Question? Have you been using the recent Leupold rifle scopes manufactured in the past 5 years?
Your experience with Leupold may be similar to mine. Except I've migrated to other brands of rifle scopes over the past 5 years. For two reasons. Firstly, as I shifted to specializing in LRH, I wanted higher power magnification than I had previously been content with. Secondly, prior to changing out my lower power variable scopes to higher power variable scopes, I researched and learned there were now many options in addition to Leupold, and that those other options provided better values for my money. Even when I was using my Leupolds all those earlier years, I was aware that some cheaper scopes I owned had glass that provided better light transmission and resolution. I always thought my Leupolds were only so-so (average) with respect to the quality of the glass.
I came to believe we were paying a premium for Leupold scopes in part, because of their iron-clad warranty service, and in part because of leftover sentiment from years gone by, when Leupold had gained and maintained the lion's share of the US market in rifle scopes for so many years. Lots and lots of loyal Leupold customers. That loyalty is still present today for many average hunters. A relative of mine owns/operates a gun shop and Leupold scopes have always seen a steady following if customers. Although most recently (the past 3 years) I am seeing many more non-Leupold scopes on the shelved in his gun shop.
It seems like Leupold knows there are a lot of quality competition branded scopes that they have to compete against. Sound as if they're struggling to maintain quality in their effort to remain competitive. And I'm sure they do need to outsource some of their parts to remain competitive. Because a lot of the competition is also outsourcing.
Almost forgot to make my point. I never had problems with my Leupold scopes from 8 to 35 years ago either. But it seems what I'm reading in this Thread is - the reliability of the currently manufactured scopes may not be as good as my older Leupold scopes were.
phorwath,
Most the scope business I've done and do with Leupold is tactical scopes, of late I've picked up their Prismatic 1x14mm with Illum plex which I like very much, and a couple of the Mk AR 1.5-4x20mm that seem to work nice for a less expensive scope. Over the years my safe(s) have been came heavy with Leupold optic. As for quality of optic, lens, coating and light gathering; well'…, I must be one of those guys's you never hear about. My Mk19 calibrated eye balls and 3 to 5 millimeters "day time" pupil diameter can't real measure the light gathering transmissions or the quality of glass as other can do.
Another one of the latest scopes I've bought for my M1A was an Mk 4 3.5-10x40mm LT/T M3 LR/Tac Illum... very nice glass, I guess.. I also run a short range scope on my M1A from Leatherwood the CMR Series Hi-Lux 1-4x24 Riflescope illum; to tell you the truth it's cheap, but works great, the CMR reticle is "super" I mean "tip top" and it seems to hold up just fine, yeah I know, it's made in China; that I'm not big on at all, but I knew Jim in the Nam days and used his then great little ART's on a M21/M14 I've also used it on a modified M700's. It was a Realist 3x9 scope and the glass was superb, tough as nails scope, so I thought I've give this one a try just for old times…
If there was an older scope that stands out in my mind from Leupold, I think it would be the M8 6X42mm as a sporting scope what a scope over the years.
I have others; Leica, Night Force, Trijicon, Redfield, Weaver, Original 4x Colt, Bushnell, Swarovski they all work and look pretty good through my eye(s)
I've owned many others in the past including B&L, S&B, Zeiss, Unertl and Lyman... and quite a few cheapies'.
Back your question per se.. I can't tell any real change in Leupold products from the 60's to date other then they've gotten better in features like mechanics and I suppose optics.
Just my .02
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