Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics How bad are new Leupold scopes

When I buy used leupold here or on gunbroker, I try to get the seller to ship to leupold.

I will often request an different reticle, and if one is not available a systems check.

You won't believe how many get new erectors free of charge, and then refilled with I am assuming a more modern gas.

In fact twice I sent scopes I had bought used and they were broken and unfixable, they sent me the modern equivalent free of charge!

There is perhaps no better company to deal with in the world. When I get customers meowing at me I often ask myself.

" Now ........ what would leupold do in this situation?"

I used to be a Leupold fan (as in I ONLY buy Leupold), then I started testing my scopes: low light performance, rtz, tracking, resolution, etc. Now I won't own one. They were consistently the bottom of the heap on race day. They did have superior edge to edge clarity, and the color prescription looked really good in daylight though.

I only have one Leupold VX-3i but so far it is working fine. It's on a 6.5 CM and hasn't been shot a lot yet. I will say that the tracking on the earlier VariX-III, VX-III etc. models was sometimes inconsistent but I have seen few problems with not holding zero.

Everything can have issues, and I don’t twist knobs as s general hunting rule, but I trust leupold 1/2/3 over Nikon, vortex, Minox, Weaver, bushnell, newer Burris, and the other half dozen never heard ofs running out there these days. Doesn’t mean Leupold is the best or any of the new, unknowns aren’t any good. It’s a trust/track record thing, and Leupold has a good one, the others not so much. I’m not getting into NF, Swarovski, SB, Kahles, euro Zeiss, etc. To me, that’s a dirrent level of scopes, and where Leupold’s upper models are made to compete, and they’re more than I need for most hunting, so I have less experience, outside NF and Trijicon for duty use.

I see a pattern emerging.

We have the Leupold lovers and what they have in common is they have 20 plus Leupolds and have used them for years with little to no problem. They seem to use Leupolds almost exclusively. They also lean towards set it and forget it.

Then we have the guys who have nothing but problems? They generally shoot a lot and at distance. They swap scopes a lot, twist turrets etc..... they also have other brands of scopes in the mix.

I started in the first camp and the Leupolds seemed fine. Then I became a chronic scope swaper and knob twister and that is where the wheels fell off. I also started shooting a LOT more. I also stated using a lot more custom barrels and generally more precision rifles.

And in that mix I purchased other brands of scopes and that was enlightening. Suddenly problems I blamed on the rifle or inaccurate ammo started to disappear with other brands of scopes.

In swapping scopes I was constantly re-sighting in rifles and then it also became very tedious with Leupold scopes and I wasted a bunch of ammo. I started to notice other brands where easy to dial in and it was an eye opener.

I still own a pile of Leupolds but they are for the most part set and forget now, I have also weeded out the Leupolds that wont hold zero etc.....

Everyone loves to cite Leupolds great warranty and service dept. I disagree, the warranty wont help in the middle of a hunt. And I have sent scopes in only to have them returned with the same problem.

I want to love Leupold scopes, I like the light weight and clean lines, I like the made in USA part etc..... but I have little faith in them anymore.

It's similar to Remington M700's--their very popularity sometimes works against them. By the early/mid 90's Leupold owned the scope world and the sheer number of them dictates there will be failures. But the failure rate may not be nearly as terrible as the numbers suggest.

Having said that my VX-1's VX-2's VX-3's, and VX3i's have in every instance been pretty poor in their adjustments. Most, but not all, of my Vari-X's move consistently with the amount dialed when sighting in. I don't twirl so that's not an issue with me. The ballistic reticles make shots as far as I'm going to take plenty precise out to minute of antelope distances. At this juncture I'm not aware of any of my recent Leupolds losing zero. I've had two older ones lose zero after 20 years of use.

And it's still hard to beat Leupold's eyebox and light weight.

Better yet, the price of new Leupolds have come down a fair amount the last 6 months--to the point I can buy a new for one the same or less than what used ones are selling for here on the Classifieds.

It would be wise for Leupold to read these threads.

I think the first scope I purchased as an adult was a Simmons. I think I paid something around $25 for it. Later I bought a pair of Alpen Binos. Truth bring, at that time, after just going broke, and having 3 babies in diapers, that was more than I should have spent. As time went by I was able to trade up. For years my favorite scope was a Vari-x III 2.5 x 8 x 36. I to have owned dozens of Leupolds. However, the last dozen or so scopes purchased either new or pre-enjoyed have had the labels Meopta, Swarovski, S&B, and Zeiss. I don't recall having taken off one of the aforementioned to replace it with a Leupold, I can think of several instances of the converse!

just sayin'

GWB

Eh, I don’t think saying leupold is a great hunting scope has anything to do with who shoots or twists the most or has the most different scopes, etc. To me, it’s a weight, reticle, set and forget durability and ‘package’ issue. My tactical/duty/target/LR stuff doesn’t generally wear Leupold stuff, though the Mark4-8 stuff is suitable. It’s uses. No need for a NF or even SS on my ‘hunting’ packages. If you’re gonna twist a lot and shoot 600+ across canyons at muleys and elk, you probably have a different perspective. That’s fine. Doesn’t mean any shortcomings leupolds may have for that use are any worse than the shortcomings others have for typical hunting and carrying use, and that’s a majority of hunters.

I agree irfubar.

I got me laser in the chamber bore sighters for my rifles / carbines.

The minox scopes I own, and the upper grade weavers Do Not Move once the dial is done twirling.

The leupolds often drift around. It does take more ammo and effort to get a leupold Hammered into zero.

And I use LRD reticles on them if I can because I do not trust twirling around on them.

The leupold guys know dang good and well that the procedure for zeroing a brand new leupold is shoot a group, make the necessary adjustment, shoot again and then look at the turrets to see what they say they do- and then check your math scratch your head, and start trying to either creep it over to zero a click or two at a time between shots or else brackett your zero attempting walk the rounds closer each time like artillery. But they might not know that that’s not the procedure with other scopes

Not trying to be smart or nuthin but for the same money, or less, what is better? Maybe I can be educated on this matter?

I need a scope with good eye relief and eye box dimensions and that, AFAIK, is LEUPOLD...this is more important to me than slightly better clarity, brightness, definition, repeatability, etc. I don't F with adjustments unless I'm changing loads and never had a lick of a problem doing this with a Leupold, Being that's the only time I adjusted, I even liked the old friction adjustments better than clicks..

I'm basically a hunter and wear thicker duds when hunting, despite thinsulate and goretex,etc., There's a difference than when shooting in the summer with a T-shirt on. I like a scope to come up without crawling into the stock too much. So, when someone say's they looked through a Leupold and a Brand X at dusk and the Brand X had better whatever, don't mean diddly squat to me if the eye distance and box don't measure up.

But that's just how I approach scopes, it seems to me that even a lot of the lower cost scopes of today are just as good or better optically than the top name brand scopes of 20 or 30 years ago. We killed just as much game then. Being US made is also a consideration that is actually important, IMO.

I occasionally shoot USPSA matches with engineers from Leupold. I've told them about these threads and suggested to one that he should check them out. I'm not sure if he did as I haven't seen him for a few months. But you're right, they should know what their potential customers are thinking.

Eye box and I’ve let a LOT of other scopes go because I couldn’t see the reticle at first/last light, and kept the leupolds w/Heavy duplexes because I could. Simple as that one consideration sometimes. Easily visible hunting reticles in a light scope. That’s easy to get with a leupold, but not with many others. I’ve like some qualities of other scopes in the same $ range....sightron, Weaver, Minox, vortex, etc....but only the easily available zeiss conquest reticles are as heavy for eastern hunting, IMO.

WWLD

I lost patience with them on my first trip to Africa in which I used a Leupold 6x42 on a .30-06. I arrived and the scope was off after the plane ride. It did the typical Leupold move of not taking adjustment, not taking adjustment, not take adjustment, move way too far and in an odd direction. I think it made the PH a little nervous. I had the epiphany that 100 percent of my Leupolds did that and sold them all when I got back. In addition to the adjustment issue described above, I have probably had 10-20 percent of the Leupolds I have owned go totally haywire, meaning not being able to keep them on a target or in one case not being able to keep it on a 100 yd backstop. This has happened with everything from an older M8 4x I bought NIB to newer scopes made in the last 5 years. A scope change has always solved that issue. I in fact have my last new Leupold bought a couple of years ago sitting on a shelf. It was bought for an AR, which shot 12" groups with the scope. Switching to open sights resulted in a 1-1.5" rifle.

I found a Leupold 6x42 stuffed in the closet that I didn't know I had this morning. Too bad Leupold makes such crap because holding that scope reminded me that in every other way I love everything about the Leupold 6x42.

There are various groups of interest here on the "fire. A lot guys hunt some and shoot at the range a lot. I take a perverse pleasure in finding used, pedestrian hunting rifles, and making them shoot accurately with hunting loads. I shoot a lot over the course of the year because I'm as much of a handloading loony as rifle loony I guess. But I shoot with my kind of hunting in mind here in the Rockies. Light, portable rifles generally shooting a stout hunting bullet is what interests me the most. I do like shooting steel out to 600yds, but I'm not shooting at game at those distances..........

I shoot a relatively flat shooting cartridge in a light mountain rifle but my rifles are set up to make those quick shots on fleeing elk in the timber. As Brad says a "general purpose rifle". That's what works for me. Consequently quick acquisition in the scope is every bit as important as taking a fine bead on a target 600 yds away.

I've got two VX-1 2-7's that do just that. A third one has been sent to Leupold and is much better now. I've had a few people tell me "send it in and it'll come back better".

I'm not sure how much that says for Leupold's manufacturing QC..............

My question is how many of your customers sent them back themselves and thereby skewed those numbers? I have returned all of mine directly to Leupold and have lost track of the number I have returned, though it is a sizable number and a multiple of 20-30x the 1 percent number mentioned. Their customer service has always been incredible, but I expect because they get a lot of practice at CS. Though, good CS doesn't help much on a far away hunt with a broken scope.

I sure hope Leupold is becoming aware of the criticism--the Campfire has got to be the largest hunting/shooting website on the interweb these days. If not they're even more dense than we're accusing them of..........