I thought I would post a quick review of the Leatherwood CMR 1-4x24 for anyone who is thinking about buying one. I ordered this back around Christmas from SWFA. It came in a combo with a Burris PEPR AR mount (which I didn't use since I put the scope on my M1A) for $317 plus shipping.
Bottom line: once again, my attempt to find the elusive exception to the rule about getting what you pay for ends in failure.
I mounted the scope on my M1A with my ARMS #18 scope mount, using Leupold QRW Medium rings. I took it to the range twice, and put MAYBE 100 rounds through it, all from stationary field positions. A few weeks ago when I was doing some dry fire, I heard a rattling sound coming from the scope. I found that the ocular lens was loose! When it moves, the reticle moves with it. Apparently the recoil of my M1A was too much for it.
I know I shouldn't be too surprised that what amounts to a low budget Chinese made scope failed on the M1A's recoil impulse (which is notorious for destroying cheap scopes), but I had some hope that this Leatherwood might be the exception to the rule because of the company's reputation (they used to make the issue scopes for the M-21, which had a very good reputation). I knew that the son had taken over the company and had production moved to China, but I thought it might be worth taking the gamble that they maintained most of their previous quality. I guess I have my answer.
Now for the pluses and minuses of the scope. On the positive side, I love the reticle. It is similar to the ACOG ranging/BDC reticle with stadia lines that are the width of a man-sized target at each distance, out to 900m, and is calibrated for standard issue 7.62x51 and 5.56x45 loads. Judging by Leatherwood's published subtensions, it matches my M1A's trajectory just about perfectly out to 600m. The center "horseshoe" portion of the reticle is illuminated in green, though it isn't daylight-visible. It is not a true 1x scope with the magnification turned all the way down... the image is noticeably larger than real life. However, it is still very fast up close. There isn't any "fisheye" distortion around the edges of the field of view... however, the eye box is annoyingly small and unforgiving. You have to have your head positioned pretty much perfectly behind it, or else the FOV starts to become dim very fast, and if you move very much at all in any direction, the black blur will obscure your sight picture altogether. It has pretty unforgiving eye relief, too. Overall, not things that are very good for practical shooting. The brightness of the optic is not great, but not horrible. The scope is on the heavy side.
Now for the turrets. The CMR has target-style exposed turrets with 1/2 MOA clicks, with a zero stop on the elevation dial when it is locked down. While these might be nice features on a long range precision optic, I don't like them at all on the CMR. You are supposed to do all your trajectory compensation with the reticle in a scope like this. The turrets move way too easily, and could be easily turned by accident in the field. Also, I found myself wanting to fine-tune my elevation adjustment down a little, and due to the zero stop, I had to get out the Allen wrench to do so. IMO this kind of scope really needs capped turrets that you adjust and cover up, like the ACOG has.
The Leatherwod customer service guy said it must be a fluke that mine broke, since they tested these up to .50 BMG recoil. That may be true, but after this experience, I can't trust it enough to use one on my go-to battle rifle; and for all the reasons mentioned above, I didn't particularly like it anway. Neither Leatherwood nor SWFA would give me a refund for the scope... I will have to send it in for repair or replacement, and then try to sell it I guess. SWFA does not charge shipping for returns at least. SWFA has an exchange program, so I might see what they would give me for that scope in trade toward something a little more solid, like the new Vortex Viper PST 1-4x24 FFP.
This might work fine on a 5.56 AR or something with a little less destructive of a recoil impulse as the M1A, but my opinion is that I wouldn't trust it on any serious-use rifle. And if it's not a serious use rifle, you don't need the man-sized ranging reticle, so it's pretty much a non-starter. Well, there's my $.02 rollin across the floor.
Bottom line: once again, my attempt to find the elusive exception to the rule about getting what you pay for ends in failure.
I mounted the scope on my M1A with my ARMS #18 scope mount, using Leupold QRW Medium rings. I took it to the range twice, and put MAYBE 100 rounds through it, all from stationary field positions. A few weeks ago when I was doing some dry fire, I heard a rattling sound coming from the scope. I found that the ocular lens was loose! When it moves, the reticle moves with it. Apparently the recoil of my M1A was too much for it.
I know I shouldn't be too surprised that what amounts to a low budget Chinese made scope failed on the M1A's recoil impulse (which is notorious for destroying cheap scopes), but I had some hope that this Leatherwood might be the exception to the rule because of the company's reputation (they used to make the issue scopes for the M-21, which had a very good reputation). I knew that the son had taken over the company and had production moved to China, but I thought it might be worth taking the gamble that they maintained most of their previous quality. I guess I have my answer.
Now for the pluses and minuses of the scope. On the positive side, I love the reticle. It is similar to the ACOG ranging/BDC reticle with stadia lines that are the width of a man-sized target at each distance, out to 900m, and is calibrated for standard issue 7.62x51 and 5.56x45 loads. Judging by Leatherwood's published subtensions, it matches my M1A's trajectory just about perfectly out to 600m. The center "horseshoe" portion of the reticle is illuminated in green, though it isn't daylight-visible. It is not a true 1x scope with the magnification turned all the way down... the image is noticeably larger than real life. However, it is still very fast up close. There isn't any "fisheye" distortion around the edges of the field of view... however, the eye box is annoyingly small and unforgiving. You have to have your head positioned pretty much perfectly behind it, or else the FOV starts to become dim very fast, and if you move very much at all in any direction, the black blur will obscure your sight picture altogether. It has pretty unforgiving eye relief, too. Overall, not things that are very good for practical shooting. The brightness of the optic is not great, but not horrible. The scope is on the heavy side.
Now for the turrets. The CMR has target-style exposed turrets with 1/2 MOA clicks, with a zero stop on the elevation dial when it is locked down. While these might be nice features on a long range precision optic, I don't like them at all on the CMR. You are supposed to do all your trajectory compensation with the reticle in a scope like this. The turrets move way too easily, and could be easily turned by accident in the field. Also, I found myself wanting to fine-tune my elevation adjustment down a little, and due to the zero stop, I had to get out the Allen wrench to do so. IMO this kind of scope really needs capped turrets that you adjust and cover up, like the ACOG has.
The Leatherwod customer service guy said it must be a fluke that mine broke, since they tested these up to .50 BMG recoil. That may be true, but after this experience, I can't trust it enough to use one on my go-to battle rifle; and for all the reasons mentioned above, I didn't particularly like it anway. Neither Leatherwood nor SWFA would give me a refund for the scope... I will have to send it in for repair or replacement, and then try to sell it I guess. SWFA does not charge shipping for returns at least. SWFA has an exchange program, so I might see what they would give me for that scope in trade toward something a little more solid, like the new Vortex Viper PST 1-4x24 FFP.
This might work fine on a 5.56 AR or something with a little less destructive of a recoil impulse as the M1A, but my opinion is that I wouldn't trust it on any serious-use rifle. And if it's not a serious use rifle, you don't need the man-sized ranging reticle, so it's pretty much a non-starter. Well, there's my $.02 rollin across the floor.
