Just finished bolting it on my GAP 22GT.....

Nice size/weight, and ergos.

More to follow

And you just threw the "fire" into a tizzy......

Laffin'....That's not difficult to do..;)

Anxious to hear how it performs, Pat

Should be a pretty good little coyote rig....

I'll be testing the rifle, the cartridge, and the scope all at once.

Shout out to Leupold, and GA Precision for the trust in letting me evaluate this new scope....

FWIW, my opinion will be honest, and on point.

I'm more interested in the bullet/cartridge performance, in regards to fur.

Long time back I had a couple of slow twist 22 Dashers running 40 BT's at 4200. Great on hides, 300 and in.

My current 22x47 Lapua with 80 VLD's at 3370 is a little tough on fur. I've got an old box of Berger 52's I've been tempted to play with next.

I suppose if that's a work tool, dead first, hides 2nd.

Alpha is manufacturing brass with the correct head stamp for the 22GT, and I've got 100 pieces to work with. The barrel is a CW Bartlein, 1-6.5, #4 @ 16".

I'm interested in your review. I amost snagged one with gunworks reticle for $1500. but I wasn't keen on an moa reticle.

Good stuff Pat, looking forward to your evaluation. What reticle is the T&E Mk5 running?

Oh boy!! 😂😂

This one has a PR1-MIL....That will be part of my evaluation. Just looking through it, it's very clean, and crisp. Not "over busy".

That reticle does look pretty clean. Illuminated or non? Apologies if already mentioned.

This one is non lit, I believe the 5-25 model is lit.

$1800. MSRP without illumination?? $2300. MSRP with?? Who Leupold trying to fleece now??

When you can get $500.-$900. scopes with decent illumination, Leupold is again lagging the market.....

The Mark 5's ain't your vanilla VX's......

Pat how far you from Williston? I’m due up that way this weekend.

LMAO. Yep.

Cue BSA.

130 miles west.

Things became awful quiet with the anti Leupold crowd....odd.....

Maybe some who have had a number of problems with their Leupolds are actually rational people who having not tried this model have nothing to say about it.

Exactly

Makes sense....and I left out the having fun smiley...so I understand where you are coming from....

But I will say, that if this was anyone other than someone with Scenar's creed....I'm fairly sure the naysayers would be chiming in....What do you think?

Maybe so, but I would like to believe a well done and reported test could stand on its own merits.

I'm probably delusional, after all this is the optics forum.

I hope it comes in A+

Going to be interesting....smiley, smiley.....

At that price it better!

Same here brother. If it works I’ll happily order one when I can. I like about everything on it. If it works it’ll be a winner.

So yes those who have had problems are rational people with no axe to grind.



Yes most people have enough sense to set back and see how this thread unfolds especially due to who’s testing the scope.

I’ll point out that about the only negative in this thread has been people talking about the “naysayers” who haven’t said anything.

Me too. I would love to be able to take advantage of all the options they have especially if they still have the custom shop.

I don't know how Pat's eval will go, but there is a pair of cops that come out to bang my steel once a month. And both use the mk5 on 300wm's. So far they have not had a single problem, tracking and repeatability has been great. While setting up to shoot a while back, Jeff was getting his spotter ready and noticed a coyote right by my mile gong. Mike hurriedly loaded his rifle and dialed 'er up. First round barely missed over his back, I seen the round hit about 30-40 yds behind. The stupid thing ran a few yards closer and looked back at the dust. Second round clocked him...... 1740 yards

Here is Jeff with his doe he killed on the ranch. These guys have wrung theirs out, and wore out my gongs. They've let me play with them and I was impressed. These scopes are a good touch ABOVE the VX's.... Their rifles are set up the same.

And I’ll point out the comment was based on Scenars reputation and knowledge..if if was someone other than him...or someone without his acknowledged skills...the naysayers would be more vocal...and you can count on it.

I've been known to say 'neigh' a little bit, too. I've dumped all my leups but one 4-12, mounted on a 17 rimfire that I don't touch the CDS on. But I've not seen a reason to bark on the Mark series yet. That said, if Pat don't like how it shakes out, I'd not buy one for myself.

Hey Pat if it works well, please give it a run on something with a bit of recoil, I’m pretty interested in this one.

Very cool hunts.

I truly hope that Leupold Pat is flogging on operates flawlessly. If it does, I hope that Leupold is able to trickle-down a flawless tracking assembly to the VX3HD series. I'd sure love to have a few sub 20oz options for hunting rifles that tracked flawlessly.

Me too.

I reckon Pat will get his cold weather testing in first....

I agree. Battue can't help himself, but that is no surprise. He's an expert on the naysayers.

Pat is your hero, we get it.

Feedback on the Mark 5 has been good, in general, so it'll be interesting to see if Pat's views are similar. That's all.

Many of us are not brand loyal, and are simply interested in the performance of the Mark 5. Not rehashing some old disputes or getting into brand loyalty arguments.

Why didn’t LarryO get a scope to test? There’s a couple you fuuckers that would get all gitty if he did... I mean, pards be cuttin checks!!! Haha

Sorry boys

Mk5’s come at a very good price point for anyone that gets the LE deal from leupold. I have 5-6 friends shooting the mark 5 and none have had a single issue with it.

Thanks MA. I’m watching this pretty close. Leupold does pretty good to retired Vets as well.

Sorry the funny escaped you, you being a leopold naysayer and all...., but realize....I'm sorry for you and not me...





As far a Scenar being my hero....wrong again...Hell I don't even know him well enough to call him Pat as you do...Anyway he has a solid rep here regarding shooting, killing, guiding, rifles and scopes and has decided to give this Leupold a public workout....

Think many would care if you did the same????? Just so you know...not a funny....serious question. Waiting.....

Then again, maybe it would be funny....

I couldn't agree more. The regular anti-Leupold scope clan here has repeatedly posted that Leupold sucks, period. It also doesn't take any personal experience at all to offer such an opinion.

Another thread hijacked by drama, pretty standard...

LMAO.......

I'm headed to the range now. It's -22F, without the wind....;)

Well, ya won't have to wait long for the barrel to cool.....

Yep, best time of the year for fire-forming.......

Just missed a yote this morning in my rounds at the buddies ranch. Don’t think it was the 3-9 super chickens fault. I underestimated the distance.

Fark tho it was cold.

-24 on the thermometer and a good stiff south wind.

Some giant bucks were saw tho today on the push south, that’s good to see.

I trust Pat. I know that he'll give an honest report of his findings with this scope. But for me personally, after what I've experienced with various Leups, even if the scope that Pat received works flawlessly, that's a sample of one scope, and it'll take credible reports of mechanical robustness and durability of several scopes before my trust in Leup is restored. I'm not a hater or a fanboy; I just use what I have found to work, and avoid what I've found to not work so well for me.

I do hope this scope tests flawlessly, though. Seems like a nice design, if the internals are solid.

https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/so-what-about-leupold-mark-5.6869995/page-24

I'm on the record several months ago with the biggest Leup fan at the Fire as having expressed hope in this scope. Research says it is a reliable scope, the caveat being a tight FOV and tight parallax. I had a scope, several in fact, with tight parallax (NF 2.5-10x42) on dedicated hunting rifles and sold them all for that reason. I don't like screwing with parallax on hunting rifles. I typically set them on 250 yards and forget about it unless shooting targets. I could not do that on the NF 2.5-10x42. Until I read enough feedback that the parallax has improved on the M5HD, I'm out. But then there's the Campfire Special Leupold Webinar which reflected the culture of the company, their target market (which damn sure aint me), and what they think about the average joe (we are idiots). I'm not sure I'll ever get past that.

Today was sight in, and check how it all works when it's cold......

Looks Cold!

Just right......





I let the rifle and ammunition sit on the bench for 30 minutes before starting.

Looking forward to the results. Fingers crossed for positive. Thanks for doing this Pat.

The only snafu I had were hang fires with Tula small rifle magnum primers. The CCI 450's fired as normal....more on that later.

The scope adjusted well for the sight in, everything seemed good. The magnification adjustment wasn't stiffened by the cold, and worked flawlessly. The eye piece diopter is pretty hard to adjust, meaning you need some pressure to turn it, and IMO that's a good thing. There are no hash marks, or witness marks on the diopter. Not a big deal, as I marked my own with a silver sharpie.

Parallax? This is a critical part of the scope to me. There IS a broad range on this scope....can't speak for the scopes made in the past, but this one has it.

Glass is better than any other Leupold I've ever looked through. Eye box is good, reticle definition was very good.

The true acid test will be 5-6 months of hard field use, and that is what I do best. If it holds zero, tracks, and doesn't fall apart or break, I'll rate it accordingly.

Good to hear about the parallax.

Geez Pat, for some reason it doesn't look very crowded there?
Thanks for taking the time to put together your feedback.

These rifles are pretty similar, other than the glass. That's a Tangent Theta 3-15X50 LRH, one of the best rifle scopes I've ever used.

Best parallax
Best glass
Best click feel(in a class alone)

I'll have a true alpha to run comparisons....

Pat,

My hat is off to you sir!

When I was at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks, we had a heated range with Dutch doors so a person could fire standing or prone when it was cold.

I recall we even figured out how to make high tables to shoot off of and over the door.

Anything under -10*F was cold when the shooters were shooting no matter how much heat we pumped into the place.

I've had hang fires with the Tula mag small rifle primers and it wasn't any where near -20.
6.5x47 V V N550. Say 15 degrees.
The cci-450 eliminated that problem.
It be interesting to see how the Leupold holds up.. once you pass the 1200 or so round count.

Dave

What powder in the GT? I would assume Varget or H-4350 being contenders.

I've wrote before on a Montana deer hunt, I started the morning sit at minus 20 something.

Late morning I fired 3 rounds of 6.5x47 with 7 1/2's, and all 3 fired off as expected.

Those were with Varget, other powers may have different results.

Just rolled, and smiling all the way home.....

Load development is looking good. A little better conditions, and these groups should get even better. My pal Jeff never left the comfort of the pickup heater...;)

Scope tracked fine, for what I did this morning, now the real testing starts....

Probably not crowded there on a 50 degree Saturday with no wind within 2wks of big game opener either. (grin)

One benefit of living in the middle of BFE.....

It'll go on my .338 Lapua eventually. Probably in the next couple months.

Great stuff Scenar. BTW, BSA is gonna kick your ever lovin' azzz over those 3 shot groups.

laffin'

I can take it..;) It actually was five shots, the first two were on the right, then I adjusted the scope and shot three more, on a fresh bullseye.

The next session I'll shoot a ten shot group rapid fire to test the integrity of the Carbon wrapped Bartlein barrel.

Looking good, Pat!

How long till you can get your 100 degree hot weather testing in?

Pat, thanks for sharing. I hope this new rifle does all you wish of it.

Stay warm my friend.

So yeah, the gun and the scope are working pretty well....;)

This load was 2920fps...I'll try to work up a little more velo, as long as the groups stay good.

Oh damn, that's gettin' it done.

ummm....WOW.....!

I’ve shot groups that were that small. But, then the second bullet opened the group up quite a bit.

Gat damn, I'd hate to be a coyote in Montana.

I know this is the optics forum, so not a place to ask...but since Pat listed the bushing size, I'm curious - are you using

1)FL sizer die with bushing and expander button
2)FL sizer die with bushing, no expander, no additional mandrel
3)FL sizer die with bushing, no expander, yes additional mandrel for neck tension

4)Some other sizing/bushing process?

Curious of your reloading process bc those are fantastic groups and whatever you're doing is working quite well....

Pat, those groups are benchrest gold. Very very impressive.

What accounted for the POI shift?

Point of aim. Held the reticle 1/10th lower on the first five.

#2

What is barrel length? Impressive velocity for a short barrel.

16" #4 CW Bartlein

22" overall with a mid length can. Perfection.

How loud is it based on your seat of the pants meter? 224's tend to be loud, regardless. Comfortable without hearing protection?

Pretty good. More than a 22LR, less than a 22 magnum.

I'll buy it right now, as set up. PM me price and details.

Hahahaha, I think I'll keep this one...;)

Hey,! Get out there and kill some coyotes. We have work to do! Dang wind is blowing about 30 here, looks like it is there too. Good shooting there Pat. Nice set up.

Hahaha, 30mph here too....I'm waiting on the supercub right now. It's supposed to taper off in an hour or two....

My Uncle is a world class pilot, mostly tail draggers. He never liked flying for dogs around here - said he has seen more than a few coyotes with 3 super cub tattoos on their hips. Stay safe!

Thanks! We never push the weather envelope...I've got 28 years in without a snafu....

This rig is getting 75 fps more, with the same BC bullets, than my 6.5 Creed is getting with a 25" barrel. This rig is several inches shorter overall, including can, than my 25" barreled Creed. And it shoots! Lots to like. I suppose the cost is barrel life.

Congrats man.
Thats impressive.
It will be very interesting to see if the Leupold holds up.


dave

CT - I wonder how much difference the elevation change plays in this comparison? I'm guessing Pat is at 3 or 4k feet and assume you are less?

Regardless, the rig sure shoots. I'm sure there is much Indian as arrow whenever I see the detailed, blue diamond targets (meaning I could easily screw it up).

When considering MV, nearly none.

Thanks! Sorry for the derail.

I was just reading some comments from a guy, Jon Pynch, shooting a Mk 5 5-25 in PRS. Said he hunts with the 3.6-18 Mk 5. At that price point and weight it ought to be reliable, and from these few accounts, it is a performer.

Pat,
Is this an illuminated reticle? Edit: you already stated it was not illum.

I see they offer either with or without. If not, is the PR1-MIL reticle bold enough to see reasonably well in low light amongst darker timber? It's a decent chunk of coin to step up to illuminated.

What stock are you using on this rifle?

What’s the difference between this scope and the 6HD?

1HD

Ha!

Hope this Leupold proves good as I hate to see a good American company bite the dust at the hands of bean counters.

Either way a sample of one.

For that price an NF will do.

Yeah, but Pat will change alot more minds with the one scope than Burns with 2 pallets of them.

LMFAO, But so true!

Hey Pat any more feedback on this one.

My cousins and I shot at that range last summer. It was a bit crowded with 2 other groups of people so about 10 total. The big problem were the mosquitoes, but when hasn't that been a problem in the summer there..

Fact.

Interesting thread.

I have tested two Mark 5 scopes in the last few years and both were very good (3.6-18x44 and 7-35x56). I have been quite critical of Leupold over the years, but their recent designs have been good and Mark 5 has really held up well. I know a lot of people who use them and there are very few problems.

My only real complaint is that they charge a lot for illumination. I really like to have illumination in FFP scopes.

ILya

That's only a sample of two!

Gosh....

Lots of good reviews and not much bad about the mk5 line on Rokslide (hunters) and Snipershide (tactical, prs guys).

I’ve been around several of them on buddies rifles and one of my own and not had a single issue with Tracking/RTZ, glass is very nice, ergonomics are pretty nice etc. The only complaint I have is price especially for illuminated if you had to pay retail, luckily I get LE/Mil pricing which is significant with leupold and makes it a decent contender at the LE price.

Leupold is BACK!!!!

😝

I love when scope companies charge Lexus money for a Corolla...

That’s Harleys in my view. Sold mine, never going back.

Now I wouldn’t go that far. 🤣

All I can say is the ones I have personally been around were reliable and worked as advertised, whether that continues to be the case is yet to be seen.

My mk5 is no more as I got a wild hair and sold it to upgrade. That rifle now wears an S&B Ultra Short which has been stellar.

David,

I qualified over / under those Dutch doors for about 12 years.

Thank you again Pat for the eval and info..

The VX-6 is second focal plane and quite a bit lighter.

Optically the same but VX-6 3-18 can be had in 50mm objective with the coresponding increase in resolution and exit pupil and a better eye box.

I prefer the illum on VX6 to the MK5 but that is more about me prefering 2nd focal plane.



So in your fever brain hallucination Leupold is teetering on bankruptcy and the only thing that can save them is the MK5?

Duly noted.



Have you ever heard the phrase "Living rent free in your head"?

Any update Pat?

Yep. Burns has a better tan though

Curtesy bump for all the good people here on the Fire.

Thanks for all the input thus far and in the future.

Take care.

So?

Did the Leupold tank?

#scenarshooter

Doubtful, other than a little chromatic aberration and small field of view, the 3.6-18x Mark 5HD's are pretty bomber. Unless your name is Formidgayness

Did he hurt your feelers?

Nope he's just an idiot.....and you must be as well.
#feelers
So gay

What makes him an idiot?

(P.s. I used that term specifically for you. I thought it would make more sense to someone on your intellectual level, sorry)