Leupold Scopes

[dlbleak]

You will rarely, if ever, find any real discount on a Leupold riflescope. If you do, be sure before you buy that it's not a counterfeit. There are many Chinese counterfeits out there.

I bought Leupold because - first, they are darn good products; second, they are American made. If you properly match the scope to the caliber weapon you plan to mount it on, it should last you a seriously long time, making it well worth the modest amount you might feel it costs you over most other brands.

The failure of consumers in this country to recognize the harm done by Chinese dumps is one of my pet peeves. I make a real attempt to buy American whenever I can. Can't always do it, but it never hurts to try. Leupold was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made in this regard.

Somebody kick my soap box over.

stay on the soapbox ronny, you speak the truth

 

[ronny]

Chuckle!

 

[okie98]

Big +1 for Midway.

 

[ez bake]

"Leupold" doesn't mean "American Made". Only their Gold-Ring scopes are made in the US. Pretty much anything under (roughly) $500 is imported either completely, or parts are imported and the product is assembled in the US.

For every Gold-Ring scope Leupold sells, they probably sell 10 of their cheaper optics in sporting-goods stores where folks don't want to spend that kind of money on their $250 rifle. Not trying to start anything, but Leupold makes a fair amount of money off of over-seas made products.

To the OP - what kind of scope are you looking for and what price-range are you in? If you're under $500, then I'd look at other brands as well as Leupold (or at the very least, I wouldn't buy Leupold on the assumption that they're all made in the US).

If you've got some time to kill, here's a thread from the hide where a lot of good info is found - it seems that Leupold has been outsourcing a lot of their higher end products and the country of manufacture has been disappearing from some of their boxes:

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1123792&page=1

 

[ronny]

My Leupold rimfire scope costs about $200 and is a Gold-Ring.

 

[toehanus]

Thanks for all the info. I ended up ordering a VX-II 3x9 from Cabelas. They had them on sale for $60 off and free shipping. I've got two other 3x9 VX-II's. They have both been great scopes.

toe

 

[ronny]

You took advice from the one person you can trust most - yourself.

 

[ez bake]

My Leupold rimfire scope costs about $200 and is a Gold-Ring.

Like I said, roughly (there are a few exceptions to even the "Gold Ring" rule though as some have shown up with no country of manufacture on the box or scope-body).

That thread from snipershide.com is an interesting read.

 

[ronny]

This is a FYI follow-up on this subject. I e-mailed Leupold and got the following reply:

Dear Mr. xxxxxxx,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Thank you for your letter about our products.
All of our rifle scopes and Gold Ring spotting scopes are built here in Beaverton, Oregon. We have over 700 employees who labor at our factory to bring your riflescopes to you. They make the scopes starting from raw material stock. The lens glass is sourced from different overseas makers of extremely high grade optical glass as it has been for over 50 years. Your riflescope has our full lifetime warranty.
Our Kenai and Ventana Green Ring spotting scopes and our Green Ring binoculars are made in overseas sites to our specifications. They are built in various countries. They have our limited lifetime warranty to the original purchaser.
Our rangefinders are made in China.
To see how we make our riflescopes please see our factory tour video at:
http://www.leupold.com/leupoldtv/
Sincerely Yours,

Charlie Sunderlin
Leupold Technical Services and Custom Shop Rep. II