Mark5HD or NF 6.5CM

Cafard

Cafard

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
77   0   0
Hello everyone im saving to buy my scope for my 6.5 CM and the 2 that i have in mind are the Leupold Mark 5 HD 5-25 PR2-Mil and the NF ATACR Mil-XT. Never handled any of them as i live in a hole and nobody around we would even consider buying a scope of that category so i cant choose.

I like the price and the weight of the Mark5 HD but i dont like that i would not have illumination for hunting scenarios.

About the ATACR i like everything beside the higher price and the fact that the eyepiece move with the magnification. I would buy the 5-25 but if its not available i would consider the 4-20.

Rifle will be used to shooting, deer hunting at 100 to 500 yards and coyote.

Anyone that want to point out different scope just so you know, i prefer capped windage turret.

Thanks everyone for their opinion.

G
 
I've had both. I'd go with the Leupold and would not pay extra for the illumination and just hunt with it on a bit higher magnification if you need to see the reticle.

The rotating eye piece can be a bit of a pain on the Atacr and it's probably what I like least about it. I feel the NF has better glass though and you pay for it.

The locking turret on the Leupold and easy to set zero stop are nice bonus features along with the cheaper price tag.

Good luck
 
I'd go with the Leupold. I don't know where you live, but in AB if it is legal to pull the trigger you won't have a problem seeing the reticle.

FWIW I just picked up a Steiner M5xi. I picked it over the Leupold. The biggest strike against the Leupold is the 35mm tube. Ring / mount availability isn't as good as 34mm tubes.
 
Both scopes are great and I would choose the Leupold due to weight and cost.
A 5x is a little strong for a hunting rifle in my opinion but that is just personal
Are you doing anything else with the rifle? It is a lot of scope for a 100-500yard deer rifle
Both would be FFP and heavier weight with a higher cost but there are benefits as well
 
Fore300 said:
Both scopes are great and I would choose the Leupold due to weight and cost.
A 5x is a little strong for a hunting rifle in my opinion but that is just personal
Are you doing anything else with the rifle? It is a lot of scope for a 100-500yard deer rifle
Both would be FFP and heavier weight with a higher cost but there are benefits as well
Click to expand...

Yup ''long range'' shooting and field hunting. Most likely to not take any shot under 200 yards. I took out a buck last year at 425 yards with my VX5 and it was how far i was confortable to go with that scope.
 
Bfranklin said:
I'd go with the Leupold. I don't know where you live, but in AB if it is legal to pull the trigger you won't have a problem seeing the reticle.

FWIW I just picked up a Steiner M5xi. I picked it over the Leupold. The biggest strike against the Leupold is the 35mm tube. Ring / mount availability isn't as good as 34mm tubes.
Click to expand...

True about legal hunting time the 1k$ surplus probably wont make for it for the 5 mins in the morning and the 5 mins at dusk. For the rings i got some pretty ARC 35mm M10 rings already :)
 
SJAR said:
I've had both. I'd go with the Leupold and would not pay extra for the illumination and just hunt with it on a bit higher magnification if you need to see the reticle.

The rotating eye piece can be a bit of a pain on the Atacr and it's probably what I like least about it. I feel the NF has better glass though and you pay for it.

The locking turret on the Leupold and easy to set zero stop are nice bonus features along with the cheaper price tag.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Everything you said make sense to me! Thanks for your time
 
Having sold a Mark 5HD 5-25x56 with the new PR2 reticle for a Nightforce Atacr 5-25 MOAR i would steer towards the Leupold.

The Atacr had slightly better glass (less CA), a marginally better turret feel and illumination. That’s about it.

The Leupold has an Awesome locking elevation turret, great glass, good weight, and now a pretty awesome reticle option in the PR1 and PR2 reticle. Also an option for some of the best (in my opinion) Objective covers in the alumina series. Yeah it would be nice to get the illumination in the Mark 5 but it’s a pretty big up charge and the amount of times I would use it would be slim.

Honestly really regret selling the Mark 5 and will most likely end up buying another one. :rolleyes:
 
For a hunting scope the mark5 3.6-18 would be great, nice and compact, you can get it illuminated, I don't think you can get it with the PR2, but the TMR would be great, unless you see yourself shooting precision matches I wouldn't worry about the PR2, the TRM will serve you well. If you plan on shooting precision matches aswell, and feel you need illumination, I would pick another scope brand. Plenty of great scopes out there with excellent mill reticles, and illumination, and 5-25ish range of magnification, and locking turrets. nothing against night force they are great but like you pointed out with the moving eye piece and I think there are better bang for your buck out there. Check out this new Canadian brand (Made in Japan). https://apexoptics.co (.co not .com)
 
I'd throw in a recommendation for the NF NX8 2.5-20 since you're looking for a crossover hunting/long range precision optic.

I have a couple of the 5-25 Mk5s on my "PRS" match guns and really like them and was debating getting the 3.6-18 for my precision/hunting rifle (20" .308/26" 7saum switch barrel). I ended up going with the NX8 because it weighs about the same as the small Mk5 but has a fantastic reticle (Mil-XT) that comes with illumination whereas there's a big upcharge for illumination on the Mk5 and your reticle choices are either super basic (TMR) or super busy (Horus T3). So far, I really haven't had any issues with the NX8, it tracks perfectly, has nice glass, holds zero. I don't like that the parallax isn't marked but a strip of white electric tape and a fine tip sharpie solved that.

I only have limited time behind any of the ATACRs but I'd still say they're a "better" scope than a Mk5 or NX8 but not much better and much more expensive and heavy.
 
rugbydave said:
I'd throw in a recommendation for the NF NX8 2.5-20 since you're looking for a crossover hunting/long range precision optic.

I have a couple of the 5-25 Mk5s on my "PRS" match guns and really like them and was debating getting the 3.6-18 for my precision/hunting rifle (20" .308/26" 7saum switch barrel). I ended up going with the NX8 because it weighs about the same as the small Mk5 but has a fantastic reticle (Mil-XT) that comes with illumination whereas there's a big upcharge for illumination on the Mk5 and your reticle choices are either super basic (TMR) or super busy (Horus T3). So far, I really haven't had any issues with the NX8, it tracks perfectly, has nice glass, holds zero. I don't like that the parallax isn't marked but a strip of white electric tape and a fine tip sharpie solved that.

I only have limited time behind any of the ATACRs but I'd still say they're a "better" scope than a Mk5 or NX8 but not much better and much more expensive and heavy.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out! I truly have to consider the NX8, at 28 oz and 2600$ i get everything i need + the illumination. My only question is how tight is the eye box at max magnification? Look to be a very good scope for the money
 
TylerCJ said:
Having sold a Mark 5HD 5-25x56 with the new PR2 reticle for a Nightforce Atacr 5-25 MOAR i would steer towards the Leupold.

The Atacr had slightly better glass (less CA), a marginally better turret feel and illumination. That’s about it.

The Leupold has an Awesome locking elevation turret, great glass, good weight, and now a pretty awesome reticle option in the PR1 and PR2 reticle. Also an option for some of the best (in my opinion) Objective covers in the alumina series. Yeah it would be nice to get the illumination in the Mark 5 but it’s a pretty big up charge and the amount of times I would use it would be slim.

Honestly really regret selling the Mark 5 and will most likely end up buying another one. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Glad to read that Tyler, thanks for your time!
 
Camoman1 said:
For a hunting scope the mark5 3.6-18 would be great, nice and compact, you can get it illuminated, I don't think you can get it with the PR2, but the TMR would be great, unless you see yourself shooting precision matches I wouldn't worry about the PR2, the TRM will serve you well. If you plan on shooting precision matches aswell, and feel you need illumination, I would pick another scope brand. Plenty of great scopes out there with excellent mill reticles, and illumination, and 5-25ish range of magnification, and locking turrets. nothing against night force they are great but like you pointed out with the moving eye piece and I think there are better bang for your buck out there. Check out this new Canadian brand (Made in Japan). https://apexoptics.co (.co not .com)
Click to expand...

Yup the 3.6-18 is another good option to consider, id choose the PR1 ret.

I like to see growing Canadian company! if only that windage turret would be capped :)
 
I got the VX5 with PLEX/Firedot for 3 years now on my Tikka moose rifle and i have not used the illumination yet. I kind of answer my question by myself but i bet you dont need the illumination until you need the illumination X_X
 
Cafard said:
Thanks for pointing that out! I truly have to consider the NX8, at 28 oz and 2600$ i get everything i need + the illumination. My only question is how tight is the eye box at max magnification? Look to be a very good scope for the money
Click to expand...

I haven't found the eye box to be tight at 20x but to be honest, I only ever shoot at max mag when zeroing or doing load dev. I shoot positional around 11-13 and prone around 13-16. I'll zoom in at times in a match setting if shooting at truly tiny targets (like a KYL) or if I'm having trouble resolving a target and in a hunting setting to PID, count points, etc but otherwise I never crank it that high. In practice I shoot small targets (around 1 moa) and normally do that at 11-13x.
 
Yup 24’’ 6.5cm into a MCS-PRS1T. 13-14 pounds rifle mainly for LR shooting but that i will carry in open fields for yote and deer when i have minimal walking to do. Pretty much set on the mk5 5-25 or 3.6-18.

Thanks everyone!
 
Be careful with the NX8 in that configuration I had trouble with the eye box on it and I have really good vision at 20/10. I could not get comfortable behind that particular scope myself, the guys at Insite arms warned me about it as well. I still wanted to try it.

Sold it and went with a Leupold Mark5 much happier now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom