Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex Great Illuminated FireDot

Description

The Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex is the plain illuminated duplex version of Leupold flagship 3-18×44 hunting scope. It is the one to buy if you intend to dial elevation rather than hold over, and until now nothing in the store title told you which of three reticles you were getting.

The Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex Reticle

FireDot Duplex is a plain duplex with an illuminated centre dot. No holdover ladder, no ranging bars, nothing between you and the target but a thin crosshair and heavy outer posts. On a scope with a locking custom dial that is the correct pairing: elevation is the dial job, so anything else in the reticle is clutter you will never use.

The illuminated dot earns its keep in one specific situation: an animal standing in deep shadow where a black crosshair simply disappears against a black body. That is the shot the Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex exists to let you take.

If you would rather hold than dial, the Boone and Crockett version of this same scope gives you ranging bars and holdover points. If you want a precision MOA grid, the TMOA version has one. All three are in stock and all three cost and weigh the same.

For most hunters the Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex is the right pick of the three. A clean duplex is faster to shoot and harder to misread under pressure, and if you have a custom dial made for your load there is nothing a holdover reticle can do that the turret cannot do more precisely.

The Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex and Its Two Siblings

This store carries three VX-6HD Generation 2 scopes in 3-18×44, and until now all three had titles that told you nothing: one said 30mm CDS-SZL2, one said 30mm CDS-SZL2 Illuminated, and one said Rifle Scope. All three of those descriptions are equally true of all three products.

They are the same scope optically and mechanically. Every published figure is identical: 3-18x, 44mm objective, 30mm tube, second focal plane, illuminated with eight daylight bright settings on a CR2032, 22.1 ounces, 13.5 inches, quarter MOA clicks, 85 MOA of travel each way, precision side focus down to 50 yards, CDS-SZL2 elevation with Zero-Lock windage.

The only thing that differs is the reticle. Item 184423 has an illuminated FireDot Duplex. Item 184425 has the illuminated FireDot Boone and Crockett. Item 184424 has the illuminated TMOA. We have retitled all three so you can tell them apart from the shop page.

Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex Optics and Illumination

Three to eighteen power is a six times zoom, which is what the VX-6HD name refers to. Field of view at 100 yards is 38.3 feet at 3x and 6.4 feet at 18x, and eye relief runs 3.7 inches low to 3.8 high. Precision side focus lets you dial parallax out from 50 yards to infinity, which matters on a scope that reaches 18x.

Illumination is daylight bright across eight settings on a CR2032, giving roughly 1600 hours on low, 1000 on medium and 300 on high. Daylight bright is a real distinction: many illuminated reticles wash out in sun and are only useful at dusk. This one stays visible at midday against a dark treeline.

Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex Turrets

Elevation is a CDS-SZL2 dial: Custom Dial System, side focus generation, with Zero Lock 2. Order a dial engraved in yards for your load, then range, turn and hold centre. The dial locks at your zero so it cannot creep past it, a revolution indicator tells you which turn you are on, and rezero uses Leupold SpeedSet. Windage is a Zero-Lock turret rather than a plain finger click.

Quarter MOA clicks, 20 MOA per revolution, 85 MOA of total travel in elevation and windage, with a 38 MOA dial travel limit. The Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex weighs 22.1 ounces and measures 13.5 inches. At that weight it is roughly nine ounces heavier than a VX-Freedom in a similar class, which is irrelevant on a truck gun and very noticeable on a mountain rifle.

Worth knowing before you commit: the 30mm tube means one inch rings will not fit the Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex. If you are moving a scope between rifles, check what your existing mounts are before you order.

Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex Specifications

Buying from Mag5 Firearms

Mag5 Firearms is a family owned FFL dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Optics need no transfer, so the Leupold VX-6HD 3-18×44 Duplex ships straight to your door. Full manufacturer detail is published on the Leupold product page. Leupold do not publish a finish colour or a lens coating name for this model, so we have not listed either as a manufacturer figure.

The other two reticle options sit alongside this one in our optics selection. Call us and tell us how you hunt and we will tell you which reticle suits it, because that is the only decision to make here.