Rifle Scopes So, what about Leupold Mark 5 ?

New Mark 5HD 7-35x56 Tremor 3. I received it on Thursday and had to travel for 2 weeks. Haven’t got a chance to really look through it much less shoot it. I can’t wait to get home and try this bad boy out!
 

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I don’t think there are any alumina caps that fit the mk5hd yet. The mk5hd has a different size outer objective vs the mk8 or other 56mm leupold scopes. I have owned both caps & would take the Aadmount caps over the alumina caps. Both cost around $100 & we know the Aadmount fit great & are high quality. I think the alumina are a little better for hunting given the o-ring & easier to open & close but I used the Aadmount for hunting too & no water got in. The Aadmount close up great & are very secure & lifetime warranty if anything happens just mail it to Aadmount & they will send you a new one
 
I don’t think there are any alumina caps that fit the mk5hd yet. The mk5hd has a different size outer objective vs the mk8 or other 56mm leupold scopes. I have owned both caps & would take the Aadmount caps over the alumina caps. Both cost around $100 & we know the Aadmount fit great & are high quality. I think the alumina are a little better for hunting given the o-ring & easier to open & close but I used the Aadmount for hunting too & no water got in. The Aadmount close up great & are very secure & lifetime warranty if anything happens just mail it to Aadmount & they will send you a new one

The standard eyepiece cover for the VX-6, VX-6HD, and the VX-5HD fits the Mark 5HD. I also know for fact that the Alumina cover for the 44mm OBJ works for the 3.5-18x44 Mark 5. I don't have the 56mm, but Leupold has a cover available. It's part number 119737.

 
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Just the objective 56mm cover not including the eyepiece is $115-130 or $170 for both objective & eyepiece. The Aadmount is only $100 for both & I think it’s a little better
 
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I'm loving my Mark 5 so far. Most common gripes seem to be reticle selection and illumination price. Mine is really neither. I would have to say that the eye box is rather tight and I find it to be not as easy to get behind as my Athlon Cronus BTR was.
That said, I prefer it to the Cronus BTR in every other way. Weight, glass resolution, brightness and turrets were all a big win for the MK5. I sold my Cronus for it and have not looked back. It was between the Razor Gen 2 and the MK5 and I believe I made the right choice going with the Mark 5.
 
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I'm loving my Mark 5 so far. Most common gripes seem to be reticle selection and illumination price. Mine is really neither. I would have to say that the eye box is rather tight and I find it to be not as easy to get behind as my Athlon Cronus BTR was.
That said, I prefer it to the Cronus BTR in every other way. Weight, glass resolution, brightness and turrets were all a big win for the MK5. I sold my Cronus for it and have not looked back. It was between the Razor Gen 2 and the MK5 and I believe I made the right choice going with the Mark 5.

I’m shooting my mk5 5-25 TMR this weekend. It’s mounted on my Bergara 6 mm creed B17, and will post a report and pics. Curious to hear about the 7-35.
 
More time behind my Mk5 3.6 this weekend. I agree with Jonny that the eyebox is a bit tight. But the turrets are turning out to be a plus and the glass is very comparable to my AMG although I think I like the AMG glass a hair better.
 
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I have 2 so far and I’m more than happy with them, and H59 (3.6-18) and CCH (7-35). Both are imperfect reticles for me, but neither are imperfect enough to overpower the great clarity and price points. And definitely not so much that I’d pay an additional $400 for another reticle. Coming from the $1k-ish scopes, I find the eyeboxes more forgiving, and more so than the bushnell (h)dmr’s, but those weren’t set up for me.
 
I don’t think there are any alumina caps that fit the mk5hd yet. The mk5hd has a different size outer objective vs the mk8 or other 56mm leupold scopes. I have owned both caps & would take the Aadmount caps over the alumina caps. Both cost around $100 & we know the Aadmount fit great & are high quality. I think the alumina are a little better for hunting given the o-ring & easier to open & close but I used the Aadmount for hunting too & no water got in. The Aadmount close up great & are very secure & lifetime warranty if anything happens just mail it to Aadmount & they will send you a new one


I have aluminum caps on mine. They were well worth the price to protect $2k worth of lenses. Leopold has part numbers under the "accessories for this scope" on their website.


As far as reticles, I'm enjoying my TMR. Simple, effective, spot on.

Eyebox is better than Mark 6, and I haven't felt like I'm missing anything compared to my buddies pmII (well, the Leupold doesn't tunnel like the s&b so that's a +). Both easy to get behind so long as your stock is setup with proper cheek weld.
 
I have aluminum caps on mine. They were well worth the price to protect $2k worth of lenses. Leopold has part numbers under the "accessories for this scope" on their website.


As far as reticles, I'm enjoying my TMR. Simple, effective, spot on.

Eyebox is better than Mark 6, and I haven't felt like I'm missing anything compared to my buddies pmII (well, the Leupold doesn't tunnel like the s&b so that's a +). Both easy to get behind so long as your stock is setup with proper cheek weld.
The pmii does tunnel but it makes up for at 18-25x & there’s not many scopes that can match its optical performance. It only tunnels from 7x to 5x but I never use it that low, I mainly use 16x-25x for 1000-2000 yards. The pmii has a big field of view & the parallax is a lot better than the mk5hd, especially when focusing long range. My mk5hd is awesome for the money & I like the cch reticle just as much as the ebr7 or skmr3. There’s not many scopes that match the 56mm mk5hd for the $$ except maybe the trijicon accupower 56mm or the DMR Pro especially when it’s on sale or when the 20-30% off rebate happens & you can get the Pro for under $1200. I like the alumina caps they worked well for me especially for hunting since they open & close easier but they are $70 more than the Aadmount caps which are just as good or better
 
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I spent almost 10years in the army and guard; the majority of that time in combat arms units that had an organic sniper section. The Army reserves does not have combat MOS and sure as fuck doesn’t have 11b b4 or 19d b4. Your butt boy is blowing smoke up your ass and your too ignorant to know any better.

You are incorrect. The US Army Reserves do have Combat Arms MOS. In fact, in recent years they formed several training units who's purpose was to train Regular Army and National Guard Units on Combat Arms skills including all Infantry, Artillery, Armor, and Combat Engineer specialties.

Look, when an Active Duty Soldier leaves active duty and enters the reserves, whether active or inactive ready reserves, they don't loosed their MOS designations. They may get trained a new MOS, but they don't stop becoming what they were, and they can re=enter Active Duty under their Primary MOS again in the future.

Furthermore, although the Army Reserves do not maintain standing FORSCOM formations sitting around waiting to be called up, the Reserves do have combat arms soldier. When not at a war time footing, AD Army units are not manned to 100%, they are manned at a reduced level. In time of war, Units will receive a push of new bodies that will swell their ranks to 100% and more. Those soldiers can come from many places, and one is the Reserves.

So if Leupold has an employee who was in the reserves and was activated as so many were, and sent to an Active Army Unit to bring them up to strength prior to deployment, and if he was a sniper, I wouldn't be so quick to call him out on it. It's OK, don't take it too hard, not everyone get's to see and here everything. The DoD is a really big place and ten years goes by too fast when the only place you get to go is a states side FORSCOM Base and a FOB or two in another land.

I bet if you think back on it, you'll even remember someone you know who had been an activated reservist.
 
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LOL! How did I miss this derailment? lcpiper is correct. In fact, more Army reservists are serving as front line combat troops than the regular Army. Someone at USA HQ figured out it was easier to train reservists for combat roles, than it was to keep them up to date with the giant, complicated logisitic system that keeps Big Green rolling. So consequently, with the exception of a few combat units, the overwhelming majority of AD Army are in infantry support roles. Which does make sense, when you think about it.

Of course, it fucks the Reservists, but that's another discussion.
 
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I had to send my mk5hd back to leupold to get checked out. My coating on the objective & eyepiece must have not adhered to glass well. There were a lot of spots & streaks like the coating was deteriorating. It was not as bright & colorful like when I first got it. I’m sure leupold will fix it but I’ve never seen anything like this on optics before. Anyone else experience something like this before
 
I had to send my mk5hd back to leupold to get checked out. My coating on the objective & eyepiece must have not adhered to glass well. There were a lot of spots & streaks like the coating was deteriorating. It was not as bright & colorful like when I first got it. I’m sure leupold will fix it but I’ve never seen anything like this on optics before. Anyone else experience something like this before
I have to admit--my new scope came with some weird staining to the outside finish on the body--but the glass appears trouble free. I have no idea how--but it looks like the flow started at the contact where the foam packaging holds the scope in place inside the box. I'm wondering if there was some kind of reaction between the finish and the foam protectors?
 
I have to admit--my new scope came with some weird staining to the outside finish on the body--but the glass appears trouble free. I have no idea how--but it looks like the flow started at the contact where the foam packaging holds the scope in place inside the box. I'm wondering if there was some kind of reaction between the finish and the foam protectors?
As long as the glass is fine I wouldn’t be too concerned
 
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I can't speak for the other 5HD models since the 7 x 35 ffp that I just bought is the only high power loopy I've ever seen or used. Not to be a fanboy hyperbole kind of guy--but speaking for the one I have with the 60 MOA impact reticle all I can say is run--don't walk--to your local GS (if they have one in stock) and check it out (sighted on an actual target). It's one of the best scaling reticles I've ever seen through a ffp scope. And yes, I'm not a experienced LR or tactical shooter--so the worst that will happen is you can come back and tell me how full of it I am.;) I suspect, however, that most of you will be impressed if you haven't seen one before.
 
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I can't speak for the other 5HD models since the 7 x 35 ffp that I just bought is the only high power loopy I've ever seen or used. Not to be a fanboy hyperbole kind of guy--but speaking for the one I have with the 60 MOA impact reticle all I can say is run--don't walk--to your local GS (if they have one in stock) and check it out (sighted on an actual target). It's one of the best scaling reticles I've ever seen through a ffp scope. And yes, I'm not a experienced LR or tactical shooter--so the worst that will happen is you can come back and tell me how full of it I am.;) I suspect, however, that most of you will be impressed if you haven't seen one before.
The mk5hd is really good & compares nicely to other high end optics. It compares very well with the razor & if you don’t need illumination you can save a chunk. The xrs 2, dmr pro, Razor, Trijicon accupower, Cronus btr, & mk5hd are bringing a lot of performance for the $$ which is good. I think all the competition is why bushnell is having a sale. I was able to get an xrs 2 & dmr pro for $2000 because of the bushnell open box sale & 30% off. The dmr pro is only $970 so if you need another scope now is the time before they sell out & they are real close to mk5hd performance.
 
I had to send my mk5hd back to leupold to get checked out. My coating on the objective & eyepiece must have not adhered to glass well. There were a lot of spots & streaks like the coating was deteriorating. It was not as bright & colorful like when I first got it. I’m sure leupold will fix it but I’ve never seen anything like this on optics before. Anyone else experience something like this before

I had to send an ATACR back for something similar it looked like a spider web of cracks on one of the internal lenses. It was a problem with the first release of 4-16 F1s. NF was quick to fix it, but it happens to the best of them.
 
I had to send an ATACR back for something similar it looked like a spider web of cracks on one of the internal lenses. It was a problem with the first release of 4-16 F1s. NF was quick to fix it, but it happens to the best of them.

Sometimes when they apply the coatings, the substrate is not perfectly clean which will later cause delamination. It is unfortunate, but it happens. I've also seen fungus get between glass surface and costings.

ILya
 
I had to send an ATACR back for something similar it looked like a spider web of cracks on one of the internal lenses. It was a problem with the first release of 4-16 F1s. NF was quick to fix it, but it happens to the best of them.

I had that on my 4-16 also, it was grease on the lense. NF was great about taking care of it as they always have been for me.
 
I shot my 7 x 35 with 60 MOA impact reticle again today--though at only 100yds since I'm still working up a good load. Each time I use it I like it more and more--but have to admit I have yet to test tracking and longer range shooting. So who cares, right?

All the other scopes that I have that range in max power from 16x to 24 x I will almost always "lean" on the higher powers even as close as 100 yards as a "crutch"--if it makes the target easier to see for my bad eyes, than why not?

The reticle on this scope is so good at lower powers it's actually a disadvantage to go any higher than 9 or 10 x IMO at closer ranges.
 
I get my mk5hd back tomorrow after a week of shipping & a week of fixing. It’s here at my local ups but they have to transfer it to my local post office to deliver, sounds like SmartPost. My coating & reticle had to be replaced but they didn’t say anything about my parallax. My parallax was reaching infinity by 300 yards beyond that it wouldn’t focus. This is going to be really annoying if I have to send back again. Anyone else have their focus falling short of 800 yards
 
I’m disappointed in leupold. I sent the scope in to be fixed & this is how it’s sent back. Look how bad the ocular lens is inside. It won’t clean up, it’s something like a bad coating or glue or something that wasn’t completely cleaned off during assembly. It’s almost like they just returned it without looking at it. What do you think
 

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Ocular lens
 

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The objective lens something that won’t clean off around the edge almost all the way around & some streaks & spots across the middle
 

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I haven’t taken it out, that’s how it came back. I tried cleaning it but it won’t clean up. Those waves of streaks on the ocular lens is behind the outer lens I think
Sorry you had a bad experience!
My experience was good when I called customer service. I had adjusted my elevation turret to achieve more elevation and when I set the zero for it and returned back to zero the turret had some wiggle back and forth that I didnt like. Customer service was able to guide me through to adjust it the way it should be over the phone. Now there's no wiggle at all when I return back to zero. I hope they get this fixed for you!
 
Big news, boys! Geissele has released 35mm mounts for the MK5.

 
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Big news, boys! Geissele has released 35mm mounts for the MK5.

The price of these puts them in stiff competition with spuhr, tier 1, & Aadmount
 
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Big news, boys! Geissele has released 35mm mounts for the MK5.

Does anyone know the height of this mount? Says it’s optimized for the AR10/SR25 but nothing on height
 
I’m disappointed in leupold. I sent the scope in to be fixed & this is how it’s sent back. Look how bad the ocular lens is inside. It won’t clean up, it’s something like a bad coating or glue or something that wasn’t completely cleaned off during assembly. It’s almost like they just returned it without looking at it. What do you think
That's totally unacceptable. I mean how the hell could they not see that? I'm assuming you're going to have to send it back to them again?
 
That's totally unacceptable. I mean how the hell could they not see that? I'm assuming you're going to have to send it back to them again?
I couldn’t believe it when it returned like this. This picture shows how obviously bad it is. I showed some other shooters & they didn’t understand either how this could be missed & returned the way it was. They sent a paper saying it went through inspection after inspection & was fixed. Yeah I’m going to send it back & send them an email with all my pictures detailing the problems. Maybe there was a mistake where it accidentally didn’t get checked out, I don’t know but if they did check it out & say it’s fixed the way it is & then there’s something wrong going on there
 

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I couldn’t believe it when it returned like this. This picture shows how obviously bad it is. I showed some other shooters & they didn’t understand either how this could be missed & returned the way it was. They sent a paper saying it went through inspection after inspection & was fixed.

Clearly the tech did not annotate one of the steps taken in remediation of your service issue:

Service Activity:

* Wipe inside of objective lens with dirty used Kleenex before reassembly.

Sorry man, that sucks.