Took a Zeiss Victory Vari point 1-4x24 T on a buffalo cull hunt, after 35 shots it was F.....d ! blurry and party over, lucky i had open sights on rifle which was a Mauser M03 458 Lott .
After paying that much for this scope and from a German manufacturer like Zeiss you would expect better ,just a expensive piece of shit and the last one i will buy ! will call them Zeiss Defeat, from now on ..........

Hate to hear that. I have a victory on a couple rifles and they have given excellent service. I more and more are using the Leupold Vx6 and VX7s when I can find them. I find the value to quality ratio to be higher than anything else.

Ed

I destroyed two Kahles scopes on a .375 H&H after just a few shots with each (less than 50). Great optics but fragile. I stick with Leupolds now for the most part although I still have one Swarovski. The Leupolds are pretty much indestructible.

Michael458 will tell you that Leupolds do not last on his big bore calibers. He changed to Nikons and they last much better and they are made in the Phillipines.

Santa Claus

In the last 6 months I have returned 2 Leupolds and 2 Swarovski scopes for repair. I don't think that makes them a "POS". Optics are the most fragile part of a weapon. If it was bad new out of the box is one thing, well into a cull hunt is another. Any chance someone dropped it or banged it. Trade it for a Nightforce if you want a tank. Oh by the way I've had to return a Nightforce also. How the manufacturer handles the problem is key to me.

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
In the last 6 months I have returned 2 Leupolds and 2 Swarovski scopes for repair. I don't think that makes them a "POS". Optics are the most fragile part of a weapon. If it was bad new out of the box is one thing, well into a cull hunt is another. Any chance someone dropped it or banged it. Trade it for a Nightforce if you want a tank. Oh by the way I've had to return a Nightforce also. How the manufacturer handles the problem is key to me.

This^^^^^^ is spot on.

I have read that the 458 is harder on scopes than just about any other cartridge.

If you spend alot of money for a ''Quality product ''you expect it to perform ,that why you spend the extra money ,No it wasnt dropped ,unless someone at the factory dropped it ,or a Kahles 1-6 which lasted 23 shots on a 500 A square and it wasnt dropped .In this day and age, they cant produce a decent scope to handle a 458 Lott is pretty weak in my opinion .A Nikon Monarch made in the Phillipines handled 150 shots out of a 378 Weatherby and a Meopta Meostar had no problem either .Evidently they dont do much testing of their scopes before selling them ,maybe they should have recommendations for their scopes ''suitable for calibers up to 375 H and H '' ,its still a POS if it lets you down on a expensive hunt ,the way the manufacturer handles the ''problem '' ? produce a decent scope to begin with ,instead of a piece of fucking shit that fails on the first day ! Not Good Enough !

I can't imagine why your Zeiss went blurry but, as you probably know by now, I have great resolve about pretty much all modern scopes since even the Germans have gone over to image movement.

It is possible, I suppose, that repeated heavy recoil dislodged the erector tube to such an extent that it moved forward (as well as up and down on every shot). This could result in the picture going out of focus and, taking the reticle forward, could cause parallax.

Swarovski and Leupold advertise that they put special springs in some models to withstand recoil against the erector tube, so at least they admit there can be a problem. It seems Nickel AG also have surrendered to constantly centred reticles, too, but they do have especially long eye relief on one model and claim they are intended for hard-kicking rifles.

Personally, I would prefer to trust a solid peep sight (with no cross arm, unless you add a stop screw on the unsupported side), or get an old Nickel Marburg, Zeiss or Hensoldt scope with reticle movement.

An old Bausch & Lomb Custom scope might be even more reliable, as nothing moved inside the fixed-power models, and some had very flexible eye reliefs. A NY dealer sells the cradle mounts but only for rifles made up to the 1970s.

So one bad scope...a handful even....means a product is lousy??? Get a lawyer and sue...then send your check to the Dems!!!

Gotta go...have to take my new truck down for the second recall..

Yes, there is nothing wrong with my dollars.
The spend first time everytime and no one sends my money back to me.
While people rave about optics they never get it through their dense heads that the mechanical performance of a scope is the most important thing.

quote:

Originally posted by JonP:
So one bad scope...a handful even....means a product is lousy??? Get a lawyer and sue...then send your check to the Dems!!!

Gotta go...have to take my new truck down for the second recall..

I'm afraid you're right, SR4759, mechanical performance is the guts of the matter.

While the geometry needs to work and it's nice to have superlative lenses and light-gathering, without toughness, in regard to sights that will be booted around on a heavy-recoil rifle, you're in deep doo doo. The less junk allowed to bounce around inside, the tougher it is likely to be.

all scopes go sooner or later, but the fact remains the heavier the kicker the shorter the life of the scope, especially if its a variable
....thats why i placed a standard 4x lEUPOLD on my Satterlee 416 Ruger....
My ziess 3-9x36 lasted about 4000 shots on my 06 then it went to hell....sent it to ziess and got it fixed ....at no cost
i cant complain about ziess

SM send it to germany and get it looked at....i have a friend who works there who looks after me pretty well, if you have any issues with warranty im happy to give you a hand with my contact

Daniel