The Good ... LaRue Tactical.
The Bad ... a new Burris XTR-14 (the cracked ocular lens that is).
The Ugly ... Burris Customer Service.
Let me explain. I just bought a new Burris XTR-14 from LaRue Tactical (an amazing company with amazing products) as a package with one of their QD LT-104 mounts. I want to replace the Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10x that's currently on an AR with something in the 1-5x range (1-4x is close enough). The Mark 4 will be moving to a .308 AR. The Burris seems like a really good scope with lots of nice features and it's about 20% more compact than the Mark 4 that I'm using.
After installing the scope in the mount, I placed the mount on the AR, shouldered the rifle and almost immediately noticed that there were two cracks on the outer edge of the ocular lens!
I still don't know how I missed them when looking through the scope when I first opened the box. I put it down to excitement and not really paying attention to details.
This morning I called Burris and was put through to their warranty department. The woman on the phone couldn't give a rats a$$ that I'd just spent around $600 on a new Burris and that the scope was defective. So much for Burris quality control and their customer service department needs a lot of work. The original unopened packaging for the scope was perfect without a ding, dent or scratch, so I'm betting that the scope left Burris in that condition. I realize that **** happens, but it's how a company deals with that **** that makes all the difference. The less than friendly, totally unapologetic Burris woman told me to ship the scope to them and that I should have it back in about 3 weeks.
My next step was to call LaRue Tactical but I was expecting them to tell me to ship it to Burris for repair. WRONG!! They told me to ship it to them and that they'd pull another brand new unit off the shelf and personally inspect it prior to sending it out to me. Now THAT'S what I call service. While I'm on the subject of LaRue, they always put a cap, "beverage entry tool" and meat rubbing powder (Dillo Dust) in the box when they ship stuff out. This isn't essential stuff but very nice all the same, particularly when the wife sees the contents of the box and has a big smile on her face when I tell her that she can have the LaRue Tactical cap!
As for the Burris XTR-14, I have high hopes for it despite the customer service. The glass appears to be good and I like the illuminated reticle and the intensity adjustment. However, it's kind of odd that the whole ocular bell acts as a power ring ... first time I've had a scope like that. Ultimately, I hope I don't regret this purchase. I have six Mark 4s and a Vari-X II that have been outstanding and I've found Leupold customer service to be excellent too. After joining THR, and reading the constant Leupold bashing, I've strayed to brands such as Swarovski, Zeiss and now Burris. Not because I've found Leupold lacking, but more to broaden my horizons and to see if I really have been missing something. The $1000 Swarovski range finder lasted a week before it had to fly back to Austria. So far the Zeiss has been flawless sitting on a rifle in the safe, but 1/3 ain't good. How does that expression go? Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
The Bad ... a new Burris XTR-14 (the cracked ocular lens that is).
The Ugly ... Burris Customer Service.
Let me explain. I just bought a new Burris XTR-14 from LaRue Tactical (an amazing company with amazing products) as a package with one of their QD LT-104 mounts. I want to replace the Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10x that's currently on an AR with something in the 1-5x range (1-4x is close enough). The Mark 4 will be moving to a .308 AR. The Burris seems like a really good scope with lots of nice features and it's about 20% more compact than the Mark 4 that I'm using.
After installing the scope in the mount, I placed the mount on the AR, shouldered the rifle and almost immediately noticed that there were two cracks on the outer edge of the ocular lens!
I still don't know how I missed them when looking through the scope when I first opened the box. I put it down to excitement and not really paying attention to details.
This morning I called Burris and was put through to their warranty department. The woman on the phone couldn't give a rats a$$ that I'd just spent around $600 on a new Burris and that the scope was defective. So much for Burris quality control and their customer service department needs a lot of work. The original unopened packaging for the scope was perfect without a ding, dent or scratch, so I'm betting that the scope left Burris in that condition. I realize that **** happens, but it's how a company deals with that **** that makes all the difference. The less than friendly, totally unapologetic Burris woman told me to ship the scope to them and that I should have it back in about 3 weeks.
My next step was to call LaRue Tactical but I was expecting them to tell me to ship it to Burris for repair. WRONG!! They told me to ship it to them and that they'd pull another brand new unit off the shelf and personally inspect it prior to sending it out to me. Now THAT'S what I call service. While I'm on the subject of LaRue, they always put a cap, "beverage entry tool" and meat rubbing powder (Dillo Dust) in the box when they ship stuff out. This isn't essential stuff but very nice all the same, particularly when the wife sees the contents of the box and has a big smile on her face when I tell her that she can have the LaRue Tactical cap!
As for the Burris XTR-14, I have high hopes for it despite the customer service. The glass appears to be good and I like the illuminated reticle and the intensity adjustment. However, it's kind of odd that the whole ocular bell acts as a power ring ... first time I've had a scope like that. Ultimately, I hope I don't regret this purchase. I have six Mark 4s and a Vari-X II that have been outstanding and I've found Leupold customer service to be excellent too. After joining THR, and reading the constant Leupold bashing, I've strayed to brands such as Swarovski, Zeiss and now Burris. Not because I've found Leupold lacking, but more to broaden my horizons and to see if I really have been missing something. The $1000 Swarovski range finder lasted a week before it had to fly back to Austria. So far the Zeiss has been flawless sitting on a rifle in the safe, but 1/3 ain't good. How does that expression go? Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
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... this makes #10 for me and Leupold ... #11 if I include my Mark 4 spotting scope. A while back I sold a Vari-X III target scope and an EER scope that I had no use for, but I still have and use all the rest. Every Leupold scope has arrived in perfect condition and the only issue that I've had with 11 optics from them is that one of the Mark 4s had to go back twice due to dust on the reticle. It's been perfect ever since. I use Mark 4s on two .45-70 rifles, a .300 Win Mag and a .300 WSM and yet I've never had a failure of any kind ... they've been PERFECT. 
