I'm not a Leupold only fanboy. But, I have got to say this. No scope manufacturer offers the scarce combination of, very light weight, excellent eye relief, classic looks (at least more so than most) and a decent price in a scope like leupold does. If someone would like to point out to me another scope brand that has all of these characteristics in their scopes, please do. I am a "set and forget" scope user and I have had very good service out of Leupolds. Yes, I I have sometimes had to "tap the turret", when sighting in and used more ammo than I should have to, but that is the price that I am willing to pay for the combination of characteristics in a scope that I have mentioned above. I like Burris scopes, but for their models that would meet my needs, the eye relief is too short and/or the scope is heavier than I want to put on my rifle. RJ
I was, for decades, and have never had an issue other than the evasive zero, but then none of mine really had that many rounds on them or were mounted on heavy kickers, except a ML scope on a lightweight Knight .50, which was pretty "lively". None were dialed in use either. The last three I acquired were a VX2 3-9, a VX5HD 2-10, and a VX3i 3.5-10. The VX2 was typically flaky while zeroing. I only put a few rounds on it before moving it to another rifle I gave away. The VX3i worked perfectly for 100 rounds or so, then was sold after I sold the rifle it was on. The VX5-HD remains, mounted on my Fieldcraft, and is easily the nicest scope I've ever owned, in pretty much every way, and it was free, courtesy of a CameraLand drawing. I really hope it holds up, but if it goes South, I'll probably replace it with an SHV of the same magnification, which costs about the same and has a better reputation for reliability.
You're right about the Leupold "features", but once I started trying some other brands, I found that the generally shorter eye-relief wasn't as much of an issue as I thought. The adjustments on Burris FF and E1s have worked perfectly, though they can feel a bit mushy, as have a couple of Weavers, and four "Chinese junk" Hawkes. None of them have failed in any way either, and none cost anywhere near as much as even the VX-2, many actually about half on sale. Meanwhile, a number of reliable, knowledgeable users here, who generally do a lot more shooting than I, have reported multiple failures, out of the box or soon after, of current-model Leupolds, and also of getting less than stellar service on them. I think a bit of eye-relief, and maybe a little optical performance is a pretty good trade for a good chunk of cash and especially, rock-solid reliability. I'd go back to buying Leupolds in a heartbeat if they would address the crappy erector issue, but they totally deny its existence.
FWIW, I just picked up two very nice Leupold M8s, a 4x and a 6, and plan to put them on a pair of FN .270s, where I expect them to shine, once I get them wobbled into zero. I paid more for each of them than any of the Burris scopes I have, but still less than my last VX2.
