Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Terry Cross on Leupold...

Maybe it is wrong, but if it was about zeiss or anyone else but leupy, it probably wouldn't be getting the mileage it is. Both good & bad...

I know Matt has/does shoot more than a little Leupie glass,Terry isn't guessing either.

I'm still slicking up elder Leupie glass in the lineage and that too is by design.

That is a surprising statistic. I would have thought that Coke or some other soft drink manufacturer on the west coast would consume much more aluminum than Leupold. They must use a whole lot more than I could imagine.

JB, with all due respect I hesitate to believe that Leupold uses more aluminum than Boeing.

I'm a Leupy fan, but facts are facts.

My Sequoia spotting Scope is labeled "made in Korea". It's the 15-45x60 model. Above 30X it's pure crap.

Leupold used to represent undisputed American-made quality. That's no longer the case. Plenty of foreign-made junk in the lineup that they pitch as quality in their catalogs.

If Leupold were 100% American made to the same quality standards they would be much more expensive and the bitchin would be non stop about how Leupold sold out for profit. Leupold is a well run business that has stood the test of time. It is doing what it has to do to deliver a fairly priced quality product to market. What they do have that is 100% American is their customer service which is the best in the industry and the standard by which all others are measured. 163bc

I have been shooting and buying Leupolds for over 50 years and I have many of the new ones..I actually like the new ones better..I don't care for the binocs and have not used them but hey I like Leicas in the first place..Leupold sells the binocs under the Wind River name at a lower price to furnish a need I suspect.

I won't change because someone says such and such, I will make that judgment myself, and for me Leupold is still the number one company in America and they absolutly have the best guarentee, no questions asked and you don't even have to be the original buyer..I broke and old Leupold in half a year or so ago when a horse rolled on it, sent it back with an explanation to see if it was worth repair, and they sent me a new one. Have had that same experience several time with them.

As to the high dollar European scopes? I consider $1300 and up for a scope about as ridiculas and it can be and I see absolutly no advantage when I can buy 3 Leupolds or Nikons for the same money and the end result will be the same and about a pound less weight...European scopes, like everything else European in the gun industry is over engineered IMO, over priced and serves little purpose other than making a statement that I can afford the most expensive therefore its the best..

The bottom line is that is why they make Fords, Chevys, and Lambrewatchamacallits, the last for folks with more money than good since!

I,m sticking with a product that has served me well with no complaints and all my old friends, it's called loyalty I suppose and that comes earned by past good deeds.

Guess that says I am an avid Leupold fan, and I guess that I am just that, but I do have the right to an opinnion just like Matt does.

Once the cat is out of the bag- once a product ain't what it's "supposed" to be- the game changes. Witness Ford trucks made in Mexico, and Toyota trucks made in the USA.

If Leupolds, even the spendy ones, are full of Chinese sub-assemblies then that opens the door for Leupold users to consider OTHER brands that do the same.

I'm not against using things of Chinese manufacture- how COULD I be, realistically- and in fact, I have a very nice optic in my Minox 13x56's that (I'm told) uses Euro glass but is made in China. Whatever. They are optically spectacular, 1/3 the price of the Swaro's, works for me.

BUT, if Leupold is no longer a "US" scope, and if they are full of Chinese stuff then they aren't a US scope, period, then that yanks the rug out from under my willingness to pay more to "go American". Obviously.

And once THAT can of worms is opened, anything goes.

My last two scopes have been Conquests. The first one, I stood there and compared it to the comparable Loopy for well over an hour (Dober was there, a few booths down) because I just didn't want to see what my eyes were seeing- which is to say, I could see detail in the shadows of the big warehouse I was in, that I could not see with the Leupold. I like that scope, a lot. A month or so ago, I bought another Conquest. I like THAT scope, a lot.

Leupold is now just one more company importing Chinese stuff. I'll still buy 'em, if the sum total of a given scope adds up to what I want... but, the days of blindly following the brand are over for me.

-jeff

Well unlike you, i dont need 4 scopes because I only have one rifle. Leupold's are not as good as premium optics. THey are good, not as good.

I would rather own the best of one, than 4 of something good. TO each his own.... US Optics is an american company but i dont want a 30oz scope either. SO my scopes/binos arent american, they aint red china either!

I beat up on a good sized herd of Leupie scopes and love their ability to fend same. Their weight/size/adjustment latitude/eye-relief and other attributes make them my default favorite.

Have often mused that a scope is just a canister I keep my crosshairs in until needed and I've zero intent to glass with same.

To date,I've never had issue in going from bino to riflescope,as a terminal transition.

Though admittedly,I'm no stranger to a rifle.

Back in the mid 90s Honda decided to build a motorcycle plant in China.There goverments were getting along and Honda looking at the size of the country and population figured it was a win win business wise.
Honda built a state of the art motorcycle plant.
200 miles away in another city the chi-coms copied the plant down to the last nut and bolt.
Honda introduced there motorcycle to the chinese public and very few if any were sold.The operation folded in record time.And that happened because there was a little red motorcycle shipping from a chi-com plant identical the the Honda in every way except for the name tag, for about one third the cost.
I seem to remember reading on SH not to long ago about chi-com knock off loopies.Looked like a loopie in every way except that it was total Chinese manufacture.Leupold was flipping because someone was copying there scopes.
----Well heres your sign----
You have to ask yourself this question.You set up the chi-coms with the specs plans and engineering data to build your parts and sub assemblies.And then cry like a baby when they steel your chit and sell it to the world.Why?Just so you can gain allitle profit?
Really?

Its not just Leupold and Honda that have been screwed over by the chinamen.Theres a long line.
The chi-coms dont have any interest in patent rights,
intellectual property law.OSHA or any kind of safe working conditions and screw the environment.

Well Jeff,you should be.
dave

Dave, reality is what it is.

The line you are preaching was used about the Japs (sic), the Koreans, Hong Kong, and on and on.

The Chinese are making some very high-quality stuff. Unless we want to sell out the principals of a free market, we need to acknowledge the reality that they are beating us at our own game.

They have cheap labor, they are smart and hard-working, and intellectual property is hard to defend... that's just how it is.

I think that was how you justified saving $30 on an outfitter tent made in India versus one made in the US. Course I don't typically use realtors either so we're probably even.

I don't remember the name of the place in Denver (?) that was $30 more... Davis?

If they had been competing at that price point at the time I got mine and I'd been aware of them, I would've bought from them. But they weren't, and/or I wasn't. Sorry about that. Reliable Tent is a good company; I've dealt with them since then several times. Good people. I'm sure they appreciated my business.

I'm for thinking you are typing on an imported computer, sitting at an imported chair, wearing imported shoes, etc, as you type moosemuncher. I'm not looking for a fight, just pointing out the obvious. We don't make [bleep] in America anymore. That's just how it is.

Ray, I'm with you on both the Leupolds and the overpriced and overweight European scopes. But, I can't help it, I still like Lamborghinis, esp. blood red ones with all 12 cylinders pulling above 7k RPMs. Well, I can dream can't I?

No Jeff,reality is what we make it.

You know what they say about opinions.


An American starts a manfactureing company.He risks everything he owns and everything he'll ever own.98% of all small business fail in the first five years.Our goverment will send a tax bill if you do happen to make any money.
A chi-com gets appointed to run a company buy a local party commissar.He is supplied with the latest equipment and given a set of goals.If he doesnt meet the 5 year plan goals he is replaced.If unlucky.A 22 to the back of the head.Lucky,smelling water buffalo farts in a rice patty.If by chance any money is made the party collects.
So you think free trade with that is a good idea?Im not getting the free part.
Our machinest and tool and die makers produce more accurate parts with less man hours than the chi-coms.
Centralized planning and the little red book have a way of killing independent and innovative thinking.Thats why they steal everything they can get there hands on.
You really dont have a clue do ya.Ill bet you shop at walmart to.

Thats it,isn't it.Cheep.Long as its cheep.Its OK.Anything for a low price?You can admire them all you want.But your blind if you dont think there doing everything they can,to screw us.

dave

2 comments: CHina uses basically slave labor in some instances

and a zeiss 2.5-10x42 weighs 15oz in a 30mm tube, i'd have to say that aint overweight..the Leupy VX-7 2.5-10x45 weighs 19oz

Jeff,

The difference between the Commies in China and the Japanese and Koreans (South Korean if they are exporting anything to us) is that the Japanese and South Koreans don't have any missiles pointed at us. The Japanese and South Koreans also are not using Dem administrations (like the Clinton Administration) to take our advanced missile technology to make the missiles pointed at us more accurate. In fact, the Japanese and South Koreans are our allies, not our enemies.

As I've said before, buying Communist Chinese products today has the same result on our national security as buying Soviet products would have in the 1980s. If the Soviets had been doing what the Chi-coms are doing now, the Soviet Union would still be around today, and we'd be in an even bigger mess than we are now.

Keep buying Chi-com and your children and grandchildren will be cowering to the Chi-coms. If you don't believe me, then go back and read the financial press over the past several months about the role China plays in financing our national debt and consider the huge deficits (adding to the debt) that Obama is running. Extrapolate out forty or fifty years and unless something changes, the U.S. could very well be a vassal state of Communist China. Our military might won't mean anything if the Chi-coms can ruin us economically because the politicians would rather the economy stay OK than to exert our independence.

Wait a sec boys..

Didn't leupold just give us some really good improvements in lense quality for darn near no extra cost?

The profit from leupold stay here, everyone gets their lenses made overseas these days.

Who's doing more for the sports Terry or Leupold - Hats off to both but I'm not going to complain about either of them. There is way too many problems out there to be worried about then the tearing into those that are helping the industry.

An interesting article about the current state of Chinese optic industry written by David M. Fortier can be found here:

http://www.tacticalgunfan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=277&Itemid=70

And Garth Kendig doesn't measure up when compared to Jack Slack or Merlin Webb of the old leupold days unfortunately.

Look what happened to Weaver .....

Stonewall