If you got rid of a Leupold MK5 5-25x-56, why did you do so?

I eventually prioritized hunting more than shooting comps. So the extra size/weight was undesired, extra mag unneeded, and durability became the primary requirement

Durability reports of the Mk5 are all across the board, and that was my experience also after using two of them for two years.

So that, in conjunction with reading the drop testing on Rokslide, led me to selling my mk5 for a 3-18 Trijicon Tenmile.
 
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I've had multiple 5-25 MK5's and only sold them because I also sold the rifles they were on because that's what I do for some stupid reason even knowing I'll probably rebuy them or something similar down the road. They're solid scopes and a great value in the $1800-$2000 price range. The only downside to them is the windage index line is in a stupid ass location and there's no good .2mil tree reticle other than a Horus which I like but isn't always my favorite for every application. If you can live with the reticles and don't dial wind then neither are an issue. Illumination is also expensive and if comparing new prices it puts them too close to optics that are true alpha tier units and from a value point they become less relevant. If they did an illuminated PR2 (ideally a new .2mil tree reticle) and street price was around $2K then I'd have a hard time buying anything but a MK5.
 
I had a Mk5 for about 4 weeks on a rifle I was putting together for NRL Hunter matches.

I went with the Mk5 largely bc of its reputation, seems like a popular scope in NRL Hunter series, and the 30 oz weight.

I liked just about everything the Mk5 offered, and was trying to used to the PR2 reticle being in 1/4 mils. The two other rifles I shoot the most both have the SCR2 reticle in 0.2 mil increments.

TBH I would prob still have the Mk5 if a buddy didn’t offer to trade his Burris XTR Pro for the Mk5. Every time I got behind the Pro and SCR2 reticle it was like coming home. My brain must relate to 0.2 mil better than 0.25
 
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I sold mine because the CCH reticle was too cluttered and obtrusive for me. Otherwise I thought the glass was good, and I liked the turrets.

Switched to a Bushnell XRS3 thought it was pretty comparable glass wise, extra magnification was nice., turrets are worse though imo. Have since gone ZCO.

I think if the PR2 reticle was an option when I bought my MK5 initially there's a good chance I'd still have it.
 
Didn't sell my 5-25 but moved it to another rifle, and bought a used MK8 3.5-25 to get more FOV on the low end at night behind a clip on.

I own MK5 2-10, 3.6-18, 5-25, and MK8 3.5-25 and really like them all. Would I be just as happy with similar NF offerings? I'm sure I would, but the locking elevation turret was what drove me to the MK5. Someday I hope to upgrade the whole line to ZCO but there are other financial goals to reach first 🤣

CCH reticle is meh but the PR2 seems like a good one. I'm fairly impartial to the .25 vs .2 MIL reticle, but the .2 MIL does seem a hair faster / intuitive to me as long as .5 marks are there (MPCT 2X looks perfect to me)
 
I recently sold 3 MK 5s....I've ran them for years and have never had an issue....I only sold them because they only parallax down to 50yds and with my eyes I could not get a clear enough sight picture unless I went down below 10x at which point I could not make out the dot...this was on my Vudoo...I replaced them all with GEN3 Razors and honestly do not regret the change.
 
I sold mine because the CCH reticle was too cluttered and obtrusive for me.
Omg THIS! This is why I sold mine. Leupold has a dash-design fetish when it comes to mil reticles.

Why they just don’t use dots is beyond me.

The turrets are nice. The windage pointer should’ve pointed to the center of the windage dial (just like how the S&B DTII+ windage turrets do it…never heard anyone complain about that one). And they needed to get the pointer closer to the mil hashes.

1708146392354.png


Someone somewhere designed a replacement turret to fix that issue on the MK5.
 
 
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If you got rid of a Leupold Mark 5 / 5-25x56mm, why did you do so?

Why ? It had a pronounced "fish eye" effect - I was quite surprised !
I had an early one, maybe it was a lemon ?


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What did you switch to?


NF Atacr 7-35x F1

For a big heavy scope, it was great. I shot with it mostly on 7x to 15x but used the higher magnifications for spotting and seeing the mirage (to help with wind calls). Goal was to mitigate need to carry a spotter to the field. It filled that role !
I could easily see splotches of hits on steel at 800yds (plus some change).
 
Omg THIS! This is why I sold mine. Leupold has a dash-design fetish when it comes to mil reticles.

Why they just don’t use dots is beyond me.

The turrets are nice. The windage pointer should’ve pointed to the center of the windage dial (just like how the S&B DTII+ windage turrets do it…never heard anyone complain about that one). And they needed to get the pointer closer to the mil hashes.

View attachment 8350968

Someone somewhere designed a replacement turret to fix that issue on the MK5.

DI Precision turret does exactly what you’re looking for.