Leupold scope bad?

[muleskinner1]

I would check to make sure the reticle is in the center of your scope.

 

[26Reload]

Probably broken crosshairs.....shine a lite into it from eyepiece...look for the broken piece...
If using on a shotgun with cantilever try a Sims vibration pad on it...one made for a bow limb....

 

[DartonJager]

What is the exact model Leupold scope you you are using and approximately how many rounds it has been subject to?
Is your barrel absolutely clean? not just from carbon fouling but from plastic fouling as well? Plastic fouling can have a serious affect on your accuracy.
Are you ABSOLUTELY certain your action screws are all tight and torqued to proper settings? Have you checked to see if anything has become lodged between the barrel and the stock?
In my experience the two best ways to check to see if a scope has failed or not is to either shoot the so called "box"
The above video enplanes how to do so perfectly the only other way I've used is to try another scope you are 100% certain dead nuts holds zero.

I asked what model and as I own five VariX-II models two of which are 2-7x33mm VariX-II shotgun scopes, one is a standard VariX-II 3-9x40 that have seen while sitting atop of 3 different 12 gauge slug rifles literally thousands and thousands of very harsh recoiling 12 gauge magnum sabot loads and one sat on both my Encore 209x50 magnum ML and also my Savage 10ML-II smoakless ML and between the two ML's it has digested well over 2200-2300 rounds without any issues. Both scopes now sit atop my two 870 turkey guns and have withstood at least 150-160 each 12 gauge 3" and 3.5" magnum turkey loads again with no issues. The other VariX-II 3-9x40 sits atop my 12ga A-Bolt hunter and has survived at least 500-600 sabot slugs from 385 grain Winchesters Partition Golds to Lightfield commander IDS sabot slugs weighing in at over 587 grains, Remington Core-Loket and its all time favorite the Federal Barnes Tipped Expanders.

In short Leupold scopes are top tier in the category of set it and forget it scope design and my other Leupolds sit atop 338wm, 7mm STW, amd a 300WM, all have held up for countless hundreds of rounds each.
If it's an older Leupold that hasn't seen to many rounds I would be very surprised if it failed. I say older as I don't own any Leupolds made after 1998 when I bought a VariX-III that has served triple duty atop my new 300wsm, my 10ML-II and my 338wm on my last three elk trips.

 

[Rootdoc]

What is the exact model Leupold scope you you are using and approximately how many rounds it has been subject to?...

Incredible feedback! I purchased the Browning gold when it first came out...1998 I believe? Has had same scope Leupold Vari Xii 2-7x33 I believe? I too have been using partition golds. Well over 500 rounds.
As far as torque I have break away wrenches and all seem great.
I'll check everything again and do what's said in the video. I need a dry weekend day here in IL to go to the range. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[lyotehunter]

Ive a safe full of Leupold scopes, never really a problem with one other than it got old. I recently bought a rifle for $300 as a donor rifle for a build. The rifle had a 3.5-10 VX III on it. I felt that even if the rifle was total junk, the scope would be worth the purchase price of the rifle. When I got the rifle in, I took it to the range where I found the crosshairs not that sharp. I called Leupold told them about the problems with the crosshairs. I downloaded a repair form from online and shipped the scope out for repair. About three months later I called the factory to find out the status of scope and was told scope had not been worked on as of that time. About a week later I received a new 4.5-14 VX III scope still in the package from Leupold; a $600+ scope. I you do have a problem with your scope send it back to Leupold for either a repair or replacement of the scope.

you are lucky.three of us have had problems,you can send them back but is it going to fail the next time you need it.

 

[Alibiiv]

you are lucky.three of us have had problems,you can send them back but is it going to fail the next time you need it.

I've have used Leupold scopes for hunting and have had good performance with them. As noted in my last posting, they honored their guarantee and that was on a used scope. I also bought a VXR, Firedot scope that had what looked like a chip in the front lense. When I sent the VX III back to Leupold I sent that scope also. I got the VXR scope back before I got the VX III back. I've been using them for years, don't know what else to say.

 

[26Reload]

Well...as Jimmy Walker said.......DY-NO-MITE.........

 

[DartonJager]

you are lucky.three of us have had problems,you can send them back but is it going to fail the next time you need it.

Sorry to hear about you and your friends misfortunes, but my three life time hunting partners all have older discontinued 3-9x40mm VariX-II Leupolds and no exaggeration what so ever our VariX-II scopes have been on two very hard used DIY fly in backpack in hunts to AK, DIY elk hunts to WY, NM and UT, DIY antelope hunts to WY and countless DIY deer hunts in IN, IL and WI and my two VariX-II's have seen 5 turkey seasons each. All are VariX-II's or VX-III's and are all well over 25 years old and none have given us a single issue ever. I also own two 4-12x40mm VX-III's that have seen very hard use and even harder recoil and again no issues. Not a single scope sits atop a mild recoiling rifle either. They all sit on a belted magnums the like of 7mm STW, 300wm/wsm, 338wm, 12ga slug guns, 12ga turkey guns and magnum level performance ML's. Between myself and my friends we own a total of 12 VariX-II's and 5 VX-III's and none have ever had a single issue ever. And in all fairness neither have any of my friends Nikons scopes or any of my other than Leupold scopes that I own that I listed.

I can only speak to Leupold scopes made in the 90's up to about 1998-99 and based on my experiences and the owners of the majority of Leupold scopes made from the same era they are as close to bullet proof as you can get.

Don't get me wrong I also own WGS's Bushnell 3200's and 4200's, Zeiss and Nightforce so I could never be accused of being a supporter of any scope maker, but I know that if VariX-II's or VX-III's were poorly made or fragile scopes one of mine or my friends would have LONG ago failed us.
Again I can only speak to my personal experiences.