Leupold VX-6HD Gen 2 Riflescope: Great Gets Better

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I was lying prone on a stone outcropping in northern New Mexico watching the FireDot of my Leupold VX-6HD Gen 2 scope settle on the chest of a yapping coyote. While I didn’t take the shot because we were hunting elk, the encounter offered me an opportunity to test the VX-6HD Gen 2’s low-light capabilities. Dawn was nothing more than a silver streak on the eastern horizon at that time, and I couldn’t see the ’yote with the naked eye. With the scope, however, I could clearly make out the dog as it lay in a bare patch on the prairie.

I wasn’t particularly surprised by this since the previous-generation VX-6HD was heralded for clarity and low-light performance. Leupold’s outstanding Professional Grade Optical System carries over to the new Gen 2 model. But the VX-6HD Gen 2 does have some new tricks up its sleeve, and I think they make this an even better optic.

The most notable upgrade is the new CDS-SZL2 SpeedSet dial. The CDS-SZL2 dial first appeared in 2017, and while everyone loved the concept of being able to swap out dials to perfectly match your favorite loads, there was one problem. Previous versions of the VX-6HD required a hex wrench to loosen the elevation dial and reset the zero or swap out dials.

If you’ve shot a lot of Leupold scopes with ZeroLock dials, you probably stashed a few of the correct wrenches in your wallet or pickup and certainly carried one in your range bag. Should you arrive in hunting camp and find that you needed to rezero the optic and didn’t have your wrench, you were in a pickle. Those days are gone thanks to the SpeedSet dial system.

Easy Adjustments

By pressing a button and rotating a lever you can remove the elevation and windage dials, reset them to the appropriate zero and lock them into place by rotating the lever into the locked position. It’s a simple and quick process that doesn’t require any wrenches.

The SpeedSet dial is a worthwhile upgrade, but it’s not the only improvement on the VX-6HD Gen 2. New competition-grade adjustments ensure even more precision when dialing for distance. I’ve had good luck with the VX-6 and VX-6HD scopes since they were first introduced over a decade ago, but apparently some shooters thought the VX-6HD scopes didn’t track like the company’s world-beating Mark 5HD competition scopes.

Leupold made an easy fix that solved the issue. It now installs the same adjustment system found in the Mark 5HD in the VX-6HD. Whether you need a class-leading competition-grade adjustment system in your hunting rifle scope is debatable, but that’s what you get with the new VX-6HD Gen 2.

Some scopes—even high-priced ones—have “mushy” dials that don’t inspire confidence. The Gen 2’s clicks are clean and precise, and they never left me wondering whether I adjusted two clicks or three.

Options Galore

The VX-6HD Gen 2 is available in 1-6X, 2-12X, 3-18X and 4-24X magnifications, so there’s an optic in the lineup that will work on everything from varmint guns to safari rifles. The 3-18x44m model I tested has an overall weight of 22.1 ounces and a length of 13.5 inches. There has been a trend toward heavier scopes with larger objective lenses in recent years, but the VX-6HD Gen 2 remains light enough to be useful on a mountain rifle.

It’s a second-focal-plane optic with a side-focus parallax and a 30mm main tube. I tested the FireDot Duplex reticle; other options include FireDot Twilight Hunter, TMO and FireDot Boone & Crockett. The FireDot reticles offer a runtime from 300 to 1,600 hours and eight brightness settings.

The illuminated reticles are powered by a CR2032 battery housed in the side-focus knob. The battery cover has a locking system that requires a tool—this stemming from new legislation requiring button batteries be secured to prevent children from swallowing them.

Leupold scopes are known for their generous eye relief, and the Gen 2 provides 3.7 to 3.8 inches. As someone who shoots a lot of hard-kicking rifles, I very much appreciate this.

Extras

Other goodies include Alumina flip-back lens covers, Guard-Ion lens coatings, a clever integrated throw lever that’s neither ridiculously oversize nor so small as to be ineffective, and an electronic reticle level.

When I arrived in New Mexico, I rezeroed the rifle because my initial zero was at about 1,000 feet, and I was now at more than 6,000.  I simply pressed the button to release the lever on the elevation dial, flipped the dial up to loosen the turret, and adjusted the elevation down six 1/4 m.o.a. clicks—all without a wrench in sight.

Because our elk camp was not too far from the NRA Whittington Center, I had the luxury of a world-class range loaded with steel targets where I could test the VX-6HD Gen 2. After adjusting my 100-yard zero and sending a verification round into paper at 100 yards, I started hunting for steel—getting first-shot hits on targets from 225 to 685 yards.

Then it was time to head afield. My opportunity came on a bull at 225 yards when he stepped into a clearing not much wider than his barrel chest and stopped. I knew the shot would have to be quick, so I adjusted the scope’s dial and settled the rifle on shooting sticks. When the red FireDot settled on the bull’s chest, I fired. The bull jumped out of sight but piled up in a jumble of rocks about 20 yards below where he was standing.

Worth Its Price Tag

With prices ranging from $1,999 to $2,699, the VX-6HD Gen 2 isn’t the cheapest scope available, but it’s hard not to consider this one of the premier big game scopes on the market. I’m currently putting together a .375 H&H rifle for an upcoming Cape buffalo hunt, and that gun will wear one of the new Leupold VX-6HD Gen 2 1-6x24mm scopes.

The scopes come with a certificate for two free SpeedSet dials, and I highly recommend cashing it in. Keep those CDS-SZL2 dials in a safe place so you can switch between loads on your hunting rifle, but you can pitch that hex wrench you carried to swap scope dials in the trash. We’ve moved on.

Leupold VX-6HD Gen 2 Specs

• Power x OBJ.: 3-18x44mm (tested)
• Length, Weight: 13.5 in., 22.1 oz.
• Maintube: 30mm
• Reticle: FireDot (tested) second focal plane; red illumination w/8 levels
• Adjustments: toolless SpeedSet dials; 1/4 m.o.a. adjustments; zero stop
• Battery: CR2032, 300–1,600 hrs. runtime
• Eye Relief: 3.7–3.8 in.
• MSRP: $2,299 (as tested)
• Manufacturer: Leupold, leupold.com

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