New Service Rifle Scope from Leupold: VX-4.5HD
Service Rifle shooters now have a new optics option — a 1-4.5X Leupold. This new scope fits CMP/NRA rules allowing up to 4.5X power for Service Rifles. Leupold’s new 1-4.5×24mm VX-4.5HD Service Rifle optic features a 30mm maintube and 1-4.5 power zoom with HD glass. It will be offered with both standard and illuminated Bull-Ring-style reticles.
“When the High Power Service Rifle competitions announced that they’d be allowing the use of riflescopes, with a 4.5 magnification maximum, consumers immediately turned to us for a solution”, said Vici Peters, product line manager for Leupold & Stevens, Inc. “The VX-4.5HD delivers everything a Service Rifle competitor could want out of their optic, and is available with reticles that have been built to drive winning scores.”
VX-4.5HD Pricing vs. The Competition
With a base MSRP of $1820.00 and $1400 street price, this new Leupold is way more expensive than the 1-4x24mm $495.00 Konus XTC-30 Service Rifle scope. However, the Leupold’s street price undercuts the $1892.00 Nightforce 4.5x24mm Comp Scope by nearly $500.00. The March 1-4.5x24mm scope, at $2461.00 retail, is even more expensive, but the March does offer adjustable parallax, a valuable feature for longer ranges. We wish the new Leupold had adjustable parallax.
The new Leupold VX-4.5HD competes directly with the Nightforce 4.5x24mm Comp Scope shown above. Both the Leupold and NF lack the adjustable parallax of the March 1-4.5x24mm optic.
Competition Reticles with Smart Illumination Option
Two reticle types will be offered for the Leupold 1-4.5x24mm: 1) Bull-Ring Post; and 2) Illuminated FireDot Bull-Ring. At 4.5 power, the Bull-Ring will nearly be identical in size to the target’s bullseye. As magnification is turned down, the white ring around the bullseye can be adjusted to help center your aim. The FireDot Bull-Ring features MST (Motion Sensor Technology) that automatically deactivates illumination after 5 minutes of inactivity, and reactivates it when movement is detected.
More Affordable Options from Leupold
Interestingly, Leupold currently offers many other scopes that could be used for Service Rifle competition. Here are three that all cost much less than the VX-4.5HD:
1. VX-R Patrol 1.25-4x20mm, $779.99 MSRP
2. Mark AR Mod 1.5-4x20mm, $389.99 MSRP
3. VX Freedom 1.5-4x20mm, $259.99 MSRP
NOTE: None of the above Leupold scopes offer HD glass, and max magnification is 4X. If you want the 4.5X and premium lenses you have to pony up a lot more cash.
The new VX-4.5HD features a scratch-resistant Guard-Ion rain shedding coating. This scope also has Leupold’s proprietary Twilight Max HD Light Management System, which helps in low-light conditions, and also eliminates the image “wash-out” from direct sunlight. The VX-4.5HD is designed, machined, and assembled in the USA and backed by Leupold’s Full Lifetime Guarantee.
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Tags: AR Service Rifle, high power, Leupold Scope, March Scope, Nightforce 4.5X, Service Rifle Scope, VX-4.5HD
No thanks, at those prices for the VX-4.5HD, I’ll start looking into taking up another sport. That scope costs more than I paid for both of my iron sight service rifles and doesn’t even come with a mount. The cost of a bass boat is beginning to sound reasonable.
Editor: Well “street price” is $1399.99 at OpticsPlanet, but that’s still a lot of money. We are still waiting for a $600 straight 4.5X with adjustable parallax — front objective parallax would be fine. The pricey March has been used by top Service Rifle shooters at Camp Perry, but few folks will want to put nearly $2500 into a SR scope!
Jeebus. I’m with Steve: at those prices I’ll give the VX-Freedom and a ghost ring from White Oak a shot long before I (more than) double the cost of my Service Rifle with that optic, and then only if they actually put a parallax adjustment on the thing. If it were for Match Rifle I *might* accept that the better optic would make the difference on match day, but I’m hard pressed to believe that money wouldn’t be better spent on more practice, whether in the form of different ranges, coaching/classes, or simply more ammo and an extra upper.
What benifit does a variable give in service rifle?
Way too expensive for most service rifle shooters. What we need is a fixed power scope with better erector tube springs for repeatable adjustments, at a reasonable price. $500 is abour all I can afford for optics so will stick with my Nikon M223.
Remember just 3 years ago? $1400 was about the most you could conceivably spend on a Service Rifle; that would get you top of the line everything. Just about everyone from the winners of the P100 and NTI down to the guy who is just showing up to his first match shot pretty much the exact same rifle. Now guys are putting $2500 scopes in $300 mounts, and A2’s have all but disappeared from matches across the country. So much for the “level playing field” that Service Rifle used to offer, now it’s just another equipment race. Good job CMP and NRA!
Swfa has a real opportunity here. Their fixed power ss line is known for repeatable adjustments. A 4.5×32 with adjustable parallax would be a home run at 300 dollars.
There continues to not be a SR scope with:
fixed 4.5x
reliable tracking
reasonable glass
reasonable reticle
1 inch tube
parallax adjustment from 200-600 yards. (You do not need more…)
Reasonable price
Hey, Vici Peters. Yet again, Leupold put the emphasis in the wrong features. Build a good basic model with parallax before putting this thing on the street. You do not need a $750+ scope to shoot High Master scores.
I bought the Leupold FX-II (straight 4 power) last year from Midway for $300 – (White Oak didn’t have them in stock) send it to Leupold and had them put in a dot recticle ($60 then – $200 NOW), and put target knobs on it for about $150 – so I had a $500 scope. Shot a 480/500 in the Leg match last summer at Perry and a 196-10x (first shot an “8” at 600 yds)in the match. The scope worked just fine (now it sounds like Leupold may be dropping this scope from their line). Yup – me thinks there are some options out there that are lot less than $1800+ for a service rifle scope and they will do just fine.
Like some of the respondents here I will not be attending “so called” service rifle matches in any but the closest venues anymore. The NRA and CMP have successfully dealt a death blow to A2 matches.
Why in their infinite wisdom did the NRA/CMP not
have a scoped class and a iron sight class ??????