I decide to upgrade from my old simmons scope on my 270. I stop at the local sporting goods store and purchase a new leupold 4x12x40. (most I ever spent on a scope) . They give me a new in box scope. I drive 5 min home and take it out of the box and discover the veriable power wont adjust. The knob turns, but nothing happens. I took it back and they were out of stock. I got a refund, But what the heck. I thought the performance and reliability was what I was paying all that money for? Anyhow what scope name brands do most of this forum use. I would like to take a few days and look around before I jump into another Leupold.

Bummer, but shit does happen. Don't let this turn you off to Leupold products. They have a "no questions asked" lifetime warranty. Their warranty department is top notch and the turnaround time is fast. Did the dealer offer to exchange it or just refund your money?

If you want a reliable scope, buy a Nikon

Get another luepold. Dont know what happened to that one. Was it in factory plastic sealed box. Maybe one of the grubby handed store employes broke it.
Order one from midway , you will probably get a beter price, Plus a cool dude in a brown truck will deliver it to your door

This will sound like an echo to those who read this site, but in my years of zeroing rifles for my local 'smith, and working up accuracy loads for my own customers, I've never had trouble with one of the Euro brands (and precious little experience as well). I've had 1 Leupold go bad, and it was a brand new, just-mounted VX-III that wouldn't adjust either elevation or windage. Never had a bad Nikon, or Weaver Grand Slam (not much experience either), but just about every other brand has been problems in spades. And, anything you buy in a plastic blister pack at WM is poison on a centerfire. May be OK for rimfires, but recoil knocks them in the dirt quickly.

So, buy a Leupold, Nikon, or Grand Slam and you are fine. Leupold's warranty is worth a lot too.

quote:

dustoffer
one of us
Posted 25 January 2006 20:35
And, anything you buy in a plastic blister pack at WM is poison on a centerfire. May be OK for rimfires, but recoil knocks them in the dirt quickly.

I agree. Wally world scopes suck. Here is my list of scopes that will only go on rimfires-BSA, SIMMONS,NCSTAR, TASCO, And most of the "off brands". Nikon, Bushnell,Burris & Leupuld are where my money will go. I can not afford most Leupolds,Zeiss,Swarovski ect. They are great but I am an Enlisted man and dont have that kind of green laying around. Any way Do you have anything against Burris. I think they are good. You can get a FullFeild II and a spotting scope for about $200 shipped. Good luck-Ben

Bottom line is, cheap scopes are just that, cheap low quality.
Do yourself a favor and buy the best scope you can afford, you'll thank yourself in the long run. Used Leupolds can often be had at reasonable prices and the warranty on them is the same, "no questions asked".

quote:

Originally posted by gunz:
I thought the performance and reliability was what I was paying all that money for?

Nope, you're paying for an excellent warranty department.

Burris & Nikons on the low end, still good scopes. Zeiss Conquests are amazingly affordable, recently got a 3x9x50 for $419.00. Kahles for medium priced but excellent scopes. Zeiss VM/V's and Swarovski on the high end.

Here's an excellent scope for the 270. The ballistic plex reticle will work with that trajectory

http://theopticzone.com/detail.aspx?ID=2000

JMHO

I have Leupold VX II's, a VX III and an LPS. I have had the II's, III and LPS on my 416 REM Mag for 100's of rounds and never had a failure.

The optics on the LPS are a cut above.... and like others said, the no question warranty "priceless".

I have seen some great prices here, kick myself for not getting some 2.5x Leupolds new in box with the turkey plex (which seems to me like it would be great for big game) when they had them for about 135 a year ago.

Red
oops, forgot the link!
Scopes

Well that clear optics and higher quality was what i am after. I have successfully hunted for many years with my simmons whitetail classic 4x10.5x50 on my 308 and my 3x9x32 on my 270 but i have always wanted a better scope for my 270 just because it deserves a better scope. Only recently after being put thru the ringer for all these years have I ever had a problem with them. Not that I am pushing simmins scopes at all, just hit me wrong that my old low end scopes have been good working scopes but limited by manufacturer on quality,. this is the secong Leupold in my family and the other had to go in for work 2 times in the same year. No other reported problem after that though. I think I am sour on Leopold however. Looking for another burris like my 300, or nikon I think.

Leupold customer service is second to none. Last year a shearer friend asked to borrow a scope until he purchased a replacement. His rifle rides in the front seat of his 4WD. It doesn't look pretty , but it works.He needs it handy for vermin control on the properties where he works.The scope was a Leupold that had been on that rifle for the last 25 years,bouncing around in the front of the cab. I mailed it to Leupold and had it back free of charge in 6 weeks.Leupold even paid for the return freight to Australia.So what if they occassionally make a lemon. Please name me a company that has never produced a faulty item. I can't, but I also can't name too many other companies who will back up their product in this manner.
rob

I bought a Leupold once and still have it. I had trouble with it one time and called them and they sent me a new scope the same day I shipped the broke one. I just had to give them a shipping confirmation number. Great customer service. I buy Sightron now though. The same quality at half the price. On the same note I bought a Nikon and never did get a response from customer service. Never buy nikon again.

I read Varmint Al's site about Tasco World Class Plus, and got a 10x40x50 for testing rifles. It lasted two trips to the range. Repair / replacement took a year.

So got a 40x Leupold, and it has lasted 20 trips to the range, testing as many as a dozen rifles each trip, and keeps on ticking.

I have about a dozen Leupolds, and they always have worked, but some other old guy thought his adjustments were too hard to turn on his used Leupold. I sent his scope to Leupold. 4 days later it returned to me fixed. All I paid was the postage to get it there.

Leupold could improve their customer service by sending a girl over to my house to make sure I am satisfied

My experience is limited to only a few brands. I've had a couple cheap scopes for smallbore but have Luepolds on most everything else.

I have one burris compact that I put on a Rem SA and couldn't get enough eye relief due to the funky placement of the adjustments to the front bell. It's a nice scope but it's now on a .22 Mag.
I have a Weaverclassic 2.5x20 on a Rem 600 in .308 that I shoot 180gr rn out of. It is perfect for that rifle and is clear. It has put up with the recoil well.

I've sent in one Luepold that broke because it was adjusted to the edge of adjustment and used there for quite a while. ( not a good idea with any scope, long story)They fixed it and sent it back with a letter explaining how it was found, and what had been done. VXIII 3.5x10x50

My Dad sent in a Burris that had been on a .243W and wasn't happy with the service at all. In fact I think they wanted a credit card# to bill him for repairs and return shipping.

FWIW my next one will either be another Luepold or a Ziess Conquest, and it will be purchased through the SWFA webpage

Nate

This is an age old question and when I was a gun jobber at Davidsons Wholesale I used to tell folks to buy a gun that shoots well and put your money in your scope. I have always thought it was crazy to buy a $500.00 gun and put a $50.00 scope on it.

That said, I have a couple of German scopes and will never have any thing negative to say about them except the price. I have several Luepold scopes that I also love one being a LPS. There is something to be said for the confidence you get knowing that your scope will not fail at the wrong time.

Leupold VX 111 and the old Vari X 111 are the bottom of the line for me. I'm not saying everyone should buy a Ziess, but if you do it's hard to go back, and buy the way the new leupolds are $829.00 in Cabela's.

Dont get me wrong. I am not bashing the scopes at all. It just makes me a little skiddish. thats all.

Move this optics topic to where it belongs, Mark.

quote:

If you want a reliable scope, buy a Nikon

ditto

Had a .308 Norma Mag eat an old Weaver scope only to find that the warrantee was no good as Weaver had changed hands.

My Leupold and Zeiss scopes live on rifles with "stout" recoil (a relatively light .338 WinMag to .416 Rigby). Have never had to send back a Leupold ... have three. Have sent one Zeiss Conquest back ... was replaced immediately ... have three.

quote:

Originally posted by MajorCaliber:
If you want a reliable scope, buy a Nikon

Oddly enough, every time I stop by Cabelas I drop into their bargain cave. What brand do I see the most of? You guessed it, Nikon.

Now, theoreticaly these are refurbs but they never seem to focus worth a darn and the counter help seems to agree.

I'm not totally sold on Leupold.....I've had trouble with them too....and at their price one should expect a rare occasion....not so.

I have had few scopes that ever present problems...

When they did, they were repaired... by the manufacturers...

Point being some klunkers are going to slip thru...

I wish manufacturers of other products backed their stuff up as well as scope manufacturers...

I ended up with a 1955 Production 4 power Leupold that I sent into Leupold to have them check out and they sent it back and said it was fine...

I mounted it on top of a mid 1950s sporterized Springfield in 30/06... it just looks nostalgic like a 55 Chevy....

No experiences with the VX ones... but nothing but good among any other leupold I have owned....
I love them....

Simmons and Bushnells have served me well also....but the lower end bushnells go on 22s so they are fine... nothing to worry about....

On the lower Bushnell end, I have mounted several of their Shotgun scopes on centerfire rifles.... as the Circle X reticle can be very handy in the field..... but recoil doesn't seem to bother them one bit....
I also like the focus ring on the eye bell end...
works great when you are getting old and your eye site ain't what she use to be.....

I have one Nikon BuckMaster 4.5 x 14 with a mildot reticle... I have to admit.. I am in the market for accumulating about another half dozen for some of my other varmint rifles....

I spend too much money on rifles.. and should spend more on getting good scopes... but the lower end stuff within their limits serve me well enough.....

cheers
seafire