Leica Magnus scopes

Leica Camera Ltd, as its name suggests, is famed the world over for its iconic cameras, but to the shooting fraternity the Geovid laser range binoculars are more familiar. Quality and innovation have always been at the forefront of Leica’s design process and I suppose it comes as no surprise that they have ventured into the rifle scope market.

The new Magnus range are totally designed and made in Germany and form a premium range of hunting scopes with illuminated reticules and high image definition along with very good light transmission capabilities providing a better low-light performance. There is generous eye relief and the outer lens surfaces have Aqua Dura coating to repel dirt and rain droplets.

The Magnus name was chosen for its association with the Latin word for Wide or Vast in respect to the field of view and also in context of “Famous, honoured, strong” and, available in both 30mm or rail-mounting systems, the Magnus scopes offer a great alternative hunting scope.

There are three models initially on offer with further target turret models in development. These three models span all the sporting uses that one might encounter out in the field, and are as follows:

The Magnus 1-6.3x24mm scope

This model aimed squarely at the running game or big game shooter. It has an incredibly wide field of view at 47.2 yards for fast target acquisition in dense cover, or when a boar darts in front of you, or for close up dangerous game like Cape Buffalo. Its compact construction makes it very easy to mount on any rifle action and the eye relief at 3.5-inches is equally good. So too is the generous zoom range; a low mag of 1x is basically an ‘optical open sight’ that can then be smoothly zoomed up to maximum mag of 6.3x which is more than good enough for 90% of stalking scenarios.

Best of all is the simple-tooperate yet diverse illumination system. You have an eye piece mounted turret that has a central turn wheel. Set in the middle it is off, turned right is daylight brightness, to the left is night illumination. The intensity is simply adjusted by pressure to the wheel on its left to decrease or right to increase intensity. It’s all silent and incredibly easy and fast to use.

The Magnus 1.5-10x42mm scope

Next up is the Magnus 1.5-10x42mm model which is probably the best all-rounder you are going to get. Again there is a low 1.5x mag which allows for great light gathering in dim woods or dark mornings, or just to get onto running game precisely. The 10x upper magnification which gives you an excellent 6.7 mag ratio allows an accurately placed shot over a greater distance. With the 42mm objective you combine good light transmission of 91% yet still keep a scope low-mounted to the rifle. Parallax is set at 109 yards and the main body tube is available as a 30mm standard or rail system mount if you desire. Reticule choice is either plex, ballistic, L-3D (Running game) or standard 4a. The illumination system is the same on all the models and the 60 step day/night settings has a very useful automatic switch off system after three minutes on this model. This is reactivated by tilting or moving the rifle. This saves battery life and stops extraneous light projecting through the objective lens towards your game!

The Magnus 2.4-16 x56mm scope

Biggest of the Magnus range is the 2.4-16 x56mm model, again offering a huge 6.7 magnification ratio with a wide field of view at the lower 2.4x mag of 18.6 yards, passing through the standard stalking 6x mag to 8-12x for longer shots and then the maximum 16x for really precise shots on deer, foxes and smaller species at longer range.

The fine reticule has a very precise illuminated dot with no flare to its edges at all and thus gives a very precise aiming mark in any lighting situation however unfavourable. To combat any parallax problems Leica have mounted a side turret and so you can use the highest mag even at 54 yards. With all that magnification you need a large objective lens to gather light to provide a clear and sharp image. The 56mm objective suits the bill perfectly and a genuine 91% light transmission is achieved giving the Magnus really sharp vivid images even in the worst lighting conditions.

The bullet impact corrections offer very precise shot placement. Remove the protective turret cover and 1 click represents a shift of 1cm at 100 metres, and there is plenty of adjustment to get on target.

Conclusion

This is just an overview, and I have mounted each scope on different rifles and will review each in more detail later in actual hunting situations. My first impressions are that the Leica Magnus scopes are very well-built (as one would expect) and the optical quality is superb.

They are not lightweight scopes, but that’s good in my eyes, they are built to take the strains of real hunting scenarios and the illumination system is both quick to operate and genuinely has a great range of illumination settings. The auto shut off and then reactivation on movement is a clever and actually very useful idea. I also like the way Leica have really thought about each model and the features they have and have stuck to three models and not complicated things with a myriad of variants.

True, they are pricey at between £1565 and £2040 (RRP), but then again how much for the price of perfection?