We've had a number of Leupold badged scopes recently that have issues. Most won't regulate and had to have the erector tube assy replaced. A couple had seized turret caps that caused the entire assy to be unscrewed from the tube. You all seen anything?

I have heard that there are a lot of Counterfit Leupolds!

Don't know how or what to check but it may pay to look into it.

Hip

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
We've had a number of Leupold badged scopes recently that have issues. Most won't regulate and had to have the erector tube assy replaced. A couple had seized turret caps that caused the entire assy to be unscrewed from the tube. You all seen anything?

Any chance all of these were the budget, Chinese manufactured models now in Leupolds range ? Sounds like an example of very poor quality control which one would not expect of Leupold.

quote:

Originally posted by Hipshoot:
I have heard that there are a lot of Counterfit Leupolds!

Don't know how or what to check but it may pay to look into it.

Hip

If they were fake, Leupold wouldn't have worked on them. Heck, those counterfeit models may be better than the "real" deal LOL.

Leupold's quality has gone way down, and issues with them are very common. They can't even seem to package/label scopes correctly. The last new one I bought was a VX-R 3-9x50 several years ago. It was supposed to be a firedot duplex. Instead, the scope in the box had the milling style reticle.

What can I say, Bobby? Chinese or American, they all share the same type of space-occupying lesion. The Americans and Europeans may have better band-aids but the lesion abides.

This is what Leupold says on their website in the tab Counterfeit Warning. The Warning is only on their scope page not other optics pages.

"Leupold riflescopes are all designed, machined, and assembled in our Beaverton Oregon manufacturing facility. We do not have any other riflescope manufacturing facilities or offices anywhere in the world. So if you come across a Leupold riflescope being shipped into the United States from China, it is a very likely a counterfeit."

Note that this seems to apply only to riflescopes as I know for sure that at least some of their binoculars are manufactured in China and possibly the same applies to rangefinders and other Leupold optics.

I have had their BX-1 McKenzie binoculars in hand which are Made in China. I received two of their BX-1 binoculars as warranty replacements for earlier model binoculars that had the diopter adjustments fail (for oldest son), and another pair as warranty replacement for a pair of BX-1's we gave our second son for a birthday but his dog chewed the rubber eyecups and focus wheel.

Love their warranty service especially here in NZ where our retailers are authorised to replace items within a few days of making a warranty claim. They don't seem to bother repairing, probably because of shipping distance and cost.

Looking at the OP, can we assume that Leupold replaced the erector tubes?

If so, wouldn't they spot a ring-in and refuse to work on it?

Providing Leupold with serial numbers of scopes allows them to identify if real or counterfeit.
Full info in link below.

https://www.leupold.com/suppor.../counterfeit-warning

I bought a VX II 1-4 that had a stiff power ring - sent it in...

they sent it back saying they had reworked the power ring and changed the elevation turret ...

I happened to take it from my garage outside and the objectove lens fogged up...sent it back...

they sent it back saying they had reworked the erector (?) assembly...

took it outside and the objective lens fogged up...sent it back...

they sent it back saying they had reworked the objective assembly...

took it outside and the objective fogged up...sent it back for the fourth time and told them to replace it or to keep the scope...

I received a new VX3HD 1.5-5 in the mail later that week...

That was a pain in the ass..

That is one thing I don't like with the Leupold scopes is the stiff power ring. A VXI I have just has a plain serrated power ring and it is very hard to turn, no good if you have arthritic fingers. My VX3i has the raised portion on the power ring which provides a bit more leverage to turn the still stiff ring. Other Leupold models come with a removable throw lever which would help with the stiff power rings which I assume all models have.

A Vortex Diamondback scope I have has a far smoother power ring and easier turret adjustments. Don't know why Leupold can't improve these areas of their scopes.

These are worrying matters, esp. since Leupold and Bausch & Lomb claimed to have conquered waterproofing problems in the 1950s. Admittedly, many of the their scopes had no turrets back in that golden age but I seem to recall that Leupold's turreted models were claimed waterproof, too.

That said, perhaps we should be careful what we wish for - it may be that the stiffness in their power ring comes from O-ring friction; reduce that and the scopes might be even less water-resistant.

Just got a VX6 back from them for warranty. The elevation turret only had about 10 moa of travel. The turret would spin but the crosshairs would not move. I had the same issue on a leupold years ago. A vx3. When I got it back from repair the elevation turret was fine but the windage turret didn't function correctly. There was enough range to sight the rifle in so I did not send it back in. I also just had to send off my Leica 3200 rangefinding bino's. They would not range properly. As for the Leica's this is the 3rd set of bino's I have used by them. The first was a I believe the 2200 model. After 6 months the focus wheel quit working. Cabela's let me return them. The next pair are the Geovid rangefnding bino's, still have those and they work fine. So, out of 3 optics 2 have had problems. That is a 66% failure rate for the Leica's.

Once again, "that's a bummer, man!".

Maybe part of the problem with these things is that we expect all-mod-cons technology to not only take all the work out of shooting and hunting but to be just as reliable as the humbler gear we used to use.

As an analogy, we've just had a massive failure in one of our telecom companies here. It shut down maybe a third of the country. One woman reported that it even stopped her cat feeder from functioning and that the protesting moggy alerted her to the crisis. This is the sort of stuff that happens when we put all our eggs in the electronic (and labor-saving) basket.

You'd think a focus wheel would at least be old-school, so I don't suppose they added that to the electronics. Having had that and the rangefinder go, though, I'd be reluctant to buy the same brand a third time.

One good thing I can say about Leica is that in making 30mm scopes they at least use thick outer tubes, which might make them less prone to bending if mounted badly.

Some of you guys would kick if you were in the water! Been using Leupolds since the beginning of time, had a couple of break downs but they tossed my old scope and sent a new one in most cases, even sent it a bent scope that my horse fell on and broke it in half, sent it in and asked it that section cou8ld be replaced, they sent me a new one knowing no scope could survive that..Had a hunter twist the adjustment off my Leupold binocs in his excitement, they sent me a new pair and 60 days later returned the old pair repaired, I called and told them they made a mistake, guy said Merry Christmas don't mess up my bookkeeping enjoy..I like Leupold's and can deal with minor problems..They been good to me for about 75 years and Im a fan of the centered reticle, I spent half my life with off centered reticles or hours filing scrubbing rubbing hammering to center them..no more I praised the lord and went center with a couple of clicks..