Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What happened to Leupold?

Ive been a Leupold fan for decades, have quite a few as well as Zeiss, Swaroski and S&B but always thought Leupold was a durable and effective choice for most applications. I've been a bit distracted the last few years but I see that Nightforce has become very popular, what's that all about? How do they (L & NF) compare these days?

I'll get the popcorn.....

You might as well have kicked someones cat

There is nothing wrong with Leupold, yes there has been some reported issues, but consider how much of the market they have.

NF is the 6.5 Creed of the optics world. NF has their place among the others, it's just not everyone's cup of tea. I like them, have a couple but they are heavy and have no place on a trim hunting rifle.

If I was Leupold, I'd be looking at how much of the market they've lost.

And I'd disagree about "having no place on a trim hunting rifle." It all depends on the application, and reliability/duraability translates into a little more weight, weight that's best trimmed from other parts of the rifle for certain applications.

Leupold still seems to be the best scope for the $, at least in the under the $1,000 price point. Please educate me if I'm wrong, I'm not opposed to learning something here.

oh boy here we go.
put on ya rubber boots boys,
Big Ed

Hey, y’all can buy your heavy Chernobyl metal, chinese sweat shop scopes if you want.

If I added up all the dollars I've spent on Leupolds which went on to have massive zero loss or stopped adjusting anywhere close to correctly, I'd come up with a sum somewhere around the cost of a Nightforce.
Take that information as you wish.

That information is as worthless as mine.

I’ve pounded them on my 444 rifles and they haven’t failed

Yeah, I've had some old Leupolds that worked great, too.

Funny thing....when some people hear info that contradicts their own experiences, they listen and learn. Others bury their heads in the sand.

Same here. I have had a countless number of Leupolds over the past 25 years and have never had an issue. I have had them on anything from a 22LR all the way up to 45-70’s and slug guns and never had one go belly up.

Wow.

I have a NF on my Creed.

Otherwise, not knowing any better, I could be shooting a .270 wearing a Leupold.

Good thing I’m here on the Fire.

DF

Some like to flog Leupold for their own lack shooting skills. Others have had real issues with them. Both these statements are as true as a NF internals. 😎

I have new ones that hold up too. I really don’t care what a fella uses.

It's difficult to put into proper context though without good comparative statistics. Absent that, one's own experiences will carry more weight.

is this a joke post? are you serious? lets just sum it up if its not. Leupold's suck mechanically. They have even tried to pass off some very very high end models marketed to the miltiary. ALA mark 6 an mark 8, scopes priced north of $2000 with crappy and piss poor tracking and mechanical reliability. Never mind the mark 4's and VX3's marketed to the consumers, those have tons of reliablity issues. The problem is the optics world has changed. We are asking our scopes to do far far more than we did 20 years ago. We are asking them to adjust with precision and reliability. Leupold and most rifle scopes for that matter work just fine as set it and forget it scopes. As long as you don't mess with the adjustments its likely you will be just fine with the scope. Leupold didn't realize this was a problem they needed to address. Probably because so few people actually shoot their guns and use them in a manner that exposes the flaws of the imprecise manufacture. So what has happened is more people are using their scopes like this, we have forums etc. Frankly many of us are tired of the junk they sold. So when you want to cure your scope problems and you are finally sick of wondering zeros. resetting your zero each time you go to the range. clicks that don't match the turrets. YOU BUY A NIGHTFORCE. They are legendary reliable. IMO their reputation is without equal. even compared with a company like S&B,which on snipers hide there have been complaints even with them. NO ONE complains about nightforce. I have simply never heard of a bonifide issue with one and that mirrors what I have seen.

I bought a lifetime supply of ‘70’s and ‘80’s Leupolds when they were still readily available. Still using them.

Yup

I doubt anything has happened to them. What you read here may, or may not, reflect the overall industry and sales.

1) More shooters dialing scopes and finding out some percentage don’t give you exactly what you ask for.
2) The internet allows one persons experience to be read by thousands.
3) People have tried other scopes such as NF and found they dial precisely.
4) see #2

I’ve had a few Leupolds with mixed results. Glass, eye box, weight, reticles and look are all great. Made in US of A, great. I’ve had one die, albeit it made it over a thousand rounds. More than I can say for two Meoptas and one Vortex on that rifle. I’ve had one with dials that may as well have been random number generators. It seemed to hold zero, but getting it there was an adventure. And, I’ve had one that was just fine for the few hundred rounds I used it. Hardly a statistical sample, but enough frustrations to lead me to try other scopes.

If they wanted to attract me back, they would convince me they have revised their internal design to be repeatable and durable. I want a reliable sight, period. I don’t want to wonder whether the thousand or so shots prior to the season have taken a toll. I want to believe I have a scope that will, within reason, hold zero if it gets dropped. If they can keep the weight down, maintain the quality of glass, friendly eye box that’s icing on the cake.

I’ve had one with dials that may as well have been random number generators. It seemed to hold zero, but getting it there was an adventure.

That's pretty funny!