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Thread: Leupold FXII 4x28mm handgun scope - reviews by hunters who have used, PLEASE.

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Leupold FXII 4x28mm handgun scope - reviews by hunters who have used, PLEASE.

    Well. . .I'm finally succumbing to the fact my eyes and iron sights are dwindling away, I'll be 50 years old in another 6 weeks. I love my handgun hunting and Leupold optics, which has me looking at the Leupold FXII 4x28mm scope for my hunting irons. Any of you forum members who handgun hunt and have experience in "Prime Time" hunting periods (low light conditions, right at first and last light) can give me your thoughts and opinions with this scope or what has worked best with "old eyes" for you, I would be greatly appreciative. Let me give you some background info first; I shoot/hunt inside of 150yds. in southeast wooded areas and I used the .357 Max, 44 Mag, and 45 Colt in handguns. I am looking for a scope/sight that will allow me to keep doing so accurately!!! Please let me know what thoughts and opinions you have for the Leupold scope mentioned -OR- what is working best for YOUR old eyes. Thank you very much and Happy New Year to All.

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've a pair of the Leupold 4X EER scopes and use them on a 30-30 Contender and an XP-100 chambered for the 221 Fireball. The Contender is used for antelope and the XP is purely varmints. Personally, the 4X is about my limit for offhand shooting. A rest is always better. Back in the 1980's my scoped Ruger MK II wore a Leupold 4X EER and I got pretty use to shooting it offhand in Silhouettes. Most EER scopes tend to be critical for eye relief. Practice helps more than a little here. And just about any glass is better than open sights early or late, but the EER scopes don't work wonders. I have a few of the Leupold 2X EER on some Contender handguns (5mm Rimfire, 22 LR, 35 Remington) and for what you've listed as your needs I think this may be a better choice. You might look at the 2.5-8X EER Leupold but it's more of a specialty scope in my opinion. I use one on a 22 Hornet Contender, but this pistol almost always has a rest. Another choice would be one of the Burris 1-4X EER scopes. The one I have is currently orphaned, but it's been abused more than a little and still functions perfectly.


  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
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    David,
    Thank you for the reply. How is your field of view with the 4x scopes, inside 150yds.? I rarely take offhand shots unless I have to spin around in my treestand, most of the time I'm braced or rested on something for a steady rest. I had two of the VX-III variable power scopes years ago and sold them off. . .sold the whole rig on one and took the scope off because (at the time) I was shooting just as well with iron sights and didn't feel I needed it. I do remember not caring too much for the higher power magnifications in acquiring deer in the woods. I want to stay with the largest objective I can, so that rules out most of the low power scopes. . .I don't know why a manufacture hasn't made a 2.5x or 4x - 40mm handgun scope??? What scope is that on your XP-100 in the picture, it looks like it has a turret?

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    I was just on the phone with a friend of mine. His son and son's father in-law handgun hunt a lot and have switched over and began using Weaver Classic 2-6x32mm scopes on some of there handguns and scout rifles and are raving about them!!! He said he will put them up against his Leupolds any time!!! I have never owned/used a Weaver scope and I'm finding this hard to believe. . .can anyone give any experience with these Weaver handgun scopes? Not to derail my whole Leupold FXII post, but I'm asking.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    The field of view with the 4X EER is pretty tight at 100 or 150 yards. Quite a bit more so than a 4X rifle scope with a normal eye relief. Maybe half as much or maybe 1/3 as much. This just makes the FOV even tighter with closer targets. You learn with practice to find the target in the scope after a bit. Truthfully, I had the same problem but to a slightly lesser degree learning to use a rifle scope originally. If you find yourself turning in a tree stand often sort of like you were really screwing up the Weaver stance you might find the eye relief to be an issue. I'm a lefty and if I try and shoot hard to the right with both hands on the pistol my arm's length means the pistol is closer than the eye relief may allow. I don't know of any pistol scope that have particularly large objectives. The Leupold 2.5-8X EER and the Burris 3-12X both have somewhat larger objectives than the Leupold 4X EER But still not 40mm's. The scope on the XP-100 is a Leupold 4X EER from the 1980's. Back then they used to offer this scope with a slightly larger target style click elevation adjustment. This is a left over from back when Pistol Silhouette Shooting was popular. I haven't used any of the Weaver pistol scopes. So can't comment on them. The picture is of the Burris 3-12X EER scope with a slightly larger objective.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master

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    Leupold and burris pistol scopes have the largest field of view of the lot ! all other brands ive used had less field of view, weaver , bushnell ,nikon ,tasco ,S&W ECT

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    Both the 2.5-8X Leupold and the Burris 3-12X are listed as having 32mm objectives. I thought the Burris had a larger one, but it must just look larger with the adjustable objective. If you were to set the magnification at 4X and leave it there you would end up with about an 8mm exit pupil. That may be the most you can hope for with an EER scope. Not much more than the straight 4X Leupold.

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have that scope on a SBH hunter. Its what broke me from using scopes and just going to red dots. Im 49. At 40 bifocals hit....thats when the fun began

  9. #9
    Boolit Master MarkP's Avatar
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    One thing to consider; higher magnification EER scopes eye to scopes alignment is critical to get a view. Correct distance and being perpendicular can be challenging when shooting offhand. Scope view is black until everything is properly aligned. I have a 2x on 44 mag, and 4x,2 x 7, 2.5-8, 10x on XP's and T/C's. The 10x is a bear to use in the field with a bi-pod even from a shooting bench takes time to find your target. I shot it in a lt wt rifle bench rest match and had to be extra careful to make sure I shot my target. Very narrow field of view. 4X is about as high that I feel I can confidently aim quickly when shooting offhand.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master murf205's Avatar
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    MarkP is spot on with regards to the 4x being the most magnification for hunting, especially in the southeast where I live. I tried a 4x on my SRH but the extra magnification made the "wiggles" more distracting. My absolute limit is 100 yds and my 2x Leupold is quite capable at that range when I do my part. The higher magnification scopes are fine for shooting off the bags at the range but sitting in a tree stand or shooting house, less is more IMHO.
    IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have one of the weaver scopes you mentioned. It also has a 32mm lens but dont have the field of view that the Burris or leupold has. It is clear and works well for the price range. It reminds me of the Bushnell Trophy handgun scopes. I am probably fixing to buy a couple more of the weavers as they are the cheapest scopes that i would consider putting on my barrels. They are around 150-160 dollars where Burris,Crimson Trace, and Leupold start around 300 and more. If you are not shooting with the gun out at arms length the Vortex scout scope with 9.45 inch eye relief works. I have a couple of them also. I like the variables although i have some of both variable and fixed as you can turn them up when shooting longer range.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    I’ve shot close to a hundred deer with handguns. I’m 74 and for just over forty years I used handguns exclusively for my gun hunting during regular big game season. I had a couple of scopes on handguns when I first decided to dedicate my gun hunting to just handgun hunting. It took very little time to find that my success rate was much higher using red dots rather than scopes. The reasons are that there is no fiddling around trying to see through the red dot like there is with a scope. They are good in any light condition, and contrary to what many believe, you can shoot some very small groups using a red dot at extended distances. FWIW, I’ve shot over fifty with a couple of .357mag revolvers and several were well over a hundred yards. My longest was a measured 168 yards using a Bill Davis custom built revolver that started out life as a Ruger Security Six. Scopes are more practical on handguns such as RemXP 100s, Savage bolt guns, etc. For shooting where it might be off-hand the red dot is much better.

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