Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leupold custom shop closed?

Wanting to seNd a couple scopes in for reticle changes, does anyone have any insight on when or if they are going to continue to do this stuff? They might be making my next scope purchase a little easier to decide who to go with. Thanks

Sell the ones you have and buy the ones you want.it will be cheaper

Reticle changes got expensive before they shut the custom shop down and will probably be more expensive when they reopen. 338rcm has the right idea.

Yep, sell and buy what you want.

I believe it was around $240 for a reticle change

I think that Leupold is struggling to figure out the difference between the markets they want to be in and those that they can be successful in. By raising the price for reticle changes, they could very well alienate a significant portion of their tradition zero and forget it hunting market niche. I have a lot of Leupold scopes, but I'm unlikely to buy any new ones and I'm sure not going to pay over $200 for a simple reticle change. Maybe Ironsight, Inc., will add Leupolds to the other brands of scopes that they work on.

Maybe they raised the price, because they don’t want to do that work anymore.

Customer service has to be both good and affordable if it is going to be of much benefit to the customer. Raising the price of a service to discourage customers from seeking that service seems like a good way to lose existing customers and does nothing to gain new customers, a lose/lose for the company.

And the cost if you want a glossy finished scope is just silly. I run a manufacturing plant myself, and know you have to turn a profit on special requests, but...

I don't see how they could do much other than all the repairs they do under the lifetime warranty. Can't imagine it's a viable business model to keep repairing/replacing 50 year old scopes for the 3rd or 4th owner.

How has the price of reticle changes moved over the last, say, fifteen years year on year?

Are you paying Oregon labor rates? How a west coast US company like Leupold can compete with most of the rest similarly priced/function with China, the Philippines and Japan I will never understand.

The cost of reticle changes might vary depending which reticle is wanted.

Yes, I’ve thought about just selling the scopes, but I was just looking into the option of se ding them in, just very disappointing to here they were not doing custom shop work right now, from the talk I probably don’t want to pay what reticle changes cost either. Not to many years ago u could get one changed for 75 dollars

That makes sense. Making stuff to order and selling it at retail price+ probably pays off for them, but swapping out reticles on the cheap was likely costing them sales, and maybe losing them money on the work itself. I like good CS, but don't expect anyone to work for free, or less.

Technology and perfection (S)

Now that Leupold wants $200, instead of $75, that's more likely.

I've started buying Burris.

A reticle-swap business sounds like a good start-up for someone here.

I'm sure with initial outlay to ramp-up, marketing etc, additional help once you're off the schneid (and time dealing with fickle customers) you'll see what the actual value of the service entails. How hard can it be, right?

Schneid? How hard can it be?.....2 jumbo packs of black permanent markers and a ruler and I’m making bank.

PM me your wants and needs. Include a hand drawn example of how you want your new reticle...Fast turn-a-round. Beaver aims to please.

PS

I’m also doing custom stock painting...Keep that on the low-low right now though....Thanks! 😎

Beav,
Don't forget to add a utility knife or scribe to the list of supplies should some desire an etched reticle.