Description
The Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope is item 180627, and it is not the scope most people assume when they read that magnification on a shelf tag. This one rides on a 30mm main tube and carries an illuminated reticle. The other 3.5-10×40 in the VX-3HD line is a 1 inch tube with a plain Duplex and no battery at all.
Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope: check the tube before you buy rings
The Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope carries a 30mm main tube. Item 180617, sold under a title that reads almost identically, has a 1 inch tube. Rings for one will not hold the other. That is the single most expensive mistake available on this page, so it goes first.
The two differ in more than diameter. This model is illuminated; the 1 inch version is not. This one weighs 15.8 ounces against 13.1. This one gives 75 MOA of elevation and 60 of windage; the lighter scope gives 55 and 55. The optical numbers are otherwise the same.
The reticle and the illumination
The FireDot Twilight Hunter reticle puts an illuminated centre dot inside a hunting crosshair. Eight settings run from a CR2032, rated at 1600 hours on low, 1000 on medium and 300 on high. The illumination is daylight bright.
Motion Sensor Technology cuts the dot after five minutes of stillness and restores it as soon as the rifle moves, which is the behaviour you want on a stand. The etched reticle stays usable if the cell dies; only the glowing centre goes away.
This is a second focal plane riflescope. The reticle keeps the same apparent size through the whole 3.5 to 10x range, so the dot never shrinks to nothing when you wind the power down for a close shot in timber.
Turrets, travel and parallax
Elevation on the Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope is a CDS-ZL locking dial, and the scope is Custom Dial System compatible, so a yardage dial cut for your load can be ordered later. Windage is finger click. Both axes move in 1/4 MOA increments.
Total travel is 75 MOA of elevation and 60 MOA of windage, at 15 MOA per revolution on each. The elevation dial travel limit is 14.5 MOA, which is the practical ceiling on a single turn of holdover before you are counting revolutions.
Parallax on the Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope is fixed and set parallax-free at 150 yards. There is no side focus. For a hunting scope used between roughly 50 and 400 yards that is a reasonable choice, and it keeps the turret housing simple.
Honest notes on the Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope
The 30mm tube is not, by itself, a brighter scope. What it buys is internal adjustment range, and the extra 20 MOA of elevation over the 1 inch model is the real difference. Anyone telling you a 30mm tube transmits more light is selling something.
Illumination costs weight and battery. At 15.8 ounces this sits 2.7 ounces above its non-illuminated sibling. On a mountain rifle that matters; on a treestand rifle it does not. Decide which one you are building.
No finish colour, no lens coating breakdown and no light transmission figure is published for this model. Retailers print those anyway. We will not put numbers on this page that the manufacturer does not state.
Who this scope suits
Whitetail hunters in low light, anyone who wants a locking elevation dial without a tactical turret stack, and shooters who intend to order a custom yardage dial later. The Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope is designed, machined and assembled in the USA and guaranteed for life.
It is the wrong scope if you need adjustable parallax for rimfire distances, if every ounce counts, or if you want first focal plane subtensions. The 1 inch Duplex version is the lighter, cheaper answer when illumination is not a priority.
Leupold VX-3HD FireDot Riflescope full specifications
- Item number: 180627
- Magnification: 3.5-10x
- Objective lens: 40 mm
- Main tube: 30 mm
- Reticle: Illuminated FireDot Twilight Hunter
- Focal plane: Second focal plane
- Illumination: 8 settings, daylight bright
- Battery: CR2032, 1600 / 1000 / 300 hours low / medium / high
- Motion Sensor Technology: yes
- Eye relief: 4.4 in low, 3.6 in high
- Field of view: 29 ft at 3.5x, 11 ft at 10x, per 100 yards
- Click value: 1/4 MOA elevation and windage
- Total elevation travel: 75 MOA, 15 MOA per revolution
- Elevation dial travel limit: 14.5 MOA
- Total windage travel: 60 MOA, 15 MOA per revolution
- Parallax: fixed, parallax-free at 150 yd
- Elevation turret: CDS-ZL locking dial, Custom Dial System compatible
- Windage turret: finger click
- Weight: 15.8 oz
- Total length: 12.7 in
- Warranty: lifetime guarantee
Manufacturer specifications are published by Leupold. Compare it against the rest of our optics range, and check your ring diameter before ordering.
Ships from our Collegeville, Pennsylvania shop, with the lifetime guarantee that follows the scope rather than the first buyer.
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