leupold mark 3hd

Thick reticle, and can not go farther than 5.6mils of elevation do to turret cap design. The parallax nob also rotates the other direction compared to my other scopes such as my Tract Toric or my Leupold VX-5HD. Infinity is at the bottom, not the top.
Exposed turret is, okay, at best. Capped windage is garbage. That is a set it and forget it exists type of thing.

I have the exact scope you have posted. It's okay. Would I buy another, I don't know, probably not. It sits on a DDM4V11 in 300BLK. So, it works for my purposes as a hunting scope. Can see the reticle in the woods, and I am not dialing anywhere near 5.6mils. If you are looking at this as a precision scope. Look else where, this ain't it.

Good scope for a gas gun

I have the 4-12 on my .30-06 fieldcraft. Have dialed to 500 and back 10-15 times and it tracks well enough that I don’t notice any issues, and the return to zero has been good.

Reviving this thread. Thinking about this 4-12 for a light scout hunting rifle. Ok it is a Leupold so it has some retarded features but it is light and seems to have ok optical quality and it’s mil/mil, albeit a crappy reticle and limited travel. It has parallax adjustment (upside down, lol). Only 4-12x so I could live with SFP. The question is does it track accurately or is that an unrealistic dream? Can’t find any actual non-retarded reviews on this scope anywhere, does anyone have experience with testing the tracking?

Graywolf.260 said:

Reviving this thread. Thinking about this 4-12 for a light scout hunting rifle. Ok it is a Leupold so it has some retarded features but it is light and seems to have ok optical quality and it’s mil/mil, albeit a crappy reticle and limited travel. It has parallax adjustment (upside down, lol). Only 4-12x so I could live with SFP. The question is does it track accurately or is that an unrealistic dream? Can’t find any actual non-retarded reviews on this scope anywhere, does anyone have experience with testing the tracking?

Click to expand...

Interested in this info as well. Considering this for use on a hunting/NRL Hunter rifle for my daughter.

The MK3 4-12 absolutely sucks. The elevation turret only has like 5mil of adjustment, the reticle is ridiculously thick, and I’ve seen $200 Chinese scopes with better glass. I dumped the one I bought instantly.

I refuse to buy one. It's like they took every good idea from the mark 5, stripped it off, and then came to market with garbage.

I could see it's use if they didn't limit the turrets to less than 1 turn. That's just dumb as fuck. That is the deal breaker for me.

Alenci said:

The MK3 4-12 absolutely sucks. The elevation turret only has like 5mil of adjustment, the reticle is ridiculously thick, and I’ve seen $200 Chinese scopes with better glass. I dumped the one I bought instantly.

Click to expand...

I had the 4-12 as well and feel exactly the same about it. Almost no usually elevation travel on the turret, the glass quality was absolutely shit, the reticle was thick AF (as thick or thicker than heavy duplex), and it turned brown and was difficult to see if the sun was anywhere but directly behind you.

Buy it from a return friendly dealer. Preferably from places like Midway USA or Optics Planet who have free returns if you aren't happy with your purchase.

Optics Planet has a 10% discount coupon code if you sign up for their email or text notifications.

Of you use Burris Signature XTR rings there will be ZERO EVIDENCE that the scope was ever mou tedonto your rifle. I only recommend these rings since they never require any lapping and enable you to optically center your scope to any rifle and even add a great amount of additional MOAs of total elevation travel up to 30MOAs or even up to 40MOAs if you request an additional 20MOA insert from Burris without the need to buy any additional 20MOA base. They typically can be found for around $70-$80 when you price shop around. Once you get yourself a set of these, you'll wonder why you haven't found them earlier. All your scopes will look pristine mint condition as though they were never mounted before. No more ring marks or blemishes.

I'm guessing that weight and reliability are the main factors for choosing to buy this Leupold. Which is the main reason I buy Leupolds but not their higher end ones which have pretty iffy reliability. The recent ones I purchased were several of their the VX Freedoms, few were EFRs and a rimfire MOA BDC. I like their extremely light weight and there's nothing lighter out there and their glass is a lot better than average which exceeds their price point. Mushy feeling turrets are my only gripe but they're repeatable and reliable.

If you're budgeted for up to $599 I may recommend the Tract Tekoa 4-16x with tall turret zero stop sunshade kit that weighs around 20oz. It has German Schott glass and made in Japan with a lifetime warranty. If you or a household or family member are in Law enforcement or the military, there's a 15% off discount available or wait till December for their twice a year 10% off sale.

If weight isn't an issue and 27.3oz is fine, and made in China doesn't bother you, it's best in class with very clear optics with reliable repeatable turrets and a zero stop, the Athlon Ares BTR G2 4.5-27x50 currently on sale for $565.49 with free shipping and free returns at Walmart online simply can't be beat and all other dealers are currently selling them for $869.99 and even Black Friday sale price has historically been around $670. The MSRP is $1087.49 for this scope. Buy the optional sunshade and a decent set of flip up lens covers for it. It's better than the (All Chinese made scopes to follow) Vortex Strike Eagle and the new Bushnell Match Pro ED and Element Titan and Philippines made Vortex Viper PST G2 and I like it a lot better than the two Japan made Tract Toric 4-20x50s I got rid of and Japan made Element Nexus 5-20x50 and almost as much as my Japan made Nightforce NX8 4-32x50.

Another more than decent light weight Chinese made option is the Hawke Frontier 4-20x with 1 inch tube for $499 at Cameraland I think it's around 20 oz. The past sale earlier this year was $399 at Cameraland maybe call to see if they are willing to go that cheap over the phone. They have a lifetime warranty and includes a lot of very good quality useful accessories you'd be really surprised with the very high quality included Tenebraex style aluminum flip up lens covers and matching sunshade. Has a zero stop and screw in throw lever too. Illuminated reticle is also a plus. Glass is almost as nice as the Athlon Ares BTR G2 I recommend.

Nothing can change the mind of any buy American made products first person who will for sure only buy Leupolds and some certain Burris and certain USO and some Nightforce scopes. Maybe some of the Maven assembled some of their scopes now in the USA IDK.

Arken and Riton initially stated their scopes were made or assembled in the USA but in reality they were not.