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

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Same here, I first noticed that leupold wasn’t up to par about 13 years ago and no one wanted to hear it.

I have said for a long time, Not needing customer service is the best customer service.

Even if you level the reticle, which is what I do, if it's off kilter w.r.t. the turrets then the inputs from the turrets won't be the natural orthogonal vectors implied by the coordinate axes, i.e. the reticle.

Consider an extreme example, a 45 degree can't. You want to move bullet impact one unit vertically. A one unit change on a turret will then produce .707 units of vertical and .707 units of horizontal change.

Would really be magnified at a longer distance.

Sort of a Rosanne-Barr-National-Anthem bad.

.

dave

So the scope is canted as I noted in his other post?

You all are getting all the bad ones, I have 15 or 16. No problems with mine.

Love it when you talk dirty like that!

FWIW, I've always leveled the reticle too. A while back, Graf's threw a Segway tool in my order just for grins, and it really helps. I also place a little machinists' rule against the eyepiece, in line with the bars on the Segway, which gives me a reference line all the way across. That makes it easier to compare the reticle to the bars. Any difference at either end of the horozontal is easily seen.

On models with double springs, are they both at 7:30, or are there springs at two different positions on the 'clock"?

Mule Deer told me not long ago, IIRC, that what looks like the old Posi-lock turret at 7-ish on some Burris models now houses a coil bias spring. Sounds like a good idea.

As a long time Leupold fan myself, I used to have an almost religious sort of respect for their products until about 2006. That is when I first saw the problems start. A couple of my friends, who are very well respected high end rifle makers noticed the same problems about the same time. At first, I really didn't want to believe it and plodded along as any good choir boy will do. Then, between 2009 and 2013 or so I had five of seven new Leupold's have problems retaining point of impact. Four were VX-III's and one was the much touted FX-II 6x36, which gave up the ghost during a Dall sheep hunt in Alaska. When I shot the sheep at about 350 yards, I noticed the bullet impact was about 6" to the left of where it should have been in dead calm conditions. Sure enough, when I got home the POI had shifted about 1.5" left of where it was when I left for Alaska and the turret had a weird crunchy feel when you turned it.

At one point, I had three Leupold variables lose POI on a 300 Wby over the course of about two months. This was handy, as it saved me on postage when I crammed them all in one flat rate box to send in for service. It did cost me a lot of expensive ammunition though.

Nowadays, I pretty much stick with NF, Schmidt & Bender, SWFA SS, and if I need to go light, older Leupold M8's. I do have a newer Burris Fullfield II that has been holding up well to 300 mag recoil. Can't say it's a scope I would put on a nice custom, as it is pretty grim in the looks department, but it has been pretty tough so far.

I've never had one go bad either and plan to keep it that way.............



by getting rid of most of my Leupolds!

I'm kind of over the hill (age/health), so are my bushel basket full of Leupolds. I have one M8 and close to a dozen Vari-X III's, which I have contended are too good to toss, so I keep using them. They also are trouble free. I may have made a good decision, since the quality does seem to be on the decline. The only new Leupold in my stable is a 3-9EFR that I bought thinking was the same as my old Ultralight 3-9 EFR. I now notice that the new one is labeled as a .22 scope. Not sure how that is going to work out as I intended to put it on a center fire?

I am not a Leupold or nothing guy. I have bought other brands in the last few years. I am really impressed with a Bushnell 4200 from about three years ago as to clarity and brightness. (I don't spin knobs).

As to other brands, I have an old Zeiss 4X that has not wiggled for thirty years. It is still better than some lesser brands. I have a Swarovski binocular and have had their scope. Great glass and great customer service. The problem is that in my experience, you will need the CS. Personally, I'd rather not need it.

In my situation, unless I run over a rifle and ruin the scope, I am close to not buying many or no more scopes. But like everyone else,,if I do need another, what should it be. I will stay tuned .......

Jack

If Leupold allows 3 degrees of cant, as was mentioned by another poster, the error will be negligible out to a few hundred yards. It becomes more pronounced at longer ranges. How much error is introduced by a canted reticle isn't the issue however. QA and customer satisfaction are.

As I posted earlier, for $1500, Leupold should rectify the problem. Time to chat with a company rep, not the service department. A personal approach is best. Phone them again, or if Leupold won't deal with the problem, drop by the store and tell them you would like to chat with their rep. The store may even offer to help.

I will be contacting Leupold again, that is for damn sure. I will actually be very pleasant on the phone as I know the person on the other end was not the one who "passed the buck" on this issue. But I will be insistant on speaking with someone with "authority" to resolve it immediately. What really burns my azz is that it cost me almost $40 for insured postage to Leupold, they had the scope for 6 weeks, nobody contacts me asking "we can't find anything, what are you talking about", nobody bothered to look at the web link I included in the return with a very clear picture of the canted reticle. I am on vacation from work next week, but I may come in anyway and put the scope on an optical comparator. I can shine a light through the scope and measure within a RCH how for off the crosshairs are from level relative to the turret/scope base.

Honestly at this point I expect to receive a new scope for my trouble and their lack of finding the issue the first time. We shall see and I will update when I know something.

I agree. Many businesses will avoid dealing with, or delay rectification, hoping that the customer gives up and walks away.

Have you showed the store your scope? They should be aware of it too. Sometimes, them having a rapport with the rep may be a big help. Lifetime warranty, reputation, etc.

I agree with Steve,but instead send a certified letter to the President of Leupold Optics.These kind of letters get results.

Send it back with a letter and a link to this thread.

If they care, they'll do something.

Lots of exposure here to those who buy scopes.

Bad news travels faster and farther than good news.

Whether or not they realize it, they can't afford to let their CS go south, as CS has long been a big marketing plus, even when stuff messes up. It's aggravating enough having to send one back, usually in the middle of hunting season, only to have them send it back, finding no problem when the problem is as plain as the nose on your face.

Keep us posted.

DF

Give them your phone number and email, let them know you're expecting a call.

DF

If they give you flack, ask for a supervisor and move up the food chain until you find someone with good sense.

DF