Leupold Mark 5

Kmccord

Kmccord

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Nov 30, 2016
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Location
Reilly Springs, TX
I wanted to hear from owners experiences with the Leupold Mark 5 3.6-18x44. I have a stepson looking into getting one, mainly for the weight and I have never owned a Leupold scope, never even looked through one. I had suggested a Night force for him, but he is really liking the Leupold. Any experience with this scope, good, bad and the ugly? Thanks in advance.
 
Kmccord said:
I wanted to hear from owners experiences with the Leupold Mark 5 3.6-18x44. I have a stepson looking into getting one, mainly for the weight and I have never owned a Leupold scope, never even looked through one. I had suggested a Night force for him, but he is really liking the Leupold. Any experience with this scope, good, bad and the ugly? Thanks in advance.
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I have one on my 260AI. I've dialed out as far as 1560 yards and has always RTZ. They are very easy to get behind and maintain a good sight picture.

I've read of stories of them not holding zero or losing zero but I've not experienced that in over a year of use with mine.
 
It's one of leupods better offerings. Only knock is a couple minor things, 35mm required me to swap to bases and rings instead of direct mount and the uncharged for illuminated still amazes me.
 
I used to have one. I sold it and got better scopes for less money:
Maven RS1.2 2.5-15 ($1200) and Bushnell LRHS2 4.5-18 ($1000)

Its a fine scope. But so are others. Especially at $1400+. And I don't want to worry about wandering zeros like I seemed to have with my mk5
 
I had one too and I also sold on the hide. Nothing really bad. I 'll explain why, but i replaced it with the gen 3 razor actually.


I got it early on, but at the time they didn't have any reticle I liked that was also illuminated. My personal "requirements" for how I typically shoot.
The razor had like another mil of total elevation, a decent illuminated reticle. I have a discount with both companies but I think the gen 3 is more scope than the mark5.

Now Leupold got the 171777 which is a 5-25 illuminated w/ the tremor 3 reticle. If I had this scope the first time I probably would have kept it. I've used the T3 for a long time, and the scope itself was pretty nice.


…and that's coming from a guy that generally dislikes leupold product.
 
They get their glass from the same place everyone else does.. Leupold is quick to point out "other manufactures" in their FAQs.
The only thing they do is machine the tubes and a few other components and assembly. Half their lower end scopes are imported from the same places, and even some of the internals like the erectors also come from overseas. It's "assembled" in the US.

They might be a US company but they import stuff too. Ironically, I think Vortex is the only US scope company that HAS a scope including glass entirely made in the US. Which is the AMG.
IMG_3388.jpeg
 
Mike D Texas said:
I have one on my 260AI. I've dialed out as far as 1560 yards and has always RTZ. They are very easy to get behind and maintain a good sight picture.

I've read of stories of them not holding zero or losing zero but I've not experienced that in over a year of use with mine.
Click to expand...
That was my biggest concern with Leupold, I had read the same problems. I mentioned this to him and he said he heard the same about Nightforce. All I have ever read about NF was how stout they are, he is dead set on this Leupold though, as long as the glass is clear and it tracks and returns to zero then all is good. This is going on my grandsons rifle I am building him for completing his four year tour in the Air Force. He doesn't know anything about this rifle, so his dad is excited to give it to him when he returns home.
 
Kmccord said:
That was my biggest concern with Leupold, I had read the same problems. I mentioned this to him and he said he heard the same about Nightforce. All I have ever read about NF was how stout they are, he is dead set on this Leupold though, as long as the glass is clear and it tracks and returns to zero then all is good. This is going on my grandsons rifle I am building him for completing his four year tour in the Air Force. He doesn't know anything about this rifle, so his dad is excited to give it to him when he returns home.
Click to expand...
No doubt that NF is a more robust scope and less likely to have issues but so far I've had good service out of both of my MK5 scopes. Maybe I'm not as hard on them as some people are. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I'm down to my last MK 5. They were "OK", but when this one gets back from Leupold it is going on one PD hunt, then it will be sold. The good- I like the glass in it, and the TMR reticle fits my needs. The bad- I don't like the feel of the turrets, they don't instill confidence that they are clicked in good when dialed. I have had one of three go back for warranty, loss of zero. During a tracking test, all three I have owned were off by .1-.15 Mils, not too bad of a deal if you know it and compensate for it on your DOPE. I have been a NF user for a long time, and had high hopes for the MK5, but the NX8's and ATACR's have been better scopes for me. For a hunting rifle, that 2-20 NX8 is hard to beat IMO.
 
My son has a 20 year old VX3L with the indented bell that allows it to mount low. That darn thing just keeps shooting cold bore hits on a 10" steel at 1000 yards so haven't replaced it. I have Mark V and ergonomically like it and has better eyebox than NX8 4-32. But do wonder about durability - my vX6 7-42 had erector issues twice.
I use Nx8 4-32 at 28oz for hunting.

These are all on 338-378's, and 338 Lapua & LAi shooting 300 gr
 
Precision Rifle Blog of 6/10/2024 surveyed which long range scopes/reticles being used by the PRS pro shooters. Leupold is now rated #1 with 22% of the those shooters using a Leupold. This percentage is up from 1% when survey was conducted 5 years ago. The Leupold scope primarily being utilized is the Mark VHD 5-25 X 56 model that was released in 2021. These guys shoot more rounds than many hunters will shoot in a lifetime.
 

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