I had a 1994 Springfield M1A Super Match with the Douglas air-guaged barrel on it, and I mounted a Sprinfield Armory Gov't Model 4-14 x 56mm scope in Brookfield Precision scope mount on it.

While the Springfield Gov't model scopes do have spotty quality control, and I had to return 2 of them to finally get a proper vertical crosshair in it, the one good one that I finally got was very good.

That gun was capable of sub-halfMOA groups with factory Federal 308 GMM 168gr Sierra ammo, and I used it to come in 2nd in the Florida State Championships 600yd Prone Match(unlimited event, any gun, any sight). That was a 2-day event, and I even got thunderstormed-on during one shooting session in the afternoon. No leaks or fogging, and it performed just great. The BDC reticle hashmarks were spot-on for the 168gr Federal, and I had to make no adjustments to be in the x-ring at 600, when using the 600yd hashmark in the reticle. It uses a 200yd zero for the center of the crosshair.

It never broke during my 7 years of ownership, and it remained on that rifle all the time I owned it.

People like to down-talk these scopes, and the QC is not too great, but if you are persistent, and return the bad ones for exchange like I did, when you finally get the good one, it is a pretty good scope. Sure, some scopes are definitely better, but this one did the trick for me in competition roles, so I can't say too much was bad about it.

No offense taken.
I realize that it has had its production problems.
However, it worked great for me for years.

Regarding your other point, I've owned 6 Leupold scopes, and all of them broke.
Not with any hard knocks or heavy use either.
Varmint guns.
And these were all Vari-X III line Leupy scopes.

Sure, they fixed them when I sent them back.
I sold off all my Leupold scopes.

I'll never buy another one.

I'm currently using a US Optics scope, and we'll see how that one does.


And no, even though I'm a dealer(manufacturer's rep) I don't sell scopes nor does my company make any scopes. I have nothing to gain or lose in any scope sale. This is my experience as a shooter that I'm relating.

If you read the benchrest forums, you'll quickly see that the 8-25x variable Leupolds are dropping like flies.
They are breaking during benchrest matches.
The 8-25x is probably the worst of the bunch right now.

My 6-24x VariXIII had the reticle fall off inside the scope, of my most "babied" varmint gun, chambered in .225 Win, that I hardly ever even took off the rack.

I've read all the talk about Leupold quality, but they sure never showed it to me.

Yes, the fixed power Leupold Mk4 scopes do have the reticles etched into the glass.
That is a better arrangement for durability.
And my problems were mostly related to reticles with the Leupolds.

However, you might want to look thru the scopes at the higher price range that the fixed power military Mk4 models are in, because at that price there is better optical quality to be found in some other brands.

Nightforce and USO should be looked at, when going into that price category.