HiLux Leatherwood Scope

[AJ]

Not sure where to post this question as I see no "Optics Section". I have a friend that is looking at buying a HiLux Leatherwood Scope in 4-16X. I shot a Leatherwood ART II scope when I was stationed at NS Long Beach. They were mounted on match grade M-14's. At 500 yards and 700 yards they did well. Was wondering about the HiLux versions?

To the Mods, if this is in the wrong place please move it and let me know.

Thanks for any info.

AJ

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The used to be a real Leatherwood floating around for sale. The word is the military cops (I don't which department) caught up to the person in possession. Not one has ever been surplused!

I have a couple of large size and large power Nightforce scopes. My second is a 5.5-22 x 56mm NFX (side focus). When I bought it 11 years ago it was $2250, and worth every penny to me. I have friends with some amazing scopes (at amazing prices!). The only way to tell if one is better than another is, for the shooter to use his eyeball and do side by side comparisons! one test is reading Newpaper headlines. At the same power which reads further the same newspaper.

The technical specifications on all the big scopes are fantastic. But one person's eyeball will see things differently than another person's eyes will.

Plan on using 1000 or 1500 yards of field or range. At a similar distance, how many feet back into a tree line can you read the same headline. You will be surprised the differences between two or three scopes present you with.

One guy I shot with had a Stiner at about 10 power fixed but the objective lense was about 4-4.5 inches (100 to 115mm). He loved it! for $4500 he should have. I looked through it and was very unimpressed! For that day he shot very well. And that is what counts.

Ivan

 

[AJ]

The used to be a real Leatherwood floating around for sale. The word is the military cops (I don't which department) caught up to the person in possession. Not one has ever been surplused!

I have a couple of large size and large power Nightforce scopes. My second is a 5.5-22 x 56mm NFX (side focus). When I bought it 11 years ago it was $2250, and worth every penny to me. I have friends with some amazing scopes (at amazing prices!). The only way to tell if one is better than another is, for the shooter to use his eyeball and do side by side comparisons! one test is reading Newpaper headlines. At the same power which reads further the same newspaper.

The technical specifications on all the big scopes are fantastic. But one person's eyeball will see things differently than another person's eyes will.

Plan on using 1000 or 1500 yards of field or range. At a similar distance, how many feet back into a tree line can you read the same headline. You will be surprised the differences between two or three scopes present you with.

One guy I shot with had a Stiner at about 10 power fixed but the objective lense was about 4-4.5 inches (100 to 115mm). He loved it! for $4500 he should have. I looked through it and was very unimpressed! For that day he shot very well. And that is what counts.

Ivan

I am wanting to know if the HiLux Leatherwoods are durable? I know their copies of the Unertl 8X are pricey! I understand everyone has their favorites. I have a 36X and a 24X Leupolds that I am partial to using for distance. i have several old Lyman 25X's that are fabulous on my old match .22's. A friend who hunts all over the world uses nothing but Swarovski's, won't use anything else.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Does HiLux have a forever warranty like Leupold?

I have a Unertl 2" Varminter in 15x. It's a little over 55 years old and going strong! I currently have it on a Low Wall 38-55 for a challenge on ground hogs.

Ivan

 

[6string]

Aren't Hi-Lux scopes made in China?

There's no upside to that!
I'd pass!

 

[Swiftflyer]

I have used this one for 10 or 12 years and am happy with it, would buy another one.

 

[fordson]

I have a HiLux Leatherwood 2.5x B73 (Weaver replica) mounted to a 1903a3 - it’s a faux A4. Quality is good, holds zero shooting a 30-06. Very limited elevation and windage but that’s more a limitation of the original design than reproduction manufacturing issues.

 

[AJ]

Does HiLux have a forever warranty like Leupold?

I have a Unertl 2" Varminter in 15x. It's a little over 55 years old and going strong! I currently have it on a Low Wall 38-55 for a challenge on ground hogs.

Ivan

Never checked, just wanted to know if anybody had comments on the HiLux Scopes.

I for one do not like Unertl's. I much prefer Lyman's and Leupolds. Most of my Lymans are way over 50 years old, but work perfectly. Oldest scope I had was an original Malcom (they ceased production in 1940). The Malcom worked well, but a friend wanted it for his collection, so we worked a trade.

Sorry, to get off on a tangent as this thread was about the HiLux Leatherwoods. Not who makes what.

AJ

 

[Rodan]

My only experience with HiLux is their 2-7x LER. I've had two on scout rifles and they were very good. The first, I bought as a place holder to see if I really liked the scout configuration, with the intent of replacing later with a 'name brand' scope. It was good enough that it was never replaced, and I bought a second for the next scout rifle I built.

As Ivan noted, the 'eye of the beholder' is very important, and looking through the optic under shooting conditions is the only way to really evaluate them.

I was recently involved in T&E for optic selection on a project for work, and we evaluated a number of different optics, from some big names including Vortex and Nightforce. I took a couple of Athlon and Arken optics that I own personally to compare to the big guns just for curiosity. The results were often surprising, with the Arken "cheapo" punching far above its weight, and the NF NX8 being a dissapointment to all of us.

You really gotta look through them, preferably back to back.

 

[Krogen]

Not sure where to post this question as I see no "Optics Section". I have a friend that is looking at buying a HiLux Leatherwood Scope in 4-16X. I shot a Leatherwood ART II scope when I was stationed at NS Long Beach. They were mounted on match grade M-14's. At 500 yards and 700 yards they did well. Was wondering about the HiLux versions?

To the Mods, if this is in the wrong place please move it and let me know.

Thanks for any info.

AJ

I'm glad you posted this, AJ. I'm looking to put a scope on a Springfield M1A. These eyeballs don't work as well as they used to. I'm good with windage, but planting the bullseye on top of the front post is iffy. Earlier this week I was shooting our 500 yd range and got 6-7 MOA of vertical stringing but held to 1-2 MOA of windage.

Somebody said "that's not bad for your age."

To which I said: ________ !

I just can't bring myself to put a "new fangled" scope like Leupold, Nightforce etc. on this sort of rifle. It just grates on me like scopes on lever guns. But that's just me, I suppose.

The Hi Lux / Leatherwood ART clone looks like a good fit. I also wonder about durability and repeatability. In their service rifle scope, they offer stainless guts as an option over the their baseline brass guts. One has to wonder if the brass wore too quickly and they now offer stainless as an improvement at higher cost.

I'm very interested in the group's experiences with current day Hi-Lux / Leatherwood scopes. Specifically, this one:

Automatic Ranging Trajectory (ART) - Hi-Lux Optics