Description
The Leupold VX-3HD Compact Duplex is item 180616, a 2.5-8×36 scope on a 1 inch tube. It is the smallest and lightest VX-3HD we stock at 11.9 ounces, and it is built for a rifle you carry rather than one you set down.
What the Leupold VX-3HD Compact Duplex is for
A 2.5x bottom end matters more than most buyers expect. At 2.5x the field of view is 37.5 feet at 100 yards, which is enough to pick up a moving animal in timber without hunting for it through the tube.
At the top end 8x and a 36 mm objective covers ordinary hunting distances comfortably. This is not a long-range scope and does not pretend to be. It is a woods and mixed-country optic that will not slow you down.
The reticle is a plain Duplex, not illuminated, with no battery in the scope at all. The Leupold VX-3HD Compact Duplex is a second focal plane riflescope, so the crosshair keeps the same apparent thickness at 2.5x and at 8x.
Weight and size
At 11.9 ounces and 11.42 inches this is meaningfully smaller than the rest of the line. The 4.5-14×40 models in the same family run 13.3 ounces and 12.67 inches; the illuminated 30 mm scopes run nearly 16.
Total mounting space is 5.23 inches, split 1.57 inches front and 2.49 rear, with a 3.05 inch objective section and a 1.65 inch objective bell. The short front section is worth checking against your bases if your front ring sits well forward.
Turrets and travel
Elevation on the Leupold VX-3HD Compact Duplex is a CDS-ZL locking dial with a set screw rezero; windage is finger click. Clicks are 1/4 MOA. Total travel is 70 MOA each way, or 20.4 MIL, at 15 MOA per revolution with a 14.5 MOA dial travel limit.
The manufacturer lists this model as Custom Dial System compatible, so a yardage dial cut to a specific load can be ordered separately. No BDC dial ships in the box.
Parallax is fixed, set parallax-free at 150 yards. There is no side focus and no adjustable objective, which is the right call on a scope that tops out at 8x.
Honest notes on the Leupold VX-3HD Compact Duplex
Eye relief is 4.4 inches at the bottom of the range and 3.6 at the top, the same as the bigger scopes in the family. On a hard-kicking rifle, mount it far enough forward that 3.6 inches is what you actually have at 8x.
A 36 mm objective gathers less light than a 40 or a 50. In the last few minutes of legal light that is a real difference, and there is no illuminated centre dot here to compensate. If you hunt that window regularly, look at the illuminated FireDot models instead.
No finish colour, coating list or light transmission figure is published for this scope. Retail listings quote all three. We do not print specifications the manufacturer does not state.
Who this scope suits
Timber and mixed-country hunters, anyone building a light mountain rifle, and shooters who want a locking elevation dial on a small scope. The Leupold VX-3HD Compact Duplex is designed, machined and assembled in the USA and guaranteed for life.
Skip it if you shoot past a few hundred yards, if you need parallax adjustment, or if low-light illumination is a priority.
Leupold VX-3HD Compact Duplex full specifications
- Item number: 180616
- Magnification: 2.5-8x variable
- Objective lens: 36 mm
- Main tube: 1 inch
- Reticle: Duplex, not illuminated
- Focal plane: Second focal plane
- Battery: none required
- Eye relief: 4.4 in low, 3.6 in high
- Field of view: 37.5 ft at 2.5x, 13.7 ft at 8x, per 100 yards
- Angular field of view: 7.2 degrees low, 2.6 degrees high
- Click value: 1/4 MOA elevation and windage
- Total elevation travel: 70 MOA (20.4 MIL), 15 MOA per revolution
- Elevation dial travel limit: 14.5 MOA
- Total windage travel: 70 MOA (20.4 MIL), 15 MOA per revolution
- Parallax: fixed, parallax-free at 150 yd
- Elevation turret: CDS-ZL locking dial, set screw rezero
- Windage turret: finger click
- Custom Dial System: yes; BDC dial included: no
- Weight: 11.9 oz
- Total length: 11.42 in
- Total mounting space: 5.23 in (1.57 front, 2.49 rear)
- Warranty: guaranteed for life
Manufacturer specifications are published by Leupold. Compare it against the rest of our optics range before you settle on a magnification range.
Ships from our Collegeville, Pennsylvania shop with the Leupold lifetime guarantee.
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