Leupold's MK4 precision rifle scope: want some stand-your-rifle-against-the-truck-and-it-falls-over -but-thank-goodness-the-scope-is-okay durability? Here it is

Guns Magazine, Sept, 2004 by Jim Garnder

Anyone with eyes must agree today's shooters have the finest sporting optics ever made available. When was the last time you heard someone wax nostalgic for their old Noske rifle scope? Not lately I'll bet, and for good reason.

Today's rifle scopes are truly fog-proof, more repeatable in their adjustments, far more durable, and carry better lenses with miracle coatings to greatly improve performance. Frankly, today's scopes from our best makers are as much an advance over their predecessors as a modern Mack truck is over a vintage Diamond T.

What's more, the modern scope is available in endless variety, with features and options not even dreamt of a decade ago. While on the whole, that's a good thing, it's up to the end-user to select those features that really improve performance and avoid those adding needless complexity.

Yeah sure, the super-deluxe scope your buddy bought looks pretty good. Heck, its got four turrets, a 60mm objective, 5-50x variable magnification and a swing-out leveling bubble/ballistic chart/angle indicator thing-a-ma-bob. But have you noticed he spends more time fussing with all those widgets than he does shooting? On top of that, he'll be eating bologna sandwiches for the next month due to the staggering cost of that whiz-bang contraption.

A Deep Breath

So let's take a deep breath and think on it. Maybe all you really need are great optics, variable magnification for versatility and the sort of stand-your-rifle-against-the-truck-and-it-falls-over -but-thank-goodness-the-scope-is-okay durability a real using rifle requires?

Having owned a lot of rifle scopes, both good and shamelessly bad, when the time came to find glass for a new Steyr .308, my watchword was simplicity. Okay, maybe not extreme simplicity--I did want covered target knobs and an easy to use range-finding reticle--but no other gadgets need apply. And, after a fair bit of searching I found exactly what I wanted.

The Leupold Mark 4 PR is designed for serious law-enforcement use by precision riflemen. Everything about its design is intended to make it failure-proof and simple to use. I'm no SWAT cop (I don't even play one on TV), but the same no-nonsense features these steely-eyed defenders of public order require happen to be exactly what this old rifle crank was looking for. "What cha' mean?" you ask.

Things I Looked For

Moderate objective diameter is one of them. A majority of the "tactical" scopes offered today feature large 50 to 56mm objective lenses. On paper these look good, offering better performance in low light. The problem is found at the opposite end of the tube. Such scopes require the use of very high rings and the resulting sight-line forces you to raise your head off the rifle's comb. If you don't have a firm stock-weld you don't have nuthin'.

By contrast, the 40mm objective lens of the Mark 4 PR allows a lower sight line and a better "stock weld." The result is faster sighting and a more stable head position for tighter, more uniform groups.

"Fixed parallax adjustment" sounds confusing but means lots. Technically speaking, parallax is an apparent movement of the target in relation to the reticle as the shooter's eye moves from the center of the sight line. However I find most riflemen perceive it as the target and the reticle not being in locus at the same time. The simple solution is to always locus on the reticle, not the target.

To avoid this condition, some scopes have a parallax adjustment in the form of an adjustable objective lens or preferably, a side-mounted turret as in Leupold's excellent Long Range series rifle scopes. For long range shooting from a static position, parallax adjustment can be handy, but on a general purpose rifle it adds needless complexity and may well cost you a quick, close shot if you've left it adjusted to "way out yonder."

The Mark 4 PR is a fixed parallax scope, adjusted to be parallax-free at about 150 yards. No fuss, no muss--align the reticle on the center of the target, focus on the reticle, press that trigger with care and bang you've got a center hit. Wasn't that easy?

Usable magnification range is important. Three models of the Mark 4 PR are offered, a 3.5 10x, a 4.5-14x Long Range (which does incorporate parallax adjustment) and the 3-9x version I selected. When I was just a pup, variable scopes were not to be trusted, but those days are long gone. Today's variables are just as rugged and certainly more versatile than their fixed-magnification brethren.

Mine is usually set at 6-power, as that's about right for off hand shooting. But find me chasing jackrabbits in a brushy arroyo and you'll see I've dialed down the magnification to its lowest setting. If I'm wasting perfectly good ammo breaking rocks on the far side of the canyon from a steady position, I'll have turned-up the juice to maximum.

Covered target turrets look cool and actually do something too. If I'm bending my "simple is good" rule anywhere, it's in the selection of a scope with target turrets. Some may say they're unnecessary, but I think they pay their freight.