Leupold Mark 5HD 7-35X56

Ryan Avery

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Leupold sent me a Mark 5 to review. I have shied away from this brand for many years. I've had problem with several of their scopes holding zero after dialing. A good friend of mine told me I should give these Mark 5s a look. So after a few DMs back and forth with Riza the scope was sent. I will put it through its paces on some hard kicking LR rifles and post up what I find.

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Nice!

I saw Pynch went from khales to mark 5 on his PRS rifles which gives them a little more credibility. Not that you can base reliability off of what free (or better) scopes top guys run in PRS, but having arguably the best using them isn't a bad sign.
 

Journeyman

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Send it to me when you’re done with it so I can shoot a couple matches with it and I’ll contribute to the review.

I took 4th this past weekend at Rocky Mountain Mayhem running a Mark 5 3.6-18 and I love that scope. Thousands of rounds through it and not a single issue holding zero or questionable dialing.

It even dealt with really bad glare on one stage looking straight into the sun that I was able to clean that a guy with a Tangent Theta shooting right after me wasn’t able to make out the targets due to the glare.

I’d love to get my hands on my scopes big brother!
 
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Ryan Avery

Ryan Avery

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Nice!

I saw Pynch went from khales to mark 5 on his PRS rifles which gives them a little more credibility. Not that you can base reliability off of what free (or better) scopes top guys run in PRS, but having arguably the best using them isn't a bad sign.

Jon is the one that convinced me to give it a try. He may get it for free but if he even thought it was questionable he would dump it in a heartbeat. That said, I want to know how it will do on some big thumpers.
 
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I like the idea of the mark5, just haven’t been able to convince myself. Looking forward to the torture test on it Ryan!
 

Matt W.

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Would the internals be the same on the VX-5s and VX-6s, or completely different?
 

skierhs

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I’m excited to read this review. I currently use a NF 7-35 atacr F1 and love it. I don’t think I’d ever switch but I’m very interested in what other companies are offering in that similar power range since there doesn’t seam to be to many options out there.
 
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Ryan Avery

Ryan Avery

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Had several people PM me about which scopes I had trouble with. I'm not trying to hide anything. I had issues with the VX-6HD and a Mark 4. Not to mention several Leupold's on other rifles that I help with load development. I don't say that to bash companies, Rokslide was started to tell the truth and that's all I try to do. From all indications from people, I trust the MK 5HD tracks great and returns to zero. But I want to see it for myself and I will post results, good or bad.
 
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How do you like the reticle Ryan? I think the CCH is the one I'd choose out of the options. 0.25 Mil subtensions are odd but it's probably easy to adjust to.
 
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Ryan Avery

Ryan Avery

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How do you like the reticle Ryan? I think the CCH is the one I'd choose out of the options. 0.25 Mil subtensions are odd but it's probably easy to adjust to.

Reticles like a lot of things are personal. I don't care for the CCH reticle it's way to busy for me. I only shoot in a few comps a year so a PRS guy would probably like it more. Although there are so damn many wind dots I could see where someone could miss a splash or get confused. Out of all the reticles offered I like the looks of the TMR reticle. I am probably in the minority but I like to dial elevation and hold wind.
 

blackdog

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Reticles like a lot of things are personal. I don't care for the CCH reticle it's way to busy for me. I only shoot in a few comps a year so a PRS guy would probably like it more. Although there are so damn many wind dots I could see where someone could miss a splash or get confused. Out of all the reticles offered I like the looks of the TMR reticle. I am probably in the minority but I like to dial elevation and hold wind.

I've had my Mark5 7-35 for a few weeks now and I got it with the CCH as I will definitely shoot a few competitions with it as well as using it for hunting. I have the TMR in my Mark5 5-25 and that definitely is a 'cleaner' reticle but I used a H59 for a few years so the CCH doesn't seem too busy to me and I don't believe I'll have an issue with obstructed view. I like to dial elevation and hold wind as well, but the CCH will offer the opportunity to provide a quick follow up shot without having to make an additional turret adjustment if necessary.

And so far the scope seems very good. Glass to me seems very clear and good at low light. The turrets line up perfectly and to me the clicks feel and sound great - very distinct. Now I'm just hoping my new .300WM will get done in the next week so I can get it dialed in time for a bear hunt.

Excited to hear more about what you think when you get a chance to put it through it's paces. I know Pynch put his Mark5 through a pretty good durability test recently and it seemed up to the test. ;-)
 
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