Leupold vx3i guys

[TexasCub]

I bought one of each to try on my mountain rifle. The 3.5-10 had vertical adjustment gremlins and went back to Leupold who fixed the erector system promptly and under warranty.

Thats a very common theme with Leupolds, it’s been discussed adnauseum. If its a set it and forget it application you’d mostly be fine , but Leupolds are not known for making accurate or repeatable adjustments.

 

[Fadetoblack188]

Thats a very common theme with Leupolds, it’s been discussed adnauseum. If its a set it and forget it application you’d mostly be fine , but Leupolds are not known for making accurate or repeatable adjustments.

What would you recommend in that price range

 

[Motown]

I have had them all in the VX3 and VX3i configuration. I ditched all of my 4.5-14’s and now only have 3.5-10’s left and shoot them out to 400-500 yards without issues.

I like leupold scopes but dont love them and would never trust them as a dialing scope. All of my leupold are set and forgets and I still have a few with the B&C reticle which I really like.

 

[TexasCub]

I like leupold scopes but dont love them and would never trust them as a dialing scope. All of my leupold are set and forgets and I still have a few with the B&C reticle which I really like.

That’s how a guy has to look at it. Leupold VX3’s in the 3.5-10x40 have great eye relief, nice eye box, decent glass and are easy to get behind of in different field positions, but the erector is garbage for dialing and making adjustments. I have sent no less than 3 of that exact model with Leupolds Turrets or the newer CDS back when they quit adjusting correctly, CDS 1 was brand new. Every repair order came back with the same results, “erector repair/rebuilt”. I used to own quite a few of them on multiple rifles, I no longer own a single one. IMO EVERY other brand of scope adjusts better than Leupolds, no matter the cost. The erector is their biggest weakness. And for those that say well mine works just fine......wait....it will happen if you dial much.

 

[DogBones11]

Sure is a lot of hate for Leupold on this forum. Seems like the same handfull of guys ensure that every thread about Leupolds gets trashed on. Most Leupold users never have any problems which is why Leupold is extremely popular and why they sell so well.

Every product line is going to have some failures. Go read some high end optics forums and you'll see that even NightForce scopes (insert other tier 1 brand) have to be repaired. It happens. You know what else happens, some people exadurate stories or just go around crapping on brands they dislike, like Kuiu.

 

[DogBones11]

The new VX-3HD scopes have upgraded erector systems. Leupold uses the same exact verbage to describe the VX-3HD, VX-5HD and VX-6HD erector systems.

 

[z987k]

To say "it may only be A FEW INCHES at hunting distances" is a gross exaduration. It's much much less than "a few inches" at hunting distances.

You're putting words in my mouth and then telling me I'm wrong about things I didn't say. Ever heard of a strawman logical falacy? You're doing that repeatedly.

500 yards and in, set at 100 yards, which is what that 40mm 10x is set at, it's up to a 3.1 inch error. That's inches. No thanks.

Your claim that a 10x scope doesn't need parallax adjustment is just plain false because the optical zoom has nothing whatsoever to do with it. It could be a 5x or a 50x. It's irrelevant.

And again, the focus being WAY out is more important IMO than the aiming error. A 100 yard scope is so out of focus by 300 I'm not sure why you'd spend much money at all on a quality one, the picture can't be clear due to physics. Go redfield or something cheap from China off Amazon.

 

[TexasCub]

Sure is a lot of hate for Leupold on this forum. Seems like the same handfull of guys ensure that every thread about Leupolds gets smeared by their claims of bad quality. Most Leupold users never have any problems which is why Leupold is so popular.

Hate isn’t what it’s about. I could post up a bunch dead critter pics that are incredible feats that were taken with Leupolds. But at some point you just get frustrated with a mechanical device that does not work correctly. The set it and forget it and aiming a foot over the back days for wide open country hunters is a thing of the past. We have rifles that are very accurate, aero dynamic bullets, rangefinders that not only tell us how far an animal is away but even exactly what adjustments on your scope shrink the distance to a dead hold aiming position. The most important component is the device that steers the bullet (the scope), and some do that well, some ok, and some not so good, you guess where Leupold falls into that analogy.

 

[DogBones11]

500 yards and in, set at 100 yards, which is what that 40mm 10x is set at, it's up to a 3.1 inch error. That's inches. No thanks.

Your claim that a 10x scope doesn't need parallax adjustment is just plain false because the optical zoom has nothing whatsoever to do with it. It could be a 5x or a 50x. It's irrelevant.

And again, the focus being WAY out is more important IMO than the aiming error. A 100 yard scope is so out of focus by 300 I'm not sure why you'd spend much money at all on a quality one, the picture can't be clear due to physics. Go redfield or something cheap from China off Amazon.

Leupold VX-3i scopes with non-adjustable parallax are factory set at 150 yards, not 100 yards. So I was correct that maximum parallax error is 0.787" at 300 yards in a worst case scenario (but likely a lot less than that in practical use).

ALL of their fixed parallax standard rifle scopes are set at 150 yards. Some other specialty scopes like rimfire or muzzle loader etc are set at shorter distances. Edited to add screen shot from VX-3i manual:

 

[DogBones11]

The OP isn't ever going to take a 500 yard shot hunting. You are using the maximum perameters to make fixed parallax at maximum error look unsuitable.

For regular hunting use, the OP won't ever notice the difference between fixed 150 yard parallax and adjustable parallax.

My comment about magnification is that lower magnifications just make it harder to see the parallax error compared to higher magnifications, and shooter who need higher magnifications also benefit more from parallax corrections. Hunters with a 3-10x scope usually hunt with it set at the lowest magnification setting or at least on the lower end, where parallax error is not even detectable for practical purposes. A small amount of parallax error is obviously much more APPARENT on a 25x scope. Same amount of error as on a 3x scope but you can't even barely see it on 3x or 5x at standard deer hunting distances.

 

[Motown]

Sure is a lot of hate for Leupold on this forum. Seems like the same handfull of guys ensure that every thread about Leupolds gets trashed on. Most Leupold users never have any problems which is why Leupold is extremely popular and why they sell so well.

Every product line is going to have some failures. Go read some high end optics forums and you'll see that even NightForce scopes (insert other tier 1 brand) have to be repaired. It happens. You know what else happens, some people exadurate stories or just go around crapping on brands they dislike, like Kuiu.

As I stated in my last post I don’t hate Leupold, but I also am not in love with them either. I have owned more leupold scopes in my lifetime then any other scope out there. They are very popular for a reason and that is because they offer a decent product at a pretty good price point. The average guy isn’t looking to spend more than $300-$400 on a scope and there is nothing wrong with that, but that is why Leupold is so popular. The average Joe is also gonna sight in his rifle and maybe put 15-20 rounds a year through it, and isn't looking to dial his scope much either and this is where more people would see failures if they chose to shoot at longer distances and shoot more often.

Just as an example, this past Saturday I mounted a new VX-3i 3.5-10 on my 280 rem and I took it out to the range and had a hell of a time getting it sighted in. At 100 yards the click adjustments were nowhere near what they should be and sometimes 4 clicks would get me 1” of adjustment, and other times 4 clicks would get me 2.5”. This rifle is also a proven 1/2” gun with the handloads I was using and this is also not the first time this has happened and many of my friends have had the same exact issues with Leupolds the past few years and we all are experienced shooters.

Even though I had issues with this particular scope I am not going to get rid of it or send it back in. I have learned over the years that once set the scopes hold zero nicely, but getting them to that point can sometimes be very frustrating. Two of my buddies have also had issues with VX5 models tracking inconsistanly this past year so the fact that they are putting the same erector system now in the VX3 line doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

[TexasCub]

Motown,

Your experience completely mirrors mine. I bought a Kimber Montana in 308 from a forum member years ago. He showed me groups with a couple different loads that were sub 1” when I bought the rifle. I mounted a brand new VX3 3-10x40 CDS on it. Took it to the range with some loads and I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Groups looked more like shotgun patterns than rifle groups. Just trying to steer the bullets in some sort of planned move was a nightmare. Spent 2 trips with handloads getting more and more pissed and then had a conversation with the guy who sold me the rifle. I finally came to the conclusion that it had to be the scope. Went home yanked the Leupold off and put another scope on it and went back to the range. SOB shot 1/2- 3/4“ groups immediately. That was the final straw on Leupolds for me. Sold all of them and haven’t bought another one since. That was 9 years ago.

 

[Motown]

Motown,

Your experience completely mirrors mine. I bought a Kimber Montana in 308 from a forum member years ago. He showed me groups with a couple different loads that were sub 1” when I bought the rifle. I mounted a brand new VX3 3-10x40 CDS on it. Took it to the range with some loads and I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Groups looked more like shotgun patterns than rifle groups. Just trying to steer the bullets in some sort of planned move was a nightmare. Spent 2 trips with handloads getting more and more pissed and then had a conversation with the guy who sold me the rifle. I finally came to the conclusion that it had to be the scope. Went home yanked the Leupold off and put another scope on it and went back to the range. SOB shot 1/2- 3/4“ groups immediately. That was the final straw on Leupolds for me. Sold all of them and haven’t bought another one since. That was 9 years ago.

I still have a bunch of Leupold’s but have also been slowly switching over to other brands more and more the past few years. Leupold is a good company when it comes to customer service and will stand behind their warranty, but I don’t want it to have to come to that point either.

Leupold’s biggest problem is their failure to recognize they have these kind of issues with their products. Unfortunately for them there are a lot of other scope manufactures out there now that are more reliable and at or slightly above the same price point.

 

[TexasCub]

I have at least 6 repair orders on file with Leupold for different scopes that have been sent back for erector issues over the years. For years I thought that was normal, It wasn’t til I switched to other scope brands that I realized it wasn’t normal to send scopes in for repair. I’ve owned Nikon, Burris, Meopta, Zeiss, Nightforce, SWFA and others, and none of them ever had to be sent in for repair, only Leupold. It didn’t take me long to realize what the single constant was In my woes. I’ve said it many times, if Leupold would just come right out and say hey guys we messed up, for years we put weak ass springs in our erectors and have decided to make things right. We have a newly designed erector that is rock solid I would buy several new Leupolds immediately. I love the ergonomics of their scopes I just wish that every time they updated a model it wasn’t all about boasting about some new lense coating and rather an improvement on their mechanics. I even bought a VX-6 when they came out hoping it would be better than the Vx-3’s and on inspection the damn elevation turret on the CDS was made of plastic, are you kidding me? A $1,000 + $ scope with a plastic elevation turret housing.I immediately sent it back. Pretty sad!

 

[Tradchef]

i use the 4.5 x 14 on my 25-06 out here but if i was back home id be on the 3.5 x 10 if that was the majority of my hunting. It will cover you just fine out here as well. I still do a lot of hunting with my 3x9s out here so your 10x is just fine

 

[DogBones11]

I had no idea my five Leupold scopes were garbage until I read your posts. Wish I knew earlier, I've been shooting them a lot with zero problems but this whole time they've been trash. What about my newest VX5HD, it tracks fine to 1000 yards but since you said they don't track should I get rid of it?

 

[TexasCub]

I had no idea my five Leupold scopes were garbage until I read your posts. Wish I knew earlier, I've been shooting them a lot with zero problems but this whole time they've been trash. What about my newest VX5HD, it tracks fine to 1000 yards but since you said they don't track should I get rid of it?

I don’t personally care what you use, but when a guy asks about buying a VX-3 with intentions of dialing not chiming in is a disservice. I used to own quite a few more than 5 Leupolds and they worked just fine til they didn’t! Except of course for the one brand new one that didn’t work at all. I’m not a fan boy of any brand, I just want equipment that works reliably.

 

[Mr Drysdale]

I am 63 years old and have been shooting Leupolds since I was a pup. Still have several. Do not dial. Never had a problem. Never sent one in for repair. Some have several hundred if not thousands of shots under them. I must be the luckiest guy on this forum. I‘m that guy!

 

[Str8shooter]

As soon as I can find some ammo...Im going to tall target test the piss out of my vx3i...will report back...someday.

 

[roberteifert12]

I have a vx3i 3-10 that i test mounted to my tikka, sits nice and low on the rifle. Found the eye box/ variable eye relief to be fairly unforgiving and annoying. cant imagine that'd be any better on the 4.5-14. just something to consider.