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I'm officially an optics snob. A friend of mine says that "if you have to be an equipment snob, optics is a good place to do it." Well, I'll take that as a compliment.
I found a guy that had two optics I though it would be nice to have. A Leupold VX5 HD 1-5 with an illuminated German #4, and a Leupold Mark5 HD 3.5-18, along with a Mark5 HD 5-25. I watched his for sale post, waiting to see if by some miracle he would have them long enough to lower the price... I'm too stingy; and he sold the 3.5-18. Dang. He still had the 1-5, and the 5-25, but since they were both priced well, I continued to watch and see how long it would take him to sell them. I think it was four weeks. And I finally offered what I had in my optic budget. He countered at 100 higher, and I decided to go without lunch for a month, and take him up.
Both were brand new in wrapped boxes, unopened. I got both for less than half MAP. He isn't a dealer, so no issue there. I robbed Peter a bit and picked up Paul today.
Untitled by ., on Flickr
Untitled by ., on Flickr
Untitled by ., on Flickr
The VX5 is still in the wrapper. It will make an excellent Xmas gift. Or I could sell it, I've already got everything I NEED... lol. Oh well, that would buy better lunches than bread crusts and water...
This Mark5 HD has turrets I can't believe. Ive handled a few lately, on some pretty darned well known and highly regarded optics. If this thing tracks as well as it clicks, and looks, then I've died and gone to Heaven.
Hopefully the rings show up soon, and I can get it mounted up and test the tracking and verify out to distance. So far, the glass is as good or better than the ATACR and the gen 2 Razor I've been ogling and looking through lately. Personally, I think its better than the Kahles 318i I recently borrowed. That's subjective though, and I shouldn't say so until I get it out on the range at distance. I hit the 25x and looked across a pasture on the way home. The trees at the half mile line had pretty green leaves blowing in our 25mph KS wind. I think you could see the dust on the leaves... Seriously though, I am no expert at glass. But I thought it was perfect, no distortion at the edges even at 25x. There was no color distortion. There was great contrast, the branches in the trees were each visible and solid, even against open sky background. I was completely blown away with just how good it looked, even holding it shakily in my hand! I can't wait to get it mounted solid and do some real observing. The eye box was easy, and HUGE. Way bigger than the NF I used in a class a few weeks ago. Now, to get a rifle that shoots as well as that GAP 6mm creed did shooting 108ELDMs, and I really will have died and gone up.
I found a guy that had two optics I though it would be nice to have. A Leupold VX5 HD 1-5 with an illuminated German #4, and a Leupold Mark5 HD 3.5-18, along with a Mark5 HD 5-25. I watched his for sale post, waiting to see if by some miracle he would have them long enough to lower the price... I'm too stingy; and he sold the 3.5-18. Dang. He still had the 1-5, and the 5-25, but since they were both priced well, I continued to watch and see how long it would take him to sell them. I think it was four weeks. And I finally offered what I had in my optic budget. He countered at 100 higher, and I decided to go without lunch for a month, and take him up.
Both were brand new in wrapped boxes, unopened. I got both for less than half MAP. He isn't a dealer, so no issue there. I robbed Peter a bit and picked up Paul today.
Untitled by ., on FlickrUntitled by ., on FlickrUntitled by ., on FlickrThe VX5 is still in the wrapper. It will make an excellent Xmas gift. Or I could sell it, I've already got everything I NEED... lol. Oh well, that would buy better lunches than bread crusts and water...
This Mark5 HD has turrets I can't believe. Ive handled a few lately, on some pretty darned well known and highly regarded optics. If this thing tracks as well as it clicks, and looks, then I've died and gone to Heaven.
Hopefully the rings show up soon, and I can get it mounted up and test the tracking and verify out to distance. So far, the glass is as good or better than the ATACR and the gen 2 Razor I've been ogling and looking through lately. Personally, I think its better than the Kahles 318i I recently borrowed. That's subjective though, and I shouldn't say so until I get it out on the range at distance. I hit the 25x and looked across a pasture on the way home. The trees at the half mile line had pretty green leaves blowing in our 25mph KS wind. I think you could see the dust on the leaves... Seriously though, I am no expert at glass. But I thought it was perfect, no distortion at the edges even at 25x. There was no color distortion. There was great contrast, the branches in the trees were each visible and solid, even against open sky background. I was completely blown away with just how good it looked, even holding it shakily in my hand! I can't wait to get it mounted solid and do some real observing. The eye box was easy, and HUGE. Way bigger than the NF I used in a class a few weeks ago. Now, to get a rifle that shoots as well as that GAP 6mm creed did shooting 108ELDMs, and I really will have died and gone up.
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