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ELR optics: Leupold vs Nightforce

Looking for firsthand ELR experience with the Leupold MK 5 HD 5-25 vs NF ATACR or BEAST. I have extensive experience with the NF BR series but not the others. Developing a 1,500+ rifle and looking for optics guidance. Would have gone direct to the NF but I had the opportunity to handle the Leupold and the glass appeared as good, maybe better. Not sure if the L tracking/erector system is comparable to NF, or no. That being the case, thought I would ask.
Thank you
Michael
 
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No dumb questions here. May be that most don't want to get into what that question will turn into. This vs That many times never gets answers, only agree to disagree. I love my Leupold scopes. That said, Night force scopes are tough to beat. I'll also say this, if you have an upper end Leupold, you won't do tons better AND you'll have as good of scope as you will probably need. I Don't think any of those statements can be challenged or argued. I hear many say Leupold isn't what they were or customer service failed them etc. Many of us have had those same experiences with most if not all manufacturers. Night force has done the same to a couple friends of mine. Personally I haven't been let down by any scope or company. Sure some are better scopes but most often you get what you pay for. Not sure any of that helped but No dumb questions here.
 
First off - the only dumb question is the one not asked. I have had both scope brands. Leupold is out. Nightforce is in. If you have experience with Nightforce and like them, why change? If there is something you don't like about NF I could understand.
 
In my personal experience Nightforce is great until there is a problem. I have three friends that have had serious problems with warranty work from Nightforce. I prefer the Nightforce scopes personally. If they had the Leupold warranty you would have the best of both worlds. I own many Leopold scopes as well, and they are a very good bang for the buck. Their warranty is the best I have ever experienced and have only had to use it once in 25 yrs. I have purchased my last Nightforce. :(

Paul
 
Thank you all for the feedback. I guess the real question is, will the higher MOA Leupold track with the NF?

You lay your money down and take your chances. No matter how much the scope costs, they can all have issues. (Edit, removed. Added nothing to the conversations)

On warranty, I have used Nightforces, Leupolds and Vortex. They were all basically identical. I got the scope back with essentially NTF but it worked when I got it back. I am convinced they no longer tell the customer what the issue is as the internet will blow it way out of proportion.
 
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In my personal experience Nightforce is great until there is a problem. I have three friends that have had serious problems with warranty work from Nightforce. I prefer the Nightforce scopes personally. If they had the Leupold warranty you would have the best of both worlds. I own many Leopold scopes as well, and they are a very good bang for the buck. Their warranty is the best I have ever experienced and have only had to use it once in 25 yrs. I have purchased my last Nightforce. :(

Paul

Had the same experience with Leupold. I had to send the same scope back to them four times. Three times to correct the tracking problem and the fourth because the reticle would rotate with every shot. Overpriced garbage to me.
 
In my personal experience Nightforce is great until there is a problem. I have three friends that have had serious problems with warranty work from Nightforce. I prefer the Nightforce scopes personally. If they had the Leupold warranty you would have the best of both worlds. I own many Leopold scopes as well, and they are a very good bang for the buck. Their warranty is the best I have ever experienced and have only had to use it once in 25 yrs. I have purchased my last Nightforce. :(

Paul
I sent a Leupold Longrange target scope in and it came back same as it was sent in. Not holding point of aim and I am not talking a little bit. Matt
 
Did I ask a dumb question here....?
I don't think the Mark 5HD has been around long enough for a true, fair comparison. On snipers hide, their has been some good discussions concerning the Mark 5, right now the balance is love it or hate it. On the hate side, you have guys stepping down in quality of the optics they normally buy and are not impressed, then guys that bought and liked. I purchased a 3-18 Mark 5, I never got around to using it and ended up selling, looked dang nice and I wanted to give it a go.

You also mentioned you handled the Leupold and feel glass as good or better, were you looking through the newer version F1 Atacr's,or the older one? I can say, I have both the NF F1 5-25 and 7-35 and glass is superb, along with tracking.
It is a wash on scope travel between the Mark 5 and the NF 5-25 Atacr, 120moa to 125(NF) moa. The 7-35 NF has 100 moa of travel, which one can compensate for by using a 40 moa scope base, or if it is integral, buy a mount with the desired cant. With the 7-35, I can tell you a target at 2K looks like it is at 1k on 35 power, and I love to spot my own shots, so a big deal to me.
I know absolutely nothing on the Beast, took too long to come to market at too high of a price for me, I do not ever look at opinions on it as I will never own one.
 
Had the same experience with Leupold. I had to send the same scope back to them four times. Three times to correct the tracking problem and the fourth because the reticle would rotate with every shot. Overpriced garbage to me.

Mongo,

I actually had to send my Leupold back 3 times as well. But, they did finally upgrade the turrets to the M1 turrets which fixed it for good. All at no cost to me. Nightforce said my friends scopes were fixed and that was that. Time to move on to Kahles it seems.:D:D

Paul
 
Like I said. You'll hear from both sides. Bottom line can't go wrong with either scope. You will not find a scope manufacturer that hasn't had complaints from either quality or customer care. In general you'll spend much more on a Night Force than a Leupold.
 
Just mentioning a new kid on the block - Burris XTR II 8-40x50. It has 60 MOA total elevation and windage, and a nice reticle for holding off. The clicks are positive and the glass looks good edge to edge. I saw a Black Friday deal and bought one for a rifle project that's underway. The street price is ~$1030, so it's a good value. An open box special was $800, so I couldn't resist. Does anybody else have experience with this one?
 
I am still hoping to hear from an F class guy who can say, "I have a L Mark 5 HD and I use it in F CLASS matches and....." or "....and I do a lot of long range target shooting where I am regularly adjusting up and down through 75% of the scopes adjustment range and my experience has been...."

Not to be high maintenance or overly specific in my info request but..... you have not because you ask not.

Thank you all for the quality feedback. I appreciate it.

Michael
 
I am still hoping to hear from an F class guy who can say, "I have a L Mark 5 HD and I use it in F CLASS matches and....." or "....and I do a lot of long range target shooting where I am regularly adjusting up and down through 75% of the scopes adjustment range and my experience has been...."

Not to be high maintenance or overly specific in my info request but..... you have not because you ask not.

Thank you all for the quality feedback. I appreciate it.

Michael
http://forum.snipershide.com/threads/so-what-about-leupold-mark-5.6869995/

Sort through ^^^^^ that, you can figure who is blowing smoke, who is sincere.
 
I am still hoping to hear from an F class guy who can say, "I have a L Mark 5 HD and I use it in F CLASS matches and....." or "....and I do a lot of long range target shooting where I am regularly adjusting up and down through 75% of the scopes adjustment range and my experience has been...."

Not to be high maintenance or overly specific in my info request but..... you have not because you ask not.

Thank you all for the quality feedback. I appreciate it.

Michael
Never owned Mark 5 HD BUT I have and do exclusively own the Mark 4s( In the Leupold lineup ). Shooting from 300 - 1200+ with my MK 4s, I go up and down continuously with zero issues and perfect tracking and return to zero. I've never had any reason to get into a better Leupold optic having the 4.5-14 and 6.5-20s in the Mark 4 models. I'm certain the MK5 HD is better glass but not all that certain the rest of the scope is of better design and offers better tracking or return to zero function. I'm not that MK 5 HD guy you were hoping for but if that helped at all...glad I could help.
 
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Never owned Mark 5 HD BUT I have and do exclusively own the Mark 4s. Shooting from 300 - 1200+ with my MK 4s, I go up and down continuously with zero issues and perfect tracking and return to zero. I've never had any reason to get into a better Leupold optic having the 4.5-14 and 6.5-20s in the Mark 4 models. I'm certain the MK5 HD is better glass but not all that certain the rest of the scope is of better design and offers better tracking or return to zero function. I'm not that MK 5 HD guy you were hoping for but if that helped at all...glad I could help.
That's pretty close. Thank you, Sir. I appreciate you're taking the time to provide such valuable feedback.
 
Looking for firsthand ELR experience with the Leupold MK 5 HD 5-25 vs NF ATACR or BEAST.
I would say neither. The Beast is kind of a clunker. Big & heavy with dumb turrets. I simply dont look at Leupold anymore, they got lapped by other scope makers a decade ago and have never figured it out.

If you need a ton of elevation travel, look at the Vortex Gen1 Razor (Gen2 4-27x is solid too). The NF 7-35 is also a good option (5-25x ATACR would be fine too). I run Minox 5-25x, been good out to 2k. Lots of options. If you think you will run out of elevation, get something with a X-Mas tree type reticle or tweak your base/rings.
 
284winner is right on the mark!

I would also add Sightron 10-50 to the mix.
I only use my scopes for long range bench rest and the occasional F Class at 1000 yd and I have no reason to replace either scope. The two I use mostly are N-F BR 12-42 and Sightron series III 10-50. I also have a Sightron series II 6-24 that I started BR with and I am still surprised how good it is.

I think complaints on top end optics are based on individual preferences.
 

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