Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Always a Leupold guy, BUT..

Good stuff Jordan. While it may be difficult to verify zero where you're hunting and have taken a fall, it sure doesn't warrant SWAGing rounds at a big game animal if you have no idea where your zero is, if it got knocked off, etc, IMO.

I wouldn’t put any scope weighing more than 15ozs or so on Talley LWT’s—and especially if they would be on a 416 Rigby……

I definitely agree. Especially if you think there's a good chance that your scope did lose zero after a bump or fall.

The other option I’ve been kicking around is Conetrol rings and bases. Not sure how much they weigh.

Come on, everyone knows that Schmidt and Bender is the best.

Waaay out of my price range.

My VX 3 2.5-8×32 on a Kimber 300WSM has been to Africa 3 times. I use a TufPak as a case, the rifle is in a soft case surrounded by hunting clothing etc. When zero is checked, a minor adjustment is required. No problem.

I only hunt in Alaska and am on the downhill side of my mediocre hunting career. I used a 1.5-5x20 on a .338 for 12 years. Then went to a 2.5-8x36 for even longer, both had a duplex reticle. For many years I have had a 3-10x42 SHV with Kenton Industries Ballistic Tape on elevation turret. The old Pre-64 Featherweight 30-06 wears a Leupold 3-10x40 with a B&C reticle. My Tikka 6.5 Creed has a 3-9x42 SWFA mil scope on it.

I don't dial Leupold scopes, I do dial the SHV and SWFA if needed, which is rare because a little hold over takes care of moose and caribou out to 300 yards. MY wife's little Mod. 94 Big Bore .356 Win. wears a Leupold 1.5-5x20 with a German #4 reticle. All scopes are zeroed for 100 yards for moose hunts as I seldom shoot over 150 yards.

If one has had a bad experience with any scope, quit using it, if the experience is good it's hard to move on to another scope.

My .338 and 30-06 both have sturdy back up iron sights zeroed for 100 yards and the scopes are in Talley QD rings.

Good discussion. Personally I think Form's tests are helpful, and I think Jordan's analysis of the tests are spot-on.

I wish Leupold's were better at tracking and retaining zero- they're just not (I currently own 14 of them). Have seen it too many times over the years. They could be made more robustly, but they clearly are not. I'd give anything for them to be better - they're light, optics are plenty good, they hit the "optical triangle" perfectly, they're good looking, they're mostly USA made. What's not to like lol?

A local acquaintance was for years (well up into the mid/late 2000's), a National Small Bore Silhouette Coach here in MT. He told me Leupold gave the team scopes for free, but they just didn't track well enough or maintain their zero for competition (and broke too often). So, out-of-pocket, they bought their own Weaver Micro Tracks which performed well.

Fx

Brad,

Formy's (Chuck's) test are faked. Totally full of shit.

You don't live very far away and if you want I will drag a multitude of Leupolds on good rifles up north and let you see how well they track. Every single one.

It's not rocket science.

If you are basing an opinion off Weaver Micro Tracs you might multi decades behind the curve.

Let me know.

You aren’t kidding….

Brad, do you remember what category of air rifle competition the coach was talking about? I thought they used irons only.

Last NIB Reupold I purchased,is a fhuqking dismal piece of fhuqking schit. Hint.




Took a World Class Rifle that shoots in the .2's,to nearly 2" at 50yds in calm conditions,due erector adjustments. Hint.







Swap the Reupold for a real scope and the former Splendor returns. Pretty fhuqking funny! Hint.



SWFA 6x on FWB 300S...Google as you must. Hint.



Hint..................

One of the clients on a hunt this fall is the world champion PRS shooter. I think thats the right platform.

We spoke of scopes. It confirmed that I haven't had L on the list for a long time now.

Good luck.

You are correct. We had the conversation back in 2008 or 09, and my memory is fuzzy! I mispoke, it was small bore silhouette, so 22's - I edited my post to reflect that.

I can give you his name via PM, he's still coaching and his daughter is still winning matches!

Thanks for the update Brad. I have a well used T10 on my smallbore silhouette rifle myself.

I have not had a Leupold catastrophically fail, but have experienced the wandering enough when sighting different rifles in to migrate away from them. For me, once set, most have stayed well set. I ran a Leupold 3.5-10 on my lightweight 300 Wby. for a good number of years without ever losing zero.

I also had a Swaro Z-5 that didn't track - done with them.

And to be fair, I had a Bushnell LRHS completely sh_it the bed and froze up so bad nothing could be turned. I also have a second one that has a very hard (way too hard) parallax adjustment. It's going back for repair (or possibly replacement).

I'd love to try a Mark 5HD, but it doesn't really provide anything over a Trijicon or Nightforce. If I could afford a stable of March's I might give them a go, but at 63 I am not sure about my return on investment.

Apparently it’s never occurred to you that other hunters might have different requirements???

It’s not uncommon to take a fall in the mountains, especially when there’s fresh snow on top of vegetation. Now imagine it’s a multi day backpack hunt.

Much easier to just pick the more reliable scope from the get go.

It’s easy to blame scopes for small changes in poi. Shooting conditions are more often the cause, but it’s easier to blame gear and pretend your skill is beyond and optics manufacturers are beneath.

Fortunately flies are hunted with a swatter.

And Leupold makes a great product.

I've had lens groups shake loose,broken reticles and had multiple other outright catastrophic Reupold failures. Zero retention is impossible,with more than a few Models,as is tracking and repeats. Hint.

My initial LRHS G2 '18X tracked like a Reupold and they simply sent me a new one(G3) and it's long been flawlessly reliable. The herd I procured after same,is also without fault or issue. Hint.

Swaro has never made a scope worth a fhuqk. Hint.

My flagship Reupold MK5 is an EPIC piece of fhuqking schit. Hint.

Have a goodly pile of new glass to flog TTT's upon(including Trijicon and Nightfarce) and a coupla new rifles to sort out as well. As glass goes,I'm anxious to see SWFA's newest offerings,once unveiled. Hint.

Folks like to forget,that THE most important part(s) of a scope,is the schit you CAN'T see...which is internals. Hint.

Just sayin'......................