Rifle Scopes So, what about Leupold Mark 5 ?

#1,101
odoylerules said:
Ordered! Thanks
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Just make sure to test the accuracy by drawing a perfect level line& plum. A lot of cheaper bubbles can be off. That’s why I like us optics for low left rail mount which I like or scope mounted accuracy 1st, they are dead on accurate for the ones our customers have tested
 
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#1,102
WELP...received my Mark 5 HD and it is already heading back to Leupold. I opened up the box saw my beautiful new scope and was delighted. Upon looking at the elevation turret, I was not delighted. The indicator mark was in between values as others have had issue with. Even with realigning the turret (after loosening screws) it still would end up between values. Very annoying to not have the hash marks line up. So I decided to check out the illumination next and that was pretty bad. The reticle would illuminate but also bleed a good bit with small specks of red on where the number indicators were (they are not supposed to be illuminated) and the bottom most hash Mark was only partially illuminated. Pretty disappointed. I chose the illuminated PR1-MOA reticle.

Now for the positive, customer service was super nice!!! They said, we got this, emailed me an RMA when on the phone with them and it’s already boxed up for UPS. They said they will make it right and I believe them.

Also the glass was great and I was really pleased with the dimensions and weight of the scope. When I get mine with good turrets and good illumination with a clear reticle, I think this scope will be my favorite for a long time.

I’ll keep y’all posted on when I get any update from them.
 
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#1,104
Genin said:
WELP...received my Mark 5 HD and it is already heading back to Leupold. I opened up the box saw my beautiful new scope and was delighted. Upon looking at the elevation turret, I was not delighted. The indicator mark was in between values as others have had issue with. Even with realigning the turret (after loosening screws) it still would end up between values. Very annoying to not have the hash marks line up. So I decided to check out the illumination next and that was pretty bad. The reticle would illuminate but also bleed a good bit with small specks of red on where the number indicators were (they are not supposed to be illuminated) and the bottom most hash Mark was only partially illuminated. Pretty disappointed. I chose the illuminated PR1-MOA reticle.

Now for the positive, customer service was super nice!!! They said, we got this, emailed me an RMA when on the phone with them and it’s already boxed up for UPS. They said they will make it right and I believe them.

Also the glass was great and I was really pleased with the dimensions and weight of the scope. When I get mine with good turrets and good illumination with a clear reticle, I think this scope will be my favorite for a long time.

I’ll keep y’all posted on when I get any update from them.
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That is a bummer for sure, definitely poor QC. However Leupold's customer service has always been GTG, which is and always has been a contributing factor for me when I purchase products. I am well pleased with my 2 MK5's.
 
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#1,105
I’ve had my Mk5 for around a year and still enjoy it. My dials line up almost perfect..almost, so not a huge bother to me. I may send it back at some point but maybe not.

I did recently receive a new USO B-17 and glass is on par but the Mk5 may be actually a little better but the main tube and main objective is also larger on the Mk5 so that could account for the slight nod going to the Mk5
 
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#1,107
Pusher591 said:
I’ve had my Mk5 for around a year and still enjoy it. My dials line up almost perfect..almost, so not a huge bother to me. I may send it back at some point but maybe not.

I did recently receive a new USO B-17 and glass is on par, actually a little better but the main tube and main objective is also larger on the Mk5 so that could account for the slight nod going to the Mk5
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Yeah larger objectives always help with brightness & resolution. That was 1 reason why I chose the mk5 56mm over the dmr pro. At high mag 56mm wins over smaller objectives if they are similar quality
 
#1,108
LAW-DOG said:
Yeah larger objectives always help with brightness & resolution. That was 1 reason why I chose the mk5 56mm over the dmr pro. At high mag 56mm wins over smaller objectives if they are similar quality
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Thought you can't get past the laws of physics, I would say the Mark 5HD compares very favorably to the Bushnell ET DMR II when it comes to low light performance, even though the Leupold is 44mm vs. 50mm on the Bushy you have to really look hard to see some of those differences in low light situations, we can debate whether the 18x or 21x is going to help the most, but I can say the Leupold trumps the Bushnell at low magnification FOV, 28.4' for the Leupold and only 25.3' for the Bushnell, even though both are 3.5x (well okay, the Leupold is actually 3.6x) the fact you can see 3' more in the FOV with the Mark 5 is a big advantage in my book. For a black rifle, I would choose the Leupold over the Bushnell, but I also think the DMR II is a great step up over the original DMR, not sure the DMR II Pro is worth it given it's other limitations (heavy and not so great FOV) even though it has better glass.
 
#1,109
wjm308 said:
Thought you can't get past the laws of physics, I would say the Mark 5HD compares very favorably to the Bushnell ET DMR II when it comes to low light performance, even though the Leupold is 44mm vs. 50mm on the Bushy you have to really look hard to see some of those differences in low light situations, we can debate whether the 18x or 21x is going to help the most, but I can say the Leupold trumps the Bushnell at low magnification FOV, 28.4' for the Leupold and only 25.3' for the Bushnell, even though both are 3.5x (well okay, the Leupold is actually 3.6x) the fact you can see 3' more in the FOV with the Mark 5 is a big advantage in my book. For a black rifle, I would choose the Leupold over the Bushnell, but I also think the DMR II is a great step up over the original DMR, not sure the DMR II Pro is worth it given it's other limitations (heavy and not so great FOV) even though it has better glass.
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I agree with high quality optics they will transmit a lot light so they will be close in brightness. I have had some time behind the xrs2 & it is very nice & with bushnell’s 20% off rebate you could get a dmr2 pro under $1300 & xrs2 illuminated under $1500, I’m definitely considering getting one for another rifle
 
#1,115
UPDATE: Still waiting on Leupold to fix or replace my scope. When I called initially the tech had me send it in immediately and he said it would be done by this past Monday (the 18th). He said he would call me on Monday with whatever the resolution was and the tracking data.

I called today because they had not called me (they’ve had it in hand for 6 days). I was told nothing has been done with it as of yet but it’s “downstairs to be handled”. I’m glad I called because all they had on file was that the illumination was messed up, but hadn’t annotated that my turret markings were off as well (no attention to detail on the initial call I guess). I was told that they did have it marked as a “rush order” so it was priority. I have my doubts and am annoyed because I told the tech about my upcoming year long deployment and he said send it in and I’ll have it done by Monday (I was hesitant because I’m only here till the end of February). A week later and it hasn’t been touched. Another damn week goes by and I’ll be f*cking waiting a year to make sure they actually fixed it.

Leupold is getting a negative rating from me so far. I’m hoping they turn it around in the end but come on. Send me a broke ass scope and then give me the run around. Not too happy. Hoping to report better news soon.
 
#1,116
Ok, well interestingly enough I just got a call from the original tech at the custom shop that told me to send the scope in and sent me the shipping label. He said they "cleaned up the reticle and the illumination is now beautiful and the reticle is perfect". He said that the turret was also fixed. I asked him if he personally looked at it and he assured me that both he and his supervisor personally inspected the scope when it came back from the repair shop techs and he is confident that the issues are resolved. He seemed super confident so let's hope it is resolved. If not, looks like I'll be waiting a year to send it back anyhow lol. He said it should get sent back to me today and I should get a shipping label. Wish me luck! I'll keep ya'll posted when the scope arrives.

Leupold is now at a neutral rating from me. If it's fixed as it should be, then they will be considered positive in my book.
 
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#1,118
Genin said:
Ok, well interestingly enough I just got a call from the original tech at the custom shop that told me to send the scope in and sent me the shipping label. He said they "cleaned up the reticle and the illumination is now beautiful and the reticle is perfect". He said that the turret was also fixed. I asked him if he personally looked at it and he assured me that both he and his supervisor personally inspected the scope when it came back from the repair shop techs and he is confident that the issues are resolved. He seemed super confident so let's hope it is resolved. If not, looks like I'll be waiting a year to send it back anyhow lol. He said it should get sent back to me today and I should get a shipping label. Wish me luck! I'll keep ya'll posted when the scope arrives.

Leupold is now at a neutral rating from me. If it's fixed as it should be, then they will be considered positive in my book.
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Thanks for the update, I would hope that if they knew you were being deployed they would push this to the front of the line and glad to hear it sounds like they did. Hopefully all is well with the scope and it is rock solid for you, you going to be able to use it while deployed? Hope so and stay safe wherever you're off to!
 
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#1,119
wjm308 said:
Thanks for the update, I would hope that if they knew you were being deployed they would push this to the front of the line and glad to hear it sounds like they did. Hopefully all is well with the scope and it is rock solid for you, you going to be able to use it while deployed? Hope so and stay safe wherever you're off to!
Click to expand...

Thank you for the well wishes. I will not be using this on deployment. I’m an abrams gunner (tanker) so I’ll be using a bit more advanced optics hahaha.
 
#1,121
Every high mag scope I’ve used I usually turn the power down to 18-21x & the same goes for my spotting scopes. The mk4 at 25x has 4ft fov at 100 yards which is small compared to other high end scopes & a 35x in this scope will be even worse. Turning your mag down to normal powers that reticle will probably become very small
 
#1,123
Txmxracer said:
Anyone using the 5-25 with Seekins/vortex rings? Thinking I need highs to run on my MPA chassis but don't have the scope yet to measure.

shane
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I use 1.5 inch with no cheek rise & it’s just right. You could probably get down to 1.25 inch if you have to but I think 1.5 inch would be best
 
#1,125
CageFighter said:
anyone have a full side pic of the Mk 5HD 5-25x56 mounted on an AR10 or such? if so, please post.
Click to expand...

Not a 5-25 as you requested, but here's the 3.6-18x to give you a rough idea. It's sitting in a Spuhr SP-5602 mount (willing to do a straight trade for a Spuhr SP-5601 since this optic will end up on a different rifle if anyone is interested).

ktHXEX.jpg

mnRNDd.jpg
 
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#1,126
Update: The scope came to me this morning, they sent it overnight air which was nice. What was not nice was that nothing, not a damn thing, had been done to the scope. I got it out of the box, looked at the turret...still indexed wrong. Turned on the illumination, did a prayer and for F*CKS SAKE...still messed up reticle. Checked the form in the box and the service activity on my form said "visual inspection 100%, no defects found, mechanical inspection".

So all that jazz from the tech (who will remain nameless) about cleaning the reticle and replacing the turret was a complete lie. If him and his supervisor looked at this then they are full of garbage. I live a couple miles from Euro Optic so I called them and asked what I should do, even though I didn't purchase from them. I brought down my scope, we compared and saw that mine is messed up. I called Leupold from there and said, hey it is messed up, these guys can confirm it, they are a huge distributor of yours, I want a refund. And they sent me a label to return my scope and get a refund. They were very apologetic and honestly I am not too butt hurt about it since I am getting my money back. Bad products get through the line everywhere and I'm cool with that, but lying to me sucked. I am going to put that on the tech and not the company.

I had done all this on my lunch break here so now I am back to work and my old scope is on it's way to Leupold where a 100% refund will be given back in 1-2 weeks. I told Mike and the guys at Euro Optic that I will be returning after work to purchase an optic from them. We shall see what I go with, and hell I might go with another Mark 5HD since I can inspect it ahead of time. Who knows. Good Lord. DRAMA
 
#1,128
Genin said:
Update: The scope came to me this morning, they sent it overnight air which was nice. What was not nice was that nothing, not a damn thing, had been done to the scope. I got it out of the box, looked at the turret...still indexed wrong. Turned on the illumination, did a prayer and for F*CKS SAKE...still messed up reticle. Checked the form in the box and the service activity on my form said "visual inspection 100%, no defects found, mechanical inspection".

*** DRAMA
Click to expand...

DAMN. No exactly confidence inspiring. My interaction with a Leupold tech over my Mk5 was encouraging and a return tag was issued. Tech said the same thing about making sure "this scope comes across my desk because I want to personally make sure it has a problem and the problem gets fixed."

I decided NOT to send it in if I could zero it as we resolved my biggest concern. Your experiences do not exactly fill me with confidence.

But there really is not a comparable product as the Mk5 3.6 with respect to size, weight, performance (when working properly!), and pricing.
 
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#1,129
Blackfoot 7 said:
Not a 5-25 as you requested, but here's the 3.6-18x to give you a rough idea. It's sitting in a Spuhr SP-5602 mount (willing to do a straight trade for a Spuhr SP-5601 since this optic will end up on a different rifle if anyone is interested).

ktHXEX.jpg

mnRNDd.jpg
Click to expand...
You know what this is... an excuse to showoff pics of a sweet looking rifle, we want none of that here ;) Seriously, nice rig... LMT?
 
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#1,131
Genin said:
Update: The scope came to me this morning, they sent it overnight air which was nice. What was not nice was that nothing, not a damn thing, had been done to the scope. I got it out of the box, looked at the turret...still indexed wrong. Turned on the illumination, did a prayer and for F*CKS SAKE...still messed up reticle. Checked the form in the box and the service activity on my form said "visual inspection 100%, no defects found, mechanical inspection".

So all that jazz from the tech (who will remain nameless) about cleaning the reticle and replacing the turret was a complete lie. If him and his supervisor looked at this then they are full of garbage. I live a couple miles from Euro Optic so I called them and asked what I should do, even though I didn't purchase from them. I brought down my scope, we compared and saw that mine is messed up. I called Leupold from there and said, hey it is messed up, these guys can confirm it, they are a huge distributor of yours, I want a refund. And they sent me a label to return my scope and get a refund. They were very apologetic and honestly I am not too butt hurt about it since I am getting my money back. Bad products get through the line everywhere and I'm cool with that, but lying to me sucked. I am going to put that on the tech and not the company.

I had done all this on my lunch break here so now I am back to work and my old scope is on it's way to Leupold where a 100% refund will be given back in 1-2 weeks. I told Mike and the guys at Euro Optic that I will be returning after work to purchase an optic from them. We shall see what I go with, and hell I might go with another Mark 5HD since I can inspect it ahead of time. Who knows. Good Lord. DRAMA
Click to expand...
Dang Genin, that sucks! But good news that Euro is taking care of you and sounds like Leupold is as well, but I think I'd be a bit more upset if I were in your shoes, you've got a good head on you and nice to know you are out there serving our country and representing well! Thank you for your service brother.
 
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#1,135
USMC_JA,
I know and I agree. It fills a niche that I really was trying to get all secured. For that reason I still went with a Leupold Mark 5 but this time I went with the 3.6-18x. Euro Optic let me open the box and inspect it first and they gave me a nice deal with military discount that had me walking away smiling.

wjm,
Thank you brother, I appreciate the kind words...and yes, I’ll have some big old guns in my hands. Nothing quite like popping off that 120mm!!!!

FOR OTHERS REFERENCE: I tried my best to take some pics of the issues to show them before the initial scope was returned for refund.

Reticle shot, look at the 40moa and below. There are black lines that run before the hashes (are not illuminated all the way through) and the left side of those hash marks are missing about 25% on the left side. It is so hard to get pics in a rush and through the scope.

A31-F25-D2-56-D6-4842-98-EC-0-D73-BDE2-BEE8.jpg


And here’s a pic of that damn turret dial lol!!! Yeah, they really fixed that well.

4-A298661-AF31-40-BB-BB8-F-C994159-C7-E10.jpg


Now, on the brighter side of things is my new and awesome Mark 5 HD 3.6-18 that is fantastic (I went with the illumination and MOA again).

592031-F1-8-F67-44-C1-8147-65-E5-AC62-D22-A.jpg
 
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#1,136
Genin said:
USMC_JA,
I know and I agree. It fills a niche that I really was trying to get all secured. For that reason I still went with a Leupold Mark 5 but this time I went with the 3.6-18x. Euro Optic let me open the box and inspect it first and they gave me a nice deal with military discount that had me walking away smiling.

wjm,
Thank you brother, I appreciate the kind words...and yes, I’ll have some big old guns in my hands. Nothing quite like popping off that 120mm!!!!

FOR OTHERS REFERENCE: I tried my best to take some pics of the issues to show them before the initial scope was returned for refund.

Reticle shot, look at the 40moa and below. There are black lines that run before the hashes (are not illuminated all the way through) and the left side of those hash marks are missing about 25% on the left side. It is so hard to get pics in a rush and through the scope.

A31-F25-D2-56-D6-4842-98-EC-0-D73-BDE2-BEE8.jpg


And here’s a pic of that damn turret dial lol!!! Yeah, they really fixed that well.

4-A298661-AF31-40-BB-BB8-F-C994159-C7-E10.jpg


Now, on the brighter side of things is my new and awesome Mark 5 HD 3.6-18 that is fantastic (I went with the illumination and MOA again).

592031-F1-8-F67-44-C1-8147-65-E5-AC62-D22-A.jpg
Click to expand...

^ Happy to hear it all worked out for you. Stay safe and keep your head on a swivel downrange. Charlie Mike.
 
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#1,137
Genin said:
Update: The scope came to me this morning, they sent it overnight air which was nice. What was not nice was that nothing, not a damn thing, had been done to the scope. I got it out of the box, looked at the turret...still indexed wrong. Turned on the illumination, did a prayer and for F*CKS SAKE...still messed up reticle. Checked the form in the box and the service activity on my form said "visual inspection 100%, no defects found, mechanical inspection".

So all that jazz from the tech (who will remain nameless) about cleaning the reticle and replacing the turret was a complete lie. If him and his supervisor looked at this then they are full of garbage. I live a couple miles from Euro Optic so I called them and asked what I should do, even though I didn't purchase from them. I brought down my scope, we compared and saw that mine is messed up. I called Leupold from there and said, hey it is messed up, these guys can confirm it, they are a huge distributor of yours, I want a refund. And they sent me a label to return my scope and get a refund. They were very apologetic and honestly I am not too butt hurt about it since I am getting my money back. Bad products get through the line everywhere and I'm cool with that, but lying to me sucked. I am going to put that on the tech and not the company.

I had done all this on my lunch break here so now I am back to work and my old scope is on it's way to Leupold where a 100% refund will be given back in 1-2 weeks. I told Mike and the guys at Euro Optic that I will be returning after work to purchase an optic from them. We shall see what I go with, and hell I might go with another Mark 5HD since I can inspect it ahead of time. Who knows. Good Lord. DRAMA
Click to expand...

Damn man! I am glad they are refunding you and glad you got a good replacement. I suppose Leupold is taking care of you and that is good but their employees sure as hell are not! That is honestly unacceptable! IMO you are handling it with respect by not name dropping, props. But damn it!! I really want to believe in and support American companies but things like this make it hard to...
 
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#1,138
jbell,
Honestly brother, it’s just that one employee. I’m pretty sure he just was like F it or was having a bad week or something. When I called them today they sent me to the VIP sales techs and they said yup here’s your RMA for the refund and a 2nd day air tracking label to your email. Took all of 5-10 minutes. They didn’t argue or fight me, he was just polite and reassuring. I figured I won’t blame the company for this one. I mean, the one I have now seems pretty nice. I’ll hit the range this weekend to enjoy shooting with it.
 
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#1,141
Maybe it's been answered somewhere in the annals of this thread, but how does the Mk5 stack up against the GenII Razor? I have a Mk5 5-25 CCH and really like it and am considering another one. Still getting used to the CCH. I do like the looks of the Ebr-7 in the Vortex. Trying to make up my mind on my next scope purchase.
 
#1,142
I prefer the Vortex reticle and robustness of their design. I also prefer the weight of the Mk 5 and it's zeroing process (super easy on the elevation). The Rzr has slightly better glass (at least to me) in broad day light. The Mk-5 seems a bit brighter in low light conditions.

They're both pretty close in price, so it'll come down to personal preferences IMHO.
 
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#1,143
Yoteski said:
Maybe it's been answered somewhere in the annals of this thread, but how does the Mk5 stack up against the GenII Razor? I have a Mk5 5-25 CCH and really like it and am considering another one. Still getting used to the CCH. I do like the looks of the Ebr-7 in the Vortex. Trying to make up my mind on my next scope purchase.
Click to expand...

To my eyes, I found the glass to be very comparable, with a slight advantage to the Mark 5. The Mark 5 is definitely brighter in low light. The Vortex Razor 2 has the better reticles in most people's opinions. Honestly, I would see which one has the better reticle and price for you then decide on the weight factor. Go from there. You really can't go wrong.
 
#1,144
Yoteski said:
Maybe it's been answered somewhere in the annals of this thread, but how does the Mk5 stack up against the GenII Razor? I have a Mk5 5-25 CCH and really like it and am considering another one. Still getting used to the CCH. I do like the looks of the Ebr-7 in the Vortex. Trying to make up my mind on my next scope purchase.
Click to expand...
Both are great optics, like everyone said you can't go wrong with either one. But i went with the Mark5 for the following reasons.

Glass: both are amazing, but i have to give the edge to the Mark 5HD because it does better in low light (ie. shitty conditions) which is really when you want high quality glass.

Turrets: I liked the feel of the Mark 5HD and how loud they are. both are repeatable and consistent for tracking in my opinion.

Weight: Leupold hands down.

Durability: both are build tough and have awesome warranties, but i think the weight of the vortex over the long run would be more likely to fail because it absorbs more of the recoil due to it's weight.

Reticle: I like the T3 because im familiar with it (bought mine before the CCH was available to consider), but the vortex does have more 'tactical/gamer' reticles.

Look: purely personal preference, but i like the sleek black look of the Mark 5HD.
 
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#1,145
Duffman1975 said:
Both are great optics, like everyone said you can't go wrong with either one. But i went with the Mark5 for the following reasons.

Glass: both are amazing, but i have to give the edge to the Mark 5HD because it does better in low light (ie. shitty conditions) which is really when you want high quality glass.

Turrets: I liked the feel of the Mark 5HD and how loud they are. both are repeatable and consistent for tracking in my opinion.

Weight: Leupold hands down.

Durability: both are build tough and have awesome warranties, but i think the weight of the vortex over the long run would be more likely to fail because it absorbs more of the recoil due to it's weight.

Reticle: I like the T3 because im familiar with it (bought mine before the CCH was available to consider), but the vortex does have more 'tactical/gamer' reticles.

Look: purely personal preference, but i like the sleek black look of the Mark 5HD.
Click to expand...

The cost (mil/fed pricing) was a primary factor in my decision to roll the dice on the Mark5HD sight unseen, and I'm glad I did. I've grown to really like the CCH reticle, and it gets bonus points for being a relatively lightweight, compact and feature rich package. I'm anxious to get out as often as time will allow, and really stretch it out once the Spring and Summer months roll in.
 
#1,148
I talked to Jon today & he said they are still working on making them. Try calling them 425-308-4801, email at a lot of places are slow to get a response
 
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