Questioning the "gold Standard Drop Test" and the conclusions of "This scope brand does/doesn't hold zero"

[omicron1792]

The most surprising thing about this (and similar) Rokslide thread is that it expresses the honest opinion of a small sampling of North American hunters.

Leopold, arguably, the #1 riflescope manufacturer in the country has to be aware this discussion is ongoing. And one would think they are mobilizing their internal R&D engineering team to identify and resolve the technical issues. Once they’ve done that, they would start a nationwide mobilization of their marketing team to change minds.

Does anybody know if Leupold has even acknowledged that this is an issue?

This has been discussed, but I’m sure they have millions and millions of dollars worth of inventory. So they can’t just come out and say “we fixed a problem, buy the new scopes,” but all the inventory would be devalued.

It’s a tough problem. Lots of companies have to recall and fix these problems (cars, drugs) but it’s not like hunting scopes not holding zero is a threat to anyone.

My guess is they fix it, let most of old stock be sold, then advertise the stink out of it.

 

[jimh406]

Expand on this. How do you think someone FEELS they are losing zero?

More specifically, they think it's the scope. But, there are lots of reasons why a zero moves that don't have anything to do with the scope failing.

 

[Kyguy]

The most surprising thing about this (and similar) Rokslide thread is that it expresses the honest opinion of a small sampling of North American hunters.

Leopold, arguably, the #1 riflescope manufacturer in the country has to be aware this discussion is ongoing. And one would think they are mobilizing their internal R&D engineering team to identify and resolve the technical issues. Once they’ve done that, they would start a nationwide mobilization of their marketing team to change minds.

Does anybody know if Leupold has even acknowledged that this is an issue?

Ah yes but the thing about THIS small sampling is that many of the hunters on here actually shoot all year long and actually test their equipment. I personally know dozens of deer hunters and I can tell you that exactly 4 of them do more than shoot a couple rounds just before deer season. They make a box of 20 rounds last years. They think that I'm completely out of my mind shooting as much as I do, and what I do is a lot less than many on here.

The vast majority of the hunting crowd is the same way, and honestly, they wouldn't know if they're losing zero unless it's way off the mark, Take into account that the average reported shot on a deer east of the Mississippi is 80 yards, and west of it is 180 yards (I personally think it's much closer in both cases) it wouldn't matter to them if it is off an inch. My friend runs a range at this house, and if I had a nickel for every Tom, Dick and Harry that came right before the season started and said "yup close enough", I'd be a rich man.

The big companies are aware of the issues, and on one of Cliff Gray's podcasts, de doesn't mention a name but said that one company acknowledges the issue but isn't going to publicly admit it because it literally makes ALL of their and their vendor's inventory worthless. I think what will slowly end up happening is that some of the companies will make improvements in their top end lines, but it will be a silent improvement.

 

[Kyguy]

More specifically, they think it's the scope. But, there are lots of reasons why a zero moves that don't have anything to do with the scope failing.

This is true and it's been stated many times on here that you have to have a solid system in order to prove that it's the scope. There's enough of us on here that do have solid systems and the same scopes keeps having issues consistently to prove the point.

 

[glock233]

It's simple really. I used Leupold scopes for 15 plus years. I've killed everything that I shot with them so I never really checked zero besides once a year. I KNEW I wasn't losing zero.

But then when I come to rokslide I'm inspired to actually check my zero, which I start doing once a week with 10 shot groups. Not even dropping the rifle, just leaving it in the backseat driving limerock roads. And I noticed that my zero tends to move around. So I FEEL like I'm losing zero. Makes sense right?

Zero VX5. Drive with it in a rattling ATV for 6-8 miles. Zero moves 5” at 100 yards. Is that a feeling?