Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What year did Leupold start outsourcing parts?

I tried the search function with no luck, so it this has been answered here already, please forgive me - what year did Leupold start outsourcing parts? When I emailed Leupold themselves, I received a non-answer. I'm looking for Leupold scopes that are fully made in the USA vs those that aren't. And before anyone says so, yes, I am aware that there are many off-shore optics that are every bit as good as from anywhere else, but I've noticed a decline in Leupold over the last few years.

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the lenses were made in Japan by the late 70's or so...............

Other offshoring of parts was more of a continuum --a little bit at a time.

I had trouble with 3 of their vx11's on 30/06....Two went to hell while in Africa in 2006..Warranty is worthless 10 thousand miles from home,lol..Gunsmith told me they got some bad erectors....They sent back after fixing and still could not hold zero..My last! Last trip we had two Zeiss Conquest (made by MeOpta) ..So far, zero problems...

I'm afraid if you go back so far as to be 100% USA made,you are going to loose a lot of optical performance and wind up with friction knobs. The problem is in what it takes to qualify for a manufacturer to put made in USA in their label.

In a scope, I’d sacrifice a bit on the optics and go for ruggedness every time. I’ve gone almost exclusively to fixed power scopes on my hunting rifles, and only wish I had done so sooner. The Leupold M8s have never let me down, and these have included multiple 3x, 4x33, 4x28, 6x36, 6x42, 8x40, 12x40. There are lots of critics of the friction adjustments, but I’m not one of them. Sometimes the adjustments aren’t as marked, and it takes a little more time to zero, but once they are zero’ed my scopes have always held it.

I don't see any reason to suffer either unless you are just stuck on Leupold and low of funds. I mean I'm not saying an older friction Leupold can't get the job done. I'm just saying that I can think of some better options.

“Suffering” isn’t the question, to me it’s simply the entire package. I want to hold weight down, find the older fixed power scopes are both effective and help me shave ounces. In a stand only beanfield situation, where weight doesn’t matter, a heavier scope may work just fine. I would rather have a few more ounces in the barrel, a few less in my scope, as I move a lot and use my rifles in the hills. I’ve never had a hunting situation where either an older 6x36 or 6x42 was insufficient at first or last shooting light.

And on the subject of variable reliability, it’s not just the Leupold that go belly up. A couple years ago, I had a Swarovski go bad as well. All the big names have pretty good service. Trouble is, you don’t get to pick when they fail.

IIRC Mule Deer made mention in a recent article that some of the highly respected European scopes weren't reliable on rifles that recoil on the 300 magnum plus range. I have no idea if Leupold's failure rate is any greater than any other manufacturer. Nobody does. I know what brand I see most of when I am at the hunting camp and shooting range.

Leupold has never ground the lenses for their scopes. In the early days, they had various US subcontractors making them.

They started using Japanese lenses in the early 1970's

Leupold has way too many models and lines. They want to be in every segment at every price point. I'm sure this doesn't help their QC. They used to offer a few lines and a few models in each line. I expect the quality decline coincided with their explosive product offerings. They would be better off cutting their offerings in half and focusing on quality. I've had some recent issue with them. I enjoy the peace of mind with the warranty but would rather not need it. I'm not buying them anymore.

I assume the brand you are speaking of is Leupold. Growing up as a teenager and in my early 20's Leupold was king in my eyes. You couldn't sell me anything else. The reason you see them more often is because of the price point. Leupold VX-2 & VX-3 scopes in the $300-500 price range have long been king of the market but now that is changing. Also you see them often because a lot of people want a good quality scope and the Leupold price point is at the top end of their budget. Now scopes like Vortex, Zeiss and others are playing in that price range and getting a lot of the business Leupold used to get. I've owned and still own Leupolds and Nikons on several guns but they don't compare to the Leica's and Meopta's I own. I will tell you this. I have looked through a Leupold VX-II and a Nikon Buckmaster (on my own rifles) side by side at the range and the Nikon's clarity blows the Leupold away! I've also had a $1000+ Leupold scope fail on me so at this point in my life I would be hard pressed to buy another Leupold. I'd probably have to find a VX-5 or VX-6 on a half price sale. Just my experiences.

Randall

Well said! Ditto!!!