Leupold MK6 on-going "review"

[gatordev]

Two weeks ago I was able to do some more shooting with the MK6 as well as with a RDS (it happened to be an Eotech) in order to do some more comparisons while using a timer. There was even a small cameo appearance by an Elcan on loan for a brief stint. Due to range limitations that day, I was only able to use one target in the bay, so I focused on target acquisition and two-shot strings. The details are below, but this isn't meant to be about any earth shattering split times. I'm sure there's plenty of people that can shoot faster, but I was trying to have an apples to apples comparison with the setup I had.

-Target was at 20 yards. I was trying to put it close enough that was still a "CQB" distance, but far enough away that you actually had to aim rather than just point the gun in the target's general direction and being close enough it didn't matter.

-Rifles were the following: Noveske N4 (middie w/ brake) and MK6, Colt 14.5" (in Block 2 config w/ SF flash hider) and Eotech, and for a few rounds, a Colt 14.5" SOCOM (RAS w/ 3-prong) and Elcan. I ran a Surefire SOCOM Mini suppressor on all three to eliminate the differences in the muzzle devices as best I could. Obligatory picture of the M4B2, since it hasn't appeared in this thread yet:



-I would start at the low-ready and at the buzzer, engage with two rounds. I did this for 10 strings (20 rounds) for the MK6, then 10 strings again later (to come back to it after running the RDS). I ran the RDS for 10 strings. I was swapping between the two to make sure I wasn't getting faster with one just due to repetition. I also did 5 strings with each, unsuppressed. The Elcan was only run suppressed. Everything was run at 1x and illumination on.

So, here's the data (or a close approximation), for what it's worth, averaged over the strings (note: I wasn't writing these down for each string, but keeping a "mental average" during each string and then wrote the "mental average" down in my phone):

N4 w/ MK6 (suppressed): ~1.15s w/ an average of ~.83s split to first round.
N4 w/ MK6 (unsuppressed): ~1.0s w/ an average of ~.7s split to first round.

M4 Block 2 w/ RDS (suppressed): ~1.2s w/ an average ~.83s split to first round.
M4 Block 2 w/ RDS (unsuppressed): ~1.05s w/ an average of ~.7s (unsuppressed)

M4 w/ Elcan (suppressed): ~1.25s w/ an average of ~.9s split to first round.

When I started to push and go faster with the MK6, I found I was starting to engage a little too soon and hit lower on the 8.5 x11" paper target I was using. Still a vital zone, but accuracy did suffer. But finding that happy medium of time (at least for me and on that day), I found the MK6 to be pretty quick once I got used to the eye box. I'm convinced it's still a tad slower than the RDS, but it's made up for by the fantastic balance of the N4 upper and smoothness of how that thing shoots. I didn't used to buy into all that "middies are smoother" jazz that much, but after shooting these back to back on several different days, I found I was noticing the difference. Also, the Colts all had H2 buffers while the Noveske had a H.

While it was a very brief exposure, the Elcan was definitely a slower and less forgiving optic at 1x for me. At 4x on a target....man that thing is clear and was very easy to zero at 100y. I admit I'd like to play with one some more. Hmm....

So for me, I'd say the RDS is still pretty fast, especially when it was holding it's own against an upper that was running a brake. But the optical engineering of the MK6 continues to be really impressive at 1x and is at least keeping up in the particular setup I was shooting that day. I'm guessing having to shoot around/under barricades would definitely start to slow it down a bit due to the eye box. But I guess more testing is needed there.