Leupold Vs. Swarovski.....Yeah, another one.

[FLATHEAD]

I have 6 Leupolds and have never had an ounce of trouble from any of them.
They've hunted from Alaska to S. Central Florida and a lot in between.
They have served me well and I will continue to buy what works.
I've never owned a Swarovski anything.

 

[Reed104R]

Information on this forum suggests Swarovski's quality has diminished. Especially with scopes.

 

[WRO]

Information on this forum suggests Swarovski's quality has diminished. Especially with scopes.

I don’t know about that, my z5 is one of my favorite scopes. The glass has made a difference with black tails in low light. Literally could see it in my els z5 but my buddy couldn’t see it though his leupold.

I’ve owned or ran most of them, broke a pile of different ones. They all have their weaknesses.


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[2531usmc]

Maybe I’m just an outliner, but I’ve hunted a VX3 on my 300WM from the Canadian sub artic to the Eastern Cape of South Africa to the Rocky Mountains and never had a hint of a problem.

Really surprised reading this thread of how many/how often people have scope failures. Is the failure rate really that high? Are the “higher end” scopes really that unreliable?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Maybe I’m just an outliner, but I’ve hunted a VX3 on my 300WM from the Canadian sub artic to the Eastern Cape of South Africa to the Rocky Mountains and never had a hint of a problem.

Really surprised reading this thread of how many/how often people have scope failures. Is the failure rate really that high? Are the “higher end” scopes really that unreliable?

No, but if you are on Rokslide and want to have approval from the masses, you must be shooting a Tikka or Barrett Fieldcraft rifle and have either a SWFA, Nightforce, or a Trijicon tenmile on it.

 

[Justinjs]

No, but if you are on Rokslide and want to have approval from the masses, you must be shooting a Tikka or Barrett Fieldcraft rifle and have either a SWFA, Nightforce, or a Trijicon tenmile on it.

But why? I never understood why Tikka is so popular on here, sloppy bolt, world's cheapest magazine, not near the aftermarket support big green has, that sub moa?!

 

[Decker9]

Just finished my 4th season with the vx5 hd. For the use and abuse it’s taken, it’s never let me down. The 1000 yard range is 5 minutes from home, the dial has had its reps and always tracked perfectly.

I see a lot more leupold complaints in this forum then any Canadian forum im on. I wonder if the good ones get sent up here lol.

 

[fwafwow]

I have a Leupold, a Swaro, and two Tracts. I don't own a Tikka (but it's on my list) or a Fieldcraft, or a Trijicon or SWFA. I do own a new NF but I've yet to mount it. I do own a couple of Cooper rifles, but the CS I experienced sucked, so I wouldn't purchase another. Hopefully that gives some indication that I'm not beholden to anyone's, or my own, gear list. Or at least I like to think that's the case.

To expand upon my above post, I would like to see manufacturers demonstrate testing to show their zeros will be maintained with some level of movement/jarring/etc. I looked at the Leupold site and found a video in which they briefly show a handful of scopes going through a machine test that appears to be designed to replicate straight line recoil. Does Leupold (or other makers) also do something to mimic the scope being dropped? I don't need to see a scope frozen in a block of ice or used as a hammer, but it would seem relevant to show something - and then talk about it (ideally other than in a YouTube video - I'm old school and want to read).

 

[2531usmc]

Mfgrs performing those kinds of demonstrations are kinda meaningless without industry wide test standards. If everybody tests to whatever criteria they individually chose, they will choose criteria that they know their scopes will pass with no problems.

I’m sure when DoD evaluates new optics, they are tested against a common standard.

 

[Formidilosus]

PRS rifles get bashed into steel and wood barricades all day, they get kicked over in the staging area from clumsy people dicking around, and they fall off of supports. They take plenty of impacts and falls and are fine. You simply don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.

Ok. You’ve posted that PRS scopes get “bashed and beat on” multiple times. I have shot matches from east to west, WA to FL. I have never seen a PRS rifle get “bashed”. By and large PRS shooters treat their gear more Nancy than any group I’ve ever seen. Barring some obscure and unusual accident- if they get dusty, muddy, or dirty they’re cleaning it off immediately. They protect their scope at all times and absolutely freak out if their rifle tips over on the bipod. I have been shooting matches off and on since 2009’ish and have never seen an actually truly worn and used scope that wasn’t a government/department issued, or one of mine or those I shoot with.


I’ve offered before, so I’ll do it again- bring your Leupolds/Vortex/whatever and your rifle and we will have Ryan video the entire affair. You can shoot your gun and prove that were full of shit and I’ll pay your expenses.

But you know it ain’t going to play out that way.

I’m sure when DoD evaluates new optics, they are tested against a common standard.

It is against a “standard”, but it isn’t what you think. Their is no testing for POI shifts from side or top impacts, nor any testing for zero retention as a whole, as a a general thing. There have been a couple that have done so, and so far it has been a Leupold M3A Ultra from the late ‘80’s that passed, and the rest that have done so all selected Nightforce.

 

[KoolBreeze]

I guess I’m the odd man out here but I don’t get the whole “must pass a drop test to be worthy” thing. I can think of maybe twice where I’ve leaned my rifle up against a tree or something and it fell but beyond that I’ve never dropped one. But I don’t hunt in areas where I’m climbing rocks either. So maybe my gear doesn’t need to be as rugged as others’. I’ve also never dialed a shot on game in 40 years of hunting.

 

[Flyjunky]

I guess I’m the odd man out here but I don’t get the whole “must pass a drop test to be worthy” thing. I can think of maybe twice where I’ve leaned my rifle up against a tree or something and it fell but beyond that I’ve never dropped one. But I don’t hunt in areas where I’m climbing rocks either. So maybe my gear doesn’t need to be as rugged as others’. I’ve also never dialed a shot on game in 40 years of hunting.

The problem with some scopes is that they’ll lose zero under normal usage…no drops, impacts, etc. No scope should ever lose zero from just normal usage but it has happened often enough to be a problem with some manufacturers.

 

[Billy Goat]

I guess I’m the odd man out here but I don’t get the whole “must pass a drop test to be worthy” thing. I can think of maybe twice where I’ve leaned my rifle up against a tree or something and it fell but beyond that I’ve never dropped one. But I don’t hunt in areas where I’m climbing rocks either. So maybe my gear doesn’t need to be as rugged as others’. I’ve also never dialed a shot on game in 40 years of hunting.

I have accidentally dropped a gun out of my cold hands from waist level. Shit happens, seems to happen to me a lot. I'm done with dealing with a scope that I can't trust to hold zero, for me that's priority #1, after that it's either low light performance, or accurate dialing/rtz, just depends on how that gun will be used, lots of my hunting guns aren't used to where dialing is needed.


At least on guns that I'm traveling with to use. I still have a lot of scopes to replace, some to send back to get fixed too.

 

[Formidilosus]

I guess I’m the odd man out here but I don’t get the whole “must pass a drop test to be worthy” thing.

Well, why would one choose an option that is objectively less reliable and more likely to lose zero?

Not an argument- I’m actually asking.

I can think of maybe twice where I’ve leaned my rifle up against a tree or something and it fell but beyond that I’ve never dropped one.

Leaned against a tree/truck and it slides off is about the same as the 18” drop. The amount of scopes that lose zero enough to miss a deer a 200-300 yards from such is extremely high. Also, the drops show a correlation to zero retention from vibrations- in other words, scopes that “pass” the drop eval don’t lose zero from bumpy truck rides.

 

[fwafwow]

But you know it ain’t going to play out that way

 

[SDHNTR]

View attachment 479729

The pro Leupy chatter always stops when asked to put one’s money where their mouth is.

 

[KoolBreeze]

Well, why would one choose an option that is objectively less reliable and more likely to lose zero?

Not an argument- I’m actually asking.





Leaned against a tree/truck and it slides off is about the same as the 18” drop. The amount of scopes that lose zero enough to miss a deer a 200-300 yards from such is extremely high. Also, the drops show a correlation to zero retention from vibrations- in other words, scopes that “pass” the drop eval don’t lose zero from bumpy truck rides.

The why is rather simple. Given the attributes I named above, the VX5-HD is perfect for my needs and those attributes are more important to me than precision tracking or that the 0 may shift an inch or so if I drop the rifle. But my needs are probably different than others, as I mostly hunt in thick timber where the majority of my shots on game are less than 100 yards.

Plus I’ve not found another scope that is in your drop proof list that is comparable, as far as what’s important to me.

 

[cmahoney]

The why is rather simple. Given the attributes I named above, the VX5-HD is perfect for my needs and those attributes are more important to me than precision tracking or that the 0 may shift an inch or so if I drop the rifle. But my needs are probably different than others, as I mostly hunt in thick timber where the majority of my shots on game are less than 100 yards.

Plus I’ve not found another scope that is in your drop proof list that is comparable, as far as what’s important to me.

Sounds like you could save a lot of money and get a set of iron sights


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[Drenalin]

The why is rather simple. Given the attributes I named above, the VX5-HD is perfect for my needs and those attributes are more important to me than precision tracking or that the 0 may shift an inch or so if I drop the rifle. But my needs are probably different than others, as I mostly hunt in thick timber where the majority of my shots on game are less than 100 yards.

I was of a similar mind until this past week when my scope (not a VX5) shifted 6” down and 4” right simply from riding around in the backseat for a few days. Dead on Sunday when I shot a buck with it at 140 yards, completely effed by Thursday when I missed another deer with it, which I confirmed at the range Friday morning. Now I’m babying the crap out of my scope and rifle until the season ends, at which time I’ll throw that mf’er in the trash and buy an SWFA. All this testing and reliability preaching didn’t mean a thing to me until my scope suddenly and inexplicably lost zero. I’m not concerned with whether or not I change your mind, I doubt either of us gives a rip what the other uses, just pointing out that the noise on this forum about scope reliability isn’t without reason.

 

[KoolBreeze]

I was of a similar mind until this past week when my scope (not a VX5) shifted 6” down and 4” right simply from riding around in the backseat for a few days. Dead on Sunday when I shot a buck with it at 140 yards, completely effed by Thursday when I missed another deer with it, which I confirmed at the range Friday morning. Now I’m babying the crap out of my scope and rifle until the season ends, at which time I’ll throw that mf’er in the trash and buy an SWFA. All this testing and reliability preaching didn’t mean a thing to me until my scope suddenly and inexplicably lost zero. I’m not concerned with whether or not I change your mind, I doubt either of us gives a rip what the other uses, just pointing out that the noise on this forum about scope reliability isn’t without reason.

You’re absolutely correct and if that happens to my VX5, it will go down the road and I will have to make sacrifices elsewhere on a scope that I’ll likely like less. It will be a shame though because I do think it’s perfect for my needs otherwise.