Reply With QuoteIf I had your life and you hada feather, we would both be tickled. Have fun bud!
After reading reviews on this scope, I just had to add one to the herd. Mounted this morning on a Savage 110 .308 24" Criterion SS barrel, ORYX chassis. Having so much fun in retirement I could scream. Med MK 4 rings worked for this rifle but I can see higher will be needed for my AR-10s and M-14 XM21s. New rings have already been ordered. Too durn cold out to head to my range. If this works out the way I expect it will, should save me $ 1-2K per scope over the Night Forces that I have been using. Whatta Hobby!
Semper Fi
Sgt USMC 66-72
If I had your life and you hada feather, we would both be tickled. Have fun bud!
I am sorry, I may have mispoke.
Got out in the cold and shot 10 rnds into under 1/2" at 100 yds.
Semper Fi
Sgt USMC 66-72
That's a nice target.
So is the scope just as good as the NF's. No aberrations at higher power? I guess you haven't checked it at distance yet or in mirage :)
Not nearly as sweet as a NightForce, but for the money, well worth the bucks. Eyebox is very nice and all adjustments seem to be firm and repeatable. Will report back after using it for more than a couple of hours. Whatta Hobby!
Semper Fi
Sgt USMC 66-72
Just happened to be catching up on the Precision Rifle Blog the other day and saw the Leupold Mark 5HD's are the most popular optic with top PRS shooters. Only have one NF scope (SHV), but one thing I noticed about it that I'm not hugely fond of is that the NF just has a bit of a dull view. Don't really know how to describe it better, but the image just don't pop the way my other scopes of simiar price do. It's like the color and contrast is kinda flat or matted if that makes any sense. Tracks good and nice glass, but not as vibrant an image.
https://precisionrifleblog.com/2024/...-the-pros-use/
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
Interesting. I found the same thing comparing the Vortex Viper PST to a Diamondback. The cheaper scope looked brighter. But, the more expensive one had less focus and color aberration issues.
Some of the brightness/color differences are a result of the lens coatings being used. Ever notice how the image through most Burris scopes have a bit of a yellow hue? It's because their lens coating has a yellow tint to it to make it appear brighter than it actually is (kinda like wearing yellow tinted shooting glasses). Other brands you might notice more of a blue hue. These tinted coatings are generally used on cheaper scopes where the grade of lenses is lower and doesn't transmit light as efficiently through them.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
I have and figured different coatings were a culprit. I was just surprised to see the difference with the same mfg. But, since Vortex uses different sources for different level of scope that makes sense there as well. Would not be surprised to see similar differences in the Leupold line and others.
I wouldn't ever make a purchase based on "what the Pros use"... but it is interesting how much change happened in those years. Obviously sponsorship plays a role- but Leupold did a great job with the mark 5. What model of Nightforce scopes have you been running? I think that Nightforce makes a great scope- with excellent durability- but wouldn't consider the glass quality to be the selling point.
I also don't understand all the coatings and how they work-- but have made an observation. You can not look through 2 scopes and pick a winner based on one day.... the next day in different conditions it can look completely different and the other scope can come out ahead. I had a burris xtr that could be good-- and then conditions would change and it would go to the bottom of the pack. The Mark 5's that I've been around (5-25s) are always good- maybe not the best- but they are never bad-- so the glass/coating combo seems to be a winner.
I only have a few NF scopes.
ATACR 5-25
BEAST 5-25
NX8 4-32
Competition 15-55
Semper Fi
Sgt USMC 66-72
Originally Posted by J.Baker
Jim, I agree. My Nightforces are rugged and dead nuts repeatable but I think that my Leupold MK5's have a sharper picture.
Frank
One rifle, one planet, Holland's 375
Agreed, that's as much about money and keeping up with the Jones', as anything. The curious thing about the mk4 in heavy usage(like the PRS circles), was a distinct lack of reliability.
I owned two of them, and both of them broke multiple times. One wouldn't track as consistently as a beater Primary Arms I had, the other spit lenses out with a disturbing regularity.
Painless is a 24# 308 10FP, so it's not like recoil was punishing.
Hopefully they figured out how to get a couple thousand dollar scope to hold together.
I'm a firm believer in the theory that if it bleeds, I can kill it.
Liking the MK5 more every time I use it. Whatta Hobby!
Semper Fi
Sgt USMC 66-72
I agree on the aspect of "don't just pick a scope based on what the pro's use" in principle, BUT....I also know the top competitors in any given sport aren't going to run something that hurts their ability to be competitive at the top of the field. Nice thing about the Precision Rifle Blog site is that you can go back and see what majority of the top shooters were using in previous years and track the trend as it shifts from one brand/model to another. The Vortex Razor's were the most popular at one point a few years back, now hardly any of the top shooters are using them. The NightForce ATACR 7-35x was a top choice for a bit before the Mark 5 displaced it. Yes, some are likely sponsored by Leupold, but they wouldn't accept that sponsorship if Leupold's product was going to put them at a disadvantage. We're talking about the top shooters in the game, not the "also rans" - they can pretty much pick and choose which sponsorship offer they want to take from any number of optic manufacturers.
The only NF scope I have is a SHV F1 4.5-14x. No complaints other than the markings on the parallax aren't even close to being in the ballpark. Not a huge issue as who ever actually looks at the markings when behind the scope? Just turn until the image is parallax free and let the led fly - be damned the markings.
I will say this though, I'd probably buy another Athlon Ares ETR before I bought another NF SHV. That $1k to $1500 price range is my absolute max on what I'll spend on a scope as above that price point it's a steep slope of diminishing returns as far as what you're getting for that extra expenditure. I figured that out in the short time I had a Steiner T5Xi 5-25x56mm. For what I do those minimal gains aren't going to offer me any noticeable benefit other than a skinnier and lighter wallet. Now if I were regularly shooting long-range competition maybe that small increase in performance would be worth the extra money, but for me as a hunter and pleasure shooter it's just not. YMMV.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
Late to the party... but curious what scope you are talking about.... Did you mean to type mark 5- but hit 4? Or if you are talking about mark 4's was it the old ones or the relatively new 4HDs? Was kind of looking at the newer mark 4HD but not if they are having issues.
Haven't tried the newer MK4HDs, but have a dozen or more MK4s in 16x, 3.5-10 and 8.5 - 25, all of which see plenty of use on the range. Never in the last 40 + years of using Leupold products have I had to send one back for repair. I do credit this to running both elevation and windage to the complete ends often. All scopes have show fine tracking. Whatta Hobby!
Semper Fi
Sgt USMC 66-72
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