Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 Duplex Great 50mm Low Light Scope

Description

The Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 is the fifty millimetre objective version of Leupold mid range hunting scope, on a one inch tube with a CDS-ZL elevation dial and a plain duplex reticle. The bigger front lens is there for one reason, and it is worth understanding what it does and does not buy you. Mag5 Firearms ships optics direct with no FFL transfer.

What the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 50mm Objective Does

A larger objective gathers more light and gives a wider exit pupil at high magnification. At fourteen power a 40mm objective delivers a 2.9mm exit pupil; a 50mm delivers 3.6mm. In bright daylight your pupil is smaller than either and you will see no difference at all. At dawn and dusk, when your pupil opens past 5mm, the wider one is visibly brighter.

So the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 is worth the extra size if you shoot the first and last half hour of legal light at high magnification. If you mostly shoot in daylight, or mostly at the bottom of the zoom range, the 40mm version is lighter, cheaper and mounts lower, and we stock it.

Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 Ring Height

A 50mm objective needs taller rings than a 40mm, and taller rings raise the scope away from the stock. If your rifle has a straight comb designed for iron sights, a 50mm scope can leave your cheek floating rather than welded, and a poor cheek weld costs more accuracy than a bright image gains.

Check your comb height before you commit to the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50. On a modern hunting stock with a raised comb it is a non issue. On an older rifle it is the first thing to measure.

None of this is a reason to avoid the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50. It is a reason to buy rings that fit the rifle rather than the other way round, and to handle the mounted scope before the season rather than on opening morning.

The Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 CDS-ZL Turret

CDS-ZL is Custom Dial System with Zero Lock. Order a dial engraved in yards for your load and you range, turn and hold centre. Zero Lock means the dial physically stops at your zero and cannot creep back past it in a scabbard, which is the failure you never notice until you have missed.

Elevation travel is 70 MOA and windage 70 MOA, both at a quarter MOA per click. Parallax is fixed and set parallax free at 150 yards, so there is no side focus knob to manage in the field.

Seventy MOA of travel is more than a 4.5-14x hunting scope will normally use, but it means the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 will zero on a canted base with elevation built in if you ever want to reach further than a hunting distance.

Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 Optics and Weight

Field of view at 100 yards is 20.5 feet at 4.5x and 7.6 feet at 14x. Eye relief is 4.4 inches low and 3.6 high and stays consistent through the range. The reticle is a plain duplex in the second focal plane, which is the right pairing with a dial: no holdover clutter, heavy outer posts that draw the eye in as the light fails.

The scope weighs 15 ounces and measures 12.29 inches. That is about a pound and three quarter ounces once you add rings, which is a real addition to a light mountain rifle and nothing at all on a bench or a blind gun. Leupold rate it waterproof, fogproof and shockproof and guarantee it for life.

Leupold publish no finish colour and no lens coating name for this model in their specification table, so we have not listed either as a manufacturer figure.

Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 Specifications

Buying from Mag5 Firearms

Mag5 Firearms is a family owned FFL dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Optics need no transfer, so the Leupold VX-3HD 4.5-14×50 ships straight to your door. Full manufacturer detail is published on the Leupold product page.

Call us with your rifle and your comb height before ordering a 50mm scope, or browse the 40mm versions in our optics selection. We would rather talk you out of a bigger objective than sell you one that will not let you get behind it properly.