My Cabela's scope just went tits up today (was dry fireing and go to look through it and the reticle is turned 45 degrees ), so I'm in the market for a better optic. I know I've seen $200~ Leupold at walmart. Are they some elcheapo model just for Walmart or are they good? I also found a Leupold American Marksman, 3-9x 40mm for $150 somewhere else. Is that a good scope?

Please, invest just a tad more and get something like a mark ar, or a vortex of some sort.

I own and really like the vortex crossfire 2, but they are made in China. This Leupold is made in America. You're saying a Chinese optic beats an American optic?

Not really a fan of Leopold scopes.
I have bought two VX1 s and have not really liked either one very much

Leupold does have a pretty bulletproof warranty, so if you do buy one that's less than stellar, they will make it right.

Tons of people swear by Leupold but I am not one of them. I've owned a few, all the way up to the failed VX-6 line, and none of them has impressed me. The VX-6 was so bad I can't believe they ever released them. Sure enough they discontinued them not even a year after introduction. Sadly, another American company that, I think, wouldn't get much business if not for a "buy American" attitude-- which, I'm happy to be part of IF the product is worth buying.

For $239 ($215 delivered with a 10% off coupon) I don't think you'll do better than this:
https://www.opticsplanet.com/v/522701-9920-zeiss-terra-3-9x42-rifle-scope.html
assuming you're looking for a general purpose hunting type scope.

-Stooxie

I didn't realize that Leupold wasn't top notch. I know about 15 years ago Hunter types including a guide I knew thought they were the best.
I probably should have gone with a tactical style scope, but I found these 2-7x scopes from Cabela's real cheap and bought them. You guys got me going in a different direction now, I just ordered a couple 30mm spr mounts and I'm going to probably buy a couple vortex crossfire 2s locally. The problem is I like the v-plex reticle and everybody seems to only carry the v-brite reticle.

The cheapest Leupolds  are now made in China.

The upper quality Leupolds are still made in the USA.

All come with excellent US warranties.  Buy with confidence.

Me and my family have been using them for years without trouble. I would go with at least a vx-2. Great eye relief, clear picture and a generous eye box. All mine have been rock solid. I got my last one in November on a special for about $200 but you should be able to find one easily for under $250.

Owned quite a few Leupolds.
VXII's have never failed me, track true and hold a zero with rough use.
VXIII's same but brighter and slightly clearer.

Well had one Leupold failure in 20years.  I dropped a 6.5-20 VXIII attached to a 9lb rifle about 3' onto a chunk of wood. Landed right on the objective bell and cracked it from the tube.  Sent it back to Leupold, told them I had an important hunt coming up soon and had a new scope within a week.
I bought that scope lightly used for $200.  Sold it 15 years later on a whim for $300 and could have got more if I'd advertised.

Find a used vx2 or 3

My Mark 4 has been great.  But it's the only Leupold I have.

A buddy of mine had a cheaper one, VX II I think, fell out of a treestand with it and bent the tube.  Sent it in for repair and they sent him a new one, FREE.  He was expecting to have to pay.  Their warranty as others have said is top notch if you have a problem,

I love my VX3 6.5-20x50 its been dead nuts on as far as tracking and always held zero. and I do own a couple Meopta Meostars and a Steiner military scope so I do have some decent ones to compare it too.

The first youth model muzzleloader I had as a kid sported a 2x7 VX-II. That was 15+ years ago. That gun has been passed around to family friends numerous times for their  youngsters to shoot and that scope is still going strong. Up until last year I’ve had a 1.75x6 VX-III sitting on my TC Encore that I swapped for a 2.5x8 VX-III. Both scopes have had the snot beat out of them filling the freezer repeatedly for the past 10+ years. Also have a 4.5x14 VX-III on my LAR-8 and there’s a Deltapoint Pro in the mail right now for a AR-9 I just put together. Oh, got a set of BX-3s for bowhunting too. They aren’t Swarovskis but they are very nice.

I’d consider most Leupold products ‘upper-middle of the road’ with their top end stuff pretty tough to beat. Never had an issue with Leupold products. Depends on your budget but I’d stick with a VX-II or better and wouldn’t think twice about getting a Leupold.

I've had a few over the years and still own a Mark AR and a VX3i which are flawless imo. The brands i tend to look at recently are Burris, Leupold. Vortex are way to heavy for my liking but i have a pair; a Vortex strike eagle and crossfire ii.

My Burris MTac has the clearest glass out of every scope i own.

My hunting rifles have Leupold scopes, very happy with them.

Also needed warranty work on a couple of older Leupold scopes, they took care of the issue, their customer service is golden!

I don't use or buy their cheapest models, and have found sales for the scope model I wanted. Have also bought used a couple of times, their warranty still applies.

Great company to support.

Leupold owns the hunting market but it is often not even considered in the tactical market. The MK IV line used to be the optic to have 20+ years ago but the market has shifted and more options are available. Leupold rested on it's name while companies like Vortex, Bushnell and S&B etc... listened to users. The MK 6 and MK8 line is really nice but it is priced so high, like S&B was and it is often overlooked for something else. Also Leupold, like most companies assemble their scopes here but many parts are made in Asia. There is nothing wrong with that as long as the specs are right but don't fall for the made in USA thing.

I think the reason Leupold owns the hunting market is because hunters don't usually turn their dials but tactical shooters do and the tracking on the MK 4s have been lacking for a while now.It's been echoed many places where shooters are constantly turning on their dials. I had an M3 that I purchased back in '02 or '03 and that thing was dead nuts on. Just about once a week I was shooting from 100-1000 yards with it and it never failed, I sold it some years later. The MK 4s that my department purchased in '07 are not of the same quality as my scope from '02 or so. 3 of the 4 went back the first 2 years for tracking and one went back twice after that for tracking. The guys, including myself bought our  own scopes, most of us went with Razors with one buying a 4-14x50 M1 (it works great).

If you read most  shooting forums where guys crank on their knobs, Leupold isn't even brought up. I hope they do well with the new Mk 5 line but I remain skeptical...But Leupold IMHO isn't really the brand to have in the tactical stuff...

The thing to remember in threads like this is that MOST optics companies make different tiers to different price/quality points.    Vortex/Leupold/Primary Arms/Burris/Bushnell/etc...  all do this.   So you just can't paint with a broad brush based on brand.

Example, I have several of the Mark AR scopes and they're nice but they're no where near the optic that the Mark 5 I just got in is.   Both say Leupold on the side...

In short, yes

Spot on.

I don't care what scope line you look at, you will find problems with every company.  There is no such thing as zero defect manufacturing.  Yes you can pay more and receive clearer glass or more durable scopes but Leupold builds a good scope at several different price points.  There are scopes to stay away from in the leupold line but you could say that about a lot of optics manufacturers.

I have had experience with Leupold products and have only had an issue with one of them.  This issue was not related to the quality of their product but was user error.  Leupold took the item back and replaced the item with the newer version of the optic.  Their customer service is top notch and they should be supported in our industry.

Do your research and look for the products that are proven.  Then buy with confidence and know that by doing so you are employing and supporting your fellow American.

just for everyone's info, I'm not employed by Leupold and don't own stock in the company other than the products that I own.

Leupold, like most optics manufacturers has many lines of products.

Its scopes range from around $150-200 up to many thousands of dollars, quality rising, generally with cost.

To my knowledge, no Leupold labeled scopes are made in China.  Never seen any evidence of that.  Nor glass sourced from China.

On the other hand, while Leupold assembles all of their Leupold branded scopes in house in USA, currently component parts, especially lens, come from Japan, Philippines, Germany and several European sources.

I have quite a few Leupold scopes, from original Vari-X models made back in the '60s and many iterations since up to current hunting VX-3 and VX-R hunting and tactical.   All purchased new.  I am 67 years old.  All have been bullet-proof reliable.  Used hard but not abused.  Never once needed a warranty claim.  One premium Leupold hunting scope I have, no longer in production, a 2.5-10x45 LPS, is marked "Made in USA" but Leupold sourced German Schott glass for it, Leupold's first  ever 30mm 4x zoom model for hunters.  It was fully the equal of its high end European competitors, but American hunters were not yet ready for the price.  I was.  It remains top tier in performance, even by today's standards.

Leupold imports some non-scope optics that are not Gold Ring (inexpensive budget binos and rangefinders come to mind) that may be Chinese.  These are not Leupold riflescopes.

I've got a lot of other brand scopes, too, so I'm not a Leupold groupie.  Zeiss, Kahles, Burris, Nikon, Weaver, immediately come to mind.  Others.  No Chinese scopes.  Lots of good stuff out there.

Leupold tends to be lighter in weight than almost everyone, a good thing, while maintaining good reliability and competitive performance in each price bracket.  Their VX-R Firedot motion-activated reticles are cutting edge and their lead-free glass is quite good, wherever the source.

I just got a VX3 1.5x 5 for an AR . Its great . Its very light.A factor in my search .The glass is very good and bright . Lifetime warranty, Other good scopes out there also. Any everyone of them have so many sent back for warranty work. I was looking at Vortex but a buddie of mine who swears by them has sent several of them back. But Vortex has always taken care of him. Props to them . WarDawg

Sorry to bust your bubble but in the long range precision arena Leupold is well known for unstable tracking. Most of them I have tested have a greater than 3% tracking error, some greater than 5%, whats worse is the error is not consistent throughout the adjustment range, useless for long range precision.

Under 6-700 yards it doesn't matter so Leupolds are fine, just expensive for what you get.

I don't disagree regarding the history of tracking error at very long distance with certain earlier models in the Leupold line.   They seem to be addressing that with the MK6 and MK8.  See PRS Blog tracking test data below.



But, we've digressed quite a way.  OP's question seemed to be directed to the lower end of Leupold's hunting scope lines.  Those are scopes with capped turrets, to be zeroed and left alone.  For that purpose and at their price point their combination of decent usable image quality, durability and light weight are pretty hard to question.   Millions of hunters have taken those scopes to the field year after year and brought home the meat for the freezer.  Shots are typically under 250 yards, more likely inside of 100.  Low light performance and simply holding zero are going to be a lot more meaningful to such users than faithful, repeatable tracking at 1,000 yards.

I have several mid priced Leupolds on my ARs .  I acquired them mostly for the lightweight.  They all have clear glass and I have had no problems with any of  them.

No offense at all, but that graphic is worthless. First off, sample size of one. Second, 1% off? So if the turret was turned 20MOA they got 20.2MOA? Or 0.1%, meaning 20.02 MOA? They were able to determine things that closely? Bullllllllshit. (and yes, I read their test procedure.)

Again-- not aimed at you, just how can these blogs possibly have a shred of credibility left posting that crap?

Ugh... I can't stop looking at that blog, like watching a car accident...

-Stooxie

A buddy of mine used a Mark 4 on his sniper rifle (he is a certified sharp shooter for his department). He couldn't get it to zero for nothing. Switched to sign, added a cantilever to get a little more range and he is ringing steel at 1000 ads cold bore shooting.

I have a redfield Revolution 4-12 on my 300 WM ( I know made by Leopold) and so far it seems pretty good. Cheaper than their name brand but to meet seems better quality.

I have had 2 VX-1's..Didntlike the first one.Have NO idea why I bought another one.

I haven't really bought much in magnified optics last 5 years or so, but back in my hunting days 10-15 years ago, Leupold was top tier.

They were lightweight, durable and great warranty.  The quality of glass was less than competitors in the same price range, but you could still count points during all legal shooting hours.

I have a VXII on my muzzleloader and a VX5HD on my hunting rifle.

Both are excellent for their price point. It’s hard to find lighter scopes on the market at similar quality.

I own a Mark AR 1-4x and a cheap ass VX-1 3-9x. Both have held up great on standard AR platforms. No issues.

Whatever procedure they used, it was used for all of the scopes and the Leupold Mk6 and Mk 8 were close to the top in tracking accuracy.

You mean the second mk6 was close in tracking, and we’re talking $3k-$4k+ Leupolds, not any of the VX line, or even the mk4s. Leupolds do have a history of poor tracking, that seems to be fixed with mk6/8 lines but it doesn’t look like the OP is interested in multi K scopes.

Ultimately OP what’s the scope going to be used for? If you’re doing any kind of dialing, I’d avoid Leupold, but good tracking comes with more money. If this is just a set and forget scope used on a deer gun out to 100 or 200 yards I think a cheap leupold will be fine. I have a couple that go on inexpensive rifles that I don’t shoot a whole lot, or don’t need to dial for, because I think the glass is really good compared to the other scopes in the $100-$300 price range.

Granted they mostly have the White Oak model, but many Service Rifle shooters use Leupold with few troubles.

I don't know you or anything about the history behind this discussion but why do you think optical measurement of angular displacement and error cannot be accurate to 0.1% (~ 1 second of arc)?

1 second of arc = 1/60 minute of arc or minute of angle (1/60 MOA)
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A similar discussion came up in another thread, wherein the tracking error of Leupold scopes was mentioned.  It makes me want to "shoot the box" with my Leupold scopes over the largest adjustment range I can.  So far, I've only tested over the adjustment range needed to get from 50 to 600 yards.

Is any of the tracking error info documented somewhere (web site, book, magazine,...)?  Has anyone investigated enough to know the cause?  Where do I find that info?  Is there a corrective action for the scopes we already own?

I don't see this with my two Leupolds.  I've used them from 50 to 600 yards and the POI tracks with dialed-in changes very well. Individual 1/4 MOA clicks change the POI and it tracks back, even at just 100 yards.

You guys have me scratching my head because I do not see the problem on my end.

Basically yes all leupold's are good to go.  They are all assembled in the usa so you won't have as many lemons as something like the vortex crossfire line thats made in china.  The primary difference between the leupold lines is glass quality.  The cheap ones are solid reliable scopes but the glass isn't great.  I would say the vx1 is pretty comparable to something like the bushnell trophy line, adequate but certainly not great and the price on leupold is higher.  One plus for leupold is they are almost always lighter than most of their competition.  I personally like burris scopes better.  To me you get a bit better glass at the same price point.