Leupold Scopes...Do you trust them today?

[ChrisAU]

So the $999 price shown is bait? There are 5 listings on GB that are better buys. Can they beat all 5?

You have to hit email for price. Their shipping is $14.99. $759.64 shipped. Some deals are better than others, but I haven't seen anyone beat them anywhere at the few items I've looked at over the last few weeks.

 

[sw282]

Thanks Chris, Lock/stock quoted me a price of $744 on 172345. Arrows/barrels was pretty close @$759. Twas already committed. Also like ''no credit card fee'' from Arrows/Barrels. As l stated in my last post the cheapest NEW was $999. Used was @ $810 on Ebay. MSRP on 172345 is $1299 from Leupold. This is the first NEW scope l have purchased in 20+yrs... Have bought many over the past 20 yrs. All those were USED... l just hope the prairie dogs SMILE real big.

282

 

[antelopedundee]

That scope is Leupold item number 172345. Just do a GunBroker search with that number and it brings up a whole slew of em, tho not guaranteed to be a complete list. I don't see any currently selling for that price.

 

[sw282]

GunBroker.com - Error

Here ya go. $759 on this one... Check the rest of seller's Leupold listings.

 

[Raudy707]

I have 5 Leupy's on various rifles from 22's to 300 win mag and all different price points riflemans series to VX6. I trust them. They've never given me reason not to. I've hunted 4 to 5 states every year for the last 19 years killing 6 to 10 big game animals each year as well as shooting em quite a bit for a guy with a day job. (6k to 8k rounds a year) But so far, the CDS has always worked perfectly for me. Zeroed for 200 I run them 400, 500.... out to 1200 and back to zero stop and they are still operating perfect. I bought them because of the weight savings. I have 2 Nightforce scopes on varmint rifles that don't get packed up mountains. But I'm not carrying rifles over 9.5 lbs into the back country anymore. 10 oz matters too much to my broke down knees. I'll keep shooting with the Leupold scopes until they give me a reason not to. So far, no regrets. I have 4 Zeiss, 2 Swaros, 4 Burris and 2 Bushnell's so I'm not a fan of any one brand. I like em all! But each has it's purpose or place in my collection.

 

[LDHunter]

Here's my take on low pricing especially on Leupold. I don't have the time or inclination to call around or give a bunch of people my email and then struggle with all their spam until I can get it shut off. If they don't list the price I'm looking for up front I move on. That cuts out a lot of sellers that are willing to cut the price but that don't advertise that price for fear of having to sell to everyone at that price therefore cutting their overall profits or for fear that Leupold will quit selling to them.

Also a lot of these people don't stock many scopes at all and therefore I'd have to wait for them to get one in or convince the warehouse to drop ship to me. I've been that route and often have to wait a couple of weeks for it to show. The big sellers and discounters of Leupold products on Gunbroker ship same or next day and they're so big with thousands of visible feedbacks that I'm not worried about getting a Chinese copy cat product or any other sort of hanky panky including waiting for them to order the scope and then send it to me.

It is quite possible that some of these big sellers on Gunbroker are actually warehouses that buy direct from Leupold and then are selling direct to the consumer. We're seeing direct marketing more and more these days and with a lot of old time scope makers biting the dust because every Tom, Dick, and Harry are now having their scopes private labeled and getting them from China or somewhere else with ultra low pricing. They go out of business in a few short years leaving a bunch of people with defective merchandise hanging.

This global marketplace is confusing to navigate and if y'all are like me you buy a scope that you usually intend to never sell until we can't shoot any more or to pass down to relatives so we don't want a scope made by a company that won't be here in a few years. Hence Leupold, Nightforce and a few notable others mostly European but I'm glad to see that Bushnell and Burris have survived all the buyouts etc. Yes... We pay a premium for the promise of the company being there to service and fix our scopes as long as we might need them and maybe we will be let down but somewhere you have to make a leap of faith or get stuck in limbo forever as we vacillate and can't make up our minds.

Did any of us ever expect Nikon to give up making scopes? I sure didn't but global marketing and price pressure drove them out of the low to medium pricing market which is now mostly dominated by the Chinese knockoffs.

Anybody wanna buy a Nikon scope for cheap? No? Didn't think so....

 

[sw282]

Sadly Burris and Bushnell are only here in name. They were both bought out by Vista 0utdoors. They are part of Vista Group, owned by Robert F. Smith. 0le Bob is the guy that paid off all the student loans at Morehouse College recently. While he's been good to the students/parents @Morehouse he hasn't been too good to us sportsmen and hunters. Vista 0utdoors owns Federal Ammo, RCBS, SPEER, CCI, even Lake City Arsenal. They own a whole bunch of other outdoor companies too like Hoppes and 0uters.. Ever have a problem with your RCBS press or Federal primers? Lotsa luck getting anyone on the phone to speak to. lts been my personal experience all calls go to a central call center. Their response is. ''All Techs are on the line helping other customers. You can stay on the line or we can call you back.'' Rotsa Ruck on that callback... Got two sleeves of mislabeled FED primers a couple yrs ago... Never ever got to talk to a real tech. Finally gave those 10,000 primers to a friend. Same show happened to an RCBS Summit press l bought the year l retired. The handle BROKE. No more direct calls to the boys in 0raville Cali. You get the same operator/customer service person as the Federal call. (Finally found a replacement handle on GunBroken). lf l ever have to make another l suspect to hear the next voice on the line to be from somewhere OVERSEAS.. No more Vista 0utdor products for me. l will stick to Hornady, Sierra, Hodgdon, Winchester or Remington until they too get EATEN☹

 

[73driver]

Sadly Burris and Bushnell are only here in name. They were both bought out by Vista 0utdoors. They are part of Vista Group, owned by Robert F. Smith. 0le Bob is the guy that paid off all the student loans at Morehouse College recently. While he's been good to the students/parents @Morehouse he hasn't been too good to us sportsmen and hunters. Vista 0utdoors owns Federal Ammo, RCBS, SPEER, CCI, even Lake City Arsenal. They own a whole bunch of other outdoor companies too like Hoppes and 0uters.. Ever have a problem with your RCBS press or Federal primers? Lotsa luck getting anyone on the phone to speak to. lts been my personal experience all calls go to a central call center. Their response is. ''All Techs are on the line helping other customers. You can stay on the line or we can call you back.'' Rotsa Ruck on that callback... Got two sleeves of mislabeled FED primers a couple yrs ago... Never ever got to talk to a real tech. Finally gave those 10,000 primers to a friend. Same show happened to an RCBS Summit press l bought the year l retired. The handle BROKE. No more direct calls to the boys in 0raville Cali. You get the same operator/customer service person as the Federal call. (Finally found a replacement handle on GunBroken). lf l ever have to make another l suspect to hear the next voice on the line to be from somewhere OVERSEAS.. No more Vista 0utdor products for me. l will stick to Hornady, Sierra, Hodgdon, Winchester or Remington until they too get EATEN☹

Sierra has been gobbled up by Clarus Corporation and Remington was "eaten up" by Cerberus Private Equity firm in 2007. After reportedly financial shenanigans Remington Arms went into bankruptcy restructuring. The company after restructuring its debt ended up owned by JPMorgan and its other creditors.

 

[Rum River]

Yes, I trust them.


Currently own about a dozen, over the years probably a couple dozen more - plus two current 10x50 binoculars and two different spotting scopes. Scopes overall vary from old VX-1's to VX3i's.

Heaviest caliber is 300 Wby Mag on a 700 Classic - that one is a VX3 3.5-10x40 with a B&C reticle. The hold-overs on that reticle work perfectly to 400 yards. That rifle took some serious abuse on a horseback elk hunt (multiple hard shocks from 20 miles on an 'excitable' horse plus some very clumsy people in camp combined with no gun racks) and still held perfect 200 yard zero.

A rifle that I foolishly loaned out came back with multiple deep 1" long grooves on the scope where it broke the fall of my 200lb. cousin on a boulder. Sent it to Leupold to have it checked - they refilled with nitrogen for free and I'm still using it 20+ years later with no trouble.

Had my 80-power spotting scope on a tall tripod when the wind blew it over and broke off the entire angled eyepiece housing. Totally my fault. They replaced the entire spotting scope kit for free.

Highest magnification scopes I have are a pair of older 6.5-20x40 VX3's with Premier Reticle (I said they were old) Gen2-Mildot reticles. Have made called shots on salt-shaker size prairie dogs out to 550 yards.

Zero problems with our 10x50 Mojave binoculars, clear glass with no fogging.

At the store we sell around a couple of hundred Leupolds per year, we mount probably 95% of them ourselves. In the two years I've been there I don't know of a customer who has had an issue.

I will qualify my answers by saying I personally haven't fired on targets at the distances that a lot of the shooters reading this do. With that in mind I haven't done as much dialing up as others - also, the area of the country in which I'm located
doesn't present big game opportunities much past 400 yards.

 

[CUTTER1]

I've had or have virtually every scope mentioned in this blog except Marsh. For years have had all kinds of Leupolds, only one I ever sent back was a couple years ago that wouldn't hold zero. I got it when I purchased several rifles from a collection. The owner told me he bought on line to replace a Tasco that had been on the gun but couldn't get the gun to shoot and thought it was the gun. I had the same experience and sent the in for repairs to find out it was counterfeit! Leupold wanted to keep it and made me an offer I couldn't refuse!
I have multiple NF but had to send one of my ATACR's in because it wouldn't track right out of the box, they made it right in short order!
I love Swarovski binos and spotting scopes but have sold all my riflescopes from them and won't buy another until they make so significant upgrades to compete with others on the market!
I think every manufacturer I've had a scope from has had at least one go back for repairs! An original VX3 2.5-8 has been on a custom 6#10oz
375 Ackley Imp that felt recoil seams significantly more than my 470NE Double. That scope and rifle combo has been on 5 continents over 1000rds and taken a great many animals and has survived lots of abuse, it has never failed in anyway including to hold zero!
Same collection included a Weaver "Turret Long Range" scope that tracks on the 22-250 it came on to 600y. I moved it to a 338LM just for fun to see if it would survive and it tracks like a champ to 1200y even with crap glass. After 50 rds of 338 it's back on the 22-250 shooting 0.5MOA!
Go figure!

 

[257Tony]

I'mw282, post: 1834631, member: 93980"]
Sadly Burris and Bushnell are only here in name. They were both bought out by Vista 0utdoors. They are part of Vista Group, owned by Robert F. Smith. 0le
[/QUOTE]

Sadly Burris and Bushnell are only here in name. They were both bought out by Vista 0utdoors. They are part of Vista Group, owned by Robert F. Smith. 0le Bob is the guy that paid off all the student loans at Morehouse College recently. While he's been good to the students/parents @Morehouse he hasn't been too good to us sportsmen and hunters. Vista 0utdoors owns Federal Ammo, RCBS, SPEER, CCI, even Lake City Arsenal. They own a whole bunch of other outdoor companies too like Hoppes and 0uters.. Ever have a problem with your RCBS press or Federal primers? Lotsa luck getting anyone on the phone to speak to. lts been my personal experience all calls go to a central call center. Their response is. ''All Techs are on the line helping other customers. You can stay on the line or we can call you back.'' Rotsa Ruck on that callback... Got two sleeves of mislabeled FED primers a couple yrs ago... Never ever got to talk to a real tech. Finally gave those 10,000 primers to a friend. Same show happened to an RCBS Summit press l bought the year l retired. The handle BROKE. No more direct calls to the boys in 0raville Cali. You get the same operator/customer service person as the Federal call. (Finally found a replacement handle on GunBroken). lf l ever have to make another l suspect to hear the next voice on the line to be from somewhere OVERSEAS.. No more Vista 0utdor products for me. l will stick to Hornady, Sierra, Hodgdon, Winchester or Remington until they too get EATEN☹

False. Burris is owned by Beretta, one of the oldest family run business in the world.

Maybe you meant Bushnell?

 

[Tumbleweed]

At an 80% failure rate Leupold would have been out of business years ago. If you start talking 80% failure on the 5HD and 6HD lines where the price tag starts to run from $700 to $2500 you are Reading about a class action lawsuit and Leupold Stevens filing bankruptcy. Gotta love the internet.

I said that "I" have experienced an 80% failure rate. I did not state that everyone should expect those to be the odds for them. My point to the OP was that it's not worth taking a chance. Furthermore, this is not internet bs, these are proven, documented failures. I proved the failures before they were sent in to Leupold. All failed scopes returned with invoices showing major parts replaced and magically they functioned properly after that. What more do you want?

 

[Raudy707]

I said that "I" have experienced an 80% failure rate. I did not state that everyone should expect those to be the odds for them. My point to the OP was that it's not worth taking a chance. Furthermore, this is not internet bs, these are proven, documented failures. I proved the failures before they were sent in to Leupold. All failed scopes returned with invoices showing major parts replaced and magically they functioned properly after that. What more do you want?

80%!! You must be the most unlucky person on the face of the planet. I grew up with Tasco and Simmons scopes and never had even 25% fail. I bet you never draw a deer tag either. Sorry for your luck in life. Sounds terrible.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Tumbleweed has luck with Leupold like I did with Burris. Fogging, rotating reticle, lose of accuracy, out of focus so I just don't buy them anymore.