How manu Leupolds have you sent in?
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Last count was around probably at least half of them out of the 50+ I've bought over the last 30 years. Yeah, I used to sorta keep track. Then I stopped buying Leupold. Now.... in their (Leupold) defense, almost all of those were scopes that got sent in were ones that I bought used or came used on rifles. Is that a user issue or a Leupold issue? Hmmm. Who knows? Tracking issues, broken reticles, one scope degassed on a cold day while I was sitting in a stand... one broke internally on a trip to Maine and I didn't know it until it cost me a big bear and we went to verify and it was rattling....
I will say that the last two new ones that I bought, 4 years ago, went straight back to the big L with issues.... VX3HD didn't track and a VX5HD, the ocular was locked up and wouldn't focus. Both brand new out of the box.
I mean, the Big L is the be all and end all, right? That's what I was led to believe.
Then I started to really research things and found this site, among others. OMG, it wasn't only me,
I've got a good friend that absolutely believes that Leupold is IT. It's all he's ever used for 50 years. He talks about how reliable they've been on his custom rifles over the last 10 years.... that only have around 400 rounds each and have never really been hunted except on the back 40. And even then, he had to adjust his Mark 4 the other day, having not shot it for months. Hmmm. He told me to go F myself when I snorted.
I've admittedly bought a metric ton (no pun) of middle price range scopes because I like to tinker and try new things. You can't find what you like without experimentation. I've probably bought at least 150 scopes over the years and the ONLY other scopes that I've had to send in for warranty (that I can think of right now) was a Bushnell Elite 4500x, a Bushnell Banner, a couple of Burris Signature's (US MADE) that were supposedly new in the box, but both wandered when changing the magnification, a Burris Droptine, and a couple of old Simmons Whitetail Classics. The Bushnells and the Burris were victims of enthusiastic drop testing (they actually held up decently until the mag rings locked up), the Simmons were just plain worn out after being on multiple rifles over the years. Oh and two Redfield Revenge scopes that were eaten by a .50 Knight and heavy loads. Funny enough, you know what I've never had to warranty? A Vortex. But I really haven't kept any of them long enough to put them through anything.
I pick scopes based on what I'm going to use them for. Hunting rifles and other serious use guns all have Trijicon Hurons or Nightforce SHV. Range toys and plinkers, get whatever flavor of the month looks interesting for the use at hand.