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

I marvel that so many animals are alleged to have died over the years at the hands of such inferior scopes. (I suspect that each of us who claims to have killed animals with them are bald-faced liars.) Each passing moment seems to reveal the ineffectiveness of all current scopes. Thankfully, each passing moment also provides new scopes that solve all of the previous problems (until the next moment, when they are revealed to be ineffective as well, and a new generation of scopes takes their {brief} turn at solving all problems).

So you suggest all the NF tracking failures and factory repairs are lies told by internet jockeys? I never said they were anything other than top of the line but they’re also not the only game in town.

I guess I'll vote too!

The last 4 scopes purchased:

SWFA
Burris
Nikon
Burris

All of my hunting guns from deer to Varmint have old Leupold's and are zero and forget so I don't anticipate any issues.


Mike

When do the switchblades come out?

When the story gets to the West Side.

Zero retention issues aren’t solved by sticking your head in the set-and-forget sand. Weak erector springs rear their ugly head there too.

I was amazed that I didn’t have to frequently “check my zero” once I went to NF/SWFA.... like I did when I ran Leupold Vari-X series scopes.

I had an SWFA fixed 12x go nearly 1500 rounds without needing any adjustment is zero.... when I finally did re-zero it... it was .2 MILs left... that’s all. During that same time, I had a VX-2 4-12x40 with the AO and Target Turrets mounted on a .22 LR. That Leupold has to be re-zeroed frequently... and it wasn’t subjected to anywhere near the abuse the SS scope was.

Never heard of one person having a problem with NF I am eager to hear the circumstances of the failures you have heard about

Here's what this guy said about NF.......I personally have zero clue as I've never owned one.

I'm a Leupold fan and they aren't perfect. However, I've never had any brand of scope track perfectly. 1/4" per click my ass! However, when I bought each of my 4 VX-3is I read they improved the erectors on them and these four scopes track better than any scope I've ever owned. But then again, the VX-3s are as high on the food chain as I've gone with scopes so maybe I have no business commenting on this subject.

VX-3s have optics as good as my old eyes can take advantage of. I've looked through some high dollar scopes and they don't do that much for me. I will admit that one Zeiss Conquest I looked through was as clear as it gets and an old Schmidt Und Bender straight 8 power was the clearest scope I've ever seen. But at several thousand dollars I can't justify such luxury.

Longevity with any scope is probably greatly increased if you don't throw it down mountainsides, toss it out of treestands, dive into fox holes and and use it to break your fall while your clumsy ass tumbles down a hillside. Likewise if you don't shoot 700 rounds through your lightweight .300 Win. mag. every time you go to the range. Who the fugg needs that much practice anyway ? If you do you probably just suck and aught to take up ping pong. Either that or learn how to actually hunt and get close before you shoot, rather than relying on the technology of your 2500 yard laser rangefinder and super duper, foolproof, tumble proof, dial a mile scope and .850 BC bullets to make up for your lack of stalking skill and laziness. Where the fugg does "fair chase" come into the equation these days anyway ? Is there any limit to how far you can go before it's just killing ? Crypes I bet some of these guys can't wait to get their hands on an electronic pulse phaser that will shoot over, around and through mountains to kill game 5 miles away that's only visible through their heat signature seeking, x-ray vision super scope.

VX3i’s are fine for my hunting, I’m about a 300 yard max shooter.

What happened to Leupold?

They failed to anticipate all of the Chris Kyle wannabes!

What about a guy who’s not practicing for hunting? What if a guy likes to shoot for fun? Is he allowed to have a reliable scope?

Must be they already do seein as how people continue to compete and win matches every year and have been for a long time. Longer than NightForce and SWFA scopes have existed even.

Another vote for the Bean Counters took over. What I have personally witnessed in the past 16 months:

1) Custom Shop Retrofit prices more than doubled 01 Jan 2018. Unannounced. If they intended to prevent people from buying a used Leupold scope and sending it in to the Custom Shop to have it set up the way the customer wanted it, they succeeded.

2) Two sets of new Leupold rings in past 3 months. Both leave marks in the matte finish on Leupold scopes. Well BEFORE they get tightened farmer tight. Leupold calls it a "mounting system". However their "system" defaces their own scopes. I have had ZERO issues with Talley LW's marking a scope.

3) One of the set of rings above has a visible casting/forging defect 1/4"x1/2" on top of a ring cap that was not cleaned up by the machining process. Both rings also have visible file marks on the radius to the side of the mounting screws. Where's the QC ???

4) Overall finish has degraded. Leupold bases and rings previously had a very smooth matte finish. Last two sets of QR bases either have an abrasive blast finish, or have been from a very porous casting. Regardless, much more coarse finish than previous bases.

5) Last set of bases, the holes are drilled for an 8x40 screw set. The mounting screws provided have 6x40 threads, with a #8 shoulder to properly center the bases on the receiver. Yes, this reduces the number of SKU's, and inventory carrying cost for Leupold. However, if I happen to lose one of the mounting screws, I now have to special order from Leupold. It is no longer a commodity item that I can pick up at a local gun shop or hardware store.

If Leupold is making these types of cost cutting measures that are plainly visible on the outside... What's happening on the inside ???

I am not going to scrap my current lot of Leupold scopes. However, Leupold is no longer my "Number 1, Go To" brand for new scopes...

Dumbest post of the week.....

If you gut shoot a buck at 250, because the zero retention of your scope sucks...... is that still “fair chase”?

I suspect there are more in the running...

I believe zero retention is a strength of Leupold’s especially for non dialers.

Some people still believe Anna Nichole married for money, and there were WMDs in Iraq.....

I went to Wally World and met a guy and swapped all my Leupolds for Baraska's and a $100 gift card