Leupold Mark 4 HD 6-24x52…drop test

[Juan_ID]

Awesome you guys are doing this! I was an early “dropper” of the maven RS 1.2 and when I saw the results I bought two more to avoid the Rokslide buying frenzy

Would love to see that 2.5-10 pass, I am in need of a lightweight scope and regrettably sold my swfa 3-9.

I believe I dropped my maven shortly after you if I remember correctly. And while it passed I will say the padding I used with this Leupy are significantly less forgiving I do believe. For what it’s worth I did drop the Maven from about waist height before removing it from the rifle and it didn’t appear to have any shift though I didn’t do a 10 shotter.

 

[willfrye027]

I believe I dropped my maven shortly after you if I remember correctly. And while it passed I will say the padding I used with this Leupy are significantly less forgiving I do believe. For what it’s worth I did drop the Maven from about waist height before removing it from the rifle and it didn’t appear to have any shift though I didn’t do a 10 shotter.

I’m not a drop testing expert by any means..I’m seeing maybe a .4 moa shift in the group down? Factoring in 10 round group and changing position..i wouldn’t be surprised if your leupy actually held zero. Just eyeballing it looks pretty darn good to me. But I’m pretty set for the season so maybe if the 2.5-10s start passing drop tests I’d look into it for next year.

 

[Juan_ID]

Neither am I, it looks to be about .4 down shift. I will have to try another 10 shot breaking position after each shot to see how it changes the group size and poi.

 

[alpine_troop]

Thanks for posting this! Please keep us updated with periodic zero checks if you don’t mind.

 

[Wiscgunner]

One thing I like to do when setting up my scopes is to rely more on the full scope image rather than my exact cheek position. In other words, I setup my scope on the rifle so when I get on the gun and lean my head forward into the scope (not tilting right), as I tighten my grip to the shoulder the scope image goes from 90% to 100%. This insures I shoot from the same head position each time or extremely close and helps to reduced error from random head placement. I know some people that mark their comb with tape or something to feel the position of their cheek weld, not my preferred method but whatever works.

Also, If I really want to shoot for groups for testing equipment or components, I dial my scope off zero. This insures my fine aimpoint remains intact to aim at. Blowing out the center of my target makes my zero point, less zero-e. Also I find diamond shapes really help align the reticle with the corners of the diamond for maintaining a more precise hold on the aimpoint rather than 1/4ing a circle.

 

[slowelk]

@Juan_ID are you using the UM torque specs or the leupold torque specs? Loctite/paint pen on the threads?

 

[Juan_ID]

One thing I like to do when setting up my scopes is to rely more on the full scope image rather than my exact cheek position. In other words, I setup my scope on the rifle so when I get on the gun and lean my head forward into the scope (not tilting right), as I tighten my grip to the shoulder the scope image goes from 90% to 100%. This insures I shoot from the same head position each time or extremely close and helps to reduced error from random head placement. I know some people that mark their comb with tape or something to feel the position of their cheek weld, not my preferred method but whatever works.

Also, If I really want to shoot for groups for testing equipment or components, I dial my scope off zero. This insures my fine aimpoint remains intact to aim at. Blowing out the center of my target makes my zero point, less zero-e. Also I find diamond shapes really help align the reticle with the corners of the diamond for maintaining a more precise hold on the aimpoint rather than 1/4ing a circle.

That is a good suggestion on the scope positioning and dialing the scope off zero to maintain a clean aim point. However I like the added pressure of watching a good group eat away my aim point and trying not to blow it.

@Juan_ID are you using the UM torque specs or the leupold torque specs? Loctite/paint pen on the threads?

Not sure whose specs I’m using, I have been doing 25 on the scope caps and 45 on the bases along with paint pen.

 

[slowelk]

Not sure whose specs I’m using, I have been doing 25 on the scope caps and 45 on the bases along with paint pen.

Those are the UM tikka ring specs

 

[Juan_ID]

Those are the UM tikka ring specs

Gotchya, I have been doing that on the sportsmatch as well.

 

[SDHNTR]

I’ve long since divorced myself from Leupold so I’m not up to speed. Is this Mark 4 a new line? Perhaps of different/better design?

 

[Juan_ID]

I’ve long since divorced myself from Leupold so I’m not up to speed. Is this Mark 4 a new line? Perhaps of different/better design?

This is my first Leupold since my dad bought me a 3-9 rifleman as a gift in jr high. But yes it is a new line, not quite sure what’s all different between it and the Mark5. Hard to think they’d build this line better being it’s considerably less $$ but

I bought this with no idea if it’d be worth a damn and was wanting to drop it and see how it did. I shot 1 nrl match with it and now have probably 250-300 rounds on it, I’ve bounced it between rifles so much it’s hard to know if zero has moved at all. Based on the drops I’d say it probably hasn’t but I plan to leave it on this rifle for a while so can hopefully track it a little better and see if it holds over time.

 

[Juan_ID]

This is a real phenomenon but it may affect you differently than you'd expect.

1) Groups will be their smallest, all else equal, if the shooter maintains their cheek weld between each shot. This ensures that any parallax error is held relatively constant through the string.

2) Groups will best reflect the true center of the cone, all else equal, if the shooter breaks position between each shot. This randomizes any parallax error which may occur on each shot, though it can't eliminate inherent bias in your cheek weld and shot process.

Ideally, get behind the gun while it's held steady at the front and rear. Without touching the gun, move your head behind the scope to observe the reticle moving relative to a target. Adjust the parallax knob and repeat, until you can no longer observe appreciable parallax error in this test. When you've done this, note the setting - it will likely not line up with the settings on the knob.

Of course you won't have to deal with any of this on the 2.5-10 or a SWFA fixed!

Hope this helps,
-J

Ok so I got back out to check things out, only took 9 rounds so it’ll have to do for now. Between each shot I stood up then got back on the gun. I once again did not ensure parallax was perfect, got it clear and shot. Not saying much about my shooting but it was over 100* today and mirage was real ugly. Either way my group size almost doubled from the groups I had last week without breaking position. I was skeptical thinking it wouldn’t change much if at all but it sure did.

Bonus 5 shotter from my 22GT, trying out the 80 eld’s as it doesn’t seem to love the 88s. Will explore this a little more later this week.

 

[NSI]

Well, your 22GT certainly is a shooter. As are you.

Your 9-round group did indeed open up a slight bit and is quite centralized which is what I would expect from getting a variety of parallax errors averaged (tend to be more right-left than up-down because of the downward pressure of cheek on stock minimizing vertical eye movement between shots).

Next step is to clear up the parallax by moving head without moving rifle, and shoot another 2 10 rounders, one broken one unbroken.

-J

 

[Juan_ID]

Well, your 22GT certainly is a shooter. As are you.

Your 9-round group did indeed open up a slight bit and is quite centralized which is what I would expect from getting a variety of parallax errors averaged (tend to be more right-left than up-down because of the downward pressure of cheek on stock minimizing vertical eye movement between shots).

Next step is to clear up the parallax by moving head without moving rifle, and shoot another 2 10 rounders, one broken one unbroken.

-J

So what does not having the parallax set 100% right translate to on target at 100 yards or at distance? I’ve seen where some people set it to 2-300 then shoot from close to far and it seems to work fine. Again, pardon my ignorance on this, I’m just trying to figure out what I’m gaining from testing this? I don’t know that I’ve ever tried getting it perfect when shooting at an animal but maybe I should?

 

[Cameron.25]

So what does not having the parallax set 100% right translate to on target at 100 yards or at distance? I’ve seen where some people set it to 2-300 then shoot from close to far and it seems to work fine. Again, pardon my ignorance on this, I’m just trying to figure out what I’m gaining from testing this? I don’t know that I’ve ever tried getting it perfect when shooting at an animal but maybe I should?

How do you like the reticle?

 

[Juan_ID]

How do you like the reticle?

I like it a fair bit, I don’t think I’d have any problem using it at any magnification needed. And I like the simplicity of it, wasn’t sure about the .25mil wind marks but it seems easy enough to use based on my limited experience with it. It’s not as thick as say the maven 1.2 reticle but I do like a little thinner reticle for whatever reason.

 

[Cameron.25]

I like it a fair bit, I don’t think I’d have any problem using it at any magnification needed. And I like the simplicity of it, wasn’t sure about the .25mil wind marks but it seems easy enough to use based on my limited experience with it. It’s not as thick as say the maven 1.2 reticle but I do like a little thinner reticle for whatever reason.

Thanks. I can get half off through a buddy, thanks to you and the other drop tester looks like I'll be buying my first leupold.. im gonna get the 2.5-10 and 4.5-18 and maybe the LPVO. Those reticles looks a little more to my liking

 

[NSI]

2.5-10 passed the drop test tonight. I’ll upload more later. Liking it much more than I expected to.

You’ll see 1-2” of maximum worst case scenario parallax error at 100 yards. At 500 yards a 2-300 setting will do you fine. It’s a bit funny. This is really just a 100 yard zero issue. You can easily see the shift for yourself with the head shake test.

-J

 

[Juan_ID]

Thanks. I can get half off through a buddy, thanks to you and the other drop tester looks like I'll be buying my first leupold.. im gonna get the 2.5-10 and 4.5-18 and maybe the LPVO. Those reticles looks a little more to my liking

For half off I don’t think you can go wrong trying a couple of them. Does your buddy need more buddies?! I’d like to try the 2.5-10 as well one of these days.

thanks to you and the other drop tester looks like I'll be buying my first leupold..

I don’t know that anyone ever thought they’d see the day these words were typed in regards to Leupold riflescopes on rokslide

2.5-10 passed the drop test tonight. I’ll upload more later. Liking it much more than I expected to.

You’ll see 1-2” of maximum worst case scenario parallax error at 100 yards. At 500 yards a 2-300 setting will do you fine. It’s a bit funny. This is really just a 100 yard zero issue. You can easily see the shift for yourself with the head shake test.

-J

That 2.5-10 is definitely on my list of scopes I’d like to try, eagerly awaiting your postings on it.
So you’re saying my 100yd groups could “grow” by as much as 1-2” if my parallax isn’t adjusted properly? I’ll just start blaming my “good group bad group” phenomenon on parallax error.

 

[NSI]

For better or worse, the 2.5-10 lacks parallax adjustment. One way to ensure there's no error, though it's a bit janky, is to back your head up until there's a slight black ring, and center that black ring in the scope tube.

-J