#Leica

Ninety minutes. That is how long a Leica artisan with more than 25 years at the bench spends hand-polishing a single Fortis Glossy riflescope. The high-gloss, weather-resistant finish is made to match the deep bluing of a classic bolt-action or break-barrel rifle. In an era when hand craftsmanship in European optics grows rarer every season, here is proof that some of it is still alive.

Six years ago I tested the original Leica PRS 5-30x56i on a Ruger Precision Rifle, and I concluded that it had a clear, crisp image, a mechanical feel and turrets that were a pleasure to use. Nowhere in that review did I say, "it would be better in tan." Yet here we are, with the PRS 5-30x56 i FDE Edition, and I will be honest: I am weak; colors work on me. A scope is not more accurate because it matches the stock, and a brown-green RAL 8000 or a ghost gray rifle does not hit one centimeter closer at 100 meters. We buy it anyway. We even pair our rifles to the rifle scope. I once sent a Spuhr mount to be Cerakoted in silver and burnt bronze purely for the look, so I am in no position to judge any of our readers.

It’s quite seldom we take a look through the riflescope of a gun like this in TFB’s Photo Of The Day, but I guess quite a few of our readers feel the temptation to ring some steel? This Leica sits firmly on top of a Ruger Precision Rifle in .308 Win., and the targets are slightly over 300 meters away. Do you like this kind of reticle for PRS style of shooting?

If you’re looking for a premium rangefinding binocular, the new Leica Geovid Pro 42 may be the answer. Many years ago I bought myself one of the earlier models of the Leica Geovid 8×42, and it’s been a great companion with excellent optical performance – the quality still amazes me. My model was bought long before companies started to incorporate any electronics more advanced than just the laser range finder, but the new Geovid Pro series is of course built from the ground up with all this integrated. Now you get anything from Bluetooth connectivity with the new Leica Ballistics App, to onboard atmospheric sensors and advanced apps like Applied Ballistics, with GPS mapping integration through BaseMap and Google Maps. The Geovid Pro 8×42 sells for $3,299, and the slightly larger Geovid Pro 10×42 for $3,299.

Leica is well known German optics company that is probably more renowned for their cameras than its sports optics. However, the company has been slowly adding to its sport optics category, and today they are happy to announce their first-ever Premium riflescope with the introduction of the Calonox Trinity. This new riflescope is intended to offer shooters a “turnkey” solution for both day and night time precision shooting applications.

In this article, we’ll review the Leica PRS 5-30x56i riflescope, Leica’s first-ever long-range riflescope with 6 power zoom. As soon as it was launched I wanted to review it, but due to some strange virus, this took longer than expected. In case you didn’t know Leica is a German company with a great heritage: founded in 1869 by Ernst Leitz. Did you know that the company name comes from the first three letters of the founder’s surname Leitz and the first two of the word camera: Lei-ca? They’re best known for their cameras and binoculars, but they make excellent riflescopes as well. This year they also started making thermal spotters and clip-ons.

Around SHOT Show Leica Optics introduced a new interesting  5-30x56i riflescope for PRS competitions. For IWA, the exhibition that was postponed due to the Coronavirus, Leica had planned to show us the brand new Leica Amplus 6 riflescope models.

Leica has introduced a new riflescope called the PRS 5-30x56i. With the growing marketshare for PRS (Precision Rifle Series) related products it is no surprise to see Leica follow the trend. The more suppliers of this type of optics the merrier for the competitors.

Leica has introduced several new products among which the most interesting one is arguably the Fortis 6 scope. It is available in two versions: 1-6×24 and 2-12×50. Leica describes these scopes as “The new benchmark in the 6x zoom class“. Let’s take a closer look.

Released in March 2018, the Tempus ASPH is the first red dot sight manufactured by Leica. The company also claims to be the first to use an aspherical lens in a red dot sight. Here is how they describe it:

Rangefinders are an integral part of kit for many long range shooters. Getting a precise distance measurement to target – at any range – can help a shooter put a round right where it needs to go. For anchoring a game animal, this can be critical. Wounding an animal is not what any ethical hunter wants.

At IWA OutdoorClassics 2017 Leica presented a new rifle scope focused at customers looking for a high-quality optic in an exclusive design for the driven hunt.

Leica announced the availability of its new laser range finder: the Rangemaster CRF 2000-B. According to the company, this is the first compact laser range finder available from any company that can provide precise measurements of distances up to 2,000 yards. Leica states the accuracy of the unit is +/- 1 yard from 10 – 500 yards and +/- 2 yards from 500 – 2,000 yards in range.

Leica announced its new generation of rangefinding optics that includes a compact, stand alone rangefinder and a set of rangefinding binoculars.

When you’re hunting – especially when you’re hunting at greater distances – figuring out just how far away your target is becomes paramount. Even people who are fairly skilled at guesstimating distance like to know for sure what they’re dealing with. Speaking from personal experience I can attest to the importance of figuring out just how far away your game is in order to calculate the necessary adjustments to your optics for a clean kill (Feral hog at 1000 yards? I’d prefer not to guess.). Now there’s something new out from Leica to address this specific need: range-finding binoculars.