I have heard that there are no internal differences between the VX-3 and Mark 4 rifle scopes and that the glass is the same. You might check out the forum at snipershide.com for more discussion on the subject.
I am a Leupold man and believe in their products, but I think you'll find the main difference is the marketing buzzword "tactical". It's the new "short mag" and you know you can't have a super duper black rifle w/o a "tactical" scope. It just wouldn't be right.