Leupold CDS vs Swarovski Ballistic turret system

[big bear]

Looking into buying new scope for big game hunting rifle, for shots at big game out to 600yds with 30'06 or 300 Win Mag. Still hunting in the mountains (mule deer, elk, sheep). Currently using old FFP Swarovski TDS scope on 300WinMag. I am planning to add a new rifle. Opinions of those who have used these for hunting would be appreciated.
Concerns:
-speed of utilization, after I range animal at 440 yds, how long to adjust scope?
-ease of utilization, cold, wet fingers, awkward position, poor light to see dials (I'm old and I have 20/20 vision at distance but need good light for seeing turret markings on some scopes when scope is in shade or show from overhead objects(trees, roof at range, grey cloudy days)

I have looked through both Leupold %HD and comparable $range Swarovski scope and swarovski glass obviously brighter/ sharper to my eye, but Leupold was good enough.

Scope weight not an issue, better i lose 20lbs than worry about 10-16oz weight savings on my scope.

Appreciate all comments from folks who have used these scopes for hunting.

 

[wonksy]

I have a vx5hd 3-15x44 firedot duplex with CDS dial for 30-06 168gr Barnes ttsx and absolutely love it. Crystal clear, tracks excellent and dial does what it’s suppose too. Couldn’t be more pleased!

 

[big bear]

I have a vx5hd 3-15x44 firedot duplex with CDS dial for 30-06 168gr Barnes ttsx and absolutely love it. Crystal clear, tracks excellent and dial does what it’s suppose too. Couldn’t be more pleased!

Have you found the Firedot useful?

 

[wonksy]

Have you found the Firedot useful?

Peoples opinions will always vary but I personally like it in low light situations yes

 

[blakeyboy]

I ditched the leupolds after a long long time for the Trijicon 3-9x40 accupoint green dot reticle, duplex or mil-dot version. Red would be just as good but I seem to pick up green a bit more on bow sights but one color may give a less fuddled dot than the other to certain eyes. Just get the mil-dot version, dial up to 9x on scope and know your holds, then you don't have to read anything out there. The first 3 dots will cover about everything to 500 yards. What will blow your mind however when putting this scope against a leupold is the image, like turning a light on while being crystal clear. Everyone who looks through mine is usually stunned by not only the image quality and brightness but then the love for that illuminated dot in the middle. Can't say enough about these for a hunting higher end gold standard. The beauty of them also is NO batteries required. They will take whatever ambient light around you and magnify it to that reticle so even bright sun coyotes in snow it illuminates beyond and works and it will illuminate to 10-15 min past legal light. For when the light goes and the bodies are black (bear hunting any time), the illuminated dot is amazing, but it's also very intuitive and fast for all on game situations. It's a top hunters choice. If you try one you'll see. I was skeptical and tried one through winter coyotes, spring bears, and a fall season and that was it...leupolds for sale, haven't look back for awhile. Was just shooting one of my last leupolds 6x36 on ultralight against the trijicon side by side the other day...just confirms everything I just said above, the leupold got ripped off that rifle as soon as I got home. Trijicon accupoint is only scope that would go back on it, for now it's my new iron sight rig and put a red dot on it but I'm done with the leupy's.

You can get Kenton speed dial turrets to match and I can now confirm the return to zero is solid after shooting 200, dialling 400 and back to 200 zero issues on the weekend. But the mil-dot option allows you to use that also. I run both the speed dial turret and mil-dot for redundancy. Get a decal made up to remind you your holds for reticle and good to go.

If you don't wanna come up with another $1100 bucks for a killer 0-600 do all hunting scope then do not look through one of these, especially don't compare one to a leupold.

To be fair, the Trijicon has downsides, one is if going to do the speed dial turret dial up only get 12 moa per rotation, which for almost all hunting rigs is more than enough, even a really slow cartridge gets to past 500 with a 200 zero, most normal cartridges will get you to 600. The other downside is if hunting from a blind, you just lose the illuminated dot in the blind, regular reticle, not end of world but if you live in a blind that's a consideration for a battery powered dot.

 

[CMS94]

I have both a vx5 3-15x44 windplex and a swaro z5 3.5-18x44 4w BT. The swaro is lighter but you do give up some build quality (not glass) to the Leupold. For example the swaro turret is mostly plastic pieces unlike the Leupold. The zero stop on the Leupold is another big advantage imo. If I had to do it all again my safe would be full of Leupolds and no swaro rifle scopes. That being said they are both amazing scopes and preform great, with either you will be very impressed and shouldn’t have an issue.