Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Any leupold vx6 failures??

I had a 2-12 VX-6 illuminated firedot (not HD) that went wacky after trying to change the stupid thing one click. I sent it in to Leupold and they adjusted the erector system, and it has worked ok since then. It's on my wife's 7-08, and she loves the glass - it is really good glass - so we're leaving it on there for now, but I don't really trust it.

Do you still own it?

Wow, an eye opening thread for sure. I've had my 2-12 VX6 for several years now, taking it to MX, Africa, and a handful of States here in the US. It is responsible for probably 75 big game animals so far. Not even the baggage handling gorillas could make this scope shift zero,.as my travel case (Americase) looks like a pack of hyenas has gotten ahold of it. I consider OptiLocks heavy duty, solid mounts, so maybe that has something to do with it. You can bet I'll be watching it very closely though.

Man I have been a leupold fan for 30 years and this is really disconcerting

This is not a new issue....

Pappy,

No.

I have just one a 3-18 on a 7mm AI. Shot a bit ~300 rounds and it seems to track reasonable but I only dial between 200-500 yds. It came shipped with the illumination dot about 1.5 MOA below the crosshairs, I haven't sent it back because I would only use the dot at the fringes of light and the range would be short enough the 1.5 MOA wouldn't matter, but it doesn't say much for the QC of the scopes.

I wish Leupold would make an FX6 6X36 just so I could say it fast three times...

I have two 2-12's. It is disconcerting.

Even though mine are doing well, it does undermine trust.

I respect those with negative reports, these things didn't happen (don't happen) in a vacuum...

DF

Perhaps only in my case, I take into account reviews from all sources, not just one.

The VX-6 (not HD) has a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Optics planet and Midway out of 11 to 19 reviews. Other sites have a 4.5 to 5.0 rating out of fewer reviews.

I would be horribly disappointed should I catch a faulty scope, but I've yet to see a single incident where Leupold didn't make it good, no matter what it takes, no matter how old it is, or who owns it.

Just leveling the playing field a little......no offense intended in any way. As much as I love any mechanical thing.........lemons pop up. What happens next is a huge deciding point for me.

That said I dont shoot heavy recoil rifles so my personal experience is quite limited.

All this speaks volumes to me.........YMMV.

God Bless
Steve

I had a VX-7 2.5-10x45. The view through it was great, even to the S&B Zenith owner when we were comparing scopes at last light on the range. Its adjustments were very reliable, and I cranked them a bunch to check. The scope had too much parallax for my taste at anything past 100 yards, so I sent it in to Leupold to check it out. They said there was a problem they couldn't fix, so they would send me a replacement from the VX-6 line. I wound up with a 3.5-18x44 and so far it has been great, but I've read enough about VX-6 adjustment problems to be uncomfortable.

I know everything is capable of breaking but this is a heck of a trend. I did break a vari x 3 3.5-10x40mm and 2 mark IVs on my 378 bee. Then I bought a Nightforce

Most people can't even sight in their own scope. They certainly wouldn't know if their expensive scope malfunctioned.

I own 3 2-12s, 2 3.5-18s, and have owned a 2-12 HD. I have had zero issues. Love the glass, eyebox, power range, and the illumination for our dark timber. I switched my main big game rifles over to them selling my Swaro Z5s. No regrets here. 7STW, 300H&H, 270WSM, 30-06, and a 270.

I probably have ten or so if memory serves me correctly in all flavors except for the straight tube model. I haven’t had any problems with any of them. The only criticism that I have is that the power selector ring can be really hard to turn especially with cold hands and I’ve seen where other users have had the same complaint.

I'm not surprised. The VX-6 I had was fine for the season I used it. The VX-5 I bought was excellent, but didn't beat my 6500 so I returned it.

Just did a bunch of surfing looking for some "truth" about the VX-5HDs. The vast majority was fluff from various commercial entities; very little from users, and not a single actual review of tracking performance. The gist seems to be that the glass is a bit better than the VX-6 (non-HD). One user said his VX-5 (sic) crapped on a an elk hunt, while dialing IIRC. "Search" being what it is, I saw a bunch of complaints about VX-6s. One forum post claimed the HDs have a completely redesigned erector, but no source for that info, and Leupolds site is pretty much just a product listing. If mine was on a rifle I needed next season, I'd probably replace it. As it is, I'll just ride it out for a bit with some range work.

I don't own a VX-6 and am surprised that a relatively expensive Leupold would give so much trouble.

However, whenever I hear of any modern scope failing to track or maintain zero, the first thing I think of is an erector tube bouncing around under recoil. The more recoil, the more bouncing.

It seems to me that, as with zoom lenses on cameras, whenever the power is turned up lenses are likely to move forward, and the greater the power multiple, the farther the lenses may have to go. And the farther forward the lenses are, the more leverage will be imposed on the erector tube under recoil. Not only will this put strain on the spring and concuss the tube as it hits the scope bottom but, as it returns to battery, the tube may scrape against the windage screw and slam back against the elevation screw.

If this is not enough to wreck a scope, failure to install it straight when mounting can see the spring strained laterally at the click extremes, failing to track consistently and possibly causing the spring to break.

There are simple answers to these problems, but you couldn't do without that constantly centred reticle, could you?

We used to.

Guess I may as well start looking for used Tascos on Ebay to replace my VX-6's.

Don't read much about them failing...

DF