I loved Leupold scopes; they were all I purchased. They are light, svelte, look good, and are crap internally. I have been working on loads for a new 350 Legend and was getting some erratic groups (2 touching 1 out) with a 3-9 VX2. Next range trip my POI moved about 3 inches right, but the wind was blowing so I figured the stubby 35 cal bullet was really getting pushed around. Next range trip, groups went totally to crap and so I swapped the scope to a Weaver K4 I had bought cheap but never mounted. Guess what, next day I had nice groups and the scope actually adjusted correctly during sight in. So besides getting some good velocity data I totally wasted 3 days of load development + gas, bullets, etc. It is TOO expensive for me to keep using their garbage.
If you don’t shoot much, or have never used a mechanically stable scope before, you probably don’t realize the issue chasing POI changes or unexplained fliers that you “pulled”. A couple inches of POI shift probably won’t cost the average hunter on game (or may not be noticed) under 100 yds. Ever wonder why “1 box a year” hunters have to check and adjust their zero ever year before hunting? What happened in that gun safe to change their zero from last year? I was on the fence but no more. This is at least the 3rd or 4th scope I have sent back to them and none were abused or on heavy kickers. Using a couple SWFA’s was a revelation. Yes, they are heavy and bulky but stable. I am officially done with Leupold variables and am keeping a close eye on a couple fixed 4X’s I still use.
BTW, that Weaver K4 is a darn nice scope. I wish I had grabbed a couple more.
Been there done that, have zero confidence in Leupold, as far as I’m concerned even at a reduced price they are garbage! After running Leupold on everything for years it was such an eye opener to shoot just about anything else and actually have my shots move the way I intend them to after making adjustments. I have wasted more time and ammo because of Leupold scopes that it makes me mad just thinking about it. And I’m no optics snob that only runs Nightforce scopes. Nikons,Burris,Zeiss,SWFA have all proved more reliable to me than Leupold.
