Leatherwood Rolling Out New Hi-Lux M40 Tactical Hunter Scope

Leatherwood makes easy-to-use, affordable scopes. In the past couple of years they’ve expanded on their catalog with optic after optic and all of them have been excellent values.

The Hi-Lux M40 Tactical Hunter, designed for rifles chambered for .308 Winchester/7.62 NATO and .223 Remington/5.56 NATO, is no exception. We can say this because it’s essentially identical to the Hi-Lux M40, their USMC M40 reproduction.

The M40 and M40 Tactical Hunter are 3-9×40 mid-sized riflescopes that weigh in at just a hair over a pound, have 3.25-inches of eye relief and are built on a 3/4-inch main tube.

Fortunately for shooters everywhere, the Hi-Lux M40 is made using modern glass and industry-standard multicoating; these are not reproductions of 50-year-old scopes, they’re up-to-date optics made to look like the originals and offer all-around superior performance and tougher construction.

The heart of the M40 Tactical Hunter is the reticle. Instead of using MOA or mils these scopes are marked to estimate the distance to the target based on its size in the reticle. Then the shooter just positions the target on the appropriate hold-over mark and pulls the trigger.

The reticle also has vertical marks to frame a target for even faster shooting if necessary.

The scope is adjustable in 1/4 MOA click adjustments as well, so the admittedly unorthodox reticle can be used like standard crosshairs as well. Unlike the original USMC M40 riflescope, the Hi-Lux reproduction has upgraded turrets with positive feedback.

In addition to using the new reticle, the Tactical Hunter version of the M40 comes with a satin black finish. The standard M40 is available in olive drab to match its Vietnam-era counterpart.

These optics come with a lifetime warranty but the real selling point is the price: with an MSRP of $400 they’re competitive with some better-known optics companies at a fraction of the cost.

For more info on this and other scopes, head over to the Leatherwood website. And if you’re interested in something a little more high-speed, low-drag, you should check out their latest CMR Tactical for 300 AAC Blackout and 7.62x39mm rifles. They also have a sweet automatic drop-calculating 2.5-10×44 scope that makes longer-range shooting even easier.