Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leupold disappointment

Another failure to disappoint that is.

A friend brought over his Winchester 7 Rem mag to mount a scope for an upcoming moose hunt. The scope was a used Leupold VX-2 4-12x40 of 2007 manufacture, I mounted it using Warne (Weaver Style) bases, and Burris Signature Zee rings. After setting the eye relief up properly for him, leveling the crosshairs and boresighting we went out back to my bench.

Using Nosler Trophy Bond 168 grain ammo - Shot #1 was 2 inches low of point of aim and just shy of 2 inches left - I clicked up 14 clicks, right 7 clicks and shot #2 was 1-1/2" above POA at 100 yds - perfect!, #3 and #4 shot clustered within an inch.

After an few minutes of cooldown he then shot another 3 shot group which clustered into a nice 3/4 inch group. The Nosler Trophy Bond ammo is pricey at $3.00 per shot but the smile on his face was priceless.

Not too bad for a box stock Model 70 and a used Leupold. But as I told him - this was the easy part, the hard part will come when he gets the moose down.


drover

But how does it track? Blah blah blah... I think Nightforce has convinced half the people in this forum that a good hunting scope 1) has to be dialed and 2) should be useful as a club, should your primary weapon fail.

Drover: Just today I mounted a Leupold VX-3i 3.5x10 variable scope on a top'o the line Rifle I recently bought. I'll be shooting this rig within the week.
I haven't even shot it, yet I am confident it will provide me the service I have come to expect with Leupold Rifle scopes based on 55 years of trouble free performance on many, MANY dozens of Rifles and just a couple of pistols over that time.
I will be scoping up a new to me CZ 457 in 22 Magnum with a Leupold 6x18 variable that I bought just today here on these classifieds.
That scope should be here in a week or two.
Last week I bought an ultra-rare used Leupold 3x9 variable scope with adjustable objective and the E.F.R. feature - I will be mounting this scope on an known accuracy Ruger 10/22 heavy barrel in 22 L.R.
This Rifle will be shot next week at the latest.
IF.... and that is a mighty big "IF", ANY of these used Leupolds fail me in any way I will immediately report same here!
My point is my hoard of Leupolds have been with me through tough and harsh duty for a VERY long time and the next failure I experience with a Leupold Rifle scope will be my first!
PERIOD!
The few Leupold naysayers on this forum have had NO effect on my admiration for and trust in Leupolds performance, for well over half a century now.
Not one bit.
Long live Leupold & Stevens Corporation - a fine American company.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I bought my first Leupold in 1973-4 and over the years have used most other scope brands, only Leupolds have never given me problems of any kind. Lately Leupolds are all I'll buy and I prefer older Leupolds ove the current models.

You do know 'Hot Handloads' will destroy a Lu-Po right? LOL.

Although this is a nit picking detail, if the scope was made in 2007, it would have been a VX-II. The VX-II line wasn't upgraded to the VX-2 line uptil 2012.

I have 12 4-12x40 Leupolds that all seem fully functional, even the Rifleman.

I've never had any trouble with a Leupold scope, but I seldom shoot any single rifle very much, so very limited routine wear and tear.

PS: The pearl of wisdom I'd offer to your friend is to aim to break the shoulders and keep shooting until the moose is down. My only moose recovery experience involved a lung shot moose that died in a 4' deep ice cold beaver pond.

Yep,Leupolds work great for people who don't want to shoot a full box of ammo due to expense. Both the scope and rest of the box of ammo should last at least another 10 years.

There are 10 + Leupold scopes in my family and we NEVER have had a failure.

That was my bad, when I said the scope was made in 2007 I should have said it the serial number indicated it was 7 years old - old timers brain error.

The scope is definitely a VX-2 (not VX-ll).

I already told him to not stop shooting until it is down because every shot moose I have seen headed for the water and ended up dying there.



drover

I’ve owned 15-20 Vari-x-III scopes. I’ve never had one tract perfectly...and none of them ever failed. They were outstanding set and forget scopes with good class (I still have a 3.5x10 on a 340wby). I did have a VX-III quit holding zero. Would I buy another? Probably not. Once you experience something that tracks as advertised, there’s no going back. For what it’s worth, I’ve had 3 Swarovski scopes that failed to track as well, so the more expensive scopes are not immune.(Z3, Z5 and Z6).

Repeatable tracking is really important if you're going to dial up and down for range and left and right for windage, but not very important is you're going to set and forget. I've owned Leupold scopes for 50 years with good results, but I'm not a dialer. I think that scopes with the clearest/crispest optics that I own are B. Nickel Supras made in Marburg Germany. The scopes that I dial most frequently are Bushnell 10x40 Tacticals.

I am not a dialer either so set and forget works fine for me. I started using Leupolds in the early 80's for competition and eventually ended up putting them on my hunting rifles also. I have ran into one that did not track quite like it should when I was sighting in but once it was there it stayed. I also ran into one that the click values did not match 1/4" click values but it has also been just fine.

I used Leupold 6.5-20x40mm for silhouette competition which requires constant adjustment at least ever 10 shots and I never had a fail to track with them in over 30 years of competition. I did have one hang up one time (during sight-in) and that was when I learned about exercising the scope by occassionally running the adjustment from stop to stop to redistribute the thread lubricant.

All in all I have had a good relationship with Leupolds, they check a lot of boxes for me - they are lightweight, have a great eye-box, excellent optics, and the VX-2 and VX-3's have been a very good value for the dollar - at least for me. Maybe the dialers have a legitimate complaint but I always wonder about the rest of the story - such as proper mounting, accuracy of the rifle, capabilities of the shooter, and oh yes, lets not forget wind flags and the ability to discern what they are trying to tell us.

drover

I’ve had and still have many Leupolds, and probably will acquire more. Except for a few Zeiss Conquests, that’s all I’ve ever used. In 40 years, I had one handgun scope that was on a heavy recoiling contender come loose inside. Sent to a Leupold and it was fixed and returned in about three weeks.

It is politically incorrect to suggest the things that you have written in the second sentence of your third paragraph, shame on you!

I really like Leupold, but bragging on them because you are set/forget or don't dial is weak praise today....

Just sighted in my bear gun, 3.5-10 cds, shoots federal 225 fusions damn good, especially for a factory Remington, factory ammo and a leupold... I suspect the granbaby will be posing in a bear pic for too long... 🤣🤣

Post 'em when you get 'em Jud! Looking forward to it.

Will do uncle Johnny, still got your bullets bud, I’ll get em to ya,

No worries Jud. I don't go to the range much when its 110* anyway.

I might have dialed a mile or 2 on Leupold erectors so can I brag on them?