Working on a MK12 Mod 1 build. Trying to decide between Leupold Mark 4 MR/T 2.5-8x36mm, Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 3.5-10x40mm or Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x42mm.
Anyone have any experience with these? which has the better glass? Rifle will be used for target shooting less than 300 yards and hunting less than 200 yards.
Second Focal Plane NF NXS 2.5-10x will fit that role nicely
The glass is great for the price, 2nd focal plane is very important at the ranges you mentioned. Leupold is overpriced for what they’re offering these days.
I have many NF scopes, and for target shooting 2-300 yards. You might want to look at NF value line. SHV I think it is.
$1,200 for a lot of features. I have one on my SPR and it has impressed me.
If your going NXS line, get the 3.5-15 X50. You will get better eye relief IMHO and more comfortable shooting.
PB
I too have the SHV F1 4-14x and it impresses me.
I wouldn’t get any other optic for less unless it was $400~ going on a hunting rifle.
personally and due to experience i don’t think any scope can compare to the Nightforce NXS, it cover all bases from magnification to clarity to efficiency
do this.
Appreciate the responses. I’ll check out the SHV line and the NXS 3.15-15.
My favorite spr scope to date is the Leupold Mark 4 TS30 A2 2.5-8x36. If you are shooting the prescribed 77 gr ammo, it’s almost too easy.
I have a lot of time with the Leupold Mk4, limited time with a NF. The Leupold have been mainstays on military rifles for a good while now with other optics popping up. Nothing wrong with them. That said, I would get a NF. I dislike mismatched reticle/turrets, for one. I don’t get indigestion with SFP vs FFP. But yeah, NF.
I have both the Mk4 LRT and the NF NXS scopes and prefer the NF NXS scope over the Leupold by a long shot. I used both as hunting scope on my LMT MWS at typical hunting ranges out to 400 yards. At this point I may sell the Leupold scope since it is sitting in my safe. The leupold is a fine scope but when I consider size and weight and head to head features the NF scope beats it in my book.
Thanks again for the responses, I will go with NXS NF more than likely 2.5-10x
I prefer Vortex Razor line.
Pat
The NXS line is unbeatable for cost and quality
Have you tried the 2.5-10x42? Not the retarded x24 model. The x42 is quite forgiving.
Personally I’d go 3-18x mark 6 with the short turrets.
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The Mark4’s seem to be no more though. I wanted to pick up a 2.5-8 or 3.5-10 for a true SPR clone since the 2.5-10x24 NXS are hard to come by and more expensive.
The two Mark 4 scopes you mention seem to be correct to an SPR clone the x42 NF isn’t.
I have a NF 2.5-10x32 on my SPR-ish rifle but it’s not a clone. Love the scope. Rugged, repeatable and reliable. Very clear bright glass.
Vortex doesn’t offer something in the size and magnification range OP asked about. The 3-18x50 is what, 44 ounces? Good scopes if weight is NO consideration.
I agree: the quality is excellent, and it’s hard to find a more expensive scope at a given magnification range than the NXS. Oh, there’s a few options from US Optics, Swarovski and Leica, not to mention the Nightforce ATACR series, but…
Anyway, it’s a premium product, the quality is there but it isn’t cheap.
The Mark 4 sold-as-such is discontinued, but the “new” VX3i-LRP line has some very familiar looking scopes:
https://www.leupold.com/hunting-shooting/scopes/vx-3i-lrp-riflescopes/
OP: I think the NXS is a better scope than the Mark 4 in most ways. I would consider a Mark 4 only if I could get a great closeout deal, which I did last year on one btw. At standard prices the NXS is an OK deal, and one of the best available options for moderate size with high quality and ruggedness, while the Mark 4 was overpriced. If it were my rifle I’d look at the NXS compact 2.5-10x32 and 2.5-10x42. I don’t like the pushbutton “digillum” on the x42, however. I hate single-pushbutton systems in general, and I think Nightforce’s implementation is among the worst, compared to say Leupold’s. The older x32 has a dial and doesn’t suffer from this problem.
Another option you might consider, although heavier, is the EOTech Vudu 2.5-10x42, which has outstanding illumination and overall seems like a very strong challenger to the NXS Compact 2.5-10x42, except for weight. EOTech uses a button system but has three of them, separate ones for on/off, brighter, and dimmer, and the reticle has no bleed or fuzziness issues - I’ve seen uneven illumination and minor light bleeding on several NXS scopes I’ve had my hands on, as well as a SHV (which appears to be derived from the NXS). The EOTech Vudu has perfect, even illumination that previously I had only seen on Steiner Military scopes. The Vudu scopes are made in Japan by LOW and I would assume they are no more likely to have temperature sensitivity issues than any other premium scope made at LOW, which includes the Nightforce NXS and SHV series, and major components of all other NF scopes.
^^^ really appreciate the info, will look into the Eotech. My build is not a 100% clone (spec war muzzle device instead of ops inc, Mur-1a upper and probably optics being the differences).
About a month or two ago every optics retailer, including the big box stores, were blowing out MK4s. Like 1/2 price.
I looked hard at them, but they are long in the tooth and still saddled by Mil reticles with MOA turrets and the like.
NXS or SHV from Nightforce.
I got mine at half price and could look past the handicaps for that. 
NXS no question. The SHV line is intentionally hobbled to avoid stealing sales from the NXS and ATACR: most models have no option for a mil-based reticle or mil adjustments, the MOA per turn is very limited, and the only model that does have a mil option, the F1 SHV, has rather short eye relief (although it’s a good scope otherwise) and is into the lower edge of NXS price territory. The SHV 3-10x would be a nice scope if you could get the MIL-R (or even a mildot) and mil adjustments. I just don’t have a use for the MOAR and MOA adjustments, and the IHR reticle is really limited to hunting type use at short ranges that don’t require any holdover. Also, while the F1 model seems to have very good glass, the 4-14x56mm model I owned for a time had just-OK glass, and reticle illumination was mediocre and uneven both asymmetrically (left was slightly brighter than right) and by axis (the vertical line was much brighter than the horizontal line).
I haven’t owned any of the newer top end Nightforce scopes (BEAST and ATACR) but my time with four NXS’s and one SHV makes me wonder about the “Night” part of the name, because none of them had great illumination. Their well-earned reputation is for ruggedness and repeatability, possibly the two most important features of a scope, but the illumination is not great. Here’s my short list of scopes I’ve owned with better illumination: Steiner Military; Leupold Mark 6; EOTech Vudu; Burris XTRII; Vortex Viper PST; Weaver Tactical 3-15x50 EMDR and 6-30x56 IMDR. The first three are somewhat expensive, but the PST and EMDR are not so expensive, well under $1k.