Re: Leupold 3-9x40 Mark AR Riflescope Duplex / Mil
I'm a bit confused about this scope. The reason being is, some of the early promotional photos and samples had the CDS knobs on both the elevation and windage. Yet, people are reporting that the CDS knob only comes on the elevation. Am I mistaken?
I think it's a great idea by Leupold. The mildot is around $330 or so. 3-9x is extremely practical, from autoloaders to short/medium range sniper type rifles. Because it's the most ubiquitous hunting variable, it just doesn't get the tacticool factor.
Mildot on 9x is great. Just 1x less than the ever popular fixed 10x mildots. Leupold is parallax set to 150 yards, which is great. 200 would be even better. Eliminate the need for side focus or AO.
That's where I give the Eastern Bloc some credit (Russian scopes, and at least early on, IOR scopes) were set to 200m. By setting the parallax further out, you dramatically cut down the parallax error across the entire intended operational range. 100 yard parallax sucks. It's simply there because that's a common hunting range and 99% of shooters shoot at a 100 yard range and this makes scopes look clearer, sharper and makes the brand look better as the shooter has no error.
Still, even with the elevation only BDC knob (CDS)...I like the idea. You can hold off wind. Or use the mil reticle to help with that.
It's a VX-II, which isn't the greatest, but Leupold takes an unjustified bashing for lack of optical quality. This sort of snowballs and bandwagons on the internet to where people get the impression it should compete with $150-$200 Asian optics. Simply not true. It's got decent optics in my opinion.
I believe it has 56 MOA of adjustment range.
I had the IOR 4x M2. The BDC knob is great. Calibrated for 62gr NATO, but with a little adjustment of the 100 yard zero, it will work with most .223 trajectories. It is illuminated (Leupold is not), and has a windage knob. It has a smaller objective, but the optics are better than the VX-II, it will be just as bright even though having a much smaller objective. It also has a nice solid fast focus eye piece. Adjusts without causing distortion. Only downside is the short eye relief. It is also more expensive than the Leupold.
I'd buy one again if they would re-import the Dragunov reticle.
