There may not be such a scope that is light in weight and have good low light optics. I hunt Roe deer in Romania and mostly use my Blaser K95 in 270 Win in the mountains for this. During some times, like early season in May, the bucks come out real late. This rifle now has a Zeiss 3x9x40 Conquest and it is very nice to carry, I would rather not mount a very heavy (over 20 ounces) scope on it and destroy the fine handling qualities that this rifle was made for. In low light I tested a Leupold VX-2 and a Meopta Meopro 6x42 against the Conquest. Through these 70 year old eyes the Conquest barely beat out the VX-2 and the Meopta barely bettered the Conquest. By barely, I had to look through them 10 times to try to discern a difference. I have the #4 reticle in the Meopta and the fine center cross hairs of it disappear when you can still see the Duplex type cross hairs of the Leupold and Zeiss.
What do you guys think about the Leupold VXR 3x9x50? The weight would be about the same as the Conquest, "should" be better in low light and it has an illuminated reticle. I would like to hear from those that have had experience with this scope and I would like other suggestions that might work for me. Thanks, RJ
I don’t have that exact scope, but I do have a Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 with the Ballistic Firedot reticle (their item number 111236). I got it because I wanted an illuminated reticles for hunting in western Washington after I went on the hunt described here: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11623852/First_Elk,_First_Roosevelt
This scope has a 30mm tube, actual magnification is 3.3x-8.6x, and the optical quality, smoothness of operation, and precision are typical for Leupold.
Reticle dimensions are about right for a hunting scope designed for use in low light. The dot is 1 MOA at 8.6x and 2.5 MOA at 3.3x. It appears as a short red vertical line, not as a circle or square. It’s bright enough to see in daylight on low settings. I wear glasses and I have astigmatism so the dot flares on the brighter settings. This is not a flaw in the scope; reducing the brightness fixes it. It’s hard to find truly dark situations around here since I’m in a major West Coast city, but the dimmest settings would probably be fine in very low light.
• The horizontal crosswire tapers from a fairly heavy base to the same thickness as the dot, which could pose a challenge for hitting very small targets past about 100 yards.
• The circle’s interior diameter is 4.4 MOA at 9x.
• The circle’s line width is 0.4 MOA at 9x.
• The distance from the dot to the top of the circle is 2.19 MOA at 9x.
• The distance from the dot to the bottom of the circle is 2.19 MOA at 9x.
• The distance from the dot to the middle hash mark is 4.8 MOA at 9x.
• The distance from the dot to the lowest hash mark is 7.82 MOA at 9x.
I tested this scope on a couple of rifles including a Tikka 30-06. The only ammo I had in bulk was Greek DCM ammo loaded for the M-1 Garand, but it averages 1.3 MOA in this rifle and shot better than I expected all the way out to 400m (437 yards). With this load, the bottom of the circle worked as a POA at 300m (328 yards), and POI was just barely below the middle hash mark at 400m. It was easy to get hits on 6” steel targets at both ranges, even when the barrel got hot—I even had no trouble hitting a gong partially concealed in the grass—but I couldn’t hit anything beyond that. This is not the fault of the scope or the ammo, but of the shooter. I need to firm up my zero and shoot some paper between 400 and 500m to figure out the drops.
Conclusions
• The Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 is a good scope. I wanted an illuminated reticle and some ranging ability, which I got just not in the manner that Leupold implied or advertised. That said, I respect the Ballistic Firedot’s ranging properties. I still haven’t figured out the 500m holdover, but I’ll get there.
• I’ll hunt with the power ring at the low end. If I have time to assume a solid position for a long shot, then I’ll push it to the high end. I’ve hunted with 4x scopes for nearly 40 years, including a lot of close fast shots in the dripping forests of western Washington and very long shots in open country on the Edwards Plateau in Texas. I just don’t see using the middle of the range much.
• The Ballistic Firedot is a decent general-purpose reticle once you figure it out and get the right zero. Most experienced shooters would choose something more versatile (like the Leupold TMOA) for regular use in very open country or anywhere that the wind is a problem.
The 3-9x50 might be better for really low light, but I can't say from experience.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions.
Okie John