Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leupold Alumina Flip Back Lens Cover Kit

Anyone ever use these? Super expensive and wonder if they're that much better than typical Butler Creek covers. Must be something better at the high cost!

I have a set and I like 'em, but they are expensive. They came on a used scope that I bought, otherwise I would have bought the Butler Creek covers.

They are beautiful little gadgets. Mine never leaked in the rain, but I have heard others report the opposite.

There a lot to like about them but they are seriously expensive for what they do... I could see buying them again if bolt or barrel clearance was an issue with BC's, or if I was wanting "classy" on an all-weather rifle. For some reason.

they don't add to the OD of the scope bells, so you can run lower rings, like Talley XLs/Leupold standard occcular on M700s (not possible with BC caps.

but i have had the Alumina occular cap close itself under recoil on hard kickers.

also they seem to stay closed better than BC caps, which i've had come open and get broken twice. not a biggie, but....

I have them on the Leupold scopes on two rifles (front cap only) - both nice old Winchester's that I wanted a classy, but practical, finishing touch on. I keep Butler Creek caps on my other rifles. Top picture is a M88 in .308 WIN with a Leupold CL 3-9x40, the bottom picture is a M88 in .284 WIN with a Leupold VX-III 3.5-10x40. I like the way they look on a nice rig.

I only have one Leupold new enough to utilize the screwed on cap and was thinking about trying one (front only). Probably stick with Butler Creeks for now! Thanks for the replies.

I like em way better than the BC caps, worth the dough IMO

I've never owned a pair, though I've toyed with a bunch of them on rifles belonging to friends and seen the Alumina covers "fail" in the field. I was not at all impressed by them. If they were the same money I'd take the Butler Creek caps every time. Or said another way, if Leupold included a set of Alumina caps on each of their in the box scopes without a price increase I'd replace them with Butler Creek caps.....YMMV

Even though they are 1/4 the cost of the Alumina caps I believe the Butler Creek caps are at least ten times as good at keeping your scope clean/dry/ready to fire.......

Out of curiosity, what kind of 'failures' have you witnessed? They are so overbuilt compared to the BC junk, I have a hard time believing anyone could kill one without killing the scope attached to them.

I have them, use them hard, and wouldn't trade one set of Leupold covers for 100 sets of Butler Creeks.

Me too.

Granted that we often hunt for days/weeks in constant rain, but they can/do leak water around the objective lens. Also the front cap on a buddy's .375 Ruger would sometimes close under recoil--not every time, but it happened several times. I've never had a B&C do either of these things, but in honesty I probably only have a dozen or so sets on various rifles.......

does ol' 'buddy' fold the cap back flat to the bell? I have a hard time imagining it closing on recoil, if flat.

Same here. This is one of my favorite features of the Leupold. No problems up to .416 Rem. I have killed several BC covers with the brim of my hat under recoil. I haven't had one (Alumina) leak yet, though I could see that it may be possible.

With BC covers I have had issues with the pin the holds the yellow (or red) button in, I've had the hinge pin walk out on a couple, some covers have just fallen off under moderate use, some won't stay closed, but most commonly they break at the hinge in pretty short order. I still use the BC's on a couple of non-Leupold scopes, but only because of a lack of a better option. I'm glad they are cheap, they're worth it.

I do not recall how the cap was situated, just that it was open before the shot and closed after the shot on a .375 Ruger Alaskan--far from an ideal situation on a hunting rifle. I couldn't care less what a person uses as lens covers for their scope, I was simply stating my experience with scopes using the Alumina covers and that if I were given a set of them I wouldn't place them on a hunting scope. To each his own......

Well, I ordered a front cap only to try; rarely use the eyepiece cover on any of my scopes. I won't become addicted even if it works well, as its the only new Leupold I own!!!

I have three sets and LOVE them, also have never paid more than 40-50 for a set.

Just have to look in a few corners now and than and you'll come up with a used set or a cheap new set.

Just received a free set of Alumina covers with the purchase of a new VX-3. Free is good. I cant wait to try them out.