LEUPOLD VX6HD FRUSTRATION!!!!

[Full Curl]

I just had a VX6 HD sent back this year, 4-24x52 to Leupold for tracking issues. The gun would lose zero around 50-100 shots every time I used it. Leupold replaced both turrets and since then haven't had a problem. Just send the scope back. My guess is probably 1/10 have turret adjustment issues coming out of the factory and we are the 10%.

What caliber did you have it on?

 

[Full Curl]

I agree with the above posts to tall target it again and check that the cap is on tight. I'm also wondering if you tried using the reticle holdovers instead of dialing and how that performed. Have you confirmed all mounts are torqued to correct values? If the scope was slipping in the rings it could present similarly. Please keep up posted on what it ends up being!

I definitely thought of not touching the turret and just using the holdovers and very well may out to 500 yards. I have not shot using them yet but I used them a lot to measure my low POI's when I started to hit low and then based my come up correction adjustments off of them... and they as well as the correction dialing were always spot on. My problem is that I would correct and be spot on that day at that time... I would then record that dial number and then come back to the range a couple days later, after another 15-20 rounds, and my POI would move lower. It went from a 200yd zero to -2.1MOA at 200yds over time until I figured out it was actually moving. I just don't know if it occurred without twisting turrets, by twisting turrets, or a combination of both! Last thing I want to be dealing with before hunt, I know that!!

 

[WYO300RUM]

Leupolds track like Stevie Wonder.

Just say'n

 

[Ucsdryder]

Some little feelers are starting to get hurt in this thread!

 

[WYO300RUM]

Leupold sucks. I'm still bitter with their handling of my rangefinder warranty. "The best warranty you'll never use"? Yeah, because they'll figure a way to weasel out of it.

Chinese rangefinders. Buy something better

 

[Ucsdryder]

Chinese rangefinders. Buy something better

Like leupold ones? You've got to be kidding me. They have a 2 year warranty, the WORST in the industry, for a reason. They are complete junk.

 

[WYO300RUM]

I'll take vortex over leupold all day every day. they both have similar products and vortex has a no questions asked guarantee for life. Leupold looks for reasons to not help.

Vortex . Unless you buy high end like Razor it's junk. I've sent enough spotting Scopes and rifles scopes back I don't wast my time anymore. Have never sent a Luepold rifle scope back. I have sent their Korean wind river binos back twice and their Chinese rangefinder back once. All sent back upgraded new models. Vortex. I won't get into it. Athlon better to deal with if going that route. Both my VC6's are great My older Luepolds never had a problem , or with my American made older Burris.

 

[WYO300RUM]

I'll take vortex over leupold all day every day. they both have similar products and vortex has a no questions asked guarantee for life. Leupold looks for reasons to

 

[WYO300RUM]

Like leupold ones? You've got to be kidding me. They have a 2 year warranty, the WORST in the industry, for a reason. They are complete junk.

Just what I said .. crap. I use Leica. Read it right... D.A.

 

[MW204]

Years ago I bought a Leupold Mark 4 4x14x50mm Mildot for my job and I had a custom turret cap made for the bullet I was shooting. I loved it for several years until I started stretching out my shooting past 500 yds. Once I did that by twisting the turret terrible things happened and it wasn't long before my once pride and joy did not work anymore. I sent it to Leupold and got it back in no time and I was back in business.
Fast forward a few years later and I no longer used that setup for work but for hunting and on my first out-of-state hunt I was out west and had the chance to twist the turret back and forth up to 600 yds and when the rubber hit the road at 300 yds my bullet struck about 18" high, I could clearly see where I hit because of the snow. I immediately thought not again, swapped that rifle in for my backup, but back home at 100 yds it was 12" high. I could zero it, twist the turret past 500 yds and come back to 100 yds and it'd be off. Back to Leupold it went with instructions that I did NOT want this scope back, fix it if you want but call me and let's work something out because I had NO faith in it anymore. That didn't work out as I planned, a few weeks later I got the scope back. I called Leupold and after a lengthy discussion they got that scope back and they sent me another one that I've been satisfied with since.
I've heard of several people since then that had the same problem with the Mark 4 4x14x50mm, it's a shame because when it worked it was a masterpiece.

 

[Deviant]

Really frustrated with my Leupold glass!! Got my custom 300RUM delivered this summer. I had a Leupold 4-24x52 VX6HD with the TMOA reticle waiting for it. Broke the barrel in and developed a great 0.5" MOA load for it. Early on I performed a vertical target test at 100 yards shooting 0, dialed 15MOA, and dialed 30MOA to verify vertical tracking in the reticle was in fact vertical and to measure the distance of turret clicks which came right out at 0.253MOA/click which was spot on. I inputted all the data into Strelok and had my DOPE for longer range. I shot a target drop test out to 700 yards and verified all the drops at 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700. Strelok's come ups were spot on as I verified each of them by dialing down to my groups (all sub-MOA) on the target. Perfect, I thought to myself, I'm good to go to start dialing my all come ups with all my DOPE.

I started shooting 500 to 1000 yards dialing and this is where my issues started. I started having low hits. I would start at a distance and my first and second shots would hit low (multiple inches low depending on distance), I would then correct by how low they hit and dial up accordingly and they would hit spot on. Then I would go back the next day with my new numbers and again I would hit low and have to do it over again. This went on for the last week and a half and is driving me nuts! I triple checked all my rounds for charge weight, neck tension, seating depth, fps, etc. and everything was spot on. I am anal about the ring and action screws on the rifle and they are tight. I'm far from a pro, but my form is solid and I'm shooting very nice sub-MOA groups. I never touched the horizontal turret and only adjusted the vertical. Horizontally, I'm spot on. My vertical hits are off and not making any sense to me. They keep dropping lower.

Every day I went to the range, my come ups increased about 0.75 to 2MOA from 500 to 800 yards. I went again yesterday and it happened again. I know the MOA/click is on because after I measure my drop and correct, I'm dead on. The problem is my MOA from one day to the next is off considerably. It took me a bit in my thick head but I ruled out the rifle, the ammo, and my form. It has to be the scope. I haven't shot it under 500 yards in weeks after I zeroed it at 200. This morning I shot 2 rounds that almost had touching holes at 200 yards that were 2.1MOA (or 4.5 inches low). About 80 rounds ago I had a perfect 200 yard zero. SO FRUSTRATED!!!!

I know there have been some tracking issues on Leupolds. I'm not sure if this is a tracking issue or just an issue where it can't hold zero. Like I said, when I dial a known observed come up, it's spot on so I know it tracks well in that circumstance. But it either has lost its zero somehow or has tracking issues when I dial and then return it back to zero and dial again. I'm not sure which it is, but neither are good. Now I don't have any confidence with this scope. For $1800 this shouldn't happen!!! Not at all happy, and really frustrated with this scope. Another thought I had was the recoil from a 300RUM too much for this scope? I have a very long awaited for elk hunt next week and just sick about this. Not sure what to do.

Has anybody else had any similar issues with VX6HD's? Is there any way I can tell if it's not holding zero or just not tracking correctly? Or both? Any other thoughts?

I had the same issue with that exact scope on my 28 Nosler and yet I bought the 3-18 VX6 hd and put it on a custom 6.5 SAUM. I tried for 2 days to get that gun dialed in to no avail. I did my load development with a March High Master and it was shooting .3 MOA consistently before mounting the VX6 HD. I bought a March 3-24x52 and had it dialed in after 5 rounds and back to tiny little groups. I have since sold both Leupolds and stopped buying them. It's a shame because they have Great Glass and they would make excellent lightweight hunting scopes if they could get the issues fixed with their products.

 

[COmtnman1]

For me personally, I bought my first Leupold in 1975, Vari-X II, 3x9 & then other variables of the VX 3's & then three Mark 4's & the most recent, a Mark 5. I've never had any problems with any of them, with the exception of, I did send one of the Mark 4's in for a tracking issue, but got it back & it was great. I've only had positive experiences with their customer service. So, with the results I've had with Leupold, can't compare them to any other scopes. I will say that one of the Mark 4's is mounted on a 30-378 Wby mag. & wasn't always shot with a brake on it, hated the noise. But for the most part, it was. The Mark 5 is mounted on a 338-378 Wby. mag & is ported, but do love that scope!!

 

[Rosebud]

Own three VX5HD ZL2. Never a issue with performance. Wife knocked rifle and scope off kitchen table and killed the scope. Leupold fixed it and returned it in three weeks. No questions asked. they sell thousands of scopes each year. Fine moving parts having to work in all hunting conditions. Some will break. I've had night force scopes break. They fix it, I'm happy. Never a issue with costumer service.

 

[Mike D Texas]

I'll take vortex over leupold all day every day. they both have similar products and vortex has a no questions asked guarantee for life. Leupold looks for reasons to not help.

Vortex has a great warranty department because they get a LOT of practice. I will give them kudos for warranting electronics where most other won't.

I've never had to use a Leupold warranty and I have a safe full of their scopes. I've dang sure used Vortex warranty on every scope I ever owned except my current one. Time will tell.