Crushed another Leupold

SJB358

Ballistician
Dec 24, 2006
32,086
2,411
Well, I mounted up one of the FXII 6X36 LRD's I got from Cameraland awhile back on my 300 Weatherby. I have Warne bases and a PRW rings on the rifle. When I went to rough zero the rifle at 25 yards I had a couple errant shots at 25 yards I didn't pay much attention to since I was shooting from the sitting in the back yard.

I shot about 15 rounds through the rifle out back while finding the flatspot with the Magnetospeed attached the rifle, so I didn't pay much attention to the shots, but found a couple of great spots.

This past week I took it out to the range and tried to see how my loads shot for groups. Well, I was shooting on the order of 6" groups, with no rhyme or reason to POI.. They generally stayed on the elevation track but were all over windage wise. I was ready to call Krieger and order a new barrel thinking the gun must be bent..

Instead of calling Krieger, I decided to listen to myself and the advice of many around here and check the screws on the action, mounts and bases and replace the scope with a known good optic. Well, I put a 6X SS on the rifle, took it out last night and rezeroed it with some leftover ammo I had from previous shooting and it moved and shots went into the same holes. Granted it was only 25 yards, but it still is pointing to another crushed scope.

The rifle shouldn't be particularly hard on a scope. It is a rechambered P64 so with the Leupold went about 8.75lbs or so and it is in steel bases and rings.

I would have never guessed a 6X fixed Leupold could puke so quickly, but it doesn't make me feel very hot about it at all. The crapper is I really liked the set up a bunch since it saved me about 10 ounces in weight, but at the cost of reliability I'll pass and deal with the weight of a heavier scope that I know is going to move and put shots where I need them.

Anyhow, not a complete Leupold bash session, but it just doesn't look like they are putting the right guts in these things to me. I have busted up more Leupolds in the past 2-3 years than ever and still have some VXIII's that work and track like a scope is supposed to, but I cannot for the life of me wanna come off my wallet to throw good money towards anymore of them. I may have just gotten a slew of flukes..

I will say this, if your rifle starts going screwy, it probably isn't the gun or your ammo... I'd bet on a toasted optics 9.75 times out of 10.. I hate exhausting good bullets and my time towards something that goes bad. Fact of life, but it seems like I am pulling more Leupolds than ever before and now their fixed series is letting me down..
 
Bummer. They do have good customer service, but that doesn’t make a person want to use it.
 
gbflyer":dd5zndw9 said:
Bummer. They do have good customer service, but that doesn’t make a person want to use it.

Well, in today's world they SHOULD have it! I think they are passing on all of the EXCELLENT customer service to the folks that want a reticle change! Have you seen the cost to change a reticle these days. They are over 300 bucks.. No thanks! HA!

I hear it often that such and such a rifle was zeroed last year, but I had to tweak the zero this year... So, we condone a shifting zero and think it's okay and they keep putting the stuff on the market knowing most of us will be OK with it. Makes me crazy..

Sorry for the rant, just burned up with them right now..
 
This makes me sick.........................

10 years ago I was frustrated with Leupold because they went cheap with their intro line up. I never buy intro stuff but it still worried me. Kind of like if they will go cheap in one area why not all areas???

That and they wanted to try and have 50 different models.............. Sounded to me like they started allowing a bunch of idiot bean counters run things......................................

So instead of staying away I haul off and get 3 of their top line scopes.................

So far I've not been bitten but, a brand new vx 6 sits atop a fairly big recoiler............... If there is any quit in that scope it will show on this new rifle................

If or when they quit there will be not another penny sent their way!
 
c. schutte":vg8bie21 said:
This makes me sick.........................

10 years ago I was frustrated with Leupold because they went cheap with their intro line up. I never buy intro stuff but it still worried me. Kind of like if they will go cheap in one area why not all areas???

That and they wanted to try and have 50 different models.............. Sounded to me like they started allowing a bunch of idiot bean counters run things......................................

So instead of staying away I haul off and get 3 of their top line scopes.................

So far I've not been bitten but, a brand new vx 6 sits atop a fairly big recoiler............... If there is any quit in that scope it will show on this new rifle................

If or when they quit there will be not another penny sent their way!

My big problem with the VX6's were I started load work with one of them and thought it was my loads or the rifle that were causing me heartache. I went through my butt trying to make sure my loads were concentric and loaded carefully and I'd have a couple decent and they'd go to pot. Eventually I realized it was the scope not doing as it should have been, but not till I'd wasted tons of powder, bullets and again, my range time.

It was a good lesson that just cause it costs a butt load of money doesn't make it right and if you add up my time with components used I could have just gotten a better optic from the get go. Still fires me up if you can't tell.
 
I haven't had one of the 2 I own give up the ghost yet for me ,one old and one new but I'm not looking to spend my retirement money on junk either.
I have been looking at Tract Optics which is a new company that the owners were engineers for Nikon and a few other companies that are having their designed scopes made to order in Japan. They sell direct from their web site and have eliminated the over head and middle men to hold the cost down. They remind me of the old Zeiss Conquest line but for less money.
I hope to make a road trip to their warehouse in PA to check them out and may come home with a new scope.
 
I hope no ones scope goes bad to be honest. It is a pain to deal with and just about needless. I will say the older Leupolds I own still work well and I have no plans of sending them packing..

Alot of little start up companies popping up nowadays in regards to optics.

I'd like to see them go back to basics, make a rugged scope, that tracks, has a usable reticle that matches the adjustments and maybe some illum... They'd make my money.
 
SJB358":26c0opgy said:
I hope no ones scope goes bad to be honest. It is a pain to deal with and just about needless. I will say the older Leupolds I own still work well and I have no plans of sending them packing..

Alot of little start up companies popping up nowadays in regards to optics.

I'd like to see them go back to basics, make a rugged scope, that tracks, has a usable reticle that matches the adjustments and maybe some illum... They'd make my money.
Scotty; here you go check these out. ( http://www.tractoptics.com )
 
truck driver":5ftxk03x said:
Scotty; here you go check these out. ( http://www.tractoptics.com )

It'll be interesting to see some of the folks here to try them out. Their reticle just leaves alot to be desired for me. I liked how the old Zeiss reticles were marked with a number in order to correlate to a yardage for reference.
 
Man Scotty, you have me worried. I need to go shoot my rifle with the VX6 on it some more, a lot more and dial it back and forth before I take it hunting.
 
Just out of curiosity because I’m dealing with the same thing on my .260 rem, but I think I narrowed it down to a bad/ loose/ wobbly front rest. What do you use as a front rest?

I called vortex with thinking it was the scope, they recommended dropping the in/lbs from 18 to 15/16. I took the scope off for a day and ran the knobs side to side and up and down a few times. Returned them to zero. It shot same poa so I think the scope is good but my front rest had its screw coming out and was loose so something that isn’t reallly thought about but could certainly effect accuracy.




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Wyo7200":2v4ds3h1 said:
Just out of curiosity because I’m dealing with the same thing on my .260 rem, but I think I narrowed it down to a bad/ loose/ wobbly front rest. What do you use as a front rest?

I called vortex with thinking it was the scope, they recommended dropping the in/lbs from 18 to 15/16. I took the scope off for a day and ran the knobs side to side and up and down a few times. Returned them to zero. It shot same poa so I think the scope is good but my front rest had its screw coming out and was loose so something that isn’t reallly thought about but could certainly effect accuracy.




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Mystery Ranch pack, Bulls bag, etc... then a bag in the back most of the time. Same stuff I’ve used forever really.

I cannot see 3-4 inch lbs in that range make a good scope go bad but I guess you never know though. Let me know how it works. I run 15/16 inch lbs for all of the cap screws.
 
Yes- sorry I should clarify it’s the cap screws they recommended be 15-16.

I should be getting some trigger time this weekend- (labradar arrives tomorrow[emoji1303]) and will be testing the .260 on a more solid Caldwell rock solid front rest than before.


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I am really looking at the SWFA ULTRALIGHT 2-10 SS. The short eye relief turns me off a bit though.
 
FOTIS":3j3vyudm said:
I am really looking at the SWFA ULTRALIGHT 2-10 SS. The short eye relief turns me off a bit though.
I see where it's 3.35" or is it shorter then that?
I was thinking about putting one on the 35 Whelen/AI, though not a heavy recoiling rifle it will get your attention if your not expecting it.
 
My general rule of thumb is no less than 3.5” for a heavier recoiling rifle in most cases I’d rather have 3.75-4”. But I’ve got a long neck and arms so I tend to be closer to everything.
 
I love the power setting and the weight at 9.5 Oz I'm thinking about it for my 240 bee
 
I've never had a problem with my Leupold scopes , but I don't think I'll be buying any more . I think I'll be looking at other brands to buy .
 
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