After shooting my first field match last year I'm hooked on that style of shooting vs just shooting on a range in Multi-Gun matches. The match I shot was the Thunder Beast Arms Team Challenge, which was totally awesome. It was about the most fun I've ever had shooting. My partner and I sucked but it was great. During the match I used a Burris Tac30 which worked okay but really left me wanting more since it's only a 1-4x optic. It was great to about 300 yards and okay to 400 yards, but beyond that I could't hit much of anything. I have since upgraded to the Burris MTAC 1-4x for Multi-Gun matches and it works great for that. But I wanted a little more for being able to spot my own shots, adjust for wind, and locate targets... Which was a bitch for the 4x scope.
One of the shooters that's headed to this years match asked Zak what he would suggest for a carbine setup. So I decided to try to take Zak's suggestions... Knowing that there was so much run and gun short range stuff I didn't want too much power since you're limited to a single optic. But shooting out to 550 yards pushed me into wanting more power. I settled on a 3-9x as what I was looking for and I needed illumination for the night stage. I turned in a really quick time on last years night stage so I'm hoping to repeat that performance. It was pretty much the only good shooting I did. So anyways, on with the story... The others I was looking at were the Vortex 2.5-10x PST (kind of heavy and large) and the SS 3-9x (No illumination, but the only FFP scope I was looking at). Then I came across the Leupold VX-R Patrol in 3-9x but couldn't find shit about it. It seemed like there was noting written about it so far. Trusting that Leupold didn't totally screw up the design I went for it. I was looking for compact and light as one of the primary features the this seemed to be smaller and lighter than the other two I was looking at and it was illuminated with low profile knobs.
After searching a ton for the best price, I discovered that Scott from Liberty Optics was having a sale on them for $559. I place my order Sunday night and then doing my usual worrying, I bugged Scott a bunch about when it would ship. I'm headed out tomorrow to get DOPE on a new load for the carbine the scope is going on and I really wanted it. Scott got it in the mail on Tuesday and I got it today as Scott promised. Thanks Scott!
It came in a cool digital camp Leupold Tactical Optics box... So you know its bad ass being that it say tactical... Okay, just kidding.
IMG_0302 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
I pulled it out and fired up the illumination. The illumination is kind of limited since the reticle does not illuminate, it's just the center dot that lights. It's actually pretty good. I compare it to the #9 setting on the AimPoint H1 with less of a star burst. It's totally visible in full daylight without any issues.
IMG_0303 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
The TMR reticle is a little different than the ones in the Mk4. There are no .2 Mil hash marks on the outside edge and being a SFP scope it appears as though they made it a little heavy since you can't zoom into it. The glass is very clear, and super bright. The eye relief is about 4.5" at 3x and 4" at 9x with a pretty flexible eye box, much more so that the Vortex PST that I had before.
IMG_0305 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
I'm going to just to a second post since I don't know how many photos can be placed in a single post... Be back in a second!
Okay, moving forward... The magnification adjustment is very smooth, light and fast. It doesn't take much force or movement to go from 3x to 9x.
IMG_0306 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
My plan is to order a throw lever from Charlie Drissel which is who I prefer for my other optics. I also went ahead and stuck a bubble level on it, I can use any help I can get. It will give me an idea of what I'm doing in training and maybe modify what I have been doing based on what I see as reality. We'll see, it's the first time I've used one. And for $20 from Brownell's I figured it was worth the try.
IMG_0315 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
Moving on forward, the low profile knobs look like a direct knock off of NightForce. The texture is very nice... But that's about there the niceness stops. There is no zero stop, which isn't that big of a deal since I'll likely be doing hold overs for the most part. The clicks are audible and tactical but a little light for me. The PST I had prior was much better.
IMG_0307 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
IMG_0308 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
So onto the ubercool tactical logo on the bottom...
IMG_0309 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
Notice how no country of origin is listed there where most manufacturers post that. I can't find any reference to where the scope was made. Are all Leupold products made in the USA? I'm not sure, maybe someone can answer that for me. I would think if they were, Leupold would print it all over the scope and the box so everyone knows. I can't find it anywhere.
IMG_0310 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
One of the shooters that's headed to this years match asked Zak what he would suggest for a carbine setup. So I decided to try to take Zak's suggestions... Knowing that there was so much run and gun short range stuff I didn't want too much power since you're limited to a single optic. But shooting out to 550 yards pushed me into wanting more power. I settled on a 3-9x as what I was looking for and I needed illumination for the night stage. I turned in a really quick time on last years night stage so I'm hoping to repeat that performance. It was pretty much the only good shooting I did. So anyways, on with the story... The others I was looking at were the Vortex 2.5-10x PST (kind of heavy and large) and the SS 3-9x (No illumination, but the only FFP scope I was looking at). Then I came across the Leupold VX-R Patrol in 3-9x but couldn't find shit about it. It seemed like there was noting written about it so far. Trusting that Leupold didn't totally screw up the design I went for it. I was looking for compact and light as one of the primary features the this seemed to be smaller and lighter than the other two I was looking at and it was illuminated with low profile knobs.
After searching a ton for the best price, I discovered that Scott from Liberty Optics was having a sale on them for $559. I place my order Sunday night and then doing my usual worrying, I bugged Scott a bunch about when it would ship. I'm headed out tomorrow to get DOPE on a new load for the carbine the scope is going on and I really wanted it. Scott got it in the mail on Tuesday and I got it today as Scott promised. Thanks Scott!
It came in a cool digital camp Leupold Tactical Optics box... So you know its bad ass being that it say tactical... Okay, just kidding.
IMG_0302 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
I pulled it out and fired up the illumination. The illumination is kind of limited since the reticle does not illuminate, it's just the center dot that lights. It's actually pretty good. I compare it to the #9 setting on the AimPoint H1 with less of a star burst. It's totally visible in full daylight without any issues.
IMG_0303 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
The TMR reticle is a little different than the ones in the Mk4. There are no .2 Mil hash marks on the outside edge and being a SFP scope it appears as though they made it a little heavy since you can't zoom into it. The glass is very clear, and super bright. The eye relief is about 4.5" at 3x and 4" at 9x with a pretty flexible eye box, much more so that the Vortex PST that I had before.
IMG_0305 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
I'm going to just to a second post since I don't know how many photos can be placed in a single post... Be back in a second!
Okay, moving forward... The magnification adjustment is very smooth, light and fast. It doesn't take much force or movement to go from 3x to 9x.
IMG_0306 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
My plan is to order a throw lever from Charlie Drissel which is who I prefer for my other optics. I also went ahead and stuck a bubble level on it, I can use any help I can get. It will give me an idea of what I'm doing in training and maybe modify what I have been doing based on what I see as reality. We'll see, it's the first time I've used one. And for $20 from Brownell's I figured it was worth the try.
IMG_0315 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
Moving on forward, the low profile knobs look like a direct knock off of NightForce. The texture is very nice... But that's about there the niceness stops. There is no zero stop, which isn't that big of a deal since I'll likely be doing hold overs for the most part. The clicks are audible and tactical but a little light for me. The PST I had prior was much better.
IMG_0307 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
IMG_0308 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
So onto the ubercool tactical logo on the bottom...
IMG_0309 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
Notice how no country of origin is listed there where most manufacturers post that. I can't find any reference to where the scope was made. Are all Leupold products made in the USA? I'm not sure, maybe someone can answer that for me. I would think if they were, Leupold would print it all over the scope and the box so everyone knows. I can't find it anywhere.
IMG_0310 by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr