it. Anyway, I think it was nice that they are really trying to take care of the problem. They will set my focus minimum at 35 meters, and the rest of the distances will fall where they fall on the settings. The repairman's name was Vince and he was really nice.

So he nicely said that it won't work and he can't make it work? Sounds like a nice guy doing his best to deal with a design problem. Did he say why he couldn't even make a custom AO ring work?

Jason wrote:So he nicely said that it won't work and he can't make it work? Sounds like a nice guy doing his best to deal with a design problem. Did he say why he couldn't even make a custom AO ring work?

'Cause they're all different.

Umm.. what? Wouldn't a custom AO ring take into account where they (assuming you meant distances) are all different?

That was always my knock on Leupolds, pay a chunk of cash for a scope and then send it back to the factory to have it fixed! I'm not a expert on Leupolds but I thought that the 25 and 30 power FX-3 were made for silhouette? If Weaver can make an AO ring that is marked for silhouette distances that work, why can't Leupold?

ter wrote:Leupold called today concerning the AO markings. Seems that they can not calibrate the distance to the ring settings. He even wanted to make a new ring with custom numbers, but he could not do it. Anyway, I think it was nice that they are really trying to take care of the problem. They will set my focus minimum at 35 meters, and the rest of the distances will fall where they fall on the settings. The repairman's name was Vince and he was really nice.

Why aren't they replacing the scope then???

That's what Leupold said when I asked that question, and my observation is that every Leupold - even within the same model - has different AO settings. I like their scopes, so I just mark the ring with pencil and forget it.