Description
The Leupold VX-4HD 4-16×50 Side Focus is item 185456, a 30mm hunting scope with a plain Duplex, precision side focus down to 30 yards, and one thing none of the other VX-4HD scopes we stock can claim.
The Leupold VX-4HD 4-16×50 Side Focus takes a custom dial
Leupold publishes Custom Dial System: Yes for this item. Most of the VX-4HD and Mark 4HD scopes in our range publish only a custom BDC dial compatibility row, or nothing at all. This one is explicitly CDS.
That means you can order an elevation dial cut to your specific load and conditions, then turn to a yardage number instead of counting minutes. On a hunting rifle that is the single most useful upgrade available.
No BDC dial ships in the box. The turret in front of you is the CDS-ZL2: locking, with a revolution indicator and a set screw rezero. Windage is a pop-up rezero turret.
Leupold VX-4HD 4-16×50 Side Focus: parallax down to 30 yards
Precision side focus adjusts to a 30 yard minimum, which is closer than most of the range reaches and makes this scope genuinely useful for rimfire practice as well as centrefire hunting.
At 16x that dial earns its place. Parallax error you never notice at 5x turns into a measurable miss at the top of the magnification, particularly if you cannot always get your head in the same place behind the scope.
The reticle is a plain Duplex and it is not illuminated. There is no battery in the Leupold VX-4HD 4-16×50 Side Focus at all. This is a second focal plane riflescope, so the crosshair holds its apparent thickness from 4x to 16x.
Read the travel figures before you plan a mount
Total elevation travel is 65 MOA, which is 18.9 MIL or 189 cm at 100 metres, and windage is 50 MOA, or 14.5 MIL. Both move 20 MOA per revolution, in 1/4 MOA clicks.
The elevation dial travel limit is published at 38 MOA against that 65 MOA total. So more than half the internal range sits outside what the dial itself will turn to. Get the zero centred at the mounting stage rather than assuming you can dial your way out of a badly shimmed base.
Sixty-five MOA is modest by the standards of the precision scopes in our range. For a hunting scope used with a custom yardage dial inside normal ranges, it is entirely adequate.
Glass and dimensions
Magnification runs 4x to 16x behind a 50 mm objective. Field of view is 25.1 feet at 4x, narrowing to 6.3 feet at 16x, per 100 yards. Eye relief is 4.0 inches at the bottom and 3.9 at the top, so it tightens very slightly as you wind up.
The Leupold VX-4HD 4-16×50 Side Focus weighs 20.5 ounces and measures 13.3 inches, with 5.7 inches of mounting space split 2 inches front and 1.6 rear. The objective bell is 2.3 inches across, so a 50 mm objective wants taller rings; check ring height and your cheek weld together.
Honest notes
The rear mounting section is only 1.6 inches. On a receiver where the rear base sits well back, that is the measurement that will bite you. Measure before ordering rings rather than after.
Without illumination you have nothing lit for the last minutes of legal light. A 50 mm objective gathers more than a 40 does, but if you regularly shoot that window, look at the illuminated FireDot models instead.
No finish colour, coating list or light transmission figure is published for this model. Retail listings quote all three anyway. We print what the manufacturer prints and nothing else.
Who this scope suits
Hunters who want a yardage dial cut to their load, anyone who needs parallax control down to 30 yards, and shooters who prefer a clean crosshair to a holdover grid. The Leupold VX-4HD 4-16×50 Side Focus is guaranteed to perform for life, with no warranty card and no time limit.
Skip it if you need illumination, if you want more than 65 MOA of elevation, or if you want first focal plane subtensions.
Leupold VX-4HD 4-16×50 Side Focus full specifications
- Item number: 185456
- Magnification: 4-16x variable
- Objective lens: 50 mm
- Main tube: 30 mm
- Reticle: Duplex, not illuminated
- Focal plane: Second focal plane
- Battery: none required; Motion Sensor Technology: no
- Eye relief: 4.0 in low, 3.9 in high
- Field of view: 25.1 ft at 4x, 6.3 ft at 16x, per 100 yards
- Angular field of view: 4.8 degrees low, 1.2 degrees high
- Click value: 1/4 MOA elevation and windage
- Total elevation travel: 65 MOA (18.9 MIL), 20 MOA per revolution
- Elevation dial travel limit: 38 MOA – see the note above
- Total windage travel: 50 MOA (14.5 MIL), 20 MOA per revolution
- Parallax: precision side focus, 30 yd minimum
- Elevation turret: CDS-ZL2 locking, revolution indicator, set screw rezero
- Windage turret: pop-up rezero
- Custom Dial System: YES; BDC dial included: no; custom BDC dial compatible: yes
- Weight: 20.5 oz
- Total length: 13.3 in
- Total mounting space: 5.7 in (2 front, 1.6 rear)
- Objective length: 4.4 in; objective diameter: 2.3 in
- Warranty: guaranteed to perform for life, transferable, no time limit
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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