Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Scope Review

Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Riflescopes are popular among hunters who like to hunt during dawn or dusk, the time when the deer, mules, and big games remain active. Leupold’s VX 3i 4.5-14×50 Scopes are excellent performers during low light conditions. VX-3i line is the latest line of scopes released by Leupold in their VX-3 series. They have included their Twilight Max Light Management system. This system features coatings that help to make the red and blue colors more visible to the eyes. These two colors are the most important ones that help hunters to have better viewing experience in twilight (dawn or dusk). Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Riflescopes are best for hunters who look for medium to long range hunting, up to a range of 1,000 yards. Now, let’s have a closer look at the various aspects of Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Scope.

Ergonomics & Construction

Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Riflescope is a compact scope that works excellently with AR-15 rifles. It comes with a 30mm main scope tube, built from aircraft aluminum. This gives it a rugged housing. Leupold gold ring is visible over the exterior of the objective lens housing, giving it an elegant look. Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 long range scope comes with a matte black finish, giving it a strong and attractive look. One of the most important things to check in this scope is the look at the time of mounting on the rifle. Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Scopes have a short front ring mounting location but a long rear, giving it a unique look on the rifle. This scope comes with a durable Leupold Scope Cover that is built from water-resistant, nylon-laminated neoprene. This cover protects the scope lens during transport or when not used.

Optical Quality

Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Scopes comes with high-quality lens coupled with advanced coating system.

For enhanced light transmission, Leupold has incorporated the Twilight Max Light Management System. This coating system enhances light transmission throughout the entire color spectrum with special emphasis on blue and red lights, which enables hunters to view the games even in low light conditions. The big games along with whitetail and mules become more active during twilight (whether it’s during dawn or dusk). The hunters like to hunt and score more during these hours. Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Scopes enable these hunters to hunt successfully during all light conditions especially in twilight hours, thanks to the Twilight Max Light Management System, incorporated on the high-quality lens.

For better visibility through the glass, Leupold has incorporated blackened edge lenses that reduce diffusion as well as glare so that there is an improvement in lens contrast and resolution. Leupold VX-3i 4.5 14×50 riflescopes come with ion-assist lens coating (known as DiamondCoat 2) on exterior lens surfaces, providing them with the greatest level of abrasion resistance as well as more light transmission. This feature also helps in providing brighter, clearer, and more contrast images so that hunters can hunt in the wildest places on earth.

Overall, the optical quality is good. Whether it is clarity, resolution, brightness, contrast, or color this Leupold riflescope line provides you with decent performance in all light conditions (especially in low light conditions).

Turrets

Many models of Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Scopes have been incorporated with specialized elevation dials called Custom Dial System or CDS. This specialized elevation dial helps long-range hunters and shooters to dial elevation with respect to varying sight-in ranges having the custom adjustment that is matched to specific ballistics information.

A single rotation on the elevation turret of Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 LRP Scopes takes you through either 5 MRAD or MOA, depending upon the specific configuration. The LRP micrometer turrets maintain the same physical height across the entire range of 34 MRAD. The greatest advantage of this turret is that same visibility is maintained from behind the scope no matter what the rotational range is.

Leupold Optics has also included a zero stop feature, which can be activated and turned freely by simply loosening two set screws in the turret. You have to spin the knob till micrometer sleeve slides back up and consequently gets aligned at zero. Now, you simply have to tighten the knobs and the zero stop is now working. There’s also an indicator located at the bottom of the turret that clearly shows what is the number of mils that have been dialed at a particular point in time. Therefore, you are never lost on the elevation dial knob and always know how much you’ve dialed and how much is still left. Though most of the hunters generally shoot at 500 to 600 meters, with this scope on a .308 or an AR rifle, you can easily hit a target or bring down an animal at a range of 1,100meters.

The parallax adjustment turret is located at the left side of the riflescope’s turret console. This knob has been marked with regular white dots continuing to the infinity symbol. This side focus knob at Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Riflescope is easy to access, hold, and turn. Therefore, you can keep turning the parallax adjustment knob from behind the scope until the view is crystal clear.

Reticles & Focal Plane

Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Riflescopes come with wide array of reticle choices located in either First Focal Plane (FFP) or Second Focal Plane (SFP).

FFP Reticle Options

SFP Reticle Options

Leupold has also incorporated Ballistics Aiming System with select models of Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Riflescopes. This feature helps long range hunters and shooters to get multiple aiming points for longer distances, variable wind speeds, and infinite power selector settings for matching with the ballistics of rifle. With BAS feature, you can take accurate, long-range shots.

Conclusion

Leupold VX-3i 4.5-14×50 Scope-line is an amazing scope for medium to long range shooting and is a preferred choice of accomplished hunters who like to hunt in dim light conditions (when the games are most active). In fact, the image quality remains clear even in cases of sunny conditions or high glare. The turret systems are consistent and most importantly simple to use. The specialty of this scope is that you’ll get high-quality performance at a price under $1,000 (for FFP scopes) and under $800 (for SFP scopes).

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