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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Leupold CQBSS (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 1/11/2010 3:28:30 PM EDT
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Recently I was able to spend some time on the range with the new Leupold CQBSS optic. The new CQBSS is a front focal plane 1.1 x 8 power optic built on a 34 mm tube using a Horus 27 illuminated dot reticle. The CQBSS was specifically designed for law enforcement and military use, which is very obvious by its robust and well designed features. The windage and elevation adjustment dials are large with a pinch release style locking adjustment system to allow quick and secure adjustments even with gloves. The dials also have built-in zero stops. The windage and elevation reticle adjustments are .10 mil per click. The illuminated dot was also visible during bright sunlight. The power adjustment ring is a large and knurled bezel so you do not have to hunt for it. A nice feature of this scope is that when the power adjustment is on 1.1 the Horus reticle all but disappears and the only thing you see is a horizontal reticle line with an illuminated red dot in the middle.
Once the scope was mounted I dry fired it around the building to see how the illuminated reticle worked indoors. The reticle worked as expected indoors and the clarity of the glass was outstanding. I found the large brightness adjustment dial has clean discernable clicks at every level of adjustment. After a couple of days I was finally able to get out to the range to see what I could get out of this optic. Because of other activity on the range, I was only able to get it back to 100 yards so I was limited on distance which was disappointing. Once on the range I zeroed the CQBSS at 100 yards. The zeroing process was made easy by the pinch style locking windage and elevation dials with this style of adjustment dials it eliminates the need for a multi-tool or coin to make the adjustments. The adjustment dials are very easy to adjust and when released are locked in place without having to worry about them moving when the dial is brushed against gear or other items.After obtaining a solid zero I made several windage and elevation adjustments only to find the reticle to track perfectly which was no surprise. Once I finished checking the tracking of the reticle I started working my way in to the 7 yard line. While on the range I was able to shoot a few slow fire drills and a few rapid fire drills as I worked my way across the range. During the course of shooting with the scope I adjusted the power of the scope several times so I could get a feel for the front focal plane optic as this is the first time I have used a front focal plane optic. When I was able to get in close where I could service several targets during rapid fire drills this scope really showed how versatile and fast it actually can be. When at the 7 yard line with the scope set on 1.1 power and shooting with both eyes open it was amazing how fast you could transition from target to target. I think the reason for this is because it is very close to being very close to a true 1x optic. The red dot reticle is suppose to be a 5 moa dot however, when the power is set on 1.1 it appears to be 2 moa or smaller. The dot appears so small that it’s tough to acquire during multi target speed drills. Since this was a gen 1 version, there were some issues with the dot reticle. The dot reticle was not quite a refined as it should be and it was a bit small on 1.1x. The dot in the gen 2 is suppose to be a 10 moa dot so there will be a very noticeable difference in the size of the dot on the 1.1 power setting but, it will not be overwhelming. The gen 2 version of the CQBSS is currently in production in small numbers for testing. Look for an update once I get my hands on the gen 2 version to confirm what changes have been made. I think this optic has a lot to offer to the LE and military community because it is so versatile with its wide range power, ease of power adjustment, ease of elevation and windage adjustments and its reticle. Hopefully this optic will be made available by Leupold in the near future and should be displayed at the SHOT Show. 
Reticle on 1.1x 
Higher power setting 
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That Leupold CQBSS is friggin awesome! I hope it comes out soon, because I want to buy one. I'm sure it will be cheaper than the S&B and Swavorski scopes. That reticle is exactly what I want as well. The dot does need to be larger though at 1.1x.
STR8SHTR: How much eye relief does the scope have? About 3"? How did the Leupold mount work out for you? I'd still want the scope with a Larue mount though. Thanks! 
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Quoted:
That Leupold CQBSS is friggin awesome! I hope it comes out soon, because I want to buy one. I'm sure it will be cheaper than the S&B and Swavorski scopes. That reticle is exactly what I want as well. The dot does need to be larger though at 1.1x. STR8SHTR: How much eye relief does the scope have? About 3"? How did the Leupold mount work out for you? I'd still want the scope with a Larue mount though. Thanks! I believe he said it was 3.5" on another forum. |
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Quoted:
That Leupold CQBSS is friggin awesome! I hope it comes out soon, because I want to buy one. I'm sure it will be cheaper than the S&B and Swavorski scopes. That reticle is exactly what I want as well. The dot does need to be larger though at 1.1x. STR8SHTR: How much eye relief does the scope have? About 3"? How did the Leupold mount work out for you? I'd still want the scope with a Larue mount though. Thanks! The scope is supposed to be 5 MOA with a FFP reticle. I'm wondering why it appears so small. |
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5 MOA should be more than big enough close in, so perhaps it's just the photos. I think 2 MOA on an Aimpoint is enough, but of course, that's an Aimpoint dot. Anything bigger than 4-5 MOA is too much at 1x power, but that's my own personal preference. Frankly, I like the Eotech's 1 MOA dot + 65 MOA circle the best, but it would be hard to do on this sort of scope.
Does the dot shrink as the magnification increases? It doesn't look like it obstructs the reticle or anything from the pictures. |
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Quoted:
5 MOA should be more than big enough close in, so perhaps it's just the photos. I think 2 MOA on an Aimpoint is enough, but of course, that's an Aimpoint dot. Anything bigger than 4-5 MOA is too much at 1x power, but that's my own personal preference. Frankly, I like the Eotech's 1 MOA dot + 65 MOA circle the best, but it would be hard to do on this sort of scope. Does the dot shrink as the magnification increases? It doesn't look like it obstructs the reticle or anything from the pictures. The reticle will increase in size as the magnification goes up. Since it's FFP, it will increase/decrease as the sight picture does the same. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
That Leupold CQBSS is friggin awesome! I hope it comes out soon, because I want to buy one. I'm sure it will be cheaper than the S&B and Swavorski scopes. That reticle is exactly what I want as well. The dot does need to be larger though at 1.1x. STR8SHTR: How much eye relief does the scope have? About 3"? How did the Leupold mount work out for you? I'd still want the scope with a Larue mount though. Thanks! The scope is supposed to be 5 MOA with a FFP reticle. I'm wondering why it appears so small. That is just how it turned out. That is one of the issues they are correcting with the gen 2 version. |
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Ah ha. Well, since the concept of front focal plane reticles are new to me (and I have never seen nor held one in my hands), that is good information to know.
Hopefully they can give a scope to me by April when my local 3 gun matches begin.  I don't want to spend $2.5k for a German scope if I can help it.
Edited to add: Why don't they make the red dot project inside of the eye piece (or behind the objective lenses) and have the electronics adjust the dot size as the magnification goes up? I've read that sometimes, companies have to add coatings to reduce light transmission in these scopes so the red dots or illuminated reticles will show up during the daytime. I honestly don't know much about scope design, but I find it fascinating. |
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Thanks for the heads up and review. I look forward to seeing Gen2. I think this optic would be great for a build I'm working on assuming Leupold can keep the price down on it (not holding my breath)
I was looking at the pics and this one caught my eye... Quoted:
It looks to me (and it could just be the angle) that your head is angled in a way were you are actually sighting with your left eye even though you are shooting right handed? If that is what's actually going on in that pic? If so, as a right handed person with left eye dominance, I'd would like to read the hows and whys of that? |
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Quoted:
On a couple other boards speculation has been that this optic will be around $2500. Hopefully more info will come out at SHOT. That would bring it pretty close to the Premier Reticle 1.1-8 scope. Premier Reticle 1-4 Good optics are still very expensive. 
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What about weight? I think it's going to come in at about 23 ozs. Wow. That's insane. Quoted:
That would bring it pretty close to the Premier Reticle 1.1-8 scope. Premier Reticle 1-4 Good optics are still very expensive.
For that price, I'm loving my NXS 2.5-10x24 even more! |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the heads up and review. I look forward to seeing Gen2. I think this optic would be great for a build I'm working on assuming Leupold can keep the price down on it (not holding my breath) I was looking at the pics and this one caught my eye... It looks to me (and it could just be the angle) that your head is angled in a way were you are actually sighting with your left eye even though you are shooting right handed? If that is what's actually going on in that pic? If so, as a right handed person with left eye dominance, I'd would like to read the hows and whys of that? It's the angle of the camera. I'm extremely right eye dominant. |
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Quoted:
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What about weight? I think it's going to come in at about 23 ozs. Wow. That's insane. Quoted:
That would bring it pretty close to the Premier Reticle 1.1-8 scope. Premier Reticle 1-4 Good optics are still very expensive.
For that price, I'm loving my NXS 2.5-10x24 even more! Not considering the amount of glass and the power you are getting. A S&B Short Fot weighs in at 20 oz. |
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Quoted: Quoted: On a couple other boards speculation has been that this optic will be around $2500. Hopefully more info will come out at SHOT. I met with the reps from Leupold yesterday. They have not set a price . Ok, but we can all agree that it is not going to be sold for $400, not even close. |
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You know, this scope looks exactly like the one made by Premier reticles that was posted earlier. Are they sharing tubes and the design? Premier reticles supposedly wants $2700. What makes them as expensive as a S&B, especially when it's American made? Then again, I do understand how much raw material prices have gone up, but at least you're not dealing with the huge discrepancy between the value of the US dollar and the Euro when buying a US made product.
Thanks for the update. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
On a couple other boards speculation has been that this optic will be around $2500. Hopefully more info will come out at SHOT. I met with the reps from Leupold yesterday. They have not set a price . Ok, but we can all agree that it is not going to be sold for $400, not even close. Of course as I have never seen a Leupold Tactical scope less than $400. |
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Quoted:
You know, this scope looks exactly like the one made by Premier reticles that was posted earlier. Are they sharing tubes and the design? Premier reticles supposedly wants $2700. What makes them as expensive as a S&B, especially when it's American made? Then again, I do understand how much raw material prices have gone up, but at least you're not dealing with the huge discrepancy between the value of the US dollar and the Euro when buying a US made product. Thanks for the update. There is a lot of product development costs that have to be recouped. Also the reticle desgin belongs to Horus so royalties have to be paid for using that reticle design. |
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This is some very good info.
Looks cool I will take a look at them when we are at SHOT SHOW. I will try to post some info on them. Here is a link were we will be post info on SHOT SHOW. SHOT SHOW 2010 Mike @ CS TACTICAL.com CS Gunworks is now CS TACTICAL.com www.cstactical.com [email protected] Here’s some testimonials about CS GunWorks / CS Tactical FEEDBACK about CSGUNWORKS / CS Tactical on AR15.com FEEDBACK about CSGUNWORKS / CS Tactical on Snipersparadise FEEDBACK about CSGUNWORKS / CS Tactical on the HIDE |
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This is some very good info. Looks cool I will take a look at them when we are at SHOT SHOW. I will try to post some info on them. Here is a link were we will be post info on SHOT SHOW. SHOT SHOW 2010 Mike @ CS TACTICAL.com CS Gunworks is now CS TACTICAL.com www.cstactical.com [email protected] Here’s some testimonials about CS GunWorks / CS Tactical FEEDBACK about CSGUNWORKS / CS Tactical on AR15.com FEEDBACK about CSGUNWORKS / CS Tactical on Snipersparadise FEEDBACK about CSGUNWORKS / CS Tactical on the HIDE Glad you like it and maybe I will see you at SHOT!! 
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Good review, thanks
I'm a little surprised that they're going to go with a 10MOA dot at the lowest power? If I'm not mistaken it will get larger as the power is increased? yikes Aimpoint started with 4 moa and then came out with the 2 moa dots about the time the 3x magnifiers hit the scene. The 4 moa dot at 3x is just too big. I cant imagine why the need for a 10. As others have pointed out the Eotech dot is 1 moa and I don't hear anybody complain about the size of that one. Maybe by itself it would be too small but with the larger outer ring it's not an issue? hmmmm |
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10 MOA dot at 1.1x? Where did you hear that?
Mike or whomever else was at the SHOT Show: What was the exit pupil like on the version Leupold displayed? Was it fairly parallax free at the 1.1x setting? What do we lose by buying the Leupold variant compared to the Premier Reticles version of the scope. Thanks |
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10 MOA dot at 1.1x? Where did you hear that? Mike or whomever else was at the SHOT Show: What was the exit pupil like on the version Leupold displayed? Was it fairly parallax free at the 1.1x setting? What do we lose by buying the Leupold variant compared to the Premier Reticles version of the scope. Thanks Exit pupil = Objective lense diameter divided by magnification. The max usable value is ~7 (7mm). At 1.1x, the EP should be nearly 31mm. At 8x, it's 4.25mm. |
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Quoted:
10 MOA dot at 1.1x? Where did you hear that? Mike or whomever else was at the SHOT Show: What was the exit pupil like on the version Leupold displayed? Was it fairly parallax free at the 1.1x setting? What do we lose by buying the Leupold variant compared to the Premier Reticles version of the scope. Thanks From STR8SHTR's review unless I'm reading it wrong. "The dot appears so small that it’s tough to acquire during multi target speed drills. Since this was a gen 1 version, there were some issues with the dot reticle. The dot reticle was not quite a refined as it should be and it was a bit small on 1.1x. The dot in the gen 2 is suppose to be a 10 moa dot so there will be a very noticeable difference in the size of the dot on the 1.1 power setting but, it will not be overwhelming. The gen 2 version of the CQBSS is currently in production in small numbers for testing. Look for an update once I get my hands on the gen 2 version to confirm what changes have been made." |
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im not sure really whats going on with all these companies missing price poiints, i mean pricing a leupold in the same range as a S&B, i think ill go with the S&B for a little extra I agree it's nuts. I'm going to go the other way and order the $1300 NightForce from LaRue that comes with a mount. Granted it's not a true 1X but at 2.2X and lighted I can get buy for half the cost. Yikes |
| I don't think Leupold will be successful selling a > $2k scope to the American public, even if they get a big military contract with the scope. They are not a European optic maker, and I think they'll price themselves out of the market. They don't have the same brand name as Schmidt and Bender or Swavorski. It's that simple. |
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The NightForce is not the same optic as this and does not have the same features. Having said that, NF said they soon will be discontinuing their 2.5-10x24, so you might be able to get one at a pretty good deal. Their newer 2.5-10x32 is replacing it.
S&B is also releasing a true 1x8 optic, which also retails in the $2800 range if I heard correctly. Its reticle is also on the FFP, but the dot is on the second. It's ocular lens seemed larger than the 1-4 Short Dot and it is a little longer and heavier. Looked very interesting. I can't add anything to the Leupold, more info about it here than I knew about it (so I was happy to read it all!!! Thanks!). However, I can tell you that Leupolds MSRP is traditionally A LOT higher than what most people should expect to pay. The difference between dealer price and MSRP on Leupold is a lot larger than either NF or (and especially) S&B. In addition, Leupold is usually much more widely available than either. Edited for spelling |
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lol if there is any truth to that 3800 dollar figure
but hey, this time week, none of us thought that a plastic rifle from bushmaster with shodddy QC, and a 1/9 twist barrel would be 3000 dollars if true its safe to say ill pass on running an ACR with leupold cqbss ever. |
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Even if I was a multimillionaire, I wouldn't pay $3k for a 1-8x rifle scope. That's nuts. I'd pay $3k for a rifle, but not a scope. $3k is even pushing the limits for a 5-25x scope by certain high end brands out there.
I guess I'll wait for the new version of the Meopta CSTactical reported on: http://www.cstactical.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=127:new-meopta-1-4x&catid=52:breaking-news&Itemid=357 I hope the reticle is daytime bright. If not, the short dot or nightforce will probably serve me just as well, even if the NF doesn't have the daytime bright reticle. I'm definitely not paying more than $2.5k if I can help it. Hell, that's even more than my current M4 set up right now. 
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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Leupold CQBSS (Page 1 of 2)
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