Lots of People like to bash brands.

[6.5-300 BEE]

1. So $3500 ZCOs, $3700 Tangents, $2800-3400 S&Bs on $4000-6000 customs are no good? Gotcha.
2. I usually take 2 extra rifles and a spare scope. Good call for sure.
3. Great advice for 90% of hunting situations.

If YOU really think a $4-6000 rifle is needed to match your skills as a shooter, God bless you.

Had I a spare 10 grand, I'd be going on some exoctic outfitted hunt as I know that any 1.5 MOA rifle will kill anything I would shoot at.

I'd wager that a $1500 Savage with a $3000 Schmidt, would outshoot your mega buck rifle with a $1000 Nikon on it.

Supporting my original point ---- from my safe. $1800 rifle, $2800 scope. You own a $6 grand Creedmore that will whup it ?

 

[flyguy1]

It really has a lot to do with how a person uses the scope and what's expected/demanded from it. For the guy who digs his gun out 3 days before elk season to see if it's relatively close to zeroed and never dials the turret, he's not gonna see problems as often because he's not demanding much from the optic.

For the shooter with a sub .5 moa gun that checks his zero often, requires that it maintain within .25moa and dials the turrets year around shooting to long range or elr distances...he will discover optics problems when they arise.

High recoiling rifles are a big factor too

I'm pretty finicky about all my gear, and my custom .300 WinMag (APS) and my Coopers are all .5 MOA. My .375 H&H is about 1.25 MOA, but it's a dangerous game gun with a 1.25-5x scope. I do shoot year round, but you're right, I don't shoot prairie dogs with my Magnums. For one thing, I wouldn't be welcome on the ranches where I shoot them if I did. One thing I did notice in one of FiftyDriver's posts is that he uses double sets of rings on some of his higher recoiling magnums, or sometimes two rings on the rear and one on the front. Maybe this would help with broken scopes? Don't pretend to know the answer but he's pretty smart.

 

[Ed AO]

Whats funny is Nightforce isn't any better than any other Japanese made scope. Most of them are made by the same company in Japan. The Burris XTR II is made in the phillipines isnt it? So is the vortex PST - once again only a couple manufacturing facilities over there, so the same quality. I get that there are some design and reticle differences. But guys get all worked up over nothing. All scopes can and do have problems and will fail. My buddies NXS gave up the ghost on his once in a lifetime Alaskan moose hunt. Had to borrow a friends rifle.

I say Good for leupold for not drinking the koolaid and keeping their manufacturing in the US. I'll keep supporting them however I can.

leupold assembles scopes in USA. They are not made in USA. They source parts and put them together here. like some Burris scopes. They only scope I know that's actually made in the USA fully with the exception of the reticle is a Vortex AMG.

 

[UplandFreak]

leupold assembles scopes in USA. They are not made in USA. They source parts and put them together here. like some Burris scopes. They only scope I know that's actually made in the USA fully with the exception of the reticle is a Vortex AMG.

They source their glass. They manufacture the other components.

 

[Ed AO]

They source their glass. They manufacture the other components.

If that were the case they would say so. I can find no where on their site that states that. They do source the glass though. If they had it in writing I'd believe it.

 

[UplandFreak]

If that were the case they would say so. I can find no where on their site that states that. They do source the glass though. If they had it in writing I'd believe it.

Its in the video on their site.

 

[Ed AO]

Its in the video on their site.

couldn't find this video. Not saying I don't believe you. If it was just the glass I think they'd be able to say made in USA not assembled.

 

[snox801]

I know there are folks on here that spend thousands of dollars for scopes , rifles but on the other end are folks that save up just to spend a thousand on both rifle and scope together. We must not put any of these folks to shame because they are wealthy. We must help them choose the best they can afford. It is easy to say save up buy once cry once but they will never be able to afford one and that is just the way it is. I know that they won't even post a question because people on here will scoff at them and that my friends is a shame. Just my to cents

Well said I have some very high end scopes. That being said I started with a $40 bsa cause that's all I could get and it worked great for what it was. Heck even now my most used and abused scope is a Nikon prostaff 2-10. Seems really dumb to me when I think about it that my most used scope was less than $250 and my least used once a year scope was over 3 grand.

 

[Arkansasdad]

Whats funny is Nightforce isn't any better than any other Japanese made scope. Most of them are made by the same company in Japan. The Burris XTR II is made in the phillipines isnt it? So is the vortex PST - once again only a couple manufacturing facilities over there, so the same quality. I get that there are some design and reticle differences. But guys get all worked up over nothing. All scopes can and do have problems and will fail. My buddies NXS gave up the ghost on his once in a lifetime Alaskan moose hunt. Had to borrow a friends rifle.

I say Good for leupold for not drinking the koolaid and keeping their manufacturing in the US. I'll keep supporting them however I can.

All NightForce scope models are assembled, inspected, tested, and packaged at the NightForce facility in Orofino Idaho or Lavonia, Georgia. They use Japanese glass just like all the other mid to high end scope companies do. Most of it comes from a company named Hoya. There are no American optic glass companies that manufacture lens for binos, scopes and the like. Swarovski stopped contracting their glass out in 98 if I remember correctly. They realized that the only thing that set them apart was their glass so they stopped selling to other scope companies and I think they are the only scope manufacturer that make their own glass now. There are optics made in different places, Philippines, Malaysia, Eastern Europe and etc.. As far as Leupold over half of their scopes are manufactured in China, including the glass. The Gold Ring scopes are still assembled in Oregon but the glass for their mid to high end scopes is procured from Japan. I don't have any bias at all as to which scope a person has as long as it is what he wants but for a company like Leupold to stamp their a good American name on cheap Chinese junk is deplorable. They should have completely distanced themselves from it, under a different name if they had break into the boat anchor market. I just counted and now have 17 Gold Rings mounted and wonder about it if Leupold will be in business much longer to warranty them. I can report that Leupold did not just drink the koolaide but got stupid drunk off of it. Happy Shooting.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

Well said I have some very high end scopes. That being said I started with a $40 bsa cause that's all I could get and it worked great for what it was. Heck even now my most used and abused scope is a Nikon prostaff 2-10. Seems really dumb to me when I think about it that my most used scope was less than $250 and my least used once a year scope was over 3 grand.

Nikon prostaffs were my first scope. I still use several and they haven't failed me.

 

[25WSM]

Gotta wonder why an American company hasn't started making good hd glass for optics. You would think they would be very busy if a company did it.
Shep

 

[bigngreen]

If Leupold is truly Made in USA enough to legit were tht

Gotta wonder why an American company hasn't started making good hd glass for optics. You would think they would be very busy if a company did it.
Shep

Because the price and quality of outsourcing to established companies is more profitable than building an American company from scratch.

 

[25WSM]

Every company cost more when you start it. But if you could get 3 or 4 scope company's on board with you the profits would come. But it looks like the almighty dollar will always win. The more junk we have made in China the more we lose. It's sad that I can build a custom rifle with 100 percent made in America parts. Look how many custom barrel and action companies there are. And several stock companies. But can't buy a real 100 percent American made scope. Sad.
Shep

 

[BEEMAN]

I reluctantly bought a vx6hd last summer because if issues I've heard about. So far I'm really liking it. As Tumbleweed stated I think it depends on how you use your scope. I do dial a lot but not a crazy amount. It is also mounted on a 6 dasher hunting gun right now. So recoil is near zero. My property only allows me to shoot out to 910 yds. But luckily all the scopes I run have returned to zero and dial ups are all good. But I consider myself easy on equipment and don't shoot as much as most guys. I think the vx6hd is a lot of scope with decent glass. Just wish the turrets weren't so mushy/soft feeling.