Leupold Mark 4 HD 2.5-10x42mm Field Evaluation

[Formidilosus]

This is a field evaluation of the new Leupold Mark 4 HD 2.5-10x42mm TMR scope.

This scope was purchased from a dealer by @Ryan Avery from money donated by a forum member for this scope to be evaled. The ammunition used was Federal Gold Medal Match 168 SMK that was purchased by Shoot2Hunt for these evals. The 20 round proof group was right at 1 MOA.


The scope and weight-




21oz-




Turrets:

Elevation is multi rotation, zero stop, push button lock at zero. Windage is capped and rotation limited.



Push button lock is shown-



Reticle: FFP TMR

This is a generally standard .5 mil per tick reticle. It has in open center.

2.5x



10x






Zeroing:


Mounting as normal (and per manufacturer instructions)- 18 in-lbs on ring caps, 65 in-lbs on base.


Boresight, than 1 round. Used the reticle to measure offset. Made the adjustments and then went to left dot and fired the remaining 9 rounds. Made a Up .1, and Right .1 mil adjustment, and shot once at the center dot to confirm.









Drop Evaluation and “Tracking”
For an explanation see- Scope Field Eval Explanation and Standards


The “test” consists of three 18” drops on a mat- one left/right/top with a shot to check zero after each drop. Then the exact same thing repeated from 36”. Then three drops on all three sides for nine drops on the last part- 15 drops total. This is not “abuse”. The 18” drops are a joke really. The 36” start showing something. And when a scope make/model consistently goes through the whole thing without losing zero, failures in actual use are almost unheard of.

This one was conducted on semi loose dirt, with a 2x 1/2” padded mats on top.



Everything went fine until the first 36” too drop. Shots as marked.






Took the rings and scope apart, remounted using 22in-lbs in ring caps, and checked zero.

Bottom row of dots. First two shots were high left, adjusted, next are on the bottom left dot, adjusted D.1 and R.1 mil, and fired one shot on bottom right dot.




Drop Eval #2. Better, but not correct.





Cont…..

 

[Formidilosus]

Being that I only fired 4 rounds, it was possible that I did not adjust from the center of the cone. So, back to the zero target. Top right dot. 2x rounds, adjusted right .1 mil.


RTZ:

Next a standard return to zero check was completed on bottom right dot. This involves 200+ mils dialed between each shot for ten shots. No issues.




Adjustment value (tracking):

Used reticle and spotter to measure between top and bottom dot- 7.2 mils. The scope adjusted as it should (top and bottom dots).





Being that everything else was fine, I conducted a 3rd Drop Eval-


This time it held without issue.









Initial Conclusions:

The drop eval is a Pass with a heavy asterisk. It took three times to do so- the first time was at 18in-lbs on the ring cap screws as is normal, that results in scopes moving frequently and therefore is not counted. It is possible the second time was due to not shooting enough rounds to adjust before the 2nd drop eval- so it’s possible that there wasn’t an actual shift. The third time is the only positive time that the scope rings were tight enough, and that the true cone was centered over point of aim.

Time will tell, but this should not be viewed as “the scope passed”- yet.

The scope itself is about what one could hope for in a FFP general hunting scope, if not just a touch heavy. The reticle is visible and usable from 2.5-10x, the locking elevation and capped windage turrets should be standard on scopes; the eyebox and eye relief are typical of Leupold hunting scopes- that is good. The “glass” is just fine. It has no parallax adjustment, nor should it- (on that note, the max parallax at 100 yards is about .25 inches observed).


The largest question mark is whether this scope particularly, and the line in general will prove to be robust and reliable scopes, or turn out to be what is historical for Leupold.

 

[Formidilosus]

10-12 miles on pretty rough forest service road riding against another rifle like this-








Swapped it on the MRC rifle-



Zeroed it, then shot 3 at the zero check target-

 

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A couple of days of riding and a zero check-

 

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Another couple of days riding-

 

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Shots were trending left from the initial 5 round zero on the MRC.

Yesterdays check-





Also from two separate days-



Adjusted right .1 mils.






This is not a zero shift or loss of zero. Just a result of “zeroing” off of 5 rounds.

 

[Formidilosus]

Scope #2


Mounted per usual with 22in-lbs in ring caps.


Boresight, one shot, adjust then 9 shots.


Adjusted down .1 mil, then fired one-



Drop Eval:

Same rifle, ammo, and surface as the first scope.





So, that looks fine.


However, the very next 3 shots after that drop eval had a .5 mil shift high-



The two shots low left on the dot are after adjusting down .5 from the target above and dropping it 9x36”. Then did so again, and the scope shift .5 mil high right.





At this point it seemed clear that the erector was getting bound up. So, remounted the scope at 18in-lbs on rings caps.



Boresight, fired one- low left, adjust and fired 4 shots at the left dot. Then did another 9x36” drop eval, and the first shot at the right dot is the one left by itself, then 7 or 8 shots are in the group to the right.





Conclusion on scope #2:

Again, as the first scope, passed the drop eval with a heavy asterisk. Technically it held for the drop eval, but the very next shot it shifted .5 mils. Lowering the torque on the rings, did not help.

 

[Formidilosus]

Scope #3:


Boresight, and then 7 rounds below the dot. Adjusted up .2 mils, and fired one shot- top right on dot.




Went to drop eval.


Drop Eval scope #3:




Post drop. Shifted zero up .4 mils.



Adjusted down .4 mils and went to another dot. 5 shots which are left of dot, then 9x36” drops and three shots- which are high right.










Conclusions scope #3:

Did not pass. One can make the case that the confirmer shot before the initial Drop Eval would be in the cone of the group from the drops, but the group still opened up beyond the cone of the rifle.
The second drop sets also showed a definite shift.
Interestingly, all the groups from this scope were larger than they were from scope #1 or 2, and larger than normal for this rifle.

 

[Formidilosus]

So far with three scopes:

They are not passing the Drops evals on demand. They are consistently inconsistent.

 

[Formidilosus]

Zero check on scope #1

 

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Zero check scope #1-

 

[Formidilosus]

Check today then a swap onto another rifle.











A touch over 500 yards-

 

[Formidilosus]

Scope #1.

 

[Formidilosus]

On a 22CM.






Also, shooting at distance- glass quality is a bit hazy. Not sure what the issue is, but it is noticeably “soft” compared to the Maven RS1.2 and SWFA 3-15x (at 10x).

 

[Formidilosus]

This scope was moved back on the MRC, zeroed and shot for a couple of hundred rounds.

It was zeroed, then checked for zero multiple times in that span. Initial zeroing was 2x 10 round groups, both groups were 1.1 MOA. After a few days, the zero was high by .2’ish mils. Adjusted, and then a single shot for the check target.



The next day. This is higher than it should be and is the same behavior that is it showed before.



The next day-


Some more shooting confirmed that it was now .2 mils high.

Adjusted down .2 mils and shot these two-




A couple plane rides, a couple slips and falls on soft ground, and-



.2 mils high again.



When I get back I will check zero to see if it is indeed shifted. I also have a spare scope that is zeroed to the rifle that I will swap on if the Leupold is high again, to confirm the rifle.

 

[Formidilosus]

Sept. 27th on-



Oct 16th, high again-





Today, on again-

 

[Formidilosus]

Scope was mounted and zeroed on a rifle before the winter S2H course last week-




Three days later, drove 350 miles in a padded case in an enclosed trailer. First day of the class, first shot was .4 mils high out of the group (vertical). Then next 9 dropped back to zero.

Rifle/scope showed the same tendency to have a shot come out of the cone vertically for the next 3 days.




Swapped scopes and the issue disappeared for the rest of the week- nearly 1,000 rounds. Additionally, average group size went from 2’ish MOA, to .9 to 1.2 MOA.