Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Let's work together with and on Leupold

Thanks Doug for your effort here as it is much appreciated. That being said, I personally have about a dozen Leupold scopes, with only two currently sitting on top of rifles. I’ve personally had issues with Leupolds not holding zero and not tracking correctly. I rarely dial, so I can sort of overlook the tracking issue to a point, but cannot consider a scope with the potential to lose zero as one that will be used on any travel hunt whatsoever, and most times on local hunts as well.

I also think that it is a fatal error for Leupold to put out any product at any price point knowing that there is a significant portion of their customer base having issues with the basic functions of their scopes, no matter the price point, and hoping that their warranty service will appease their customers’ growing distrust of their products. It’s true that they still hold a significant portion of the light weight and compact scope market, but that market is shrinking as the long range shooting trend continues to grow. As the distrust of their scopes continues to grow and become more well known, they will be forced to either markedly improve or be forced out of business. I also find it odd how Leupold can be unaware of the extent of the issue, where all that one has to do is to do a search of any shooting forum, even internationally, and find tons of recent issues with Leupold products.

As Koshkin and others stated plainly in the other recent Leupold thread, Leupold has been shockingly mismanaged, sourced parts from areas with terrible quality control, and put out a known inferior/defective product hoping their warranty will keep customers happily buying Leupold products. I hate to be the one to tell them, it won’t.

Lastly, personally, I have enough distrust of their scopes holding zero, that no matter what they do at this point to improve the issues with their scopes, I will now always look elsewhere first for other scope solutions, and only consider Leupold scopes for informal practice range work. Sadly, many folks agree with me, and that number continues to grow. Why can’t they make a product people trust anymore? Nightforce does it, and so does SWFA. Why not Leupold?

Leupold does not care, nor will they do anything about it. They have repeatedly denied that they have issues even to military organizations, all but calling people liars- then when forced to see the failures first hand make every excuse in the book, swear they’ll fix it... and nothing happens.


But don’t worry, In the next year they’ll be another wave of rumors saying that Leupold has fixed everything just like there was when VX3 was new, Mark 8, Mark 6, VX6, VX6HD, VX5, Mark 5, etc, etc.








Shoot more.









SWFA SS is $300 and works. Every time, every day.

I’m around 50% for failure with “set and forget” leupolds that are newer than Vari-X series.

Its a definite FIX THE INTERNALS !

Doug, this is a good thread, the Leupold bash has been going on for way too long. My experience is all positive with Leupold.

A typical bash thread leads to piling on, many posts for no reason, that is common here.

True dat.....

Dear Leupold,
I find a lot to like about the scopes such as glass, weight, appearance, and eye box. But after having the erector fail on one and tracking issues on another I am not confident in your product. For my dedicated hunting rifle, I need to have confidence. After a thousand shots I should not be concerned. Yes, it was repaired. I have no complaints with the service. I would recommend you design a new erector system, and make a concerted effort to regain our confidence in your products. There are too many known quality alternatives out there for me to spend my money on a product I have no confidence in lasting thousands of shots or taking bumps and hits while retaining zero. I would truly like to have made in USA Leupolds on my rifles, but you need to earn me back.

Edit: I would add, that if the CEO is on a hunting show again, discuss how the product is good for the consumer rather than repeatedly commenting on how they are satisfying the shareholders.

Well, the first thing I would like for Leupold to do is make a FFP hunting scope with reliable itnernals. There are not that many of them and that is a niche they can clearly address.

Just look at the popularity of the SWFA SS 3-9x42 on this forum.

I look at a fair number of scopes and to me, Mark 5 HD is a clear step up in consistency over Mark 4 and Mark 6, just like VX-5HD and VX-6HD are a clear step up over VX-3 and the like.

I bet if Leupold makes a 2-10x42FFP hunting scope with a covered windage turret and locking elevation turret with zero stop.

With an intelligently designed reticle and if they manage to keep the price under $900, they will make a killing. If they can't figure how to do the reticle the right way for this, I'll design one for them pro bono.

ILya

Leupold has milked it long enough Doug.

You'd be better off talking SWFA into building what most guys around here want, which in my opinion is a light weight fixed 6 or 3-9x with the MQ reticle and nicer glass.

Cracks me up to think of how many guys in the classifieds thought they were getting a sweet deal on a Leupold that had been back for warranty work 80 times.

Go to Midway and search Leupold with a 600.00 max (SWFA 3X9) and see what compares.

Short answer - nothing.

All my Leupolds are long gone, replaced with the SWFA 3x9. I remember chasing zero, tapping after adjustments and mystery zero shifts from session to session. Now it is as easy as shoot - measure - adjust and be done.

Tracking, return to zero, failure to hold zero, inconsistent turret value.

Im a set and forget hunter who likes to reload and shoot. I have owned Leupold scopes of the $200-$400 range. My first was a Vari-X II 3-9, a matte later model purchased in the late 90's. I was relatively new to rifle looney-ism then, but that highly touted $200 scope wouldn't track (my $200 Nikon Buckmaster seemed to do just fine). It was a bear to zero, I got fed up and figured I just got a bad one, so sent it in. It came back with a note saying something about the erector but still wouldn't track, so off it went. I went on to purchase many more Leupold scopes due to their reputation at the time. I had two VX-II 2-7's ($300 scopes when they came out with click adjustments). I loved there compactness and eye relief. One was mounted on a 257 Roberts. After a while some of my pet loads wouldn't do better than 3-4" at 100 yds. I cleaned the hell out of the barrel, went through the bedding, checked mounts, nothing fixed it. Finally I thought just quite possibly the scope was to blame. I put a tasco 3-9 on it that was laying in a desk drawer and sure enough, MOA groups again. Sent it in, note with something about the erector came back. Never mounted it, didn't trust it. Then the adjustments on the other 2-7 went wonky, replaced it with a weaver classic 2-7 which gave me comparable eye relief and size, still have that scope and still going strong. I had a VX-III 1.75-6 on a 375 that did well. Another VX-III 1.5-5 was mounted on a CZ550 375, after mounting there was particles all over the inside of the objective. I sent it in, came back clean. After some shooting particles re-appeared, sent it in again. Came back fixed and particles appeared again after shooting. 3rd time in it came back with a note saying the front ring cant be within 1" of the objective. After this I was fed up, haven't purchased a new Leupold since. I have purchased and had good luck with M-8 4x, FX-II 6x and some older Vari-X II's (prior to early 90's).

I still don't spend a ton of money on riflescopes, I reserve my high end glass purchases for Binos. I now use Burris FFII (several without an issue), Weavers, Nikons, Sightron, and Bushnell. I had one older Nikon monarch UCC 2-7 go wonky on me. The power ring went fubar. I don't dial them, and the thought has never crossed my mind because I don't feel the adjustments are repeatable enough. They are however good enough to zero without much fuss, and stay there.

Everytime I consider another new Leupold for a lightweight hunting rifle, I see that what I want is no longer offered. The LRD reticle is absent, as is the 1.75-6, or 3-9 compact. I would love for Leupold to fix the mechanicals and would go back, however I wont until I hear that they have addressed the issue. As someone on here put it, sending them in for warranty work is a fools errand. Until then, there are plenty of Burris FFII and older M-8's to be had.

Ditto for me. Gone are the days of shooting in adjustments, tapping all over the erector and tube to get the adjustments to actually adjust. If they fixed the Erector issues I would be back into Leupold no questions asked.

Dear Leupold,

I've had at least one hunting rifle take a fall .when i checked the scope for holding zero ,it was perfect. It was a Leupold vari x iic 3-9x40.thank you for a quality item. I own several Leupolds. Its your erection system that supposedly causes grief though.

Hate it when the erection system causes grief ...

My problems with them.
I have two that I lothe to zero.
Way too many shots chaseing zero.


Pretty bad when I put a $30 pawn shop Tasco on a rifle, fire a couple shots and it's perfect.
Then shoot my rifle with a Leupold 20 times to get it close.



Which is the better scope on that day?

High bean is on to something.
SWFA needs to look at what Leupold does right on a hunting scope.
I don't need turrets, dont want them.
Could accept short ones if they lock, so that I don't accidently move them.

Owning one for 16 yrs and never a problem but I don't twist turrets. The B&C reticle is pretty much all I use.

Leupold has been getting feedback for years. They aren’t listening. Instead it’s a race to the bottom with cheaper scopes.

It seems there is a bit of GROUP THINK going on here regarding disparaging comments directed at Leupold. Most doing the griping are "dialers" who expect Nightforce/SWFA mechanics. I am an "old school" hunter, you know, a guy who can actually shoot standing without a stick and can actually shoot prone without a bipod.....who can actually read wind and not need a ranging device to estimate shooting distance....I digress.
Leupold should take with a grain of salt the bickering. Most of these guys could not hit a barn if shooting standing, sitting or prone without some kind of CRUTCH DEVICE.

As far as I am concerned, most hunters sight in 2" high at 100 and never touch the scope afterwards. The capacity to hold zero (recoil resistance) and no fogging, etc. are the primary variables involved when forming an opinion of the brand.

Let the "dialers" buy their cumbersome, HEAVY, scopes as a crutch......hopefully, one day they too will learn how to shoot like the old timers......(much sarcasm intended).....
.

You are waaaaaaay out of touch and reality old timer with all due respect and your motivations of the naysayers are waaay out of touch as well. For starters....

Get out of your small little hunting experience bubble. There's a brand new world waiting even though you've seen it all I'm sure....

I know some guys have trouble with reading comprehension but.....This is not a thread for all the Leupold defenders, Doug is obviously trying to gather legitimate information from those that HAVE had Leupold failures and are no longer using Leupold products because of it. Responses from the guys that have a 20 year old Leupold that’s had 2 boxes of shells shot through it in its life and hasn’t been adjusted since 1997 need not reply. Go on the other thread to defend your Leupold.

Hmmm....do you shoot sticks? Bipod? Ranging devices? Can you read wind? Or, better yet, when was the last time you shot standing using a sling and no stick? When was the last time you shot sitting with no crutch? When was the last time you shot prone without bags or bipod?

I see it at my range all the time. The young guys are pretty [bleep] marksmen without their crutches.....

Maybe, you forgot the primary building blocks of marksmanship.....no offense.....