While there are a number of quality optics manufacturers, few enjoy name brand recognition as widespread as Leupold and Stevens, Inc.  A fifth generation family run business, the Beaverton, Oregon based corporation has annual sales exceeding $160 million and employs over 700 people.  Leupold has long been known for their quality optics and “Gold Ring” warranty.  I’m here to find out if their VX-6, 1-6x24mm riflescope is another quality optic that upholds the Leupold name.

First let’s look at the specs on this thing.  As mentioned above, the magnification is adjustable between 1x and 6x while aiming with the duplex reticle.  The 30mm tube has a 24mm objective lens.  The lens has diamondcoat-2 scratch resistance as well as the Xtended Twilight lens system.  Coming in at 14.6 ounces and 10.7″ inches long, this doesn’t feel like an iron dumbbell atop your rifle like some scopes do.

Upon pulling this riflescope out of the box, I immediately noticed the way this feels… solid.  Like the whole scope was milled out of a single piece of granite.  Really light granite.  The magnification knob is stiff, we’ll see if it will loosen up before long.  The sight picture is beautifully clear through the entire zoom range.  The standoff needed for proper eye relief isn’t nearly as unforgiving as some other scopes I’ve shot with.  The adjustment knobs have excellent tactile clicks when moving and pop up to spin freely for a reset-able zero.

As far as grading a riflescope with some hands-on in the garage, this gets an A.  The glass is clear, the knobs are tight and the whole package feels robust.  Garage time doesn’t mean squat in the real world, so it’s time to get six or ten range trips under my belt with this and I’ll get back to you.

Stay tuned..

Authors Note:  Since I started taking the above notes, I did use Leupold’s VX-6 in a review for an upper receiver.  For those interested in reading about that it can be found here.