Check Today's Price

Pros - Includes FireDot illuminated reticle - Better-than-advertised magnification - Outstanding field of view Cons - Requires 30mm rings, with none included - No lens caps included - Rather expensive for the power of the scope

Welcome to our review of the Leupold VX-R 1.25–4x20mm Riflescope. This scope features Leupold’s all-new fiber optic LED illumination system, along with a sleek and businesslike look that will round out your favorite AR–15 variant. The question is, does the scope’s quality make it worth the pricetag? Let’s find out.

What Are the Scope’s Dimensions?

This tiny scope has a 20mm objective lens, so you might not expect much out of it. Then again, the scope is designed to make short-range shooting highly accurate, so you don’t need a wide objective lens.

This model’s eye relief isn’t anything to write home about, although it’s long enough to make your shooting comfortable and safe at 3.7 to 4.1 inches.

How Powerful Is The Glass?

The advertised magnification of this variant is 1.2X to 4X, but the truth is slightly better. Actual magnification is 1.5X to 4X, and the image quality is astounding across the entire zoom range. Clarity, crispness, and contrast (the three C’s) are all amazing, almost HD quality. The zoom selection wheel rotates freely and smoothly, but offers just enough resistance to keep you from rotating it when you don’t really mean it.

How is the Optics Quality on the Riflescope?

Leupold has spared no expense in this category. Not only does the manufacturer make use of its Index-Matched Coating System that matches each layer of lens coating application to the specific paramters of the glass, but the optics are fully multicoated to maximize the light transmission of the scope.

You’ll also enjoy a generous eyebox, which is surprising when you look at the tiny size of the scope. The FireDot reticle is simple and easy to use, with the illuminated dot helping draw your eye to the exact center of the crosshair and making the scope easier to use in low-light conditions.

What’s the Light Gathering Capability Like on the Scope?

You might expect a scope this small to have limited transmittance, especially since the 20mm objective lens is among the smallest I’ve ever seen. You’ll be surprised. The fully multicoated optics and illuminated reticle make this scope a dream to use for short-range shooting in low-light conditions.

How Wide is the Field of View?

The linear field of view of this scope is wider than anything I’ve ever seen before. You’ll be able to view 29 to 75 feet of terrain from 100 yards, depending on the magnification level selected.

How Easy is the Scope to Mount?

Mounting your scope has never been easier, as long as you have the rings you need. Just attach it to your rail, and the accessory is ready to rock and roll.

Any Tricks or Tips About Mounting the Scope?

This one’s a bit trickier than most, folks. Instead of the standard one-inch rings, you’ll need a set of 30mm scope rings. Unfortunately, Leupold doesn’t include them or lens caps with your purchase. Considering how expensive the scope is, I’m very disappointed by this fact.

How Easy is the Leupold Rifleman 3–9x50mm Riflescope to Sight In?

Sighting in your scope is pretty simple here, with easy-to-use windage and elevation adjustment controls. Once you have your scope mounted, be sure to use a laser bore-sighting tool to get started, so you don’t waste precious time or ammunition. Then you can head out to the rifle range and fine-tune your adjustments. With 90 MOA of adjustment range to both elevation and windage, you shouldn’t have any problems setting your scope to shoot perfect half-inch groupings. Once sighted in, your scope will hold zero almost forever.

How Durable is the Scope?

Most of the time, making a scope waterproof and fogproof is accomplished by sealing the lenses with O-rings and then nitrogen-purging the optics chamber. Leupold, in recent years, has refined this process even further, using argon and krypton gases instead in a mixture that is not only proprietary but exclusive to the manufacturer. The end result? A near elimination of the effects of thermal shock.

Even better, the scope is constructed from 6061-T6 aircraft-quality aluminum, so it’s not only shockproof and waterproof, but also shockproof.