Mid-long range hunting scope

[khesser]

I shoot PRS and NRL hunter and for my PRS rifles where weight is not a concern I use Nightforce 7-35 ATCR scopes and they are phenomenal but for hunting and shooting NRL Hunter series I have started using Leupold Mk4 HD scopes. For my 338 Lapua I have on it the Mk4 HD 6-24 and on my 7 PRC I have the Mk4 HD 4.5-18. I recently took both these rifles to South Africa and were effective on game out to 580 yards. The glass in the Mk4 HD line is the same as what’s in the Mk5 HDs and they cost a good amount less but are every bit as good a scope. Since you want something it sounds like for shooting long range and hunting since you say you plan to use 155gr Terminal Ascent bullets I’d look at the Mk4 HD line.

Now I highly recommend you forget about a custom dial and get a good range finder with a ballistic calculator. CDS dials only take into account a given bullet, velocity, and density altitude. If anything changes outside what you got that dial custom made for then it’s useless. You can program into range finding binoculars a gun profile then it’s good for wherever you plan to hunt and it will take into altitude and weather to make sure it gives you an accurate come up to dial your scope. And if you use a different lot of ammo or different type of ammo you can then chronograph that load and plug that data in and be good to go. CDS dials are good marketing but I personally would not rely on one out past 400 yards.

The Kudu was taken at 580 yards that I used Swarovski EL Range binoculars to range the animal and give me an accurate come up to dial my scope for an accurate shot.

 

[khesser]

I’ve had good luck with trijicon as well but they don’t zero lock their exposed turrets

Leupold Mk4 HD has locking turrets but I wouldn’t worry about locking turrets if your scope has a zero stop.

 

[KY Hunting Guy]

Never lost zero on the leupold?

I shot it for 4 years and never lost zero. I dialed it from 1000 yards back down numerous times and it would still keep 1/4-1/2 mos all day. Great scope and I would have gotten the more powerful one but I needed lower power than 8x for hunting here in KY. I used it to shot a nice deer at 75 yards 2 years ago.

 

[7MAG]

Leupold Mk4 HD has locking turrets but I wouldn’t worry about locking turrets if your scope has a zero stop.

I mean i don’t think the trijicon have zero stop

 

[khesser]

I wouldn’t use any scope I plan to dial without a zero stop. I would think Trijicon would have scopes with a zero stop but I have only ever used there red dot optics.

 

[7MAG]

View attachment 620956I shoot PRS and NRL hunter and for my PRS rifles where weight is not a concern I use Nightforce 7-35 ATCR scopes and they are phenomenal but for hunting and shooting NRL Hunter series I have started using Leupold Mk4 HD scopes. For my 338 Lapua I have on it the Mk4 HD 6-24 and on my 7 PRC I have the Mk4 HD 4.5-18. I recently took both these rifles to South Africa and were effective on game out to 580 yards. The glass in the Mk4 HD line is the same as what’s in the Mk5 HDs and they cost a good amount less but are every bit as good a scope. Since you want something it sounds like for shooting long range and hunting since you say you plan to use 155gr Terminal Ascent bullets I’d look at the Mk4 HD line.

Now I highly recommend you forget about a custom dial and get a good range finder with a ballistic calculator. CDS dials only take into account a given bullet, velocity, and density altitude. If anything changes outside what you got that dial custom made for then it’s useless. You can program into range finding binoculars a gun profile then it’s good for wherever you plan to hunt and it will take into altitude and weather to make sure it gives you an accurate come up to dial your scope. And if you use a different lot of ammo or different type of ammo you can then chronograph that load and plug that data in and be good to go. CDS dials are good marketing but I personally would not rely on one out past 400 yards.

The Kudu was taken at 580 yards that I used Swarovski EL Range binoculars to range the animal and give me an accurate come up to dial my scope for an accurate shot.

I have not heard good things about leupold holding zero or tracking, all leupold I’ve had were on close range rifles. He’s this tracking issue not been your experience?

 

[7MAG]

I wouldn’t use any scope I plan to dial without a zero stop. I would think Trijicon would have scopes with a zero stop but I have only ever used there red dot optics.

Their accupoint/power dialing scopes do not, I ended up selling it for this reason

 

[khesser]

I have not heard good things about leupold holding zero or tracking, all leupold I’ve had were on close range rifles. He’s this tracking issue not been your experience?

I have not had an issues but I always do a tracking test with all my new scopes and encourage anyone who plans to do any long range shooting to do the same. Now I have heard of people who said they have had a Mk5 HD fail in a competition but I have seen Nightforce, ZCO, Kahles, Leupold, Tangent Theta, Schmidt and Bender all have some kind of issue. PRS shooting will put a scope through abuse you won’t normally find when using them for hunting or recreational shooting.