Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics I am going to lose my scheit on Leupold....

Some of you may remember my post from 6 weeks ago where my new-in-box $1,500 VX-6 3-18x50mm CDS-ZL blah blah blah scope had a canted reticle. I posted a photo of it, it was blatantly obvious.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...pold-fail-this-past-weekend#Post12379988

So I send the scope in to Leupold with a VERY clear description (and link to photo) of the problem. Here is what I sent to them:

"Purchased beginning of year, opened this weekend to mount on my new rifle. Was very disappointed to see that the reticle was rotated clockwise relative to elevation turret. I have a photo of it on my private Imgur account. My other two VX-6s are definitely not like this." https://i.imgur.com/9sbcycY.jpg

I received the scope back tonight and this was the brilliant [bleep] work Leupold did. Said they couldn't find anything, didn't call me, spun the turrets side-to-side, and sent the same [bleep] problem right back to me. Not acceptable, but I could stomach it if it was a $250 VX-1, but to fail TWICE on one of their "flagship" products is just BS. For the past few years I have spent on average a few thousand dollars a year on optics. Even more relevant, I advise all my friends and co-workers as they seem to always ask me what they should purchase for their projects. I can tell you what I WON'T be recommending to them from now on.

Been there, done that and got the t-shirt. I have moved on from Leupold.

+1

That’s horrible. And every day their reputation gets worse and worse...

That's crazy. So the CS is down the tubes now too, eh?

I'd send it back a second time and see what they do?

The recent Leupold hate is hard to fathom. I have filled several freezers with meat and have a shelf of silhouette trophies that I earned using their scopes. No failures ever in a few dozen of their scopes, over 4+ decades. Is this all very recent production?

I don’t mean to discount anyone’s personal experiences, but it’s difficult to match up based on my own.

I saw three different Leupolds fail on the silhouette line this past year alone. Including a 1" 8.5-25 x 40 on my centerfire. Frustrating to say the least.

Leupold allows up to 3 degrees of reticle cant. Your scope is within their acceptable range.


Welcome to Leupold.

Is there a relationship between scope caps and reticles being exactly vertical or 90° from each other. Just trying to understand the real problem

Absolutely! On a 2nd focal plane scope (which this is), the reticle is mounted in a tube within a tube. Looking through the scope, the elevation turret is at 12 o'clock, windage at 3 o'clock. They push against the inner tube and there is a leaf spring at 7:30 which opposes the force of the two turrets. A scope can get away with a canted reticle if it is static, i.e. there is not a provision for "dialing" elevation or windage. If you level the canted reticle, any adjustment on elevation/windage produces movement on the other. If you level the elevation turret, it will track properly but you have to live the canted reticle, which is only valid for the center of the crosshairs. Any vertical or horizontal hashes will be off, albeit minimal at reasonable distances. None of this is acceptable on a scope which costs this much money.

They better make this right and real right. What a joke.

3 degrees of acceptable error? Wow. Not having ever put a scope together I can't say I know what method they use to install the reticle correctly. Since they have an acceptable error of 3 degrees their process is not acceptable to anyone that I know on this forum.

So, if I understand this correctly, with your reticle canted slightly, do they want you to square it in the rings and carry on? If they aren't going to align it, you'll have to ignore the outside of the scope and square it with a reticle leveller.

For what you paid, I would have expected better.

Thanks for the warning. Sorry it happened to you.

Have been looking for a new scope and have thought of a new Leupold. Not now. This after reading a test article where the tester, of a rifle IIRC, had to send a new Leupold back with the same problem, glossed over by mentioning their customer service...

I had nothing but good service from Leupold. but for 1500 dollars for their flagship scope , they better make it right. call and speak to a rep.....good luck

I had nothing but good service from Leupold. but for 1500 dollars for their flagship scope , they better make it right. call and speak to a rep.....good luck

Curiosity got the best of me from the OP's other thread.

And....sure enough. Tis why I always level the reticle, not the turrets.

Damn! I only have one Leupold I twist, it's an old 6.5-20x50 Long Range, it's been fail safe for over 15 years I guess, now paranoid, I'm gonna run it some more to make sure, ASAP.

I've been singing this song for over five years, probably closer to 10. Use to take a beating around here for it. Good to see the 'fire coming around.

Maybe your singing doesn't sound good? Grin.....