Happy Wiggler Wednesday Everybody!

As my season of optics testing continues, I've had the fortunate opportunity to obtain a Leupold MK 8 CQBSS.

I've been curious about this optic for a long time, as I've always perceived it as an optic that would be a very good jack-of-all-trades. After using it for a bit, I've come to view the CQBSS as a niche optic. As always, I will make changes and adjustments to this thread if I find anything significant or relevant to report.

If you're interested in reading a technical review, BIG JIM FISH has written an excellent CQBSS technical review at Snipershide.com. I agree with his conclusions 100% and any technical data I could provide would only be re-hashing what he's already written. He also does a good job of explaining the "Beam Splitter Illumination" tech in the MK 8.

I'll try to provide my thoughts from an end-user perspective. I've been mainly thinking about this optic in an operational role so I apologize in advance if I fail to take into account the LEO perspective.

On to the notes!



MECHANICAL CONSTRUCITON AND DESIGN:
The design, fit and finish live up to the expectations that you would expect from a +$3,000 optic. Again, read BIG JIM FISH's review for a comparison to optics of similar price and features. Optical Clarity is second to none, eye relief and eye box are very generous. I don't know if its a byproduct of optical clarity, but I caught myself shooting with two eyes open at 8x a few times. All turret clicks are positive and audible. Magnification changes are fast and easy to execute as the optic is designed to allow the user's entire hand to grip and rotate the rear housing of the optic. The entire unit feels very robust and durable.

PRACTICAL USEAGE:
As I've stated above, the CQBSS seems to be a niche product. It straddles a line between a full blown precision optic, and a 4x / 1-4x variable power optic. I believe that its size and weight prevent it from being an optimal choice on a 5.56 gun, and the fact that its maximum magnification is 8x prevents the CQBSS from being a precise optic for shooting at +800 meters on a long gun. Don't get me wrong, I think that the CQBSS could fill either role in a pinch, but that doesn't seem to be what it was designed to do. I think that the CQBSS was made to live on top of a modern battle rifle. Some kind of 16" - 18" .308 autoloader. Its weight compared to larger optics becomes an advantage when you begin to think about attaching it to a rifle that already weights +13 lbs. Its ability to quickly go from 1.1x - 8x gives the battle rifle shooter the ability to do what their gun was designed to do, which is quickly put large caliber bullets on target from 25 - 800m.

- Two things really stood out to me on the CQBSS. Those are the glass and the turrets. BIG JIM wrote about the glass, so I'll cover the turrets. Leupold is doing something with the turrets that I haven't seen anywhere else. The elevation (and windage) turret has a user-replaceable ring that simultaneously provides standard 0.1 mil markings, and ballistically calibrating markings. The numbers on the bottom of the ring (see picture below) indicates 0.1 mil increments. The numbers on the top indicate the position to turn the dial in order to impact at specific distances. MY CQBSS came with a ring calibrated for a 178gr .308 bullet. The optic is zero'ed at 100m so the "1" marking is my zero. The "2" is center impact at 200m, "3" at 300m, and so on. This system is interesting in that it allows the shooter to operate quickly (Not optimally) without a dope card, but still provides the ability to use .mil adjustments as one normally would. It also gives the user the advantages of having a ballistically calibrated optic, with little extra cost. If the user switches ammunition types, only a relatively inexpensive ring needs to be replaced v. a complete reticle or turret change.
- The turrets are also well thought out from the perspective of an end-user in a field environment. When fully "set" the turrets only offer a single rotation (10 mils) of adjustment, with an additional 0.2 mils of adjustment below zero, baked in for good measure. In order to achieve more adjustment or adjust zero, the user only needs to loosen two allen screws (per turret), pull up, and re-tighten the screws. This allows for two (I seem to remember it being two) full rotations of the turret. If the user wants to re-zero the rifle, the user sets the turrets in the "up" position, finds the zero, loosens the allen screws allowing the turret to spin freely, align the "zero" marker with the centerline of the optic, push down, and re-tighten the allen screws.
- I wanted to highlight this because throughout the entire process, I never had to remove the turret housing or expose the more sensitive parts of the optic to the elements. To me, this is a highly desirable feature because it means adjustments can be made quickly and with relatively little risk in an operational environment. I've also not seen this kind of design on many optics. Some Leupold Mk6, and Schmidt and Benders have a similar feature, and I think those turrets are equally as impressive. I also appreciate the beefy allen screws that Leupold decided to use on the turrets.



PROS and CONS:
I've already written about what I think this optic does right, and honestly I have a hard time coming up with negatives. Below are thoughts that I had wile using the optic. They are relatively minor and nit-picky, but I figured I would mention them anyways.
- I had to come further off the gun than I normally do in order to visually confirm that I've turned the dial to the appropriate marking. I suspect this is because the turrets (and subsequently the markings) sit so close to the optic tube, compared to standard long range optics. A nice unintentional benefit of the Larue mount is that because the center line of the rings are vertical and not horizontal, the centerline point where the two ring halves meet is directly in line with the CQBSS' centerline marking. This means that in order to visually confirm that I've made the correct rotation, I only have to line up the center of the marking with the center of the larue mount, and I don't need to come off the gun to do that (I've tried to capture this relationship in the picture above).
- The pinch-to-rotate feature is convenient and fast but I sometimes found myself using my standard turret grip, and not being able to pinch each half of the turret. I eventually found a method of gripping that worked every time, but it required some experimentation and re-training.
- I appreciate the large allen screws in the turret housings, but it would be awesome if Leupold could somehow allow the turrets to be adjusted by a tool more common than the included allen wrench.
- To my knowledge, Leupold only offers BCD rings for 69gr 5.56 and 178gr .308 bullets. It would be great if they offer fully custom rings in the future.

CONCLUSION:
In the case of the CQBSS, I don't think the price is a negative factor. Its a a fantastically executed piece of optical engineering and design. You get what you pay for in this optic, and compared to other optics in its class, I think that the price is reasonable. The big drawback, and maybe the only drawback, is inherent in its design. I've mentioned the role I think excels in, and as long as the end user has this in mind, the QCBSS is an outstanding choice. Once the user starts to push it outside of that role, they may begin to suspect that they could get more utility in some other optical solution, for less money.




PS.
Although I think it would be completely overkill on my LVOA-S, I'm very much looking forward to throwing the CQBSS on top of it, just to see how things work out.

PSS.
I also think this would be a good optic for a lightweight, compact bolt-gun. As seen in the configuration I've been testing the optic with.