Thumbs down on Leupold MK 4

Have you ever looked through an IOR next to a Leupold? You might want to try that before throwing so many stones. IOR glass really does make you want to put all your Leupolds on Ebay the first time you do.
 
Have you ever looked through an IOR next to a Leupold? You might want to try that before throwing so many stones. IOR glass really does make you want to put all your Leupolds on Ebay the first time you do.

If you're referring to me, yes I have. I never said anything wrong with the IOR or any of the other scopes mentioned, in fact, I like all of them.
 
Before this gets out of hand I didn't mean to stir up any thing so i will restate what I said
in a different way.

A scope is a package deal it is all the things you like for the price you can afford.

You cant really compare any scope to another because they are not the same from
a standpoint of cost, features, durability,clarity,power, objective size,lens clarity,
field of view, construction materials. so there really is no good way to compare one
against the other.

I have 67 year old eyes and the brightness and clarity of the Leupold suits me fine
along with other things. I have nothing against any other scope except the realy
cheep ones ($200.00 and down) because they will not hold up with hard kicking
rifles and will let you down at the worst moment.

One of the brightest scopes I have owned was the Nikon buck masters but after two
tries they both failed (Nikon did not hesitate to replace them but I lost faith in them
on My big magnums) and placed the last one on my 17 HMR and love it.

The one thing interesting thing about Leupold is that they List there light gathering
ability and few other scope manufactures do that.

J E CUSTOM
 
I guess we have a difference in the definition of being "honest". Most posters I know here that makes an honest effort to share a constructive evaluation of a product that we can all use (esp. when it is done accordingly, no bias, not apples-to-oranges comparison, varying situations, etc ...) at least start off with IMHO, ....

Having said that, with all due respect IMHO, your evaluation was inconclusive and has no merit to recommend any of the scopes you mentioned over each other, just because your 52 old eyes (no pun intended) did not work when you look into the MK4 without any effort of adjustments, doesn't deserve your kind words.

BTW, I don't own a MK4.

I just asked the shooter next bench over if I could check out his scope.I adjusted his side focus a bit.I felt my 6500 had a better picture. Out of the box my scopes needed no adjustment on focus ring . I've owned a couple Leupolds and have looked through others most appear fuzzy to my eyes. But not all. Had a 3.5x10x40 VXIII on a 300 RUM that aided me in harvested a Bear. Now that Leupold performed flawlessly .
 
A scope is a package deal it is all the things you like for the price you can afford.

You cant really compare any scope to another because they are not the same from
a standpoint of cost, features, durability,clarity,power, objective size,lens clarity,
field of view, construction materials. so there really is no good way to compare one
against the other.

J E CUSTOM

I think there's a lot of truth to that. I would love nothing more than to try a Nightforce, supposed to be a half way decent scope from what I've heard. But, trying to get three kids through high school and college, it's just not in the cards, for now anyway.

I guess it's one of those to each his/her own. Maybe theres just a chance they're all pretty good. Hmm. Here is a pretty good link I found that gives some of the pros and cons of each.

6mm BR Scopes, Optics, Zooms for 6BR Norma target shooting--tests, specifications, accuracy and benchrest optical reviews.
 
And what brand of scope do we see on that rifle?

Surely that is not a raggedy ole worthless Leupold V3 6.5-20X50mm with a gold ring.

Is the animal dead? You think maybe it is just taking a nap there in the sun?

It looks dead to me.

One thousand and six yards.

You just have no idea how long I had to wait for it to graze past 1000 yards before I took the shot, :D

Those six yards were important to me.

1006yards.jpg
 
I think we have all had some type of bad experience with a scope at 1 time or another especially if weve been huntin for a while. Just cause you get a bad apple dont mean the whole batch is sour. I know the older i get the worse my eyes are getting- should have my glasses on to type !!! When i started out all i could afford were simmons and tasco 50.00 dollar scopes ,working and raising 3 kids you get what you can afford and are glad you got it. I know where your coming from moman. Now i have burris leupold and a zeiss and like all of them. One of these days im gonna get a huskemaw and a night force -ive looked through both and my eyes liked them both ( at the moment ). I would really like to look through IOR and a Bushnell 6500 and a few others. I guess what im takin the long way around to say is ,i would get the best i can afford with the features i want and get proficient with it. Like you say dead is dead ,it never knew what you were looking through. And like i tell my hunting buddys that are always giving me crap about 1 thing or another ...its MY gun and scope so dont worry about it ,you dony have to shoot it ! gun)
 
Personally, I think it is the nut behind the scope. The rear eyepiece is where one needs to 'focus' the scope NOT the side parallax adjustment.

Too many shooters confuse parallax with focus. The focus needs to be set first. Like most other things in life, improper set up or improper fit is responsible for most of the end user's gripes.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f18/parallax-vs-focus-1988/
 
Its in there ! I was honest in reporting what my 52 year old eyes that need glasses saw. I was impressed with the one poster saying each others eyes react differently to various coatings.... When I looked through the MK 4 I saw a fuzzy image along with my eye had to be dead center plus it was a 3.5x10 x40mm with a side focus ???? Why does it need that ? My IOR doesn't have one and it in focus on any distance 10yds out. Trijicon 2.5x10x56MM doesn't have a side fucus either.

Like was said before....this is not a focus knob, it is for paralex. If a scope dose not have a parelex adjustment it is almost usless as a true LR scope. This is, of course, my own opinion. Take it as just that. Most of the scopes without a paralex adjustment are set to be paralex free at somewhere around 200 yards. Hardly considered "Long range". I have a few NF and a few Leupolds......all are truly great scopes!!!
 
Even though this post started out being a personal choice post , it has grown into
a fairly good debate.

But it does bring up an interesting question .

I know that most will say that they know how to adjust a scope properly but it appears
that some do not, so I will make an attempt to explain how. and if there is a real scope
expert member or sponsor I would appreciate there chiming in.

First there are different methods of adjusting a scope properly depending on the type,
power,maker/brand and distance.

There are three things that I consider important.

1= ocular focus. This has to be set right, or the cross hairs will be blurred .So I adjust this first
buy looking through the scope in the normal shooting position and starting with the adjustment
all the way in and slowly turning it outward focusing on the cross hairs, they will appear to be
double until they are focused and then they will become very clear and crisp. some times you
have to go past to go out of focus and then return to center, before you except this as correct
close your shooting eye for a second then open it and see if it is still in focus,(The human eye
is a marvelous thing and it can do the correction for you if you allow it to) so by closing it and
then re opening it you will get a good setting. after this is done I place a small mark with a
permanent marker on the two mating surfaces for later adjustments if it is moved buy accident.

Now the next thing is to find out if your scope has parallax.
The way to do this is to set the scope on a rest or sand bags and look at a target 200 yards
or more. with out touching the rifle place your head in the shooting position and while looking
at the target through the scope move your head up and down slightly (Bobble) .If the cross hairs
move up and down you have parallax. (Normally fixed power scopes below 9 power don't have
very much or none ) that's why lower power scopes don't have objective lens with parallax
adjustments. If you do have an adjustment and you do see the cross hairs moving when you
move your head then adjust the objective parallax untill it does not move. (Some/most will have
yardage numbers on them ) "DO NOT GO BY THESE" remove the parallax first and then you can
check the yardage because these numbers can be off just enough to add parallax back in the
scope. Note Parallax will/can ruin a good group and a good shot . I have seen scopes with 2
and 3 MOA of parallax at 100 yards so the 1/2 MOA rifle may become a 3 MOA rifle because of
parallax.

Some of the newest scopes have a side focus and an ocular lens focus . the side focus is a way
of removing parallax and doing a fair job of range focus at the same time. again dont worry
about the numbers just get the clearest picture.

All scopes are not created equal so the adjustments are/may be different so read the
instructions (Something I have a hard time doing) in order to get the best results from
your scope.

Try adjusting your scope and maybe this will put new life in that old scope and those tired old
eyes.

J E CUSTOM
 
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Personally, I think it is the nut behind the scope. The rear eyepiece is where one needs to 'focus' the scope NOT the side parallax adjustment.

Too many shooters confuse parallax with focus. The focus needs to be set first. Like most other things in life, improper set up or improper fit is responsible for most of the end user's gripes.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f18/parallax-vs-focus-1988/

L:DL! I guess Burris made it to the list too. I ran into this one at Can't afford a NXS now - Varmints Den

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03-22-2009, 01:43 AM
Ironworker
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Not a fan of Buris. I don't want "Pretty Good"
I had the Signature and the Black Diamond.Not impressed with Buris.
 
I read it some where that scopes 10x and lower don't need a parallax adjustment. All I know is my IOR is " Bad to the Bone "


That is not entirely true.

Simply put, a 10x is not near as sensitive as a higher power but there is no such thing as a totally parallax free 10x. Maybe after a certain yardage but not up close. To utilize a parallax adjustment on a 10x scope makes for a much more precise system even if it is more cumbersome.

Parallax aside the scope be it IOR, Lupy, USO, NF, S&B etc....needs to be FOCUSED for the end user parallax or no parallax. It is the rear eye piece on most scopes including the mark 4.
 
I agree Iron Worker's description of his effort to focus the Leupold was lacking, and may very well invalidate his results. I do not agree this warranted calling his honesty into question. There is such a thing as an honest mistake. I felt that was out of line--especially since they came before he even mentioned how it was focused.

So, while it's starting to sound like 24hourEfire.com around here, hopefully all the focusing lessons will be helpful to Iron Worker and others.

All that said, you guys can focus those things until your fingers bleed and if you think that'll make them resemble IOR glass you're fooling yourselves.
 
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