I was considering this for my deer rifle. Seems it would be nice for hunting...not so good for shooting groups..I've always used the standard duplex.

I have two Leupold scopes of the 4.5-14x 40mm flavour. One has the heavy duplex, the other the standard (i.e. rather fine) duplex.

I can shoot equally small groups with either, and the heavy duplex is indeed better to see in the dark woods as the sun goes down.

John

Go with the heavy! No comparison in the real world of hunting.

I have one 6x42 Leupold w/Heavy Duplex - can't imagine it any other way!

Also a bunch our European scopes with Heavy Duplexes or Recticles - I love 'em.

I also agree 100% with John on the group size issue - makes no difference to me either, if you can hold and bench a rifle then you'll get the same itty-bitty groups as with a Dot, Duplex or Crosshair at normal ranges (distance) and with a normal range of magnification for a hunting scope.

I have a VX III 1.75 X 6X x 32 heavy duplex reticle on order for my .416 Rugby

I have an 1885 in 45-70. Since my hunting is short range I got the 1x4 shotgun scope [75 yd parallex] The heavy duplex covered 3" at 100 yds !!!! That's more than the book mentioned and terrible for the 1 MOA groups of the 1885 . I had the put on the thin duplex and I've been happy ever since !

I have two Leupold Vari-X III (old series) 2.5-8, which I had equipped with heavy duplex reticles. I really like the reticle for hunting, it seems very fast to pick up. I would not put one on a varmint or a target rifle - for obvious reasons - but for big game it works very well.

I have also found the heavy duplex to be somewhat of a handicap if you want to shoot minute groups. At least you need a target suitable to your reticle subtension, or use an angled bulls-eye and fit that into the one of quadrants of the reticle. I rarely do the latter, and then have to rely on a heavier bulls-eye.

All in all, I still very much like the reticle - at least if I can't have my favourite setup: THICK outers and THIN inners.

- mike

I have a heavy duplex on my Leupold VX III 1.5 - 5 X 20mm which I have used in the Hoedspruit area of South Africa. It seemed just fine for me except for one relatively long shot on a Jackal (I should add that I still made a successful shot). It is definitely not a varmint set-up as the posts are a little thick for a small animal at anything over 180 yards. But for the Wildebeest, Kudu, Impala, the Warthog at about 160 yards (and anything else in bushveld conditions) they worked just fine. Easy to see the posts in the thick brush.

My reticle choice has been CPC which is a tapered crosshair don't really like duplex reticles but can't always find CPC's.

I have it on a VX-II 2-7x33...IMHO, the worst reticle I have on any of my guns...not that it is "bad"..it just isn't "good"

Used it for years on Leupolds.
Great reticle for big game hunting at dusk and dawn.
The best they have in my opinion is the German #4. Work lik a dream and centers the eye the way a ghost ring does.