Looks like my scope is going back to Leupold again.

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slowr1der

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Well, I'm a little upset now. My Leupold Vari X IIc 3-9x40 scope is acting up again. I've had 5 Leupold scopes, and 3 of them have been in for repair. The other two I never mounted, but the guys I sold them to seemed to be happy with them. This Leupold has already been in for repair once. I bought it about 2 months ago and it had a spec of dust in it or spec of something. I figured, no big deal as I could send it in for repair. Plus I got a hell of a deal, so what's to lose? It took over a month for me to get it back, but I finally got it back. I also asked them to check over the rest of the scope since it was made in 98, and is now 14 years old. They claim they went over it all. When I got it back, I looked through it and all looked good, but I didn't check it out too much, just did a quick glance through it to make sure nothing was obvious like it was. I was going to sell it, but decided to mount it on a rifle instead. I went to sight it in and finally got it sighted in. I for some reason just couldn't get this rifle sighted in. It took me 39 shots to sight it in, but I was taking 3 shots groups then making adjustments. I thought all was well, and it just took a little longer for me to sight it in that expected, but that was my fault for pulling a couple of shots. This rifle fits me great for free hand shooting, but doesn't fit me well if it's on bags so I'm in an awkward position and have a hard time shooting it.

Well, now that it's sighted in I brought it home and went to clean it. I happened to glance through the scope while in the house looking towards a light. I immediately noticed what appears to be a ton of dirt particles, or scratches on an inside lens, or something that resembles one of the two on the bottom half of the lens. The dust was on the top half last time, but this other stuff wasn't there. I cleaned the outside once again just to make sure that it wasn't on the outside, but it clearly looked to be on the inside. After getting the outside lens clean it obviously was still there. I also noticed that it appears to be a small hair in there too on the lower left corner. This is absolutely ridiculous. I'm not sure if it was like this since I got it back and I didn't notice, or if shooting it to sight it in brought this stuff from around the edges. Seriously, my others scopes don't have hairs and dust floating around in them. Not even the cheap $30 made in China Tasco. Is it really that hard for Leupold to make sure the lens are clean?

I guess I will be taking this off once again and sending it in for repair again. I'm dreading it though as not only did I waste 2 boxes of ammo sighting it in, but I will have to waste more ammo sighting it in again when it gets back, or sighting in another scope if I put something else on it.

The sad thing is I used this to replace a $70 Center Point from Walmart that I'd bought to review, but I guess I should have left the Center Point on there as it worked properly without having dust and hairs inside of it.

It's just a little frustrating, and it seems like every Leupold I get has something wrong with it. Like I said, I've had 5 and 3 have been in for repair. The 1st one had to be sent in twice. The first time when you took a shot the insides would shake, the second time it quit holding zero. It does work fine now. The second one had to be sent in once as it also quit holding zero and just started shooting all over the place. When it came back I sold it as soon as it came back. This one I guess will have to go in twice also for having dirt inside of the scope on the lens. As I said, the other two I bought and never mounted, but they appeared in good working order, and one buyer never contacted me and I told him to if he had any problems, and the other buyer contacted me telling me his worked great. Seems like I just can't have luck with Leupold scopes.
 
The first two were both VX-I's and this one is a Vari X IIc which I understand from Leupolds site is basically identical to the Leupold rifleman. So they were all lower end Leupolds, but they were still $230-250 scopes so imo shouldn't be having issues. I had a VX-II that I sold without ever mounting. It had better glass, but not as much better as I expected. I found the Burris FFII I had still had slightly better glass which is why I sold the VX-II without using it.
 
Unless there's something wrong with the scope, then IMHO it's usually shooter, ammo, mounts, bases, rings, scope or rifle in that order taking 39 rounds to sight in.

I've never had a problem with leupold...sounds like you're really unlucky picking them out 3/5.

Hope you get it resolved.
 
+1 on what Leaky Waders told you. I'm betting there's nothing wrong with the scope. I've owned 8 Leupolds and never a problem, even with the cheap Vari X 1 I own.
 
Unless there's something wrong with the scope, then IMHO it's usually shooter, ammo, mounts, bases, rings, scope or rifle in that order taking 39 rounds to sight in.

I've never had a problem with leupold...sounds like you're really unlucky picking them out 3/5.

Hope you get it resolved.
Click to expand...
I know that I was the reason it took so long to get it sighted in. The scope seemed to hold zero, and it seemed to adjust as accurately as any of the Leupolds with these friction adjustments do. It just was me having an off day shooting. The problem with the scope isn't that it would holdn't hold zero, it's that there is dirt and a hair, or something that resembles dirt and a hair on the inside lens you can see when looking through the scope in a room where there is a bright light on.

The reason it took me so long to sight this in is I just have a lot of trouble with this rifle on sand bags. The gun fits me very well if I'm holding it free handed, but when I'm shooting from sand bags I often like to lean into the rifle. On this one, I can't do that as the scope feels like it's mounted too far back, while it's actually about as far forward as it can go. So I have to pull my head back on the stock to get a good sight picture. This feels awkward, and it makes me feel like I'm holding the rifle funny. This causes me to not be the best shot off of sand bags with this rifle. That being said, when standing my cheek goes to the correct position naturally so it's great for free hand shooting, or leaning against a tree, or anything like that, but this stock doesn't fit me at all for shooting off the bench. I know it was 100% me that took so long to sight it in, and not the scope there. I will also say that probably 10 or so of those shots were just verifying my zero.
 
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slowr1der said:
The problem with the scope isn't that it would holdn't hold zero, it's that there is dirt and a hair, or something that resembles dirt and a hair on the inside lens you can see when looking through the scope in a room where there is a bright light on.
Click to expand...

Can you see any of this while you are actually USING the scope?? If you cant the scope is fine and leave it alone... if the dust bothers you don't look into the tube with a bright light on! :)
 
Well, you can if the sun is bright out, but if you are in an area that's dim, or dark like in the woods, and the sun isn't shining, you can't.

I called Leupold and they are sending me a shipping label to send it back again. That's one thing they do have is good customer service no matter how old the scope is.
 
I had a Leupold VariX II that came loose after less than 100 rounds on a hard charging Vepr 308. Leupolds can come loose. OTOH I had another one that took a 4 foot fall onto asphalt taking the full brunt. That scope never lost zero, not even by a half inch. So I guess it just depends. And slowrider let them know about your 3 out of 5 bad experience deal. That matters too.
 
"The reason it took me so long to sight this in is I just have a lot of trouble with this rifle on sand bags. The gun fits me very well if I'm holding it free handed, but when I'm shooting from sand bags I often like to lean into the rifle. On this one, I can't do that as the scope feels like it's mounted too far back, while it's actually about as far forward as it can go. So I have to pull my head back on the stock to get a good sight picture. This feels awkward, and it makes me feel like I'm holding the rifle funny. This causes me to not be the best shot off of sand bags with this rifle. That being said, when standing my cheek goes to the correct position naturally so it's great for free hand shooting, or leaning against a tree, or anything like that, but this stock doesn't fit me at all for shooting off the bench. I know it was 100% me that took so long to sight it in, and not the scope there. I will also say that probably 10 or so of those shots were just verifying my zero."

Practice how you fight...in other words if this is a hunting rifle...shoot it on the range the same as you are going to shoot it in the field. If you're going to be set up with sandbags and such, then adjust your sights so that is the most comfortable position. If you're going to shoot standing or kneeling, then shoot standing or kneeling. If you're going to shoot on 3x, shoot on 3x. Alot of people will chase the bull on 9 or 10x and back their scope to 3 or 4 and get remarkably better groups.

If you can't zero your scope because of bad hold or some other reason, then setup your scope and get some other shooter to zero it for you...it will really be very close for all hunting situations.

L.W.
 
One difficulty is assuming a three shot group is really indicative of where it's actually pointed.

Not to dredge up a lot of controversy, but for official work, the government mandates a ten shot group to really show what is going on. I've read into the math, statistical sampling just three shots leaves a lot on the table. If you have been adjusting to that group center, shoot three more, and see a shift, and do it again, and again, the combined shots together are where the real POI is. Adjusting the sights every three shots leaves you chasing the bull - as you have experienced.

A bargain scope, regardless of the name on it, has to have a reason for the price. Leupolds are known to have a lot of fakes on the market - although after a trip to the factory, it's a moot point. They would have said so. Point being, it's not performing to your standards, and likely didn't for the previous shooter. Sell it, and get one new and from a reliable vendor. That takes a lot of the questions off the table.

Of course, we're in the dark about group sizes, range, etc. Most firearms aren't 1/2 MOA, knowing what is being shot and how would help narrow down things. Taking in it's a modern rifle in good shape, and typical cartridge, you should be getting 1 1/2 to 2 inch TEN shot groups at 100 yards using the 9X setting and getting it bagged down or sledded. Ammo is a sensitive area, too, is it a known good quality, and was it picked for it's accuracy over a dozen others sampled? There can be as much as another 1 1/2 MOA added on because that particular rifle just doesn't work with it.

The overall focus isn't on the entire system, seems as if maybe Leupold is expected to fix a lot of other things that have been omitted. Those very well may have been done, but not discussing them leaves things open.
 
I had a Vari x IIc and it was built in 1982.
You can find out from Leupold how old that scope is if you dont already know.
But if it was built well over 20 years ago I would not complain if it had to go back.
At least they can fix it.
You wont get that from some Asian rimmed scope maker 20 years later.

Edit to add...Are you aware the Vari-x series are half inch moa adjustments and not quarter inch moa like the VX series??
 
Wow you make me wonder because I have 7 Leupold scopes and all are perfect. I have 6 VXIII scopes and one VXI scope that is on a 45/70; all have been mothing less than perfect for years. I didn't think the VXI's and VXII's were that much lower in quality, the VXI on my 45/70 takes a lot of abuse and still works great.
 
I have 4 leupold scopes. My favorite one is the Varix-III. It has been flawless for me. I have sent one scope back twice. The first time was because I had a little fall while hunting and the crosshairs broke. The second time was because I couldn't get it to hold zero. Turns out that it was the fault of the A.R.M.S. riser mount that I had on my AR.
 
Don't know much about the older ones, but it seems that the low end (sub-VX-II) tend to have problems. Furthermore they just don't have very good optics for the money IMO. Personally I feel all Leupolds are a bit overpriced, but they do afford more options than just about any other manufacturer (like a gloss finish or certain reticle), with the VX-3 series being the best value.

:)
 
Well, I have to give Leupold major credit for the the repair this time. I was originally told a 3.5 week turn around time and was a little disappointed. I did include a letter explaining out of 5 Leupolds I've had, this is the 3rd one that's needed repair. I wasn't going to mention this, but I had many people tell me I should, so I did, but in a nice fashion. So anyway I sent it in and it arrived on April 7th. To my surprise when I got home yesterday on April 13, it was waiting for me at the house. I'd actually told myself I was going to call on the 14th just to check on the status, but it was back here a day earlier. It just really shocked me how fast it was. I've never had service anywhere near this fast from them, or anyone else really. It seems to take about 4-5 days to get there via UPS, so they must have fixed it and gotten it back out right away. I'm extremely impressed with the turn around time this time, and looking through the scope it appears to have all dirt and dust removed. They really treated me well this time, and I just wanted to update the thread to let everyone know it wasn't the 3.5 week turn around I was told, but instead, I had it back less than a week after they received it. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to keep this scope or sell it. I really kind of like it, but at the same time I don't have a rifle to put it on as I've bought several scopes lately and no new guns.
 
OK, so now invest another 150 dollars - it will make up for it from wasting factory ammo - and purchase a caldwell lead sled (or some equivalent) and two 20 or 25 lbs bags of lead shot.

You will not flinch while using it and really get to see how well your rifle can shoot. It will build confidence and show you what you can do. If you shoot by letting your barrel cool to the touch then you'll make some nice little groups. If you shoot strings that heat up your barrel then you'll have a patterned group.

L.W.

(Lead sled owner, does not own any stock nor work for the company...just recognizes a great product.)
 
Speaking of Leupolds- I picked up a 3-9x40 Rifleman this week.
Nowhere on the scope or the box does it say where it is made. That seems odd to me. If it is indeed made in the US seems they'd want to tout that.
Sighted it in this morning on a DPMS LR-308. I'm happy with it at this point;)
 
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I prefer Leopolds. The one that went bad on me, fogged up on first use from the rain, I called it in, they paid the shipping both ways, and I had a new one in my hands in 48 hours.
 
Leaky: I also have a Caldwell Lead Sled and I would like to point out that they will not accommodate long magazines (such as an AR or SCAR). However, Caldwell (and others) do make versions of sleds that do accommodate extended magazines. Check before you buy if you have rifles with extended magazines you might want to use on the sled.
 
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