Truly the best - Leupold Mark 6 3-18x44mm First Focal Rifle Scope

PROS: With a background experience in sniping, I purchased this scope for my own training purposes. The reticle (Tremor3) is excellent, especially with the 12" drill head measurements built in. The milling stadia lines are finely distributed, allowing for very precise milling for distance determination. The wind dots are an outstanding addition, though the exact values are not fixed; they will change both with caliber and with the magnification settings (proportional changes). A Kestrel with a ballistics program will help calculate this value if used correctly. The clarity is top of the line (as expected of Leupold) and with illumination this scope can be used throughout the day into the twilight and early morning dawn. A note about the illumination: despite what the pictures show, the reticle will actually fully illuminate on settings 9 and 10 (a very nice surprise), as well as the illuminated hold over dots (show up on all settings). The positively engaged OFF positions between illumination numbers is greatly appreciated, especially having had illumination accidentally turned on in the past with other scopes and resulting in a dead battery. The parallax and illumination turret are the same turret on the left side (good use of space). The illumination/parallax turret also has a really neat feature, in which a small slot is presented for the insertion of a new battery to engage the release and open the compartment (the battery acts as the tool to open the compartment). Also truly appreciated is how the rear lens cover does not rotate with the magnification setting, as experienced on the Mark 4s. Elevation lock is (oh so thankfully) only active at the zero setting, and not engaged anywhere else (as opposed to the worthless ERT locking turrets...). At about 12" long and about the same weight as the Mark 4s, it is a truly outstanding optic, probably the current best in the world.

CONS: Really nitpicking here. Use of the elevation turret is not well explained in the manual, nor self-evident when attempting to rotate the turret through its second rotation. You press a button in to unlock the scope from its zero position, and after almost a full rotation it seems to come to a stop. You actually need to significantly press in the button while turning to access the next whole rotation. The scope itself has a very short shade, and I have concern over this concerning tactical application. The lessons from sniping in Stalingrad still apply today (avoid the reflection). The windage turret works well, but it is apparently designed to be left alone under its protected thread-on cap; it could have been better to make it more available, but simply removing the cap allows access and the reticle makes easy use for windage holds. On 3X, the reticle is so thin that it can be hard to see against a dark background. Dialing up to about 6X and beyond fixes this, but adding a touch of illumination can fix this bit (it is just how a front focal plane reticle will work). The parallax turret requires a different allen key than the other turrets, and is meant not to be adjusted (thought it can); I called Leupold about this and they assured me that there should really be no need to do so anyway. It takes some effort to turn the magnification; not nearly as easy as on other models.

With regards to OpticsPlanet: After putting forth a very hefty some of cash for this product, I eagerly received my scope. It was not new, and had seen some use. Minor scratches around the turret, but most egregious were the scratches on the lenses, primarily the rear. On illumination setting 10, the lower-left quadrant would not illuminate. The diopter was unusually stiff, either through possible misuse (but it could be just because it had not been used much). The scope did come in its original box and with all of the add-ons (allen key, scope caps, manuals, battery). After inspection, I sent the scope off to Leupold for repair. Just for your information.