Leupold Scopes...Do you trust them today?

[PredatorSlayer]

Maybe it's just me but I have owned several Leupold scopes but I have had a series of problems with them. I have even had to send them back to the factory for repair. I probably had about 6 or 7 Leupold at this time. I got so tired of trying to keep them zeroed and taping on them. I zero my rifles every time I have huge elevations change and I'm just not going to tap around on it to get the cross hairs to move when I'm spending that kind of money. That's Hokey BS!!!! When I want a MOA I want it right. So I took everyone of those Leupold scopes off my rifles gave them to hunting buddies I didn't really care for. I then put Talley scope rings and mounted everything i owned with Swarovski and never looked back. If I take the caps off them scopes and turn it one click, you know it. This is what I did to solve my scope problem and that's been 15yrs ago.

Which leupold models did you have problems with?

 

[LaHunter]

No, I do not trust them anymore. I had a Mark 4 fail. It would not RTZ and the tracking became inconsistent. This was after less than 1,000 round fired through the rifle it was on. I am now a NF customer

 

[J E Custom]

Honoring the Mark4's Legendary Military Service | Leupold

Today, most optics brands have a "tactical" scope line, or at least, features derived from tactical scopes. But where did it all start?

www.leupold.com

I can't understand how there would be any problem with their high-end scopes. However, I would not Purchase a variax anything or a CDS anything personally because I know they're not going to meet the same building criteria as the stuff They're selling the military.

Military will pay for the quality and the average Joe Blow Hunter does not.... so you're not going to get the same scope the same price just the way it is.

For years the Mark 4 scope was it go to for the long-range stuff.

I don't know for sure, but at one time if you were active military, you could get/buy 2 Mark 4 scopes a year at 40% discounts. Being a vet, I admire them for doing that for the service man and women.

I have never had to send a Leupold back for repair, but the people that did had nothing but praise for Leupold service.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Lenny Foffa]

I,ve had Leupold scopes on several Hunting Rifles for about 50 Years. Once They were 3 X9 Varix 2 and a 3.5X to 10X vari X 3. Today, I have several more including 2 4.5X to 14X vari VX3. The latest one is on a 30 mm main tube. This was a change from the Vari X 3 2.5 x to 8 X. That was on my 270 Win Weatherby Ultralight Rifle for about 8 years. Wished it had a brighter picture at about 5:50 pm in November in West Virginia, but It worked well and NEVER a problem. The new one , with the 30mm main tube appears to be even brighter. I have a 40X on my Remington 40XB and a 30 X on another Target Rifle, and an 8.5 to 25 X also on a 30mm Tube. IMHO, I think Leupold is a great scope for the money, and I love the customer service.

 

[Mike6158]

I put my Leupold (don't remember the series. It was expensive and has adjustable turrets) on my .22LR. The long range rifles all have Nightforce NXS scopes installed.

 

[Lee Goodwin]

I had a V1 gold ring. It had an issue where if you zoomed the point of aim moved high and left. I sent it in, and, they cleaned it and gassed it. And, they said it was too old to fix and it would mess up again and to not send it back...when it did , and it did mess up. It became a single power scope.

 

[yogibearmech]

Last year I bought a Luepold VX6 HD in the 4-24 and was wondering if it would hold up. I used the scope pre elk season at the range and it tracked very good! During elk season i was on a narrow trail with ATV on mountain and hit a log and the gun boot rocketed off the holder and hit the ground about 8 feet behind bike. Went on hunting that morning and while out on foot about 3 miles from ATV the ground was getting muddy as snow was melting I lost my footing and the first thing to hit the ground was my gun. Picked it up dug mud out of every crevous on the thing made it back to camp earlier than O wanted. Pulled out a target put it at 100 yards and right where I left it. 2 mornings later I shot a cow elk in the neck at 315. Wanted a body shot but she laid down on me. I am really impressed with it so far.

 

[Tumbleweed]

I figured this was the situation...Too many shooters caught my attention about weak internals and lack of tracking for me to continue rolling the dice.

It became a question of maybe not today, but one day I'm going to get bit bad...I decided to error on the side of caution and tripped all mine that sat atop of my big fur rigs..

I'm only comfortable slumming a Leupold set/forget on a prairie dog town for a while now.

Thanks for confirming the unfortunate truth.

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.

 

[dfanonymous]

I've trusted my life to them in several nasty places. Never had any issues with them tracking or loosing zero in very hot and harsh conditions. The military still issues them with the sniper systems to include the M107 Barret .50 Cal, the M2010, and the M110. The very elite get to use whatever they want but the rest of us got the "standard issue" equipment.

Speak for the Army. The corps has been using the PM2 since 2005 ish and officially in 2007, or Premier Heritage on the 110 and 107s. Then again, scout snipers are a full time job, Army B4s are a qualification.

 

[MOOSE39465]

I have trusted Leupold for many years and they never let me down. Bonus for me is there made in the USA.

 

[Quintus]

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.

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.

 

[Rflshootr]

If it is an older Leupold from the 80's or 90's, then yes.........the newer ones have given me problems and had to be sent back. So NO.

 

[dfanonymous]

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.

I don't see how they can get sued for making a bad product, but then again I'm not a lawyer. I would assume that they aren't doing well as they felt the need to sue nightforce for making similar features on their scopes.

Leupold sues Nightforce over patent infringements :: Guns.com

Riflescope maker Leupold & Stevens, Inc. filed a lawsuit earlier this week in an Oregon federal court against Nightforce over patent infringements.

www.guns.com

Just FYI they were denied by the court of relief. Leupold has been in like 3 lawsuits that I know.

 

[jbo829]

I've had Bushnell elite 3200 nikon buckmasters a nikon monarch 2 nightforce scopes and bought a Leupold could never get it shoot hold zero of 4 different guns sent it in for repair 3 times and they would adjust this and that the 4th I talked to a guy that ruin the Leupold brand for me for alittle awhile told me I just had never owned a high end and perfectly built optic and that's why I couldn't get it to hold zero but since then I bought a vx3i brand new for close to nothing and have been happy with it has held zero for 2 years every company has their good and their bad some more than others what ruins a brand for me is how they handle the business when an item needs repair