Leupold Factory Tour Video — Plus Counterfeit Scope Warning

Leupold & Stevens, producer of riflescopes, spotting scopes, and laser rangefinders, has released an interesting video showing the production process at Leupold’s Beaverton, Oregon manufacturing facility. Leupold is one of the world’s largest scope-makers. Each year, the Leupold factory machines over two million pounds of aluminum. Laid end to end, as extruded, this aluminum would stretch over 400 miles. That’s a lot of scopes. To see how Leupold produces its riflescopes, using high-tech machinery (as well as old-fashioned human craftsmen), watch the video below.

CLICK HERE to Watch PART 2 of Leupold Factory Tour Video

Leupold Issues Warning About Counterfeit MK4 Scopes
In related news, Leupold has issued a “customer alert” regarding counterfeit Leupold scopes illegally imported from the People’s Republic of China. These products bear many of the marks and trade dress of current Leupold riflescopes making them very hard to distinguish from authentic Leupold products.

Counterfeited Leupold Mark 4® riflescopes have begun to arrive with increasing regularity at Leupold’s headquarters for service. These products are not manufactured by Leupold and are not covered by the Leupold Full Lifetime Guarantee. Leupold employs serial number tracking for all its riflescopes, so if you have a suspect scope, call 1-800-LEUPOLD with the SN, and Leupold can immediately confirm whether the optic is genuine or not.

Most of the counterfeit scopes appear to originate from Hong Kong (People’s Republic of China), and have “Leupold Mark 4” laser engraved on the bottom of the turret in a silver etch, while the black ring on the objective is etched in white and does not include the name “Leupold.” The scopes also do not bear the Leupold medallion, a mark all Leupold scopes will always possess. An authentic Mark 4 riflescope will always be engraved black on black and have the name “Leupold” engraved on the black ring.

Identifying Marks (Click for photos): Turrets | Objective | Bottom Label

30% Off Older Model Leupold Riflescopes

Speaking of Leupold scopes, Midsouth Shooters Supply is running a big sale on genuine Leupold scopes, 2008 modelsr. A wide selection of these 2008-vintage Leupolds are discounted 30%. Note: These are new, full-warrantied scopes, not factory refurb or “blemished” models. All 2008 close-outs are being sold at 30% off to make room for the 2010 inventory.

LEUPOLD VX-L Low Mount 3.5-10X56mm Duplex Reticle Matte: $615.99 (reg. $877.99)

LEUPOLD VX-L Low Mount 3.5-10X56mm German #4 Reticle Matte: $650.99 (reg. $929.99)

LEUPOLD VX-L Low Mount 3.5-10X56mm Boone & Crkt. Reticle Matte: $671.99 (reg. $959.99)

Bargain Kowa Spotting Scopes from the CMP — $280.00

The CMP has made a special purchase of a limited number of KOWA TS-501 20X spotting scopes, specifically designed for Rimfire and Air Rifle usage. These 20-power scopes are available for $280.00 plus S&H (or $250.00 for CMP-Affiliated clubs) through the CMP online E-Store. See item 832 under the “Equipment & Accessories” tab. You can also purchase the Kowas at the CMP’s two “brick and mortar” stores.

Kowa 20×50 Spotting Scope – Item ID: 832
TS-501 Offset 45 Degree, gray body
50mm objective lens and a built-in 20X eyepiece.
Focusing Range: 19.68 to Infinity
Scope Length: 9.6 inches
Scope Weight: 14.8 oz
Specifically designed for Rimfire and Air Rifle usage.

Weaver Introduces New 3-15 and 4-20 FFP Tactical Scopes

Weaver Optics, now owned by ATK, offers a new line of tactical riflescopes with First Focal Plane(FFP) mildot reticles, zero-reset turrets, and 5X zoom ratio. Weaver’s 4-20×50mm version (MSRP $994.49), delivers all those features for around $725.00 street price (SWFA.com). The smaller 3-15×50mm Weaver tactical scope (MSRP $890.95) sells for about $650.00 street price (SWFA.com).

These Weavers are attractive new options for tactical shooters. The pricing is very competitive considering these scopes have all the “right stuff” for tactical shooting: FFP, Mildot Reticle, Side Focus, and wide zoom range. We also like the new Weavers’ reset-to-zero turrets.

The new waterproof/shockproof/fogproof Weaver Tactical scopes feature one-piece construction, argon-purged tubes and multi-coated lenses with extra hard exterior coatings. For Tac Comps, the 5 times zoom ratio offers a very wide field of view for close-range or moving targets, yet plenty of magnification is “on tap” for long-range targets. The first focal plane reticle stays constant relative to the target at all magnification levels. This allows targets to be quickly ranged with mildots at any magnification setting.

Leupold & Stevens Re-Launches Redfield as Bargain Brand

The Redfield Gun Sight Company was founded in 1909 by John Hill Redfield. The company’s product line expanded from open sights to include riflescopes, mounts, binoculars, and spotting scopes. In 1998 Redfield closed its doors in Denver, Colorado, marking the end of an era. Redfield changed hands several times until April 2008 when Leupold & Stevens, Inc. purchased the Redfield brand name and associated intellectual property.

Leupold has revived Redfield, positioning the new Redfield scope line at the low end of the market. The latest generation of Redfield scopes are priced from $130.00 – $150.00 retail. Revolution™ riflescopes, the first products in the new Redfield line, are American-made at Leupold’s plant near Beaverton, Oregon. Revolution models include 2-7×33mm, 3-9×40mm, 4-12×40mm, and 3-9×50mm models, all with either 4-plex or Accu-Range reticles. The Accu-Range reticle provides hold-over points from 200-600 yards. Other product offerings will include imported Rebel™ and Renegade™ binoculars, Rampage™ spotting scopes and Raider™ rangefinders.

Editor’s Comment: We’re pleased to see the revival of a storied American optics brand. However, we wonder how much quality and long-term durability Leupold can deliver for $130.00, when Leupold is having trouble with quality control on its high-end scopes which sell for $800 or more. But Leupold & Stevens is a business first and foremost and its bean counters obviously feel there is money to be made in the low end of the market. This is like General Motors saying: “Well, since Cadillac can’t compete with Lexus and Mercedes, let’s sell more Geo Prisms”. We all know how well that strategy worked.

Spotting Scope Resolution at 1000 Yards (in Ideal Conditions)

While attending the CA Long Range Championship recently, we had the opportunity to test the performance of a high-magnification (63X) spotting scope in near-ideal conditions (maybe the best I’ve ever witnessed). On the event’s last day we arrived at 5:45 am, literally as the sun was cresting the horizon. I quickly deployed our Pentax PF-100ED spotting scope, fitted with a Pentax SMC-XW 10mm fixed-power eyepiece. When used with the 100mm Pentax scope, this 10mm eyepiece yields 63X magnification. Befitting its $359.00 price, this eyepiece is extremely clear and sharp.

At the crack of dawn, viewing conditions were ideal. No mist, no mirage, no wind. The first thing this Editor noticed was that I could see nail heads on the target boards — that was pretty amazing. As soon as the first practice targets went up, to my surprise, I could see 6.5mm, 7mm, and 30-caliber bullet holes in the white at 1000 yards.

That’s right, I could see bullet holes at 1000. I know many of you folks may not believe that, but there was no mistaking when I saw a 7mm bullet cut the white line separating the Nine Ring and Eight Ring on the target in view. (I was watching that target as the shot was fired and saw the shot-hole form). And when I looked at the 30-cal targets, the bullet holes in the white were quite visible. In these perfect conditions I could also make out 3/8″ bolt heads on the wood target frames.

The Human Factor
When viewing the bullet holes, I was using my left naked eye (no safety glasses or magnification). I also had a contact lens in my right eye (needed for distance vision). To my surprise, while I could see the bullet holes without much difficulty with my left eye, things were fuzzier and slightly more blurry with the right eye, even when I re-focused the scope.

Then I invited 3 or 4 shooters to look through the scope. One younger guy, with good eyes, said immediately: “Yeah, I can see the holes — right there at 4 o’clock and seven o’clock. Wow.” Some older guys, who were wearing glasses, could not see the holes at all, no matter what we did to the scope’s main focus and diopter adjustment.

The lesson here — if you have to wear glasses or corrective contact lenses, just that extra bit of optical interference may make a difference in what you can see through the scope. Basically anything that goes between the scope eyepiece and your eyeball can degrade the image somewhat. So… you may be better off removing your glasses if you can still obtain good focus sharpness using the diopter adjustment and focus ring. I did the left vs. right eye test a half dozen times, and I could definitely see small features at 1000 yards with my naked eye that I could not see with my right eye fitted with a contact lens. (I did have to re-focus the scope for each eye, since one had a corrective lens while the other did not.)

Mirage Degrades Image Sharpness and Resolution
The “magic light” prevailed for only an hour or so, and then we started to get some mirage. As soon as the mirage appeared I was no longer able to see raw bullet holes, though I could still easily see black pasters on the black bulls. When the mirage started, the sharpness of the visible image degraded a huge amount. Where I could see bullet holes at dawn, by mid-morning I could barely read the numbers on the scoring rings. Lesson: If you want to test the ulimate resolution of your optics, you need perfect conditions.

Chromatic Aberration Revealed
As the light got brighter and the mirage increased I started to see blue and red fringing at the edges of the spotting disk and the large numerals. This was quite noticeable. On one side of the bright, white spotting disc you could see a dark red edge, while on the other side there was a blue edge (harder to see but still present).

The photo below was taken through the Pentax spotter lens using a point and shoot camera held up to the eyepiece. The sharpness of the Pentax was actually much better than this photo shows, but the through-the-lens image does clearly reveal the red and blue fringing. This fringing is caused by chromatic aberration — the failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same point. Chromatic aberration, most visible at high magnification, causes different wavelengths of light to have differing focal lengths (see diagram). Chromatic aberration manifests itself as “fringes” of color along boundaries that separate dark and bright parts of the image, because each color in the optical spectrum cannot be focused at a single common point on the optical axis. Keep in mind that the Pentax does have “ED” or low-dispersion glass, so the effect would be even more dramatic with a cheaper spotting scope.

CLICK HERE to view LARGE PHOTO that shows aberration more clearly.

If you have wondered why the latest top-of-the-line spotting scopes (such as the $3995 Leica APO-Televid 82) cost so much, the answer is that they will deliver even LESS chromatic aberration at long range and high magnification. With their exotic apochromatic (APO), ultra-low-dispersion glass, a few ultra-high-end spotting scopes can deliver an image without the color edging you see in the photo above.

The Pentax PF-100ED is a heck of a spotting scope. Any scope that can resolve bullet holes at 1000 yards is impressive. The body on this unit now runs about $1700.00 by itself, or you can get the PF-100ED with a 26-78X zoom lens for about $1900.00. But if you want the ultimate in optical performance, with minimal chromatic aberration, you may need to step up to something like the 88mm Kowa Prominar TSN-883 with Flourite Crystal lenses ($2310.00 body only), or the 82mm Leica APO ($3995.00 with 25-50X eyepiece). Plus, we’ve heard reports that Zeiss is working on a new APO “Über-scope” for release next year.

EDITOR’s NOTE: The purpose of this report is to show what is possible… in IDEAL conditions. With this Pentax 100mm, as well as a Swarovski 80mm, we have often been able to resolve 6mm bullet holes at 600 yards. But again, that performance requires really good viewing conditions. By 10:00 am at my range, even with the 100mm Pentax at 75 power, seeing 6mm bullet holes is “iffy” at best. So don’t go out and mortgage the house to buy a $4000 optic with the hope that you’ll be able to spot your shots at 1000 yards. If conditions are anything less than perfect, you’ll be lucky to see bullet holes at 500 yards. The real solution for very long-range spotting is to set up a remote target cam that broadcasts a video picture to a screen at your shooting station.

Holiday Promotional Rebates on Zeiss Optics

Carl Zeiss Sports Optics has launched a 2009 Holiday Promotion, offering rebates on select binoculars, riflescopes, and rangefinders. Customers who purchase select ZEISS optics from authorized dealers between November 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009 can save up to $250.

Rebates will be offered on the following ZEISS optics products: All Victory FL Binoculars ($250 rebate); Conquest 10×40 Binoculars ($200 rebate); Conquest 8×30 Binoculars ($100 rebate); all Victory Compact Binoculars ($75 rebate); Victory 8×26 T* PRF Laser Rangefinder ($50 rebate); and all Victory Riflescopes ($100 rebate).

“This is our holiday gift to hunters, birders and outdoor enthusiasts who want to own the finest optics but may be hesistant to make such a purchase in this challenging economy,” said Erik Schumacher, president of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics. “Hopefully the savings we are offering on a wide selection of award-winning ZEISS optics will make it possible for many to upgrade their optics.”

All rebate submissions must be completed within 30 days of the purchase. Rebates will be issued via a Carl Zeiss prepaid VISA card. You’ll find promotion details and a list of authorized ZEISS dealers at www.Zeiss.com/sports.

When Good Scopes Go Bad — Making the Difficult Diagnosis

Riflescopes are mechanical contraptions. One of the sad realities about precision shooting is that, sooner or later, you will experience a scope failure. If you’re lucky it won’t happen in the middle of a National-level competition. And hopefully the failure will be dramatic and unmistakable so you won’t spend months trying to isolate the issue. Unfortunately, scope problems can be erratic or hard to diagnose. You may find yourself with unexplained flyers or a slight degradation of accuracy and you won’t know how to diagnose the problem. And when a 1/8th-MOA-click scope starts failing, it may be hard to recognize the fault immediately, because the POI change may be slight.

When An Expensive Scope Goes Bad
Recently, this editor had a major-brand 8-25×50mm scope go bad. How did I know I had a problem? Well the first sign was a wild “drop-down” flyer at a 600-yard match. After shooting a two-target relay, I took a look at my targets. My first 5-shot group had five shots, fairly well centered, in about 2.2″. Pretty good. Everything was operating fine. Then I looked at the second target. My eye was drawn to four shots, all centered in the 10 Ring, measuring about 2.4″. But then I saw the fifth shot. It was a good 18″ low, straight down from the X. And I really mean straight down — if you drew a plumb line down from the center of the X, it would pass almost through the fifth shot.

That was disconcerting, but since I had never had any trouble with this scope before, I assumed it was a load problem (too little powder?), or simple driver error (maybe I flinched or yanked the trigger?). Accordingly, I didn’t do anything about the scope, figuring the problem was me or the load.

But, at the next range session, things went downhill fast. In three shots, I did manage to get on steel at 600, with my normal come-up for that distance. Everything seemed fine. So then I switched to paper. We had a buddy in the pits with a walkie-talkie and he radioed that he couldn’t see any bullet holes in the paper after five shots. My spotter said he thought the bullets were impacting in the dirt, just below the paper. OK, I thought, we’ll add 3 MOA up (12 clicks), and that should raise POI 18″ and I should be on paper, near center. That didn’t work — now the bullets were impacting in the berm ABOVE the target frame. The POI had changed over 48″ (8 MOA). (And no I didn’t click too far — I clicked slowly, counting each click out loud as I adjusted the elevation.) OK, to compensate now I took off 8 clicks which should be 2 MOA or 12″. No joy. The POI dropped about 24″ (4 MOA) and the POI also moved moved 18″ right, to the edge of the target.

For the next 20 shots, we kept “chasing center” trying to get the gun zeroed at 600 yards. We never did. After burning a lot of ammo, we gave up. Before stowing the gun for the trip home, I dialed back to my 100-yard zero, which is my normal practice (it’s 47 clicks down from 600-yard zero). I immediately noticed that the “feel” of the elevation knob didn’t seem right. Even though I was pretty much in the center of my elevation (I have a +20 MOA scope mount), the clicks felt really tight — as they do when you’re at the very limit of travel. There was a lot of resistance in the clicks and they didn’t seem to move the right amount. And it seemed that I’d have four or five clicks that were “bunched up” with a lot of resistance, and then the next click would have almost no resistance and seem to jump. It’s hard to describe, but it was like winding a spring that erratically moved from tight to very loose.

At this point I announced to my shooting buddies: “I think the scope has taken a dump.” I let one buddy work the elevation knob a bit. “That feels weird,” he said: “the clicks aren’t consistent… first it doesn’t want to move, then the clicks jump too easily.”

Convinced that I had a real problem, the scope was packed up and shipped to the manufacturer. So, was I hallucinating? Was my problem really just driver error? I’ve heard plenty of stories about guys who sent scopes in for repair, only to receive their optics back with a terse note saying: “Scope passed inspection and function test 100%. No repairs needed”. So, was my scope really FUBAR? You bet it was. When the scope came back from the factory, the Repair Record stated that nearly all the internal mechanicals had been replaced or fixed: “Replaced Adjustment Elevation; Replaced Adjustment Windage; Reworked Erector System; Reworked Selector; Reworked Parallax Control.”

How to Diagnose Scope Problems
When you see your groups open up, there’s a very good chance this is due to poor wind-reading, or other “driver error”. But my experience showed me that sometimes scopes do go bad. When your accuracy degrades without any other reasonable explanation, the cause of the problem may well be your optics. Here are some of the “symptoms” of scope troubles:

1. Large shot-to-shot variance in Point of Impact with known accurate loads.
2. Uneven tracking (either vertical or horizontal).
3. Change of Point of Impact does not correspond to click inputs.
4. Inability to zero in reasonable number of shots.
5. Unexpected changes in needed click values (compared to previous come-ups).
6. Visible shift in reticle from center of view.
7. Changed “feel” or resistance when clicking; or uneven click-to-click “feel”.
8. Inability to set parallax to achieve sharpness.
9. Turrets or other controls feel wobbly or loose.
10. Internal scope components rattle when gun is moved.

Source of Problem Unknown, but I Have a Theory
Although my scope came with a slightly canted reticle from the factory, it had otherwise functioned without a hitch for many years. I was able to go back and forth between 100-yard zero and 600-yard zero with perfect repeatability for over five years. I had confidence in that scope. Why did it fail when it did? My theory is side-loading on the turrets. I used to carry the gun in a thick soft case. I recently switched to an aluminum-sided hard case that has pretty dense egg-crate foam inside. I noticed it took some effort to close the case, though it was more than big enough, width-wise, to hold the gun. My thinking is that the foam wasn’t compressing enough, resulting in a side-load on the windage turret when the case was clamped shut. This is just my best guess; it may not be the real source of the problem. Remember, as I explained in the beginning of this story, sometimes scopes — just like any mechanical system — simply stop working for no apparent reason.

Unitized Scope Mount System from DNZProducts

Quite a few of our hunter friends have praised the DNZ Products (aka DedNutz) scope mounting system. This is a unitized one-piece base AND ring system. Because the rings are integral with the scope base, you won’t encounter any potential misalignment between the front and rear base. You also eliminate the need to keep the rings torqued securely to a separate base. The rigid DNZ design has no moveable parts between the firearm and the scope.

Made of milled, anodized aluminum, the one-piece DNZ scope mounting system is one-third the weight of most other one-piece base and ring mounts and it can’t rust. For target rifles with a Weaver or Picatinny-style base, we still advocate the use of Burris Signature Zee rings. However, if you are looking for a sturdy, more rugged scope-mounting set-up, the DNZ system fits the bill. It would be a good choice for a walk-around varminter or a deer rifle. Because the front and rear rings are precision CNC-machined, DNZ claims that it’s not necessary to lap the rings. We still recommend you inspect the ring edges and lightly debur as necessary. If you choose to lap the rings, do it gently as the inside should be very concentric already and you don’t want to grind through the anodizing.

One DNZ scope mount user, writing on huntingnet.com, comments: “I bought a pair of DedNutz for a Browning A-Bolt and a pair of Talley Lightweights for the same gun. I have to tell you that I think these DedNutz rings are some of the most rugged rings I have seen and yet are very lightweight. The [DedNutz] have a superior finish to the Talley lightweights … and they are better machined. I put a lapping bar on both and the Talleys needed it but not the DNs.”

DedNutz scope mounts are are offered in 1″ and 30mm sizes, in matte silver, matte black, or Realtree Camo finishes. DNZ scope mounts start at about $57.00 and can be purchased from MidwayUSA.com, or direct from DNZProducts.com.

New Scope Zoom Lever from MGM

Here’s a new product for shooters who need to make rapid zoom changes with their optics. The MGM Switchview is a small, lightweight lever that clamps around the power adjustment ring of variable power scopes. Made from anodized 6061/T6 aluminum, the Switchview allows the user to quickly adjust the scope’s power setting with a push or pull of the lever, without taking your head off the gun. That should help 3-gun competitors who must rapidly switch from near to far targets and back again.

The MGM Switchview works with short, tactical optics as well as high-magnification long-range scopes. Only slightly taller than most target style turrets, the lever is easy to use, even while wearing gloves or in slippery or wet conditions. The manufacturer says that: “Whether you are glassing a large area for a target and then zooming in to make the shot without loosing your sight picture, or you need to transition from far targets to [close] targets in a hurry, the MGM Switchview will get to the magnification setting you need quickly and easily.”

The MGM Switchview is now available for a variety scopes, including the Burris XTR, Leupold CQT, Leupold Mark IV (illum. reticle), Millet 1-4×24DMS, and Nightforce NXS. And soon MGM plans to build Switchviews for the IOR Valdada 1-4 and 1.4-8, Leupold VXII and VXIII, and Nightforce NXS Compact.

MGM Switchview zoom levers cost $59.95 and come standard in anodized black. However, the levers can be special ordered in custom colors for an extra $12. (Add 3 weeks delivery time for custom color orders.)

For more info, visit MGMswitchview.com. To order, call 208-454-0555 or 888-767-7371 (toll free), or email travis [at] mgmtargets.com. You can also contact Mike Gibson Manufacturing, 17891 Karcher Rd., Caldwell, ID 83607 .

October Birthday Bash — Bulletin Highlights from 2009

The Editor Speaketh: For the past two and a half years, every day I’ve prepared new Daily Bulletin postings for you guys. Rain or shine, without a single day off — 956 days in a row to be precise. But today’s my birthday, and, well, I decided to take a day off and go shooting.

Don’t fret — so dedicated readers don’t go through Bulletin withdrawal, here are quick links to some of our “Greatest Hits” from 2009 — the coolest videos and the most interesting stories. For each item, click the blue link to read the full, original story. NOTE: when you get to the bottom of the page, click “Older Posts” for even MORE Greatest Hits!

As for me … I’ll be sending some lead downrange.

Greatest Hits: Anschutz Photo Shoot Video — Babes ‘N Arms”
Great-looking blond handling state-of-the-art German firearams. What’s not to like?

Greatest Hits: Revolutionary March Eyepiece Zoom Scope

LINK: March 33-55×52mm ‘Eyepiece Zoom’ Scope
This is a revolutionary new high-magnification scope, with the zoom in the eyepiece. It provides all a BR shooter could want… from 100 to 1000 yards.