Leupold scopes love or hate em?

[Outlaw99]

I don’t know what my deal is, my eyes have just never liked leuopld glass. I know they’re fine scopes, just not my preference

 

[DFS]

I shot one yesterday that wouldn’t track with adjustments. Very frustrating and eventually it gets there but I hate that scope.

 

[mtmuley]

The newer models are more of the problem children but some of the older ones had issues too. Just a confidence thing for me. The vx3 3.5-10x40 is a favorite scope of mine. Just wish I could trust it. Also a great kids scope with its generous eye relief

A buddy of mine has a 3-9 on a 7mm that has friction adjustments. He's killed more game with that setup than cwd has. mtmuley

 

[Jnasa]

I have had great luck with Leupold rifle scopes. For a hunting scope I think they are great. I won’t say they are the best on the planet but for the price range a very solid scope. Plus they have been good to me with warranty on a couple of old gloss gold rings that are over 25 years old.

If you are doing competition or a bunch of target shooting turning turrets a constantly I’d look at a Nightforce or comparable glass. Otherwise I think a Leupold is hard to beat.

 

[mtmuley]

My dad is the same way. He’s never adjusted a scope while hunting and can’t imagine any reason why someone would want to.

I sometimes wonder why I ever wanted to. mtmuley

 

[Redmt]

I just did a quick count of empty boxes. There's 8 of them. I keep them in case I ever send on back. I sent in one for a bad focus and got it back completely cleaned, focused, and nice and shiny. It took about 3 weeks.

 

[MNfarmer]

After doing a deeper dive researching scopes and durability tests I decided to go with a Trijicon Huron 3-12x40 on my current rifle purchase. Everything is still in transit so will be a while to get mounted up and see how I like it. It’s going on a Tikka T3x CTR stainless 6.5 creed. This is going to be a target gun at first but am planning to use it when I start my next in line kids deer hunting in a couple years with the shorter length of pull vs my current Tikka. I baby my guns and always carry in a padded hard case so hopefully my current leupolds keep working. I really like them and the luepold flip caps.

 

[brockel]

After doing a deeper dive researching scopes and durability tests I decided to go with a Trijicon Huron 3-12x40 on my current rifle purchase. Everything is still in transit so will be a while to get mounted up and see how I like it. It’s going on a Tikka T3x CTR stainless 6.5 creed. This is going to be a target gun at first but am planning to use it when I start my next in line kids deer hunting in a couple years with the shorter length of pull vs my current Tikka. I baby my guns and always carry in a padded hard case so hopefully my current leupolds keep working. I really like them and the luepold flip caps.

I’ve got a Trijicon Huron that’s sitting on a 223 that’s had a rough ride all winter long. Scope hasn’t moved a bit

 

[Nick87]

The only scope ive ever had lose zero that im aware of is one that hit me between the eyes. 10 stitches worth.

 

[brockel]

The only scope ive ever had lose zero that im aware of is one that hit me between the eyes. 10 stitches worth.

I’ve never had one completely go like feet off. But I’ve had a few with wandering zeros

 

[Nick87]

I’ve never had one completely go like feet off. But I’ve had a few with wandering zeros

Two feet high after that. That was a nikon. But those scopes have actually been great for the money other than that hiccup. Was having an argument with the wife prior. Showed back up to the house with 10 stitches. She never said a word. Pretty sure she prayed for that.

 

[WildWill]

Two feet high after that. That was a nikon. But those scopes have actually been great for the money other than that hiccup. Was having an argument with the wife prior. Showed back up to the house with 10 stitches. She never said a word. Pretty sure she prayed for that.

 

[MS 9x56]

Only scope I ever had lose zero was a vortex that the horizontal adjustment dial stopped working. It was mounted on a 35 Whelen. Don’t use vortex anymore. I put a 20 year old Leoupold 3x9 on it and it is still on it 5 years later.

 

[MtsPSU]

There is an old, mid 90’s vintage 3-9 on my featherweight model 70 270 win. I use this rifle to mostly hunt <150 yard type of stuff. On June 28th a 12 shot load development group showed 2.5” at 100 yards. Not great, but acceptable for my shooting abilities with a light, hard to shoot rifle and intent with this rifle. After testing that load, the scope was moved to the right, verified, and the rifle put in the safe.

View attachment 396573

A zero check on 9/28 showed impact slightly to the right, but still within the cone of fire. On 11/26, after 4 days of hunting in bear season, a zero check showed basically the same as the 9/28 zero check, though one of the shots was pretty far right.

View attachment 396574

A zero check on 12/14, after 5 full days and several partial days of deer hunting showed impact to be 3” left of the last 2 zero checks. Again probably sufficient for hunting here, but that shift should not happen.
View attachment 396563
The rifle was always cased in a hard case whenever traveling in a vehicle. While hunting, surprisingly, my clumsy ass took no falls. The rifle was handled with care at all times, and never dropped or bumped while hunting.

This rifle was my first rifle. It is a classic looking rifle with the gloss 3-9 on it. I would love nothing more than to keep the rifle intact the way it is. At this point point though I would like to figure out whether the rifle, the scope, or my shooting abilities caused the shift. I have my suspicions.

By chance is this rifle glass bedded? If not, you might want to do so and my guess is accuracy issues will diminish.

Mark

 

[MtsPSU]

It is not, and I will probably do that to this piece. Since zero checking before, during, and after the season we started looking at the rifle a bit more. In looking into the issue we took the rifle apart, cleaned everything and retorqued the action screws. We also removed the scope, bases and rings. We cleaned, reinstalled, and torqued correctly. During that we noticed that the rifles barrel is free floated, but barely, .005-.007ish of space between barrel and stock. Personally I would like to see more, and have the action bedded.

After reassembly the rifle shot 5 shots into a nickel sized group at 100. It was an inch low and an inch to the right though. The scope has .5 MOA/“click” adjustments. I moved it 2 “clicks” left and 2 “clicks” up. After adjusting, the group was centered about 2”left, 2” high, and was roughly 2.75”. After adjusting it some more I was able to get it centered left and right, but it is still about 2” high and what looks to be a 3” group at 100.

I have another rifle and ammunition that have been tested thoroughly and shoot well enough to confidently test a scope. As soon as I get a chance I am going to put this scope on that rifle and shoot it a bunch. If there is a scope issue it should show up.

Sounds good. Highly recommend getting it glass bedded.

I have a Remington 700 CDL .300WM that is super picky about what I shoot through it. That said, I had it glass bedded and kept working on handloads until I found the recipe it liked. Now it is consistent year round and fun to shoot. BTW, it wears a Leupold VX II 4x12x40 fine duplex.

Mark

 

[BobT1105]

I’m a Leupold user for a few different reasons. They are made in the USA, obviously the glass is imported. They are lighter weight than most other comparable brands. They have a VIP program for military and first responders that’s pretty generous. They have a good tech support line. Finally they do have a good warranty. I’m not quite sure when I got my first Leupold but Weavers were still being made in ElPaso. I have had 2 issues over the years, one was on a Rifleman, their bottom of the line offering, I bought this one from Walmart because I needed something in a hurry. The Rifleman was mounted on a T.C. Encore 209x50 and lost its zero pretty quickly. I returned it to Walmart and got a refund. The other one was a 4x pistol scope that some idiot dropped at a gunshow while it was mounted on a Ruger Super Blackhawk and broke the reticle, Leupold sent me a new one. I have several different models ranging from a Vari-x ii 2-7 to a VX5 HD. I like them all. I pretty much ignore the rockslide reviews. I’m not made of money and I try to take care of my stuff. I don’t throw my guns down, if I drop one I check the zero before hunting again and I don’t use them for carry handles. Also, if I’m traveling any distance to hunt I take a backup rifle ready to go. High country backpack hunting is a thing of the past for me, if I can’t get some sort of ride then I’m not going more than a couple of miles. It’s a minor inconvenience to go back to the truck and get another rifle.

 

[17remhunter]

Ive had Leupolds on every gun I bought a Vortex for my CZ 527 and the bolt handle rubbed in the rear bell when cycling so i gave it to my son and got a Leupold no issues

 

[MTLabrador]

It might not be Rokslide approved, but I love the older VX3s without CDS for a set and forget hunting scope. Took a pretty good tumble in the deadfall today and landed on the scope. Checked zero with a softball sized rock at 300, and it was still spot on. That’s enough of a drop test for my purposes.
View attachment 390504

Another VX3 data point today. 2.5-8x36 on my Tikka .308 in unknown munitions rings, 155 ELDMs. My dog knocked over the rifle and it landed hard on the scope on hard frozen ground. Took it to the range to check zero and finish off a batch of 50 to reload. This was my last ground of 10, spot on where I want it at 2.5” high at 100. Shooting prone over a pack as fast as I could load mags and work the bolt. I’ll own the flyer…

 

[Doublegunner]

I own a lot of Leupold's. I three rimfire scopes, 5 older vx3's 2-2.8-8 and 2-3.5-10 and a 1.5x5. I also have a scout 2.5, 2 vx5 2-10, 2 vx5 3-15 and 1 vx6 2-12. I also have a newer 2.5-8 HD vx3 Clearly I like their product but I'm loosing faith in the scopes. I have found the newer ones struggle to maintain zero with light use and the tracking doesn't work very well. The older ones have been fine. IMO a scope that costs around $1000 should hold zero and track correctly. My buddy has a VX5 in 3-15 and it doesn't track well at all. Very frustating when trying to get the rifle sighted in. I own about 6 Trijicons, from accupoints to credos and they have all been great. I've also been happy with my Leica's and the one zeiss I have. I've not been happy with my Swarovski z3.

I will say that Leupold does a lot of things right. The scopes are generally clear, have good eyeboxes, good coatings making they bright and they have excellent accessories. Their problems are they are built so light that they are pretty fragile, don't track well and don't hold zero very well. first and foremost a scope is an aiming tool. If that doesn't work then its worthless. the last 8 scopes I have bought have either been Trijicon or Leica and they are doing the job.

I'm not getting rid of the leupolds, just relegating them to rifles that don't see hard service.

 

[Lmartin5]

Have never used another brand...love Leupold!