Leupold Scopes...Do you trust them today?

[Quintus]

They are struggling to catch up and stay relevant to be sure. After being the uncontested top dog for as long as they were complacency was probably inevitable. Many of the big dynasty companies go though this and in many cases cannot survive it. Hopefully Leupold does. They do still make a quality product, it's just there are now several doing it better and their shortcomings are magnified by comparison.

 

[Ben Keller]

I'll throw in my own experience. I've had 5-6 Leupolds over the last 10 years and had good results (mostly). The last two I owned were a pair of 3-18 VX-6hd's. One did outstanding on smokeless muzzleloader. Tracked well and held a good zero. The other was on my 7mm, and it tracked well until I took it on a muley trip to Colorado. While climbing up a hill I slipped and fell down with the rifle in my hands. It wasn't a terrible fall but none the less I was curious how the scope would perform. I shot a great buck at close range on the trip, but felt as if my point of impact wasn't matching where I held on the muley. Once I got to a range at 200 yards, I found my less than six month old scope shooting 5 minutes to the left. The scoped looked flawless as well no dents or dings at all. I was however able to re-zero and the gun shot fine. I called Leupold and they said for a drop/fall, that would be "something normal" for me to expect. I'm an avid shooter and I personally cant afford to use equipment with that kind of normal expectation. I have since sold both and have two Nightforce NX8's on order. To me the chance something could go wrong in the field isn't worth the 7 ounces more I will have to carry next year. Luckily the buck I shot was at close range, if not I would have missed out on the 156 I was in search of.

 

[Red Delicious]

I have 3, VX6-4X24 two sitting on 7mm RMs and one on a 300 RM. Dial um up dial um down haven't had any problems, shoot out to 1,000 yds. Going shooting tomorrow, will let you know if anything fails, don't expect it will.

 

[tylerw02]

At an 80% failure rate Leupold would have been out of business years ago. If you start talking 80% failure on the 5HD and 6HD lines where the price tag starts to run from $700 to $2500 you are Reading about a class action lawsuit and Leupold Stevens filing bankruptcy. Gotta love the internet.

Most people don't really use their gear. They wouldn't know if it was broken or not. They mount it up, zero it in, Fire a few rounds, call it "close enough" and miss their aiming point 3" at 100 yards and still have a dead animal. They think, "man this is great!" The rifle sits in the safe until next year where they pull it out for three or four confirmation rounds which they call "good enough". The cycle repeats.

 

[tylerw02]

You made a wise decision. In my experience, any Leupold under Mark5 will have very weak erectors. I have done a lot of load development and rifle set up for family and friends that use Leopolds. I will honestly tell you that i have experienced around an 80% failure rate with everything up to VX6. Won't hold zero, inaccurate tracking and in several instances dramatic failure of the erector.

So then you get to deal with Leupold customer service reps who are usually snotty and in kinder words will call you a liar or question your shooting ability. On the last go around i decided i will not work on another rifle that has a Leupold sitting on top of it, it's just cost me too much time and money.

Agree 100%. I'm tempted to sell what a Leupold scopes I currently have. It's unnerving when a company attempts to disparage you and insinuate you are ignorant. The only ignorant thing I did was buy from them too many times. I was very ignorant for buying a $2500+ Leupold. I believe I have 8 or 9 of them thay need new homes.

 

[drakehammer]

I participate in a forum where Leupold scopes, especially turreted ones aren't well liked. I have noticed on the LRH forum a lot of guys are running dialing Leupold's like VX5 HD, VX6 HD, Mark 5's and a few Mark 6 scopes.

Makes me curious if it's a matter of the pond water being polluted by some, where another pond isn't polluted at all.

Personally, I once owned 10-12 Leupold's, mostly VX3 and VX6. Several were set/forget and many were cds dialers. I shot enough 200-600 rounds per year, per rifle, to know if I'm having rtz issues. I didn't.

The biggest issue I encountered on a regular basis was setting my initial site in zero for my set/forget scopes. Adjusting elevation or windage with no reticle movement. Then deploying the "Leupold Knock" on the top of the turret to see if that would help the erector move...Laughable, I know, but it's a common practice, that I've heard many people try. Once I would finally get my zero. The scope was good to go without further adjustments required.

After 25 years of being a Leupold slut, the last 3 years, as I've added new rifles, I moved away from Leupold for my rigs that are used for hunting fur that matters to me... NightForce, SWFA, Zeiss, are now resting on top.

My varmint rigs hold a mixed bag of everything from Leupold, Sightron, Sig Whiskey5, Leica, and Bushnell Elite 6500 optics.

Again, I guess, I'm just curious if the consensus on LRH is different for Leupold than other forums. A month ago I bought a new VX5 HD and just today I bought two never used VX3 4.5-14x50 Varmegeddon dialing scopes. Apparently, I still like Leupold's.

Footnote: If this thread doesn't meet LRH forums criteria for a proper post, I apologize. My intention isn't to bash a manufacturer, but rather determine if the strong negative feelings other places share is based more on a mob mentality than facts...Thanks!

what a slut

 

[Mike Matteson]

I have never had that much trouble with Leupold Scopes. At the same time I've never gotten into scopes that can be adjusted to different elevation by turn of the nob on the fly, other than on a bench at the range. I had only one scope fail me on a hunting trip in Africa, but that was because it got nock over Rejusted the scope back on. Two trips to Africa and the scopes were right on at the start of the hunt. I have hunted for the years with Leupold scopes on my rifles. I would recheck them before hunting the next year. Generally found to be right on. No adjustment needed. The only setup was at the start. Having to adjust and shot a second round to moved to where I want it to go. It would make me think that I had adjusted the scope incorrectly. So after the adjustment and putting the second round down range. If something didn't change then there was a problem. I generally know the arc for the bullets for the loads I load. I use to set up at 3 1/2" high at 100 yards. Now only 1" high. I am good to 300 yards, and beyond that I adjust my hold. With the range finder their isn't much to think about.
The best one was a hunter in the same group that we hunted together in africa. All of our shots were under 150 yards max in a stand, and rifle rested. He shot and wound an animal at about 40 yards. The guide told him to shot again, and animal move out to about 100 yards. He had one of those scope that you could dial in. He wanted his range finder to range the animal and adjust his scope. The animal walked off never to be found.

SSS
Mike

 

[drakehammer]

A month ago I bought a new VX5 HD and just today I bought two never used VX3 4.5-14x50 Varmegeddon dialing scopes.

you'll have a fire-sale on these then...?

 

[Beaver10]

you'll have a fire-sale on these then...?

I'd sell them to you at the right price...You buying?

 

[cvixx]

I Like Leupold. Customer service, etc. When I buy a used Leupold, I send it in, they check it, fix the worn-out parts and send it back like new. No question asked, hard to beat.

Bought a scope from them in 1970. Had some problems and they repaired it w/o any hassle. In Winter quarters or I would include model #, etc. worksnas new so no complaints from me.

 

[antelopedundee]

SWFA are they a manufacturer or distributor retailer? I assume Athlon is the brand that they carry. Who makes them if SWFA doesn't? I assume GunBroker sellers offer the best pricing.

 

[North Idaho Hunter]

And even in this post guys complain, yet say they dumped defective Leupolds to others, were any of these scopes repaired before the sale? That does a reputation wonders.

Yes I do, currently have 4 @ Leupold's shop being repaired before I sell them. I'm not one to pass of a broken piece of equipment!

 

[milo-2]

Yes I do, currently have 4 @ Leupold's shop being repaired before I sell them. I'm not one to pass of a broken piece of equipment!

Good on you for doing so, I made a blanket statement covering more than what is in this post.

 

[dfanonymous]

SWFA are they a manufacturer or distributor retailer? I assume Athlon is the brand that they carry. Who makes them if SWFA doesn't? I assume GunBroker sellers offer the best pricing.

Swfa is the distributor. Tasco held the rights to the SS scope when they developed it for the military in the 90s, when tasco went out of business SWFA bought the rights to the scope and as far as I know the same manufacture in Japan makes it for them.