Leupold's Mark 6™ 3-18x44 Tactical Scope

The Mark 6™ 3-18×44  was the scope of choice for several very recent projects on Real Guns. It performed so well that I didn’t want to move on to other things without a little more specific mention to readers.

The Mark 6™ 3-18×44 was also mounted on a new Ruger SR556TD, a gas driven piston firearm with a quick change barrel system and then shot as both a 5.56mm and 300 Blackout. While the mismatch between cartridges and reticle prevented me from using the predefined hold over and wind hold features of the scope, its Front Focal Plane position allowed use of the scope’s ranging and target sizing features to determine my own hold over and wind hold aiming points on the reticle.

As a note on the scope’s precision and predictability of adjustment, I ran one cycle of barrel changes. sighting in each and noting elevation and windage adjustment position. I was then able to swap barrels, set adjustment to my notes and be on target with either barrel without scope setting live fire. Of course, with the correct reticle selection the scope would have been matched to any of the noted cartridge/rifle combinations.

The Mark 6 3-18x44mm M5B2 may be purchased with one of 8 different types of reticles, some illuminated and some non-illuminated versions. The subject scope has a  Close Mid-Range Reticle – CMR-W 7.62.  This reticle is optimized for 308 Winchester class cartridges. A 200 yard zero  serves as a 50 yard aiming point and the hold over and wind hold points carry from from 300 to 1200 meters.

There is no low buck equivalent

The Mark 6’s quality is exceptional. There are folks who think if one scope shares superficial similarities or a couple of obvious specs with another, they must be the same… somehow convincing themselves that the features of a $2,000 to $3,000 scope can be found in a $300 – $500 scope. It just doesn’t happen. Sometimes, however, a rifle is shot only in bright daylight or in moderate weather conditions, or it has only modest recoil, or it spends its life on a shooting bench, so performance differences are less obvious. For anyone who is out and about in tough environments, hunting unfamiliar terrain, or mounts a rifle scope on a more enthusiastically kicking firearm, the Mark 6 differences are abundantly clear.

The Mark 6™ 3-18×44 Tactical Scope is 2″ – 3″ shorter than competitor’s products with a similar magnification range. The Mark 6 is even 1.6″ shorter than Leupold’s own VX-6. Leupold was able to shorten the Mark 6 without distortion with the use of additional lens elements and by utilizing glass of exceptional quality in the manufacture of their lenses. Other Mark 6 features…

The Xtended Twilight Lens System is actually a multiple of features that combine indexed matched glass with wavelength specific lens coatings. Optical quality glass is assigned a refractive index that describes its light propagating characteristics. By index matching glass used in all of the scope’s lenses, light passes uniformly from objective lens to eyepiece. Visible light is comprised of the colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The human eye is most sensitive to green, a dominant component of light in bright daylight and the color many scope manufacturers’ use when advertising their product’s light transmission rating. Unfortunately, where light transmission is most important is not high noon, but rather at dusk and dawn, twilight periods.

During twilight periods the amount of green light sharply diminishes, replaced with blue and violet, two colors our eyes are not sensitive in detecting. So the scope rated at 95% green light transmission is far less efficient at twilight. Leupold matches its lens coatings to its indexed glass in a manner that does not obstruct green light transmission, but vastly improves the transmission of blue and violet where it will do the most good, near dusk and dawn. Working with the Mark 6 under the dense Maine woodland canopy, in side by side comparisons with competing products, the Mark 6’s image was obviously brighter than other scopes in its class.

DiamondCoat 2… Having great optics is one thing, keeping them that way is not always so easy. Fortunately, Leupold’s clear diamond like carbon thin film coating not only exceeds military standards for hardness and durability in the harshest environment, it also boosts light transmission.

The Mark 6’s Twin Bias Spring Erector System features beryllium-copper alloy leaf springs and provides 30% more holding force. As a result, the Mark 6 image remains sharp edge to edge across the entire 6:1 zoom range and are able to withstand the most intense recoil and abuse.

The rear Mark 6 controls would be difficult to miss, large griping surface and stay put designs. The fast focus eyepiece can be set and locked. The power ring requires effort to change, but it feels like it is rolling on bearings.

Side focus and horizontal adjustment is firm, positive. Horizontal adjustment, like elevation, is 1/10th MIL increments and both settings can be indexed to zero once a rifle has been sighted in. M5B2 pinch and turn adjustment assures setting remain as set, until pinched to unlock for adjustment. From practical experience, use in the field quickly becomes second nature.

The Mark 6 is 100% Waterproof and Fog Proof, utilizing 2nd Generation Argon/Krypton waterproofing in place of Nitrogen gas filling. The use of Argon/Krypton nearly eliminates the effects of thermal shock, and the Argon/Krypton molecules reduce the diffusion of gases sealed inside the scope. The large 34mm tube significantly increases the strength and stability of the scope and it provides greater erector assembly travel, which is seen in the Mark 6’s 100 MOA range of elevation adjustment.

With several Picatinny rail equipped firearms in the schedule, semiauto and bolt action, the Mark 6 scope was mounted using Leupold’s Integral Mounting System, which made moving the scope to different firearms easy. Lightweight, but very strong, the mount kept the scope in place, while maintaining precise adjustment.

Final note….

Great scope and excellent mounting system! For further information, stop by the Leupold website.