I have a large number of Leupold scopes on all sorts of rifles from 22 LR to 416 Remington magnums. Most of these are at least 5 years old. I am noticing that it seems that the scopes are "yellowing". This is true even on the high end scopes such as the LPS. Has anyone else experiences this? What causes it? What can one do about it? It came to my attention because I bought a Zeiss the same day I bought one of the LPS scopes. Originally they were about the same. Today the Zeiss is much clearer. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I have a large number of Leupold scopes on all sorts of rifles from 22 LR to 416 Remington magnums. Most of these are at least 5 years old. I am noticing that it seems that the scopes are "yellowing". This is true even on the high end scopes such as the LPS. Has anyone else experiences this? What causes it? What can one do about it? It came to my attention because I bought a Zeiss the same day I bought one of the LPS scopes. Originally they were about the same. Today the Zeiss is much clearer. Thank you.

1.Throw out the cigars / cigs and clean the lenses
2. Get checked for hep-c
Sorry I just couldnt help my self!
I have Leupolds 3-20 years old and I have not seen any yellowing ever????

I have several Leupolds, an older "II" model, a VX II, VX III, and an LPS. Looking good

I don't smoke. The guns are all kept in a special closet with its own AC and ventilation system. I have no idea why they are doing this.

I have several Leupold , Swarovski ,Zeiss some older 20 & years some Newer 1 -5 years old .I have never seen any distortion or yellowing in any of mine . Some of these have been banged up on the worst as well as best Airliners in the world . I store mine in a safe along with their counter parts , with either silica Gel and or a golden rod . Most time I don't use the rod . Mine are not air conditioned nor heat controlled . As a matter of fact the temp swing can be a nightmare where I live .
Even my less expensive scopes are as good as when they were new.

I would look for a filter near the storage area being plugged or contaminated . What's your source of heat , Nat. Gas Oil wood Electric ?. Do you have lens caps over them or filters ?. A possible source of contamination could be the deterioration of plastic lens caps or filters or something else stored in with them !??.
Something similar happened to a pistol scope of mine inside of a case ( Hard Aluminum formed foam lined )the Foam took a dump !.
It looked like some one had tried to melt it !. I had to clean everything off with wax and a Real Soft polishing cloth. Gun Scope even the case it's self . Some foams gas and are corrosive , so Be aware of that . Even Camera cases have been known to do this . Give us feed back if your able to find the cause . Good Luck .

Remember Life is a Game it's all about how you play it !. Because in the end , NO ONE WINS !.So enjoy the journey !.

The ventilation/heat are both electric.

All are stored without scope covers.

I am still puzzled.

If it's quite noticable I'd send the worst one off to Leupold and ask them.

Just curious, but have you cleaned the lenses well? If not, clean them with a lens cleaning solvent as sold by camera stores for cleaning camera lenses. Use lens cleaning paper to do the job, wetted with the solvent.
I'd do that before sending a scope back to Leupold. None of my older Leupold scopes have any yellowing. And, I've never heard of anyone else complaining about their Leupold yellowing over the years that I've been reading cmts on optics.