Leupold Broke...I was Warned

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Bidwell

Lil-Rokslider
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Was out at the range today, and after about the 16th shot my Leupold VX-3HD 4.5x15 scope went way out of focus. The parallax knob didn't shift or anything. When I adjusted the parallax, I felt a mechanical like click and the focus snapped into place again. Repeated this process 4 times, same focus shift and mechanical click when adjusting parallax. I only have about 125ish rounds with this scope. I've read lots of bad and good things about leupold but my model seemed to have good reviews, and it was 25% off so rolled the dice and lost. Well, anyone have experience with a leupold after its been fixed at the factory? Worth giving it a second chance or bite the bullet and move on? I want something light so the leupold was tempting. Open to any options. Seems like the most reliable brands are nightforce, swfa an trijicon. Is that accurate? My check engine light also came on, so overall kind of a crap day.
 
I don't get this. I have, I think, 5 Leopold's on my rifles and pistols with no problems, some of them 30+ years old. What are you doing to them?
Ha, idk. I used a torque screwdriver to install. Everything is in spec. Worked fantastic for awhile
 
Yep. Mine happened on a hunt unfortunately with a VX6. It worked excellent until it didn’t anymore 😩

Warranty does me no good when I’m in the back country and it costs me a good animal.
Yikes. What was the issue with yours. That's kinda where I'm at. The trust is broken and the warranty is kinda useless if i cant depend on it. If it broke after 10 years and a lot of rounds, I could live with that. I'm not really sure what to expect in terms if round count, but i know it's more than 125.
 
Sorry to hear that! I had some issues also and I’m on my second VX-5HD. First went back for repair twice before they warrantied it with about 100-150 rds on it (and the gun). Everything torqued to spec. They did send a set of their aluminum scope covers which was a nice gesture. My issue was what appeared to be water or liquid droplets inside the scope. Apparently it was lubricant getting dislodged due to recoil. It was mounted to a 300WM with a pretty good muzzle break, so it wasn’t the harshest recoil or anything.
 
Sorry to hear that! I had some issues also and I’m on my second VX-5HD. First went back for repair twice before they warrantied it with about 100-150 rds on it (and the gun). Everything torqued to spec. They did send a set of their aluminum scope covers which was a nice gesture. My issue was what appeared to be water or liquid droplets inside the scope. Apparently it was lubricant getting dislodged due to recoil. It was mounted to a 300WM with a pretty good muzzle break, so it wasn’t the harshest recoil or anything.
Interesting. What was the turnaround time getting your scope back? Wondering how long I'm going to be out of commission. Hope this was a freak occurrence.
 
OP, I don't think they fail as much as this forum would lead us to believe, however now that you've experienced a failure you're never going to rest at ease and trust while hunting and it'll always eat at you. For this reason I'd look at the Trijicon and Nightforce offerings.

My favorite rifle right now has a 25 year old Leupold on it and I just dialed it perfectly today, but I sold all my other Leupold scopes including a new VX-5 due to various trust issues.
 
OP, I don't think they fail as much as this forum would lead us to believe, however now that you've experienced a failure you're never going to rest at ease and trust while hunting and it'll always eat at you. For this reason I'd look at the Trijicon and Nightforce offerings.

My favorite rifle right now has a 25 year old Leupold on it and I just dialed it perfectly today, but I sold all my other Leupold scopes including a new VX-5 due to various trust issues.
Oy vey, yeah kinda leaning towards a new scope. Ill start looking around, but listen to what Leupold has to say i guess. I have a primary arms that's a tank and heavy. But it hasn't broke under recoil either.
 
Interesting. What was the turnaround time getting your scope back? Wondering how long I'm going to be out of commission. Hope this was a freak occurrence.
It wasn’t too long actually. I was looking back through emails to see exactly how long but can’t be sure. I’d say 4 weeks the first time, the second time they approved a new scope right after receiving the return and I had the new replacement within 10 days. Each time I called in and got a pretty good customer service reps. That was Fall-Winter 2023. It’s been fine ever since but have been shooting far less since then also 🤷‍♂️
 
Oy vey, yeah kinda leaning towards a new scope. Ill start looking around, but listen to what Leupold has to say i guess. I have a primary arms that's a tank and heavy. But it hasn't broke under recoil either.
The good news is you can send it in for warranty and they have good resale value so you can get a good bit of money back selling the repaired/replaced scope.
 
Yeah was considering that but I don't want to sell someone a lemon either. I guess I can mark it down a bit and just be transparent that it has been repaired
 
It wasn’t too long actually. I was looking back through emails to see exactly how long but can’t be sure. I’d say 4 weeks the first time, the second time they approved a new scope right after receiving the return and I had the new replacement within 10 days. Each time I called in and got a pretty good customer service reps. That was Fall-Winter 2023. It’s been fine ever since but have been shooting far less since then also 🤷‍♂️
Thanks! That's sort of what I was assuming. I may give them another shot.
 
The good news is that they tend to live longer after the trip to the shop.....

Unless it's on a 7.5lb 300rum.....btdt
 
Don’t really like bashing company’s. But as a kid all dads and his friends ran Leupolds. VX1-3s. Anyways I just did the same and over the years. Have had to return a handful of them back. Each time they have fixed or sent a new scope so there was a warranted issue. Nothing major in shifts just enough to cause concern. I don’t buy them anymore and probably would never take them on a serious backcountry important hunt. Great service but just to many let downs
 
The good news is that they tend to live longer after the trip to the shop.....

Unless it's on a 7.5lb 300rum.....btdt
Ha! Understood. Well that's good they tend to last a while after repair. Mines on a 308 howa superlite, 6lbs with scope. But it is braked, recoil is very manageable. I had just dialed in a load, zeroed, things were going so well!!
 
Yeah was considering that but I don't want to sell someone a lemon either. I guess I can mark it down a bit and just be transparent that it has been repaired
For sure, just be honest selling in places like here that it's a repaired or replaced scope and let the buyer decide. eBay all bets are off pretty much, but if they replace it then it's a brand new scope so you should be able to list it as such.
 
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