I was told the other day by the owner of a high volume dealer that the same people who made the glass for leupold also made the glass for sightron is this true?
and that in his opinion the sightron was a better overall scope than the leupold and much less expensive.

If you talk to Sightron they have their own plant in Japan that builds their scopes. Better value I have heard mixed feedback on them and one poster here has/had one and is not impressed.

I don't know who makes their glass, but I have several SII Sightron scopes and am very pleased with them. The only real comparison I can offer is that one day I happened to have an old 3X9 vari XII and a sII 3X9 at the range and the 30 cal bullet holes were much clearer at 100 yards through the Sightron. One of the used Sightrons I bought sight unseen was pretty rough and I was pleasantly surprised when they asked me to send it in and they replaced it with a new one at no charge, promptly too.

I have a few Leupolds, too, and can't find any serious fault with either make. Bear in mind that my experience is with the SII sightrons, I"ve never had any of the SI version. Anyway. I've found the Sightrons to be very satisfactory.

I'm pretty sure Sightron uses their own glass, but I do think they are one of the best bang for the buck scopes out there. I have a S2 3x9 on a 30-06 that is normally used by my son and has held it's zero quite nicely the last 3 years now. It compares very favorably to VXII and not much off a VXIII in my opinion.

Just got an S1 rimfire 3x9 for $79 from Midway to replace a Tasco that came with a 10/22 I purchased used. The difference in clarity and image quality is very noticeable. I haven't had to use any warranty service on a Sightron yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
I was told the other day by the owner of a high volume dealer that the same people who made the glass for leupold also made the glass for sightron is this true?
and that in his opinion the sightron was a better overall scope than the leupold and much less expensive.

Nothing makes my bull***t detector go off quicker and louder than when a sales person or dealer tells me that such-and-such's lower-priced whatever-it-is is actually made by some high-priced, top-line manufaturer, and it's just as good at one third the price.

I just bought a Sightron SII and it compares very favorably in image quality with my Nikons, Burris, Refield, etc., and surpasses the Nikons in adjustment accuracy and repeatability. Unless something happens to my Sightron that changes my mind, I'll be trying one of their top-line "Big Sky" series next.

Good shooting,
desmobob