Will new leupolds ever pass a drop test?

[MuleyFever]

No JGRaider yet?

 

[JGRaider]

I’m sure there are plenty that do. Look at all the top PRS shooters.. LOTS of Leupolds, look at ELR shooters, lots there too. I will probably never buy one after following these drop tests but if they were so terrible i dunno why so many competitors shoot them?? Maybe sponsored? Maybe don’t mind re-zeroing?? I dunno just thinking out loud

As with any product sold in the USA, the market will separate the good from the bad.

 

[JGRaider]

No JGRaider yet?

What would you like to know? I've got two L's and several other brands.

 

[Chris in TN]

Yup. Seeing the thread about that is what finally killed my love for Leupold. My dad still can’t get past the brand name. To him, “Leupold makes a great scope.” “Sometimes you just have to tap on it to get the adjustments to take” remains my dad’s thoughts on every scope.

Strictly speaking he isn't wrong. Like I said, I did it yesterday with a 30 year old Leupold. Yes, it's frustrating to know why the taps are needed (needed sometimes - I just do them out of long-developed habit whether they are really needed or not) and know that a better system exists. But it's possible for multiple concepts to be true even though they are held in tension against each other, without being an outright contradiction. In this case, Leupold makes scopes that work very well for the vast majority of their users. But it's equally true that there are honest criticisms to be made of them specifically around their drop test failures. Most American shooters aren't dropping their rifles and/or would check zero afterwards anyway and if a problem was found would likely blame it on anything other than their scope with a solid brand recognition. Leupold makes good enough scopes to give their customers the warm fuzzies despite the fact that shooters have known for decades now of some of their genuine weaknesses. Capitalism is great but consumers are largely, well, dumb. Capitalism doesn't fix that.

I wish I had the time and money to put pen to paper and build a proper hunting riflescope. I'd be thrilled if there was a way to buy an old brand name and build a basic hunting scope. Or perhaps call up Trijicon and tell them I'd buy some minimum quantity of their scopes if they'd take either their 3-12 or 4-16 Huron/Ascent and put a reticle in it that wasn't stupid.

Maybe someone should call up Eurooptic and ask them what it would take to get Trijicon to do a run of scopes for a group buy, with a reticle that didn't suck.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I’m sure there are plenty that do. Look at all the top PRS shooters.. LOTS of Leupolds, look at ELR shooters, lots there too. I will probably never buy one after following these drop tests but if they were so terrible i dunno why so many competitors shoot them?? Maybe sponsored? Maybe don’t mind re-zeroing?? I dunno just thinking out loud

PRS and NRLH matches matches have zeroing ranges to check zero before and sometimes during a match so it's a non-factor. ELR isn't rough on scopes at all (in the sense of impacts). And yes there are many sponsorships in those disciplines.

 

[Jfjfrye]

I’m sure there are plenty that do. Look at all the top PRS shooters.. LOTS of Leupolds, look at ELR shooters, lots there too. I will probably never buy one after following these drop tests but if they were so terrible i dunno why so many competitors shoot them?? Maybe sponsored? Maybe don’t mind re-zeroing?? I dunno just thinking out loud

Those competitive shooters Re zero non stop. So it’s not an issue I guess. Also I would assume if they have dialing/tracking issues they have backups to slap on at the matches. I don’t know either.