Is Rokslide Wrong About Leupolds?

[KenLee]

Serious question, what if anything do these targets tell an experienced shooter? The target is a 1.25” bull and 2.75” diamond. All 4 were shot with the same rifle and ammo from the same bench at the same 100 yard range. The rifle gets pulled from the safe, set in the back seat of the truck and driven 13 miles to the range. The 10 shots on each target are shot 10 in a row without a break. The rifle is set in the back seat of the truck, returned home and put in the safe.

Tells me that you should quit wasting ammo and kill more critters.

 

[KenLee]

Hopefully he's not claiming hogs in the stats.

That would be like the Dr asking how many drinks of alcohol per week. "Damn you're counting beers too?"

 

[*zap*]

The slide is never wrong

 

[JakeM51]

Serious question, what if anything do these targets tell an experienced shooter? The target is a 1.25” bull and 2.75” diamond. All 4 were shot with the same rifle and ammo from the same bench at the same 100 yard range. The rifle gets pulled from the safe, set in the back seat of the truck and driven 13 miles to the range. The 10 shots on each target are shot 10 in a row without a break. The rifle is set in the back seat of the truck, returned home and put in the safe.

Your zero could have shifted up a click or 2, but that could be you/your set up.

What are you using to shoot off of?

 

[JGRaider]

What do you classify as "big game"?

Already explained it in detail in this thread.

 

[ddowning]

Isn't this rather contradictory? I'm NOT talking about my scopes, just scopes in general.

This is why it is so rare to find people that can actually know this. To have a scope work, one needs a proven gun system, 3000 rounds of the same lot of ammo, a barrel with enough life left to shoot through the 3000 rounds, etc.

I monkey with my stuff too much to say without a doubt that a scope will work. Hell, I unscrew my barrels every 200-400 rounds to clean them and then put them back on and zero again. I have seen scopes fail. I have had scopes that were often 2 clicks off after riding 4 hrs to a match in the car. I have zeroed at home, got in the car, driven to a match, only to find my zero off by a couple clicks on the zero board.

Therefore, I can say that I have had problems. I cannot say, hey, these scopes work really well.

When someone is going to the level of the drop tests on here and making a list of scopes that are good to go and those that typically fail, I'm going to put some thought into the results when choosing my next scope. I don't have time to shoot 100k rounds per year and test everything myself. I could test maybe 1 or two scopes per year and that would be all, so I really appreciate all the time and money that goes into the testing.

It is also telling when the group of guys I shoot prs with have never heard of rokslide, and they all decided, without me saying a word, to sell all the other stuff they have picked up off prize tables and buy nightforce atacrs. A lot of them were shooting Leupy Mk5s. One guy has been shooting a 5-25 atacr for a long time and has never had a single issue with it. In the same time period he has sent back nearly every other popular brand scope with issues. That is what prompted their decision.

 

[jimh406]

they all decided, without me saying a word, to sell all the other stuff they have picked up off prize tables and buy nightforce atacrs. A lot of them were shooting Leupy Mk5s. One guy has been shooting a 5-25 atacr for a long time and has never had a single issue with it. In the same time period he has sent back nearly every other popular brand scope with issues. That is what prompted their decision.

Let me guess, the guy they are copying shot better than them. That is, many people are looking for the easy button.

Time will tell if they stay with the latest brand. Maybe they will.

However, the thread isn't about PRS or target scopes.

 

[Outdoorsman12b]

You know, I just received my first failed leupold (vxiii 2.5-8x36) bought second hand, it showed up with the reticle off kilter. I do not know the life it lived before I got it though.

Optics are a lot spendier up here for sure, then add 12% tax and usually crazy shipping costs (thanks to Trudy’s carbon tax). The only brand that I can see cheaper in the states is leupold ( on average, I could save upward of $500 on a used vx5 compared to buying used in Canada), any other brand seems to have a lot more value added to it over here.

The shv would be a great candidate, and have looked at them a bit, they can be had for a bit cheaper then the vx5hd, but lacks in a couple places for my personal preference, clarity, reticle, capped turrets. To jump into a nxs or nx8, puts it over the vx5 by a ways, plus added weight. The new model leicas, I have not seen up here yet, but am curious to see once they do show up. The swfa’s, we don’t see either, I wish we did.

Iv bought 1 vx5 ($2500 cad), which was pushing my budget on a scope by a lot. I personally don’t think I would spend that much again, only because I see the no added value for my uses.

Yup can’t top every rifle with high end glass and having just one or two rifles is no fun. Would love something solid in the 10-15x range on top end for around $800-$1000 CAD.

 

[slatebuilder]

Your zero could have shifted up a click or 2, but that could be you/your set up.

What are you using to shoot off of?

10.5ish pound 223 with a leupold on the bags pictured below.

Edit: my initial thought was a “wandering zero”

 

[JGRaider]

This is why it is so rare to find people that can actually know this. To have a scope work, one needs a proven gun system, 3000 rounds of the same lot of ammo, a barrel with enough life left to shoot through the 3000 rounds, etc.

I monkey with my stuff too much to say without a doubt that a scope will work. Hell, I unscrew my barrels every 200-400 rounds to clean them and then put them back on and zero again. I have seen scopes fail. I have had scopes that were often 2 clicks off after riding 4 hrs to a match in the car. I have zeroed at home, got in the car, driven to a match, only to find my zero off by a couple clicks on the zero board.

Therefore, I can say that I have had problems. I cannot say, hey, these scopes work really well.

When someone is going to the level of the drop tests on here and making a list of scopes that are good to go and those that typically fail, I'm going to put some thought into the results when choosing my next scope. I don't have time to shoot 100k rounds per year and test everything myself. I could test maybe 1 or two scopes per year and that would be all, so I really appreciate all the time and money that goes into the testing.

It is also telling when the group of guys I shoot prs with have never heard of rokslide, and they all decided, without me saying a word, to sell all the other stuff they have picked up off prize tables and buy nightforce atacrs. A lot of them were shooting Leupy Mk5s. One guy has been shooting a 5-25 atacr for a long time and has never had a single issue with it. In the same time period he has sent back nearly every other popular brand scope with issues. That is what prompted their decision.

Whatever makes you happy. Sounds like a colossal waste of time to me.

 

[Bama67]

All I know is I have one rifle with a Leupold, a Kimber, because the Leupold is so light.

When I check it, it's consistently the only rifle that's off when I check zero.

Even my cheap Burris Fullfields are still dead on, but the Leupold won't be. I'm replacing it with a SWFA ultralight if I can ever find one.

 

[Kurts86]

Yup can’t top every rifle with high end glass and having just one or two rifles is no fun.

This is the point where you have to decide if you are more interested in building the single best tool for hunting or if you are more interested in being a gun collector. I know tons of guys with $10k worth of mediocre rifles with mediocre to poor glass complaining about the $3k it takes to build a robust rifle/optics combo.

I’ve been at this point before where I realized I had too many mediocre guns and I needed to focus and get better glass across the board if I was serious about DIY western hunting. I sold 3-4 guns and immediately turned that money into good glass.

 

[NDGuy]

 

[JGRaider]

Thanks! Is there one for Athlon, Arken, and Meopta too?

 

[Outdoorsman12b]

This is the point where you have to decide if you are more interested in building the single best tool for hunting or if you are more interested in being a gun collector. I know tons of guys with $10k worth of mediocre rifles with mediocre to poor glass complaining about the $3k it takes to build a robust rifle/optics combo.

I’ve been at this point before where I realized I had too many mediocre guns and I needed to focus and get better glass across the board if I was serious about DIY western hunting. I sold 3-4 guns and immediately turned that money into good glass.

That’s not it at all. It’s not unreasonable to expect a product that is reasonably priced to work. One should not have to use a 30+oz competition scope or have so narrow options with unpractical reticles for most hunting situations to have a chance at working “as advertised”

 

[JF_Idaho]

It would be nice to know the "what is" and "why" they are failing, instead of just they are. Is it the components or design?

 

[Kurts86]

That’s not it at all. It’s not unreasonable to expect a product that is reasonably priced to work. One should not have to use a 30+oz competition scope or have so narrow options with unpractical reticles for most hunting situations to have a chance at working “as advertised”

That’s the point of the entire drop test thread and much of the Leupold bashing. It’s about making consumers aware of the common zero retention issues and driving the manufacturers to change accordingly. It worked with Maven already. Durability can be achieved at a reasonable cost and with a 20 oz scope, they just need to more common.

I’d love to see every scope under the counter at Bass Pro capable of holding zero rather than backordering SWFA’s or needing to buy everything from EuroOptic sight unseen.

 

[Decker9]

It would be nice to know the "what is" and "why" they are failing, instead of just they are. Is it the components or design?

This is a vxiii 2.5-8x36 I bought a couple weeks ago used off a forum, went to mount it and found the reticle off its kilter.

This is the first Iv had or seen personally, I don’t know what its previous 40 years looked like. I’m guessing it got dropped somewhere along the way

 

[chanson_roland]

I haven't had any issues with zero, but will attest to seeing a big difference in quality between my 2-7x vx2 Ultralight I bought 2006 and the Vx-3i 3.5-10 I bought around 2021. The latter just feels "cheap" in comparison to the older scope. Enough so that I think that people who don't have problems are running "Leupolds" and those with problems are running the "Newpolds".

 

[KenLee]

I haven't had any issues with zero, but will attest to seeing a big difference in quality between my 2-7x vx2 Ultralight I bought 2006 and the Vx-3i 3.5-10 I bought around 2021. The latter just feels "cheap" in comparison to the older scope. Enough to that I think that people who don't have problems are running "Leupolds" and those with problems are running the "Newpolds".

Naah the oldies needed rezeroing on a fairly regular basis. I ran Leupolds and Nikons for just over 30 years. Nikons held up better and were cheaper.