Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leupold "Freedom" scopes

IMHO this well test a scope
Hank

I have two 1.5-4X20s, one on a .45-70 and one on a .458 SOCOM, they haven't been beat up yet, hold zero, and I see animals well enough to kill them in legal hours.

Neither rifle is one I would dial. They're both more like mortars, so I keep shooting ranges under 200 yards.

Year before last I’d bought a pair of 700ADLs, a .223 and .243 for super extra double clearance at Walmart. Had a 3-9 Freedom NIB. Picked up a similarly powered Nikon on super extra double clearance at same time as rifles.

Sent them home with dad (my custom load shop, and he who runs interference hiding from my wife) and he mounted them up and started working loads.

Said the Nikon was no fuss, adjusted once and he was done.

The Freedom was all over the place with adjustments before finally settling in. When done it was shooting good groups, but adjustments were not repeatable/exoected results.

It’s Reupold, hint.

One of my younger hunting buddies has one on his 30-06 never been a fan of the image. On last year’s elk hunt he knocked it off zero gut shot a cow that I had to finish before she got to private.

I wouldn’t recommend one to a friend but do like the VX3.

I really liked Leupold’s VX-2 line ….I own 3 of them(2-7x33, 3-9x40 and a 4-12x40. Have never had an issue with any of them and all were bought secondhand.

The 2-7x33 is on a Thompson Center Triumph 50cal. muzzleloader. Can put 3 shots into 1.5” at a 100 yds and 3 into about 3” at 200yds with that rifle using BH-209 and 250gr Barnes T-EZ sabots.

The 4-12x40 sits on a LH Ruger M77- MKII in 7 mm Rem mag. That rifle drives tacks with that scope using handloads w/120gr & 140gr Barnes T-TSX at velocities of 3425fps and 3185fps respectively.(powder: Reloder 23).

The 3-9x40 was on my 7 mag above but is now sitting in the safe waiting for a 30.06 my SIL is saving up to purchase. Only reason it was taken off that rifle was to get the extra magnification I wanted and found in the 4-12x40.

All have been trouble free and have sighted in easily and held zero. The view through each of them is bright and clear to the edge. Is the VX-2 Swaro/Kahles clear?…No, but my Swarovski/Kahles scopes were 3 times the price!..they should be better optically for that price!
Never felt handicapped on a big game hunt with a Leupold VX-2.
I will never understand why Leupold discontinued this line. It’s was always touted as the best value between their VX-1 and VX-3 line.

Having said that I have handled the Freedom line in both 2-7x33 and 3-9x40. The glass seems comparable to my VX-2 scopes….bright and clear.
However, the plastic turret caps and mushy click adjustments just feel cheap to me…they are not the same as the adjustments in the VX-2 line.

No VX-Freedoms for me, I’m just not a fan of the cheapened rendition.

Glad I purchased the 3 VX-2s when I did. Never worried about purchasing them used….they’ve all been problem free.


Leftybolt

It’s really no better than most scopes at that price point.



Which is sad.

I've got three of the Rimfire 3-9s on some .22 rifles. I like them, but the crosshairs are awfully fine, and could easily get lost in the squirrel woods. I bought them before the Covid price hikes of 50%. I won't buy any more because of that outrageous price hike, though. I also have some Burris Droptine Rimfire scopes that are better suited for working the squirrel woods, with more coarse crosshairs, though they still aren't too thick for range use.

I think the Freedom replaced the VX2

Redneck: I have two, on a 300 Win Mag and on a 375 Win. no issues and they track well. Good value

They were a good value scope when they were $199 or less but not at $299. Have one that I bought when they first came out, 2-7, on a 300 blackout AR. It has held up well over past several years....Joe

Paid 215 for my 2-7x iirc

As I recall, and I could be wrong, the Freedom was a 'compromise' between the VX-1 and VZ-2. Between those two lines, Leupold had 100's of SKUs. In order to streamline production, decrease the # of SKUs, and put more product on the street, Leupold combined features of the VX-1 and VX-2 to come up with the 'price point' scope that the Freedom is.

I have a 1.5-4x and a 2-7x in detachable mounts on my 416 RM. Between the two I have over 300 rounds through the rifle with no issues. Held zero traveling to South Africa in May and shot a bunch of stuff including Buffalo. I contacted the custom shop before purchasing the scopes and was told there is no difference in recoil resistance between any of their scopes. The difference is in the lens coatings. I set them and leave them alone. Simple to just know and use holdover for the various ranges.

From a very reliable source at Leupold that's been a friend of mine for 15 yrs or so.

The freedom glass is better than the VX-2 and it uses the same coating as the VX-3i (superior low light performance)