Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Root of the Leupold "problem"

If you have a Leupold scope that works fine for you- use it by all means. No reason to bash those of us who have had many problems with them over the years.

I still have several Leupold scopes on hunting rifles, but as each one gives me problems it goes down the road any more rather than send it in to Leupold and have them tell me they can't fix it and send me a new scope..

Holding zero isn't really the major issue I've had with Leupold scopes. Only had one or two over the years that had that issue and Leupold was pretty quick to fix it. My problem and the problem of most of the people I have talked to is the lousy erector system. If you move the knob that says 1/4" per click 4 clicks, you should get an inch, right? In my experience and several guys I shoot with, sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. Sometimes tapping it with a screwdriver, cartridge, or whatever blunt object you have handy will get it to move, sometimes it won't . Sometimes it takes several shots to get things to move and it isn't always the distance you dialed- that may take a couple more shots. Moving the crosshair up or down invariably tends to also move the crosshair left or right- not a good thing for dialing or for sighting in with the cost of components these days.

Personally, I think Leupolds are one of the best looking scopes on the market and their glass is as good as any on the market IMO. And if they worked as advertised they would be the only scope I would use since they are built by my neighbors and acquaintances and their plant is just 5 miles from my house. But it hasn't worked out that way for me and many others and I don't recommend them to friends any more. The fact they closed down their custom shop, won't produce gloss scopes, and stopped doing things like reticle changes and other services has pretty much soured me on the management team and product over there now...

Go ahead and bash away...

My experience is with VariX IIIs and above.

Root causes in order:

Bad Mounts such as Redfield JRs.

Bad shooter such as a few here on the fire. Practice more.

Bad rifles

Bad scope. The MK6 was more prone to real optic failures than anything else I have seen from Leupold.

I had a VariX II long ago that worked great as set and forget.

I had an early VX-6 with measurable track out during zoom but it held zero at max zoom.

I have tested and shot a few hundered VX-6 and VX-6 HDs.

Not sure what a “hundered” is, but do you really expect us to believe you’ve shot almost $690k worth of Leupold VX-6 scopes? I read many comments about the infamous Burns Zeroing Mallet, but seriously? Think before you drink, or post.

I have a few. Mostly M8's. But also, FX's and various variables, which are mostly 3x9's or 2x7's. I like my FX3 - 6x's the most. Then the other FX 6x's, then the M8 6x's. I have a few M8-4x's and a couple higher fixed power too -- very tough scopes, I think. Variables = bleh, I've only bought variables when I couldn't find a fixed power.

I've had a couple problems with Leupold's.

The first came on a rifle. The previous owner may likely have used a set of pliers to adjust the scope setting as tight as he could, he bitched that it was 'foggy' and shot way low and to the right. He guaranteed that all the adjustments were as tight as he could get them. I couldn't free the adjustments, and neither could Leupold evidently. They sent me a new scope.

I had one or two others that they rebuilt as the POI changed. These were old scopes.

I prefer setting the POI as perhaps 1" high at 100 meters or perhaps 2" or 3" depending on the cartridge. I know what the trajectory is and therefore can aim as needed, without adjusting anything - no dialing for range and no adjusting the variable power setting. When I go out, I review the expected elevation POI before I go. I also check the wind and direction and I estimate the defection at certain ranges. Other than PD's and pronghorns I rarely shoot past 300 yards.

If you spin the elevation turrets or set the variables on 9x and have a deer run past you at 25 yards, I'll try to feel sorry for you.

leupolds are great set and forget scopes. its dialing they can't handle, even the supposed "good" models like the mark 4's and vx3's. All this worked great when people didn't dial their scopes. IMO leupod is a relic of the past. their coatings don't deal with flare and sun hitting the objective lenses very well. IMO the japanese LOW scopes have totally outclassed them for 2 decades.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/auSULUe.jpg?1[/img]

this is a leupold vx r, certainly not one of their base models. look at what happened here, there is only 1.5 tiny threads at best that hold the turret adjuster on. Those 1.5 threads are tasked with holding the turret click mechanism that bears against the erector. it has to hold back the spring on the erector. The erector looked like cheap stamped aluminum from what I could see from the outside.

leupolds are great set and forget scopes. its dialing they can't handle, even the supposed "good" models like the mark 4's and vx3's. All this worked great when people didn't dial their scopes. IMO leupod is a relic of the past. their coatings don't deal with flare and sun hitting the objective lenses very well. IMO the japanese LOW scopes have totally outclassed them for 2 decades.

the Japanese LOW scopes have totally outclassed them for 2 decades.

TRUTH!!!

What are Japanese LOW scopes?

User Name checks out.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/auSULUe.jpg?1[/img]

this is a leupold vx r, certainly not one of their base models. look at what happened here, there is only 1.5 tiny threads at best that hold the turret adjuster on. Those 1.5 threads are tasked with holding the turret click mechanism that bears against the erector. it has to hold back the spring on the erector. The erector looked like cheap stamped aluminum from what I could see from the outside.

leupolds are great set and forget scopes. its dialing they can't handle, even the supposed "good" models like the mark 4's and vx3's. All this worked great when people didn't dial their scopes. IMO leupod is a relic of the past. their coatings don't deal with flare and sun hitting the objective lenses very well. IMO the japanese LOW scopes have totally outclassed them for 2 decades.