Leupold VX-5 HD Tracking (Opinions on Huskemaw?)

[CMuehl]

Hello, I wanted to share my recent experience with Leupold. My dad and I both bought Remingtion 700 AWR's chambered in 300 RUM for an elk hunt this past season. We both topped them with a Leupold VX-5 HD 3-15x44. Our first impressions were good. They had really clear glass, were lightweight and the zero stop elevation turret was really nice. We got the custom turrets made from Leupold and got them sighted in for 200yds. we spent the few months before the hunt practicing out to 600yds and all seemed well. In November we finally drove out for the hunt and before opening day we went to the range to confirm zeros. At 200 yards I was hitting all over the 12” square plate. I checked to make sure the action screws and rings were all torqued down and we couldn’t see any movement in the base. I was getting frustrated and wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me so both my dad and the friend we were staying with took turns shooting it. Both of them were also having the same problem. One of the shots my dad took was a couple feet off the side of the plate at 200 yards. At the same time with his own rifle he was hitting the 500yd plate consistently. We immediately contacted Leupold and they were very apologetic and immediately sent a shipping label for the scope. I was bummed that I couldn't use the rifle that was bought for the hunt but thankfully our friend had a Savage 7mm Rem Mag that he let me borrow. We made it back home and I sent the scope to Leupold. Unfortunately this was during the holidays so It took a few weeks to get the scope back. The service report listed:

• Visual Inspection 100%
• Reworked Power Selector Ring
• Replaced O'ring
• Replaced Windage Adjustment
• Replaced Elevation Adjustment
• Mechanical Inspection
• Complete Internal Inspection

Overall I was happy with the way Leupold handled the situation. I haven't shot the rifle yet but I'm sure the scope works fine. Both my dad and I were surprised by the scope failure. My dad has used Leupold almost exclusively throughout his life although all of those scopes he just sighted in and left alone. These were the first scopes either of us bought with the intent to actually dial elevation adjustments. Has anyone else had a similar situation with a Leupold or am I just lucky? On a side note how does everyone feel about Huskemaw? The 7mm that my buddy let me use had a Blue Diamond 5-20x50mm on it and It seemed like a good scope. I shot it out to 550yds and it dialed accurately.

 

[MidGAHunter]

I have heard a fair amount of reports of Leupold failures on various message boards, at my local range, and both my Dad and brother have had one fail. So no, you are not alone unfortunately. I'm certain there are also plenty of folks out there that are happy with their Leupolds. They are on my "Will not buy" list though. Sounds like you have a reworked Leupold...I'd sell it and move on from it but that's me.

 

[EasilyExcited]

I just got my mark 5 back from leupold for doing similiar stuff. 1 group had 4 holes touching. The next group had a 5 inch spread at 100 yrs. The repair paperwork said they "reworked" the erector system...

 

[LaHunter]

Hello, I wanted to share my recent experience with Leupold. My dad and I both bought Remingtion 700 AWR's chambered in 300 RUM for an elk hunt this past season. We both topped them with a Leupold VX-5 HD 3-15x44. Our first impressions were good. They had really clear glass, were lightweight and the zero stop elevation turret was really nice. We got the custom turrets made from Leupold and got them sighted in for 200yds. we spent the few months before the hunt practicing out to 600yds and all seemed well. In November we finally drove out for the hunt and before opening day we went to the range to confirm zeros. At 200 yards I was hitting all over the 12” square plate. I checked to make sure the action screws and rings were all torqued down and we couldn’t see any movement in the base. I was getting frustrated and wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me so both my dad and the friend we were staying with took turns shooting it. Both of them were also having the same problem. One of the shots my dad took was a couple feet off the side of the plate at 200 yards. At the same time with his own rifle he was hitting the 500yd plate consistently. We immediately contacted Leupold and they were very apologetic and immediately sent a shipping label for the scope. I was bummed that I couldn't use the rifle that was bought for the hunt but thankfully our friend had a Savage 7mm Rem Mag that he let me borrow. We made it back home and I sent the scope to Leupold. Unfortunately this was during the holidays so It took a few weeks to get the scope back. The service report listed:

• Visual Inspection 100%
• Reworked Power Selector Ring
• Replaced O'ring
• Replaced Windage Adjustment
• Replaced Elevation Adjustment
• Mechanical Inspection
• Complete Internal Inspection

Overall I was happy with the way Leupold handled the situation. I haven't shot the rifle yet but I'm sure the scope works fine. Both my dad and I were surprised by the scope failure. My dad has used Leupold almost exclusively throughout his life although all of those scopes he just sighted in and left alone. These were the first scopes either of us bought with the intent to actually dial elevation adjustments. Has anyone else had a similar situation with a Leupold or am I just lucky? On a side note how does everyone feel about Huskemaw? The 7mm that my buddy let me use had a Blue Diamond 5-20x50mm on it and It seemed like a good scope. I shot it out to 550yds and it dialed accurately.

Unfortunately you are not alone.

 

[ChrisAU]

The last few years have been rough for Leupold. Their reputation got so bad on 24 Hour Campfire they offered to do a live video chat to answer member's questions. They essentially spent 30 minutes telling members they were stupid and that Leupold scopes have no issues. One memorable line was "the most we see any one scope come back is 3 times, its usually fixed by then." WTF? Failure after failure is posted on every online hunting forum. I have a fixed 4x on my grouse gun, and only because it is so lightweight and I hope a single shot .22LR won't hurt it. Will never use one on a centerfire again unless they make big changes, which is a shame because I love their offerings as far as weight/features/mag ranges.

 

[204guy]

Not surprised. Leupold has gotten so bad, I wouldn't expect the one you got back to work until proven. Once proven then I wouldn't expect either of them to keep working.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Spoonman]

I had a VX5HD that would not hold zero after being on my 338wm for 6 months or so. I was sighted in at 200 yards shooting moa or better, would dial to 400 or 500 or even 600 yards then dial back to zero(200) and I would be 8-10” low every time. I sent the scope back and they repaired it and sent it back very fast. Great customer service! I’m a hunter and great customer service is nice to have but #1 on my priority list in a scope is reliability and repeatability. That’s why all my rifles are now topped with Nightforce optics, and a couple other rifles have Vortex optics on them which have been great so far.

 

[journeyman713]

Sorry to hear the bad history for you guys.
VX5HD owner here - to date, a case of ammo passed under it - no repeatability problems.
Very satisfied with it so far... now a little I'm concerned

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

I just got my mark 5 back from leupold for doing similiar stuff. 1 group had 4 holes touching. The next group had a 5 inch spread at 100 yrs. The repair paperwork said they "reworked" the erector system...

Mark 5 or VX5HD????

 

[TripleJ]

I had a couple friends that both had similar tracking issues with Leupold. They switched to vortex and haven't had any issues. This is why I currently have a vortex on my rifle. I haven't had any problems yet, we will see if it holds up to the test of time. Warranty is nice, but it's way nicer when you don't have to use it at all.

 

[BCD]

I bought my first elk rifle last year and fully intended on putting a Leupold on it and dialing yardage until I started researching it and hearing about all of the problems they have with tracking. I've bought 2 SWFA's since I started playing around with shooting longer distances.

 

[passinggas33]

This is more out of curiosity than anything else, but are these failures happening on guns with higher recoil? Or are they failing on all guns regardless of recoil? When I’ve looked into this, often the tracking seems to fail after taking a good pounding from the bigger magnum guns. Just curious for those that have had them fail, what gun were they on? Just trying to see if there is a correlation.

Reason I ask is that I just bought one for my 280ai and I’m hoping that the lower recoil might not make it happen.

 

[MidGAHunter]

This is more out of curiosity than anything else, but are these failures happening on guns with higher recoil? Or are they failing on all guns regardless of recoil? When I’ve looked into this, often the tracking seems to fail after taking a good pounding from the bigger magnum guns. Just curious for those that have had them fail, what gun were they on? Just trying to see if there is a correlation.

Reason I ask is that I just bought one for my 280ai and I’m hoping that the lower recoil might not make it happen.

The two I have seen fail were on a .308 and 30-06.

 

[CMuehl]

This is more out of curiosity than anything else, but are these failures happening on guns with higher recoil? Or are they failing on all guns regardless of recoil? When I’ve looked into this, often the tracking seems to fail after taking a good pounding from the bigger magnum guns. Just curious for those that have had them fail, what gun were they on? Just trying to see if there is a correlation.

Reason I ask is that I just bought one for my 280ai and I’m hoping that the lower recoil might not make it happen.

My rifle is a 300 RUM that weighs about 10.6lbs total (Area 419 20 MOA base, Seekins rings, Claw sling, Triad Tactical stock pack with various items). We did have radial breaks installed though so that definitely helps with the recoil.

 

[Spoonman]

This is more out of curiosity than anything else, but are these failures happening on guns with higher recoil? Or are they failing on all guns regardless of recoil? When I’ve looked into this, often the tracking seems to fail after taking a good pounding from the bigger magnum guns. Just curious for those that have had them fail, what gun were they on? Just trying to see if there is a correlation.

Reason I ask is that I just bought one for my 280ai and I’m hoping that the lower recoil might not make it happen.

10lb 338wm no brake. That being said if I spend $1200 plus on a scope it better damn well track every time!!! 7mm rum, 300wm,
300 rum, and 338wm all wear Nightforce optics now for a while and never had a single issue!

 

[mcseal2]

I had a couple VX-6 scopes fail to track. One on a 264 win mag, one a 25-06. Both are 10lb + guns with sling, ammo, and scope.

I have posted several times, I've been switching to all Huskemaw as I can afford to do so. No complaints yet. The glass isn't as good as the VX-6, but it's good enough for me. I consider it better than my VX-3 scopes. A buddy had a Swaro Z5 3.5-18x44 and I had my Huskemaw 3-12x42 after shooting one night. We watched some of our steers through them as light faded (bolts out of rifles, no chance of accidents). We kept trading rifles and comparing images. The Swaro was better glass, but there was not a shot the Swaro could have taken that the Huskemaw couldn't. When it was to dark for the Huskemaw it was also to dark for the Swaro. That's good enough glass for me in a scope. I want the best in my spotter and binos, but for a scope I will compromise glass slightly to get reliability.

 

[CMuehl]

I had a couple VX-6 scopes fail to track. One on a 264 win mag, one a 25-06. Both are 10lb + guns with sling, ammo, and scope.

I have posted several times, I've been switching to all Huskemaw as I can afford to do so. No complaints yet. The glass isn't as good as the VX-6, but it's good enough for me. I consider it better than my VX-3 scopes. A buddy had a Swaro Z5 3.5-18x44 and I had my Huskemaw 3-12x42 after shooting one night. We watched some of our steers through them as light faded (bolts out of rifles, no chance of accidents). We kept trading rifles and comparing images. The Swaro was better glass, but there was not a shot the Swaro could have taken that the Huskemaw couldn't. When it was to dark for the Huskemaw it was also to dark for the Swaro. That's good enough glass for me in a scope. I want the best in my spotter and binos, but for a scope I will compromise glass slightly to get reliability.

That's good to hear. I liked the one Huskemaw that was on the rifle I borrowed. That was my first exposure to the brand and they more I look into them the more I like them. I'll probably get one for my future deer/antelope rifle.

 

[EasilyExcited]

Mark 5 or VX5HD????

MK5

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I had both a VX-6 and VX-5 fail on me in the last 3 months. One on my Sako .260 and another on my Mesa 6.5 PRC. Really disappointing and I’ll be permanently moving on from Leupold until they get their crap together. Anyone want to buy a couple lightly used scopes for cheap? Lol.

 

[Lrt307]

I am a big fan of the Huskemaws. I have 6 of them and have been running them since 2007. This is the only optic I have owned that has not failed and had to use warranty. Knock on wood. My dad, my son and I use them all season every year and they get banged around. Always hold zero and track great.