Leupold Ultra 10x M3A Field Evaluation

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Formidilosus

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This is a partial field evaluation of the fixed power Leupold Ultra M3A 10x40mm scope. It is the same as the Mark 4 fixed 10x. This scope is personally owned. The ammunition used was 175gr SMK. The 20 shot proof group with this ammunition was 1.6moa.

This one is a bit different as the scope is from the late 80’s, is heavily used, and is no longer made. However, it is a version of a Leupold scope that historically worked with few issues.

Scope:
82632AEF-E8FC-4784-8346-B668C37EBF07.jpeg



Turrets:

Elevation is 1 MOA per click, and setup with a BDC turret.
29162941-5FD9-4A50-BBE6-3F78C2BC1742.jpeg


Windage is .5moa per click-
7433C077-D0E6-4DFE-87A3-7DC3FC938FF6.jpeg


It has side parallax adjustment-
CF22787F-EDA2-4DA7-A195-2D5E10DA3D6E.jpeg

Windage, elevation, and parallax are all capped, however can be left uncovered as well. Clicks are quite mushy and not well defined, however functional.


Reticle:

Standards mil dot reticle-



Cont…
 
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Formidilosus

Formidilosus

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Drop Evaluation RTZ 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.


Zeroing-

BE593B90-89B5-4F81-A11A-464D8EC944BA.jpeg



Boresight is high left of center. I used a spotter with a mil reticle to read the correction, converted to MOA, and adjusted. The next 5 are on the left dot. Adjusted again, and next 5 is on the center dot. The right dot is just checking groups by from bulk ammo.




Drop eval-
This one was conducted on semi packed dirt with a padded mat.

E65C50C6-A088-4345-9D37-B724339DFDB6.jpeg




The 18” drops had no effect. The 36” drops may have shifted a tenth mil or so, but the zero did not change after the eval, and even if it did, the shift couldn’t be dialed out anyways.

I may do RTZ and “tracking”, later, however this scope dials correctly and RTZ’s without issue and is in general a waste of ammunition. The scope itself since I have had it has more than 50,000 rounds on it.


A9CEEE8F-228E-458C-97B1-D084CF1F56CF.jpeg

Cont….
 
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Formidilosus

Formidilosus

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Thoughts:

These scopes were used from the mid 1980’s until 2010’ish on the M24 sniper rifles. They provided reliable and consistent service for that entire time. Leupold can (could?) make a scope that works correctly, and the Mark 4 fixed series (6x, 10x, and 16x) were reliable and durable scopes. The features and setup with MOA adjustments and mil reticle is certainly outdated today, the glass is usable but not spectacular, and they are very simple. However they work. No scope that leupold
makes now is in anyway comparable as a durable and reliable aiming device.
 
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