Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 Duplex Great 50mm Hunting Scope

Description

The Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 is a low light hunting scope: a fifty millimetre objective on a one inch tube, in the three and a half to ten power range that suits more rifles than any other, with a CDS-ZL elevation dial and a plain duplex reticle. Mag5 Firearms ships optics direct with no FFL transfer.

Why the Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 Is a Low Light Scope

Exit pupil is objective diameter divided by magnification, and it is the number that decides whether a scope is bright at dusk. At ten power a 50mm objective gives a 5mm exit pupil, which is right at the limit of what a dark adapted human eye can actually use. Go to fourteen power on the same lens and it drops to 3.6mm.

That makes the Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 arguably the best low light scope Leupold builds at this price. You are not paying for magnification you will not use; you are paying for a front lens that keeps feeding your eye all the way to the top of the zoom range.

Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 Ring Height

A 50mm objective needs taller rings, and taller rings lift the scope away from the comb. On a modern hunting stock that is designed for a scope, no problem. On an older rifle with a straight comb cut for iron sights, you can end up with your cheek floating, and a poor cheek weld costs more accuracy than a bright image gains. Measure before you order.

None of that is a reason to avoid the Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50. It is a reason to buy rings that suit the rifle and to shoulder the mounted rifle well before opening morning rather than on it.

The Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 CDS-ZL Turret

CDS-ZL is Leupold Custom Dial System with Zero Lock. Send them your load data and they machine a dial engraved in yards, so you range, turn and hold centre. Zero Lock means the dial physically stops at your zero and will not creep back past it in a scabbard.

One spec worth reading carefully on the Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50: elevation travel is 75 MOA but windage travel is 60 MOA. Those figures are not the same, which is unusual, and it is what Leupold publish. If you are mounting on a badly aligned base and expecting to correct a lot of windage, that 60 is the number to check against.

Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 Optics

Field of view at 100 yards is 29.7 feet at 3.5x and 11 feet at 10x. Eye relief is 4.4 inches low and 3.6 high and holds steady through the range. Parallax is fixed and set parallax free at 150 yards, so there is no side focus knob to deal with.

The reticle is a plain duplex in the second focal plane, which is the right partner for a dial: no holdover marks to clutter the picture, and heavy outer posts that pull your eye to the centre exactly when the light is failing and you need them to.

Three and a half to ten power covers almost all hunting. At the bottom you can find a moving animal in cover with both eyes open; at the top you can take a deliberate shot across a field. The Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 simply does that with a bigger front lens than the 40mm version, which is where the money goes.

The Leupold VX-3HD 3.5-10×50 weighs 14.9 ounces and measures 12.29 inches. Leupold guarantee it for life and build it in the USA. They 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 3.5-10×50 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 3.5-10×50 ships straight to your door. Full manufacturer detail is published on the Leupold product page.

If your stock will not take the extra ring height, the 40mm version of this same scope is in our optics selection and mounts lower. Call us with the rifle and we will work out which one fits.