Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Found a Unicorn Leica ER5 1.5-8x32 - Leica would have sold the heck out these

I know these scopes were advertised and I remember many of us were asking about them when Leica announced the ER5 line, but they apparently were never produced, or that was what we were told. This must be a prototype or part of a small test run as it is the only one I have ever seen advertised for sale and there are no online reviews of one.

I bought it on Ebay, the seller had the entire series of the ER5 line for sale, all the usual ones you see, this one and the 1-5x24 model which I have also never seen, and it is still for sale for anyone interested. They were all new in the box, all boxed the same in a plane brownish box with the model number and serial number on it. Inside was a bag with all the factory manuals, unfilled out warranty card and lens cloth.

As for the scope it is about the perfect NA scope as far as power range, optics, size and weight. The glass is crystal clear and bright, as one would expect. The reticle is a very black and bold medium thickness plex, not a heavy but way thicker than say a Leupold duplex. The eyebox has a huge sweet spot, very easy to get behind. It is very bright, way more so than I would expect with a 32mm objective. It has tons of mounting space on the tube. The adjustment clicks are super positive, and it has the easy-to-use pop up resettable ones.

The AOL is 12.25 inches. The weight which was originally advertised as 12 oz is actually 14.3 oz, but still very light for a 30mm tube.

The only minor changes I would have asked for to make this scope better than it already is are:

1.I wish it would have been #4 reticle, they originally advertised a plex, #4, #9 circle and tactical reticle (no idea?) for this model, but the plex is
a superior style duplex so I am good with it.

2. Maybe a 36mm objective, if nothing else so the eyepiece which is 1.7 inches is bigger than the objective which is 1.6 inches.

I am very happy with this scope, now the question is which rifle to put it on, my Savage 6.5 creed Ultralite or Husky Crown 06 I have coming??

Leica would have sold a ton of these versus all the 50 and 56mm ER5s they tried to sell in the US.

Be safe all. Spence

Pics are here:


https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/17715977/leica-er5-1-5-8x32

I agree with you. Highly functional hunting scope.

A few years back, Minox came out with a ZA5 1.5x8x32 that is a damn good scope that is compact and light. 12", #4 reticle, super light, and in the daylight very bright, low light it suffers. When I bought this I thought this scope was going to take off and be all the rage. It was discontinued and you hear very little about them. I have it on a Savage 99 with the featherweight barrel in .308. Perfect for that rifle.

The US market does not know what it really needs.

The same can be said for the similar Vortex Razor.

I had the razor 1.5 to 8x32 a while. This beats it by a good margin in every category imho, especially the eyebox.

Spence

Spence,

I'm with ya - I'd have added several of them.
I pinged Leica numerous inquiries regarding delivery times when they announced them.

Leica dropped the ball on another riflescope......shocker.

I wanted one of those 1.5-8's for my Talkeetna 375 H&H. Alas I have to slum a 2.5-10x32 NXS.

Talk Spence out of the Leica, sell the NXS to me. Win/Win.

When Kahles offered the AH 2-7 x 36 I bought 7 , yes seven of these. Two in rimfire parallax, one with the TDS reticle and rest with the plex reticle.
When Zeiss offered the Conquest line in 1.8 -5.5 x 38, I bought 3 of these. The Kahles has about 65" of reticle adjustments while the Zeiss has over
100" of reticle adjustments.

You should hold out for one of the Leica's.

...horse1...shoot me a pm....grin...

Off topic but the above led me to it.... I've wished that Nightforce would put a 32mm objective (would be ok with 42mm) on their NX8 1-8 and replace the circle dot with a fine crosshair. It would be a nice fit for a lot of my hunting and would still be fun for me to play at the range with.

That's a great find, Spence! I tried but never found one of those.

The ER5 and ER5i series were fantastic scopes. I still regret parting with the ER5i 3-12x50. It was responsible for a few moonlight critters.








And the beefed-up 4-a in the ER5 was terrific in low light:

LOLOL.

Screw both of you hippies!! I'm holding out and hoping to nab aalf's 2.5-10x32 IHR before either of you vultures.

It really is a great scope. I am trying to figure what rifle to put it as I really have no need for it, but when I saw it I had to get it.

Maybe we should put if on one of my rifles to see how it looks/performs...

March has a 1.5-15X42 that is 10 inches long and weighs 21 ounces. It has ED glass, of course, an 80MOA of elevation adjustment range, a 10 yard minimum focus, and oodles of eyebox space.

https://marchscopes.com/scopes/d15v42ti/

FTR - the March is a dandy for sure, but I have my doubts it can reside in anything less than med or high rings on a sporter??

Are you referring to Talley Lightweight mounts or similar or any ring/base combination?

What about this 56mm in low Seekins rings on a heavy sporter?

Leica makes amazing stuff...

I looked thru one of these 2 days ago...

Day or Night... it a total game changer...

https://www.leica-store.co.nz/product/3632-leica-calonox-sight-thermal-nightvision-monocular

Congrats on the unicorn Leica ER5 1.5-8x32

Darryle, from the looks of it, the scope in your picture is about 3" longer than the March mentioned - maybe more.

This is the scope mentioned:

Bobby,
If you're still looking I think I may know where one is...