DarkLordOfOptics
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Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 Almost Final Thoughts.

Since this scope is going to accompany me on a pronghorn hunt next weekend, I have been spending a LOT of time with it.
I will put a together a final review video after the hunt, butfigured it was worthwhile to offer some thoughts prior to that.
After the hunt, I might be somewhat swayed by whether I am successful or not.
For the time being, I am my usual self, relatively unaffected by buck fever.

I currently have two Mark 4HD scopes:
2.5-10x42 FFP with illuminated TMR https://alnk.to/gVLq1hd
4.5-18x52 FFP with illuminated PR1-mil https://alnk.to/eZH5eia

I have spent a good amount of time with both, but more with the 4.5-18x52, so I will focus on that one.

In a nutshell, I rather like this scope. It has stayed zeroed on a couple of guns, primarily Stag Pursuit in 6.5PRC. Tracking looks to be consistent. I did quite a lot of turret spinning.
Optical quality is quite good. There is some CA on very high contrast targets, but it is mild. Overall, the image is very pleasing. FOV is mid-pack with around 20 degree Apparent FOV (see attached tables). Note that FOV numbers published on Leupold website are lower than reality. The numbers in my table are what I measured.
Eyebox is nicely forgiving. This is a comparatively common compromise for Leupold designs. They throttle the FOV a little to get a nicely flat image with a very forgiving eyebox.
It is not a particularly compact scope, but weight is not bad at about 27 ounces. If you do not need to use it with a thermal clip-on, it is a very capable crossover scope that can go hunting with you or help you make weight limit for a competition. I did some basic arithmetic anc concluded that if I were to put it on my Fix, I would easily make it into the NRL Hunter Open Light class (under 12lbs) with a suppressor and bipod.
The rifle you see in the pictures is heavier than the Fix, so it weighs 13 pounds as configured with Q Jumbo Shrimp suppressor (https://alnk.to/g3bDbPE), Gunwerks Elevate 2.0 bipod (an exceptionally nice bipod that deserves its own article https://alnk.to/87Zx36E) and Mark 4HD 4.5-18x52 in Leupold's Mark 4 rings.
While we are at it, these rings are 1913 spec, not STANAG, so they do not make it onto my list of recommendations. The scope, barring some unexpected issues in the field, does so comfortably.
Reticle illumination is controlled via a push button. I am not a huge fan of push buttons, but they are compact and they mostly do work.
Illumination is done fairly nicely and there is an electronic level where the reticle starts blinking if the scope is tilted. I have not been using it all that much, but it is helpful at longer distances.
The reticle in the scope is illuminated PR1 Mil. It is a fairly basic Mil-hash design that looks like evolution of the TMR, to some degree. It is based around 0.2mrad hash mark spacing, which I am very used to. The lines are probably on the thick side by modern standards, but I think it is sized just right. The center dot is 0.05mrad. The main stadia lines are supposed to be 0.04mrad according to Leupold, but they look a little thicker to me. Either way, I found that the reticle was fairly easy for me to use across the whole mag range.
With this scope, I dial elevation and hold for wind.
The windage turret is covered. The elevation turret is Leupold's M5C3 with zero stop and zero lock. It is similar to the one in the Mark5HD, except they kept it at 10mrad per turn, instead of 10.5. I think I prefer 10.
There is a slight amount of slop in the clicks, but not enough to bother me. We'll see if it gets looser with use, but so far so good. Resetting the turret is pretty trivial: loosen two screws, slip the turret to where you need it, tighten the screws. It is not a highly original method, but it works.
In terms of size, this turret is just right. It is large enough to comfortably manipulate, but not very tall. In terms of the form factor, it is easily one of my favourite design on the market today. Click feel is decent, but not spectacular. It is no Tangent, but it does not have a Tangent price tag either. As a practical matter, I never skipped a click, but there were several times when I did not quite trust my count and had to look at the turret. I thought I skipped a click, but I hadn't.
As I spend more time with the turrets, I trust them a little more every time. Since I am preparing for a very specific situation (New Mexico pronghorn hunt), I am training primarily in the 300 to 400 yard range. I do not anticipate having to take a shot beyond 300, but it is good to hedge a little. I did not look at the reticle dimensions super accurately, but so far they seem to be true, but, again, I am checking it at 300 yards. When I am done with the hunt, I'll take it off the rifle and finish all my usual checks: tracking on the collimator, side-by-sides with other scopes, etc.
Interestingly, when I was putting the spec table together, I did a search for scopes in the $1000 to $2000 range that are equipped with a 50-ish mm objective diameter and top out between 16x and 22x.
At ~$1700 dollars, Leupold has nothing directly comparable. Razor HD-LHT is a couple of hundred dollars less. NX8 is $250 more. Everything else is even further out.
When you put it up against the competition, I think the whole Mark 4HD series is a stronger competitor than the Mark 5HD, partly because it is a nice scope and partly because it sits in a price range that is decidedly less crowded than Mark 5's.
Bushnell DMR3 lacks illumination and is heavy.
GPO 2.5-20x50 has a garbage reticle.
The more I look at the field, the more it appears that Leupold picked a very nice price niche for themselves and populated it with a well packaged, reasonably light and optically sounds products.

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Blast From The Past: Millett ZoomDot RDS

I dug this thing up purely by accident. It has been a long time since I used it for anything, but I am thinking I should, especially as I work on a magnifier video.

MIllet's ZoomDot was a unique red dot sight that had auto brightness and variable dot size from 1MOA to 10MOA.

Early ones, like mine, were made in the US. Millett had some aspirations of selling these to the US military.

I do not think they got very far, then the company was bought by Bushnell and essentially shut down after a little bit. At some point, the manufacturing for the ZoomDot moved to China and it was not really the same.

00:05:44
Scout Scopes: Burris 2.75x20

Scout scopes are almost like a forgotten art form these days. There is an occasional discussion either on how they are the greatest thing since sliced bread because 1) THE colonel said so 2) if you do not think they are, refer to rule number 1.
Alternatively, the prevailing thought is that they are completely useless and if LPVOs existed in Jeff Cooper's time, there would never be such a thing as scout scopes.
The truth, as is usually the case, resides somewhere in the middle.
Scout scopes do have their place, but they are definitely a niche product. It is, however, an interesting niche.
Scout scope pickings are relatively slim in terms of what's on offer.
Leupold makes a 1.5-4x28 https://alnk.to/gKSibYj
Burris makes a 2-7x32 and 2.75x20
Vortex has a 2-7x32 in the Crossfire line
There are also a few out there from UTG, Aimsports, etc.

I strongly lean toward compact fixed power designs, so Burris 2.75x20 https://alnk.to/cSJCBQx is probably my favourite and is the subject of this ...

00:11:58
Integrix M1 MRAD Reticle in the 3-18x44

Wind was really making things difficult, but at least this gives you a look at the reticle.
It is a respectable design that is conceptually closer to SKMR reticles than to the ones I usually gravitate to. They also have an M2 that is, I think, a little better.
In the grand scheme of things, the M1 did not take me long to get used to and it is not giving me any real issues.
https://alnk.to/9TaI2kH

00:06:33
Integrix 3-18x44 Tracking Follow-up

I reached out to Leapers to relay the issues I found with reticle sizing and tracking in the 3-18x44 scope they sent me.

They confirmed that the scope I have here is an engineering model. They also talked to engineering and, apparently, they found the same issues I did with the mrad model and fixed them for the production run.

The MOA model (https://alnk.to/eZIJo9a) is, according to them, spot on. The issues were only present in pre-production mrad scopes.

Once they get production scopes going, I plan to re-visit them. I think the first one to become available will be the 4.5-27x model with the M2 Mrad reticle. I saw it during SHOT and I think it will be more up my alley than the M1, though the latter is still serviceable.

This is strange but once in my lifetime I felt fortunate to be not smart enogh to be in Harvard University...

Memorial Day Sales

I am beginning to see some early Memorial Day Sale emails in my inbox.
If I see anything interesting, I'll add it to this post which will be pinned to the top, rather than inundate you with incessant "it's a sale!" emails. Better keep it all in one spot.

The first one I see is from Opticsplanet. https://alnk.to/cwU58u8
They have all sorts of stuff rom Burris and Steiner discounted including the recently introduced Burris XTR PS 5.5-30x56 for $2199 https://alnk.to/d3Em4Su and the rather unusual Steiner T6Xi 3-18x56 https://alnk.to/ge7ZJBN
Eliminator 6 gets you $400 of bonus bucks to use on something else. https://alnk.to/flycPy8

Tract Optics will be running a 10% storewide sale starting Thursday with the discount code "REMEMBRANCE". While I generally like their products, the one that is really agreeing with me the most is the new 2.5-15x44 with MRAD Eagleman reticle. https://tractoptics.com/toric-uhd-30mm-2-5-15x44-ffp-illuminated-mrad-eagleman-long-range-hunting-rifle-scope/
I am sure ...

First PRS Match is behind me
High Noon at Del Norte

My first PRS match is officially behind me.  It was, I think an officially sanctioned regional PRS match at the shooting range called Del Norte about an hour from me (just east of Rio Rancho).
As I discussed previously, rather than using the rifle I originally prepared for it, I ended up having to change gears at the last moment and slapping a 5-25x56 Tangent on my daughter's 6ARC MiniFIx.  A lightweight 16" Proof barreled 6ARC is not an ideal set up for PRS competition, but, in the grand scheme of things, the rifle did hot hold me back at all.  I had a couple of weights that fit the Q-cert handguard, so I slapped them on there as well, which got the rifle to right around 12lbs.  The balance point was almost where I want it, but not quite.  In all other ways, this was a very handy rifle to shoot.  I am actually thinking of getting a couple more weights that I can stack on it (Sawtooth weights are stackable), so that I can shoot some future local matches with it.  It shoots Hornady's Black 105gr ammo very well (it also shoots 108gr ELD-M and 103gr ELD-X well, but I had a larger supply of Hornady Black ammo on hand).

It chrono'ed pretty consistently for factory ammo.  Here are the measurements for a 20 shot group.

If I were to take out the fastest shot, SD drops down to 8fps.  

In terms of wind performance, it is a 5mph rifle, so slightly better than the 308 ammo I was going to use originally, but not as good as the 6.5CM that was my intended match rifle for this year (we make plans, but then life happens).

I do have to admit that I really enjoyed shooting the match with the MiniFix.  So much so, that I am seriously thinking of building another one for myself, since this rifle is technically my daughter's.

The closest shot we had was a bit over a couple of hundred yards.  The furthest was around 1150.  That was a bit challenging for the 16" barreled 6ARC, especially since the terrain there is tricky and wind is doing strange things.  Morning was relatively quiet wind-wise, but then the wind becamse gusty with changing directions.

It was a one day match with about 30 shooters (six squads) and ten stages.  The 17 year old kid who won the match was in my squad with his dad.  Apparently he is on the US team, so it should not be surrpising that he won.  He was very good.

Overall level of the shooters in the match was quite good.  I really was not sure what to expect.  Somewhat paradoxically, the only matches that I have shot in so far are the much larger two day NRL Hunter matches.  In those, I am just out of the bottom third in terms of skill level.  In this match, it was pretty much in the same spot, I think.  

The terrain was a little bit like Cameo, I think (I have been there, but not shot there), with some angle changes and sufficient vegetation to make getting on target occasionally troublesome. 

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Getting back on the horse, little by little

My original plan was to do a livestream on Thursday of this week, but I think I'll push it out to next week.  A few days at home is doing wonders for my recovery, but my voice is still not quite there.  I do not think any of you are looking to listen to me cough for two hours straight.

Also, I am going to try to shoot that local PRS match this coming Saturday, so doign a livestream next week after the match is likely to be more productive.  It is my first one, so I fully expect that I will screw it all up.  It should be a good learning experience.  I do not have a dedicated PRS rifle and I am not looking to set one up jsut yet.  If I like it, I'll put something together, but as far as competition goes, my focus is really on UKD matches like NRL Hunter, Competition Dynamics, etc.  My 6.5CM is not back yet, so I'll just shoot it with my 308 FIx.  It is not ideal, but it will do just fine for my purposes.  I am in no danger of winning anything either way and this will stress my ability to read wind.  A secondary purpse here is that I am not 100% certain what rifle I will take on a mule deer hunt with later this year, but it will be either something new to test or this 308.  Now that I think about it, the 308 is going with me regardless either as a primary rifle or as backup.  The rifle shoots, so if I miss, I know it is on me.

For the match, I have Burris XTR PS 5.5-30x56 scope on the 308 Fix.  I think the way they did the heads up display in these is a meaningful improvement over conventional riflescopes.

https://alnk.to/d3EjPHC or https://alnk.to/8iVRlGN

Optically, I think XTR Pro is a little better, but the EO integration in the XTR PS is, I think, in advantage.

In parallel, I am looking at the replacement AAC ammo (they replaced the faulty ammo and I have chrono results on it) and testing the optics of the 40mm scopes in parallel.

 

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A first look at Steiner H6Xi 2-12x42
MPVOs are finally getting some attention

Here are some initial thoughts on the Steiner H6Xi 2-12x42.

I finally had a chance to shoot with it both supported and unsupported, which is an important part of figuring out how usable an optic is.

I found what looks to be more accurate specifications in the manual that came with the H6Xi, so the spec table is now updated:

To re-iterate from an earlier post, Eurooptic is selling the H6Xi 2-12x42 for $1350 and at that price, it is easily the best deal going in this category: https://alnk.to/90ALO3C

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