Went to Cabelas compared different low power, heavy duty scopes for my 458 Lott.... settled on the VXIII 1.5x5 but here came the wrinkle; "What about the same scope in a 30mm tube with an illuminated reticle?"

My first impression is it is just one more thing to go wrong (break under the Lott's recoil) however for all I know they are the best thing since sliced bread for early morning and late evening.

Pro/Con? Money not really the issue within the Leupold line.

EKM

Bought one for my Safari last june. Worked like a charm, no problems. Easy to turn on/off, then its a regular scope. Used on my Weatherby 300.

I shot a leopard, 2-hyena, roan, duiker and buffalo using one on a .416, and lion, 2-buffalo, hippo and plainsgame on a .458 Lott. Obviously with the leopard, lion and hyena the illuminated reticle was a tremendous advantage over a standard crosshair.

The Leupold, with the turret on the rear, is not as attractive as the new Kahles or the S&B, but the Leopold costs a lot less too and is a "true" DG setup. I'd prefer one of the others w/6x at this point if it were to be used primarily for plainsgame and North America.

I can't imagine the illumination "breaking". When it's off (or the battery dies which can happen as the adjustment is too vague and it can be left or bumped on, so take a few spares which are cheap), it is a standard Leopold scope, period.

However, after about 150-200 rounds on the Lott the scope itself (1" tube, but should be no difference) is no longer adjustable.

I emailed Leupold to ask if they approve the usage of any of their scopes on the Lott, but so far no reply.

There are some good discussions on this topic in the history, including some pretty recent, do a search on a few of the key words ("illuminated").

Ekm, it is a no brainer as far as I am concerned...The fine red dot draws your eye...for precise aiming...Batteries at radio shack and if it fails the dot and hairs are still there.. 30MMtube more light...

Mike

I am in the same market and wondered whether to carry the 50mm leupold illuminated for leopard and as a spare scope, and then change it over to one of my deer rifles after I get back from Africa. Here in the south, where the deer are virtually nocturnal, the larger objective would let you get more light (and in the leopard blind too!).

Do you go with the 20mm or the 50mm? Kudude

You won't gain much by using the 50mm objective lense. Also, it will put the line of sight higher above the bore line. That could be a factor on a close range leopard shot. In the military sniper world the main objection to an illuminated reticle is that it blooms brightly if someone is watching through a night vision scope. I don't know if the big cats' vision extends into the infrared range. I do know that when I went through a sniper refresher course in 2000 we all tried shooting at night through an illuminated reticle and it was much easier than using a standard reticle.
The military has gone almost exclusively to red dot sights for close quarters battle situations for the reason mentioned above; the red dot sucks your eye right onto the point of impact.

lawndart

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Originally posted by Bill C:
However, after about 150-200 rounds on the Lott the scope itself (1" tube, but should be no difference) is no longer adjustable.

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Sounds like the old debate on Leupold vs Swarovski/Schmidt & Bender/Zeiss etc has some merit.

Illuminated or not, if this is the result I won't be buying another Leupold for a DGR.

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Illuminated or not, if this is the result I won't be buying another Leupold for a DGR.

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I think it's with the Lott where one needs to be careful...with any scope. If/when Leupold responds, I'll update.

I HAVE A SWAROVSKI 1.5-6 ILLUMINATED SCOPE MOUNTED ON MY WEATHERBY .416 MAGNUM. I WAS CONCERNED THAT THE ILLUMINATED MODEL MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE HEAVY RECOIL, AS WELL AS THE ABUSE IT WOULD EXPERIENCE IN THE BUSH. I CALLED SWAROVSKI DIRECTLY AND DISCUSSED MY CONCERNS. THEY TOLD ME THAT THEIR ILLUMINATED SCOPES HAVE TEMPERED GLASS CROSS-HAIR PLATES INSTEAD OF THE TYPICAL WIRE CROSS-HAIR SETUP, AND ARE RELATIVELY INDUSTRUCTABLE. IN MY OPINION, SWAROVSKI ILLUMINATED SCOPES ARE OUTSTANDING, AND WOULD NOT HESITATE TO PURCHASE ANOTHER.