Why I hate Leupold

[42769vette]

I read it the same way Phylodog did, so I am glad you clarified.

What buying much higher quality scopes (and mounts) has done for me was to eliminate the equipment as the problem. Now if the bullet doesn't hit where I think it should, I'm confident it's me and not something in the gear.

same way i read the first post.

to me its all about process of elimination. when i usto run 10 dollar rings and 30 dollar scopes id shoot a pattern not a group and say ok

it could be me
it could be the rings
it could be the scope.

now that i run quality i say

it IS me

 

[Whitsettd8]

I'm a big believer in you get what you pay for. An old timer at the gun shop I go to says spend on a scope what you spend on the gun. It's a tough pill to swallow but I try to keep it in the 80% range.... I have a pile of junk Simmons Tasco BSA's scopes and an equal pile of rings..... All cast aside cause I was trying to be cheap or get a bargain. Burris Nikon Leupold are almost always safe bets. If its to good to be true it probably is.

 

[42769vette]

retracted

my purpose in this thread was not to argue just to have a thread to link instid of retyping my first post.

 

[Hammer]

I have an issue with Zeiss scopes. I borrowed my Dad's Browning 30-06 with a Zeiss 3X9 one year as a buddy was using my 742 with a Redfield wideview 3X9. I took a shot on a deer at 150 yards crossing a creek and missed, I tried for a second shot but was unable to because an inspection sticker inside the housing had come unglued and was now stuck to the inside glass. Dad about lost a rifle that day.

 

[42769vette]

I have an issue with Zeiss scopes. I borrowed my Dad's Browning 30-06 with a Zeiss 3X9 one year as a buddy was using my 742 with a Redfield wideview 3X9. I took a shot on a deer at 150 yards crossing a creek and missed, I tried for a second shot but was unable to because an inspection sticker inside the housing had come unglued and was now stuck to the inside glass. Dad about lost a rifle that day.

i have absolutly no problem with a optic failing. lets face it its going to happen to somones scope nomatter if your shooting a s&b, uso, leupold, tasco.

to me what seperates the best companies is how they deal with the issue when it does happen. leupold basically told me "tough" ive sent back nightforces and vortex's. neither company told me tough rather they appoligised for the problem and made it right.

ive been told "well you didn't buy a top of the line leupold try a mk4" here is my problems with those statements.

1 if you buy the cheapest ford f150 made brand new off the lot. start to drive it home and it breaks down jsut driving down the highway. take it back to the dealer and they say "it was the cheapest car ford made you should try the powerstroke". are you going to be ok with that? are you going to try a powerstroke?

2 even the cheapest leupold made should be atleast as good as a simmons

 

[gunman41mag]

I sold most of my LEUPOLD (only kept a MARK 4 4.5-14x50) My BURRIS BLACK DIAMOND & BUSHNELL ELITE 6500 is just as good if not better for less money.

 

[jy951]

I find it entirely ridiculous that on the vx1 and cheaper leupold scopes, the adjustments aren't even clicks. They are the old school friction adjustments. To me that's just stupid and I'll never buy one. They want you to pay up just to get click adjustments. I'm not doing it.

Also, in all reality almost any scope gathers more than enough light to see your target during legal shooting hours.

 

[farmboy365]

All the loops I still have are on rim fires I prefer nikons for inexpensive scopes and others for high end I am probably going to try a vortex on my upcoming 204 build.long and short of it I feel Nikon has a scope for everyone.and I agree BDC ret. Suck

 

[buford t justice]

My weaver v16 is a great scope out to 300 yards but it's not a leupold VXIII which is much clearer at long ranges.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Also, in all reality almost any scope gathers more than enough light to see your target during legal shooting hours.

No they don't.

I have 20-10 vision and excellent night vision and I missed taking two shots this year in deep woods on overcast days in the middle of the day because I couldn't see the deer clearly enough. These were well under a hundred yards using a Leupold 1-4x20 shotgun scope on my .458 socom.

It's getting replaced with a 2-7xsomething (probably 33) next year.

The scope was fine while I was sighting it in, but not good enough to resolve branches or brush between me and the deer under those conditions. Someone with worse eyesight than mine will have even more trouble.

 

[Aaronhome27]

I wanted to build the ultimate muzzleloader last year. I bought a prohunter XT and DNZ scope mout/rings. When I went to GM to look through the scopes to compare a grabbed probably half a dozen different ones. Price wasn't an issue at that time because my plan was to build the ultimate combo that would outlast me. Out of all the scopes the Leupold ultimate Slam had one of the worst clarity. I was shocked as that was what I went there to buy in hind sight. I was torn between a bushnell elite and a Nikon protaff. I left with the prostaff and was very happy with it. With that said, my favorite bino's hands down are my leupolds.

 

[Meister]

I don't know how anyone can justify paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a scope in the first place. Optics can be found 1/4 or 1/2 the price, with the exact same quality.

The scope is not going to make you a better shot. Few people realize this.

I can't agree with you on the exact same quality portion. In my experience, the cheaper scopes do a great job for situations where the owner sets the zero and leaves it be. On the other hand, if you're dealing with a scope that utilizes target turrets then all bets are off. The repeatability of Leupold scopes is what all the fuss is about. With newcomers like Vortex in the game, you're seeing the lines blur a bit.

no not a 35 dollar chinese scope. as ive said in countless post those are worthless. im saying a 600 dollar leupold is the exact same quality as a 400 dollar nikon or vortex




the scope does not make you a better shot, however it does help you realize your full potential. you still get what you pay for but IMO with leupold you get alot more "name brand" than you do quality

I can agree with the first statement without reservation. The second, not so much when you're speaking to the VXIII-Mark 4 series and up. Once you get up to those types of glass, the features outweigh the cost. When you look at the spec sheet for a Leupold you will see they have a huge ability to extend your range due to the amount of drop compensation. That ability is 100% repeatable with 0 drift through the range. Try running a Nikon or Vortex through 140MOA of elevation adjustment and see how much drift you get. Heck the Monarch series Nikon only has 80MOA elevation adjustment, the Vortex a respectable 125MOA. I do recommend Nikon as the budget scope to get due to it's construction and cost savings. They work. The vortex is a great mid range option for the price but not "The Same" as a Leupold IMO.

To many the amount and quality of adjustment means nothing, so I'm preaching on something they have no interest in. I will say this though, I recently bought a 1200 dollar Leupold scope with a canted Reticle. I returned it to them and they repaired it and updated the elevator assembly free of charge. As far as rangefinders go, they are the least effective for the money spent. Leica's by far have the best LRF on the market and their glass is really nice too.

I'm a nut though, my 10/22 has a 3-9 leupold mark 4 with target turrets!

 

[yotewacker]

I went hunting out west. A guide told me he had lots of people drop scopes from a horse. The only brand who never failed after a fall from a horse was the Burris Signature Series. He said a drop from a horse on a Leupold would almost always damage the scope and would surely have to be sighted in again.
He said this is the order to buy scopes.
1. Burris signature series
2. Nikon
3. Nightforce.

Depending on your budget.

 

[42769vette]

I can agree with the first statement without reservation. The second, not so much when you're speaking to the VXIII-Mark 4 series and up. Once you get up to those types of glass, the features outweigh the cost. When you look at the spec sheet for a Leupold you will see they have a huge ability to extend your range due to the amount of drop compensation. That ability is 100% repeatable with 0 drift through the range. Try running a Nikon or Vortex through 140MOA of elevation adjustment and see how much drift you get. Heck the Monarch series Nikon only has 80MOA elevation adjustment, the Vortex a respectable 125MOA. I do recommend Nikon as the budget scope to get due to it's construction and cost savings. They work. The vortex is a great mid range option for the price but not "The Same" as a Leupold IMO.

To many the amount and quality of adjustment means nothing, so I'm preaching on something they have no interest in. I will say this though, I recently bought a 1200 dollar Leupold scope with a canted Reticle. I returned it to them and they repaired it and updated the elevator assembly free of charge. As far as rangefinders go, they are the least effective for the money spent. Leica's by far have the best LRF on the market and their glass is really nice too.

I'm a nut though, my 10/22 has a 3-9 leupold mark 4 with target turrets!

i think we are saying the same thing, if you buy a 1200 dollar scope they will take care of you. if your a pee on who only spends 500 on a scope they dont care if your a happy customer. this is my complaint. vortex has the same warrenty on there 150 dollar scopes as they do there 2000 dollar scopes

i have run the vortex razor and pst from the top to the bottom of the elevation with out any drift what so ever. if your dialing out to long range and finding that the scopes windage is drifting its possible that you dont have the scope mounted straight. very little cant in the crosshairs make a huge diffrence after dialing 100 moa.

 

[42769vette]

I went hunting out west. A guide told me he had lots of people drop scopes from a horse. The only brand who never failed after a fall from a horse was the Burris Signature Series. He said a drop from a horse on a Leupold would almost always damage the scope and would surely have to be sighted in again.
He said this is the order to buy scopes.
1. Burris signature series
2. Nikon
3. Nightforce.

Depending on your budget.

im suprised nightforce is so low on the durrability list. im also suprised swarovski is not on there

 

[Meister]

i think we are saying the same thing, if you buy a 1200 dollar scope they will take care of you. if your a pee on who only spends 500 on a scope they dont care if your a happy customer. this is my complaint. vortex has the same warrenty on there 150 dollar scopes as they do there 2000 dollar scopes

i have run the vortex razor and pst from the top to the bottom of the elevation with out any drift what so ever. if your dialing out to long range and finding that the scopes windage is drifting its possible that you dont have the scope mounted straight. very little cant in the crosshairs make a huge diffrence after dialing 100 moa.

The one and only vortex I tried out drifted left 1.5moa 1/3 into the range and 1MOA right at the bottom of the range. Pretty good for the money IMO.

I honestly can't speak to their warranty service on the cheaper scopes, I've never had one break. One of the reasons I went Leupold was due to the stories of good customer service, so I hate to hear when people aren't happy. Considering a Nightforce or S&B for my next rifle project.

 

[42769vette]

The one and only vortex I tried out drifted left 1.5moa 1/3 into the range and 1MOA right at the bottom of the range. Pretty good for the money IMO.

I honestly can't speak to their warranty service on the cheaper scopes, I've never had one break. One of the reasons I went Leupold was due to the stories of good customer service, so I hate to hear when people aren't happy. Considering a Nightforce or S&B for my next rifle project.

id send the vortex that drifted back. they will have you a brand new one in a week.

defintally cant go wrong with nf or sb. good luck and let me know if i can help at all

 

[IndyGunworks]

The vortex is a great mid range option for the price but not "The Same" as a Leupold IMO.

In my experience, vortex is a class above ANY leupold in the same cost range.

i own several vortex scopes and would put them up against ANY leupold of equal cost any day of the week anytime of the year any place on the planet.

 

[dross]

I buy scopes exclusively from Mueller Optics. Basically, take their price and double it to figure out what level of optic you're getting. The only problem is that they don't have every type of scope I need.

I've been looking at the Leupold ultralight 2.5x, but would love to find something similar cheaper. Any advice?

 

[42769vette]

I've been looking at the Leupold ultralight 2.5x, but would love to find something similar cheaper. Any advice?

i just dont like fixed power scopes. for me no 1 power setting is good for everything i do with a rifle.

if your looking for a lower power optic look at the 1.75x5 vortex diamondback. its about 2x as heavy as the leupold but its still less than 13oz. its about 70-80 bucks cheaper than the leupold, that paticular leupold will fall in the "tough luck" category of leupolds warrenty. the vortex falls into the only category vortex has "no questions ask replacement or fix". with the vortex you have the option of dialing up for longer range shots and you have the option of a bdc recticle.

the vortex field of view on 1.75 is 68.3ft
the leupolds field of view on 2x is 39.5 ft

let me know if you have more questions.