A visit to Leupold

[kmoore]

I have never been to the factory although they are an 25 min. drive from home. The oldest Leupold I own was made in about 1978, a VX-2 3x9 40 mm. It's been on 2 338 win mags, a 338 rem ultra mag and now a 358 Norma mag. The Norma is getting a new stock, so I though it was a good time to have the scope checked out by the factory. They did a mechanical inspection, complete internal inspection and visual inspection. They replaced both windage/ elevation adjustments and cleaned all internal parts for free. I dropped it off last tues and got the email last night it was done, 7 days total but really 4.5 work days.
They have a interesting article from a guy who had his guns in 18 ft of water for 6 weeks after the Katrina storm. He enclosed photos of his scopes after he got to them.
His story was the guns where in a gun safe. The safe had to be cut open since the lock systems would not work. The interior of the safe rotted away. Every firearm with a wood stock was totally useless, 6 unsalvageable. The guns that survived where 2 FN/FALS.
3 leupold scopes survived, the Shimdt/Bender, Swarvoski and Trijicon along with a Zeiss spotting scope did not. I would think the Trijicon had electronics and that may have been their downfall. He claimed after cleaning he put the 1.75x6 and 3x9 on the Fals and shot them. The 3.5 x10 worked but had a minor issue and was still serviceable. No mention what the issue was. Leupold fixed that scope under warranty none of the others listed would repair them under warranty.
I am not putting down the other brands he showed and what he said about them, just reporting his story. I first thought I should not list the brands, but many on here would ask. So, that's his story on a large print of the scopes in the lobby. It is signed with his name which I should not list.

 

[eveled]

Thanks for posting about such a positive experience. I don’t own many scopes and could not tell you who made them off the top of my head. They all came already mounted on used guns either bought or inherited.

I like to hear about and support American company’s with good customer service.

 

[Tensaw]

Very interesting. I have four Leopold scopes and have been very pleased with them. A couple of them have been banged around a little getting in and out of deer stands. No damage to them and they held the sight adjustments. With aging eyes it hard for me to see just before sunset but the Leopold scopes pick up ambient light extremely well.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Daveboone]

I love my Leupolds...I have 3 VX 3s all in 1.5 x 5, and a VX2 in 2x7. The oldest is about thirty years old now, none of them have ever had a hitch.
One of the 1.5 x 5s I bought on Ebay, intending to mount it on my 45-70. Although I knew it was used and appeared to be in fine shape, I called Leupold customer service to inquire if they had a service that could inspect the scope prior to me committing it to the 45-70. They said "Sure. Just send it to us, and we will go through it and return it to factory specifications. No charge, and we will return mail it within 7 days.".
Damn.
Ultimately I got lazy and mounted it without sending it, and it has of course, been flawless in function despite several hundred high end 45-70 loads through it. Sure is nice to know they will take care of you, though.

 

[Cholo]

My Ruger .243 RL with a Leupold Compact 2x7 took a fall out of my tree stand from 20' up. The barrel had a 4" plug of mud in it and the objective lens piece was bent from smacking the tree. I was lucky to have my SBH with me.

The next day I took a paper plate and drew a quarter sized dot on it and took a shot across my truck hood at about 70 yds. Bobby said I missed the entire plate. Great! I got the plate and I'd hit it dead center.

After deer season Leupold said to send it in. The scope was fine and they replaced the end piece at no charge. I wouldn't have expected any scope to have survived that beating!

 

[graygun]

kudos to a fine company

 

[contender]

I too own several Leupold scopes. Actually more than I need. (I have a NIB one for sale in the classifieds.)
But the topic here is the quality AND the excellent company that Leupold is. They have been this way as long as any of us can remember. They are always willing to take care of the customer. They are an American company,, building a quality product. They, like many other firearm related companies are the PROOF that American manufacturing & quality can be achieved & is desired.
And none of them are perfect,, yet their service dept is what makes them stand above the rest.

Look at Dillon Precision reloading. A lifetime, no BS warranty. And while some here feel that Ruger quality has declined,, their service dept is top notch,, and they do take care of problems.
So,, I PROUDLY own such products,,!!!!! And when these namby-pamby, hand wringing, "economists" start complaining about such things as "fair trade" or "tariffs", or how trading with China, N. Korea, or any other country "affects us all" I simply point out how we, as Americans CAN build quality stuff, and survive w/o a lot of that kind of CRAP!!!!!!

Kudos to Leupold! (And all the other American companies who build such fine products!)

 

[Paul B]

Well Leupold does stand behind their product. I've had three Leupold 3x9X turn toes up. Two at the range and one on a guided elk hunt. One that hunt I got a shot at a cow elk lasered at 350 yards. I held about 2/3 of the way up and shot; the elk went down. When we got to her, there wasn't mark one on her body. The bullet hit he at the base of the skull. That has to be the luckiest shot ever, bar none. About a week later I took the rifle to the range and sure enough, the gun shot patterns. Sent it back for repair and got it back about a week later.

On another note, I was at the range this morning checking out a couple of lads for my 7x57 FN Mauser custom. Things started out with promise but on the third test load, the first two bullet holes touching and the third shot 4.5" to the right. :shock: I'd called the shot right on. For vertical it was right with the first two but was out on windage. I went on to load #4 and groups were horrible, 3.5" and 4" with no discernible pattern. Bolt opening was getting a tad stiff. The rifle balks at loads two and three grains lower than my Winchester M70 FWT and Ruger #1A in 7x57. Load #5 was definitely too hot for that rifle and load #4 is four full grains lower than the max load for the other two rifles. I didn't even try load #6. I'm kind of sorry I didn't bother to bring the chronograph. Might be interesting to see what the velocity actually is vs what Quickload predicted. FWIW, bullets were Nosler 150 gr. Partitions and 150 gr. Accubonds, Remington brass, CCI200 primers and Re17 for powder.

Question is, what went wrong? I'm kind of thinking maybe the Nikon scope has gone toes up. Everything else like loose screws, scope mounts etc. were checked right after that last shooting session and are OK. I have a Minox 2.5x10X that I was planning on putting on something else. A Husqvarna M640 barreled action I have. Just was waiting for a stock I might like. Decisions, decisions decisions, will they never end?
Paul B.

 

[jgt]

I went to that town once and decided to look up Leupold. At the time it was down what looked like a driveway behind a house. I took a chance and drove back there and found the place. I went in and there were a lot of collage age men in dress pants, white shirts, and ties walking around. One older man in gray kackies ask me if he could help me. I told him I was just needing information and he was most accommodating. He took me to a display and explained the whole deal. Some where in our conversation I found out he was in his 80's and to top it off he was the man who started the company. He came to work every day and was not at all arrogant or condescending. All the people there seem to like him and highly respect him. I have always remembered that experience.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I use Leupolds almost exclusively. There's a couple of other brands in the safe, most acquired in trades. If I'm buying a new scope, it's a Leupold. My most recent purchase was a 3-9x VXR Patrol with illuminated reticle. It's on my hog rifle, Adams Arms (AR platform) .308. One great thing about Leupolds is they hold their value because gun guys know they will fix it no matter what, whether bought new or used. Which also means you can sometimes get some good buys on used ones, as I have several times, and buy with confidence due to their warranty.

 

[SAJohn]

Count me in as a Leupold fan.

The first scope I ever bought was a Weaver 3-9 power AO with a steel tube. Like Audie Murphy, it had been to hell and back for 50 years and not a hiccup.

Are any scopes today made with steel tubes?

John