Leupold Scopes and Springers....

[azuaro]

Hello Members:

I will like to share with the Air Gun Community that I had communication with LEUPOLD (Scopes) here in the USA....I ordered a custom shop scope for one of my my Steyr PCP rifles
and was wondering about using this scope for finding the best pellets at 55 yards with my Diana RWS 54...

The VERY GOOD NEWS is that I was able to speak to one of the lead technicians who told me that I could use ANY LEUPOLD SCOPE in a SPRING powered Air Rifle...
"Leupold scopes (Everything that we produce) will stand the positive and negative recoil of a spring air rifle"...
"You will be OK and remember that our scopes have a LIFETIME Warranty, if it breaks we will fix it under warranty"

How is that for a GOOD and HONEST Optics company!!

Leupold has very good optics and their quality is excellent...I personally have 3 of their scopes in some center fire varmint rifles I own but I have never used a Leupold scope in an air rifle...
With this kind of support from the factory I will be using a Comp 40 X in my Steyr PCP and a VX3 6.5 - 20 in a highly tuned Diana RWS 54 (Both scopes with the parallax adjusted to 10 yards)

Regards for all members,

AZUARO

[AdminMASTER]

Hello Members:

I will like to share with the Air Gun Community that I had communication with LEUPOLD (Scopes) here in the USA....I ordered a custom shop scope for one of my my Steyr PCP rifles
and was wondering about using this scope for finding the best pellets at 55 yards with my Diana RWS 54...

The VERY GOOD NEWS is that I was able to speak to one of the lead technicians who told me that I could use ANY LEUPOLD SCOPE in a SPRING powered Air Rifle...
"Leupold scopes (Everything that we produce) will stand the positive and negative recoil of a spring air rifle"...
"You will be OK and remember that our scopes have a LIFETIME Warranty, if it breaks we will fix it under warranty"

How is that for a GOOD and HONEST Optics company!!

Leupold has very good optics and their quality is excellent...I personally have 3 of their scopes in some center fire varmint rifles I own but I have never used a Leupold scope in an air rifle...
With this kind of support from the factory I will be using a Comp 40 X in my Steyr PCP and a VX3 6.5 - 20 in a highly tuned Diana RWS 54 (Both scopes with the parallax adjusted to 10 yards)

Regards for all members,

AZUARO

Azuaro,

I emailed Leupold & asked them to have a look at this spec like : viewtopic.php?f=130&t=898" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fingers crossed, I hope they reply and look forward to their answer....lets hope they accept the challenge of costing & possibly building a dedicated FT scope.

[MarcKA]

To be Honest, I've never seen anyone stating anywhere that Bushnell Scopes offically withstand the use on Spring Air guns. But they do I think the biggest Problem with Scopes that don't is Manufacturing Quality. Glued Lenses instead of screwed in Ones etc. etc.

I once heard that Leupolds generally have a lot of Backlash on the Parallax Adjustment Turret. Is that true?

[Jon]

Having had all Leupold sidewheel models apart, absolutely minimal backlash worst case. Unless that person has had the scope apart i would say he/she could not possibly distinguish any backlash, the mechanism is free, very free.

I know where this stems from Marc, some scope guru who writes for mags and ive had it out with him. Says should focus high to low and if miss the focus point carry on to end of travel stop, rotate all the way back and start again. Thats for F class as well in which case they only need target to be in focus.
Even if there was any backlash it would not make the slightest bit of difference in use. As soon as the focus is moved in either direction, if any play it would be taken up on initial movement.

No one complains about BSA/Niko the last 12 years, they 'all' have excessive backlash masked by the stupidly tight O rings.

[azuaro]

Hi MarcKA:

I also read about the "Excessive Backlash" on Leupold scopes and I agree with what Jon says below your message...

When I read this statement some 3-4 months ago is when I was in the process of ordering a Custom Comp 40 X, before placing the order Italked to the technician and product support expert and specifically asked Leupold about any improvements in their mechanisms for reducing this "Excessive backlash"...I took "The Excessive Backlash" for granted and this is why I asked the way I did...

Their response was conclusive: "We have not had PRODUCTION backlash problems that I am aware of, but keep in mind that scopes are mechanical instruments not exempt from failure/breakage; if there is something is wrong with the parallax adjustment or if there is backlash, it is covered under warranty"...

Once again: "An outstanding good and honest company backing up and fully supporting their products"[/highlight]

The first part that breaks in a scope that is not designed for standing positive and negative recoil (springer) is usually the reticle, even the best of the best and most expensive scopes in the world will fail if their reticles are not designed for this kind of punishment...Edged reticles in the glass "A la Nightforce" have helped this issue but there are some people and some scope manufacturers that don't like/use this technology...Other than a failing wire reticle, a good quality scope should stand the recoil of any springer.

Best regards for all members...

AZUARO

[Jon]

Azuaro, the Comp Series is probably the least exempt of the lot for backlash. Even if there was excessive backlash i defy anyone to tell if there was any, the reason being the fitment in to erector tube is strongly spring loaded.

That means if there is excessive dimensional fitment in to the erector tube, it will always be taken up. So if you have say 2mm diameter shaft in to a 3mm slot there theoretically can have at that point 1mm backlash, which in turn is monstrous on the range markings. Considering erector tubes spring loaded, it will always bare on one edge- for simplification.

It was some scope talk on a certain US centrefire forum at least 4 years ago could be more,. the person likes Nightforce.
Its precisely him thats telling everyone to focus in reverse direction high to low range and hit the stops. Thats like saying theres backlash in the steering column, to turn left i would have to turn left to extreme lock then start turning right.

[azuaro]

Hopefully Leupold listens to the specs the Admin sent them...It has been my dream to have a very high quality scope specifically designed for FT...I waited 3 years for the S&B FT scope that ended being a fisco, I then approached Zeiss, Swarovski but these companies were not interested in a FT scope...

Very illustrating Jon, thanks...Now I have another question for you:
What wheel size should I use for the Comp 40X ?

About those Nightforce scopes...They are very sturdy and well made, the factory is very close to where I live and I have been there and seen their operation...I spoke to the owner/General Manager several times over the phone in an effort to convince them to produce a very high quality 10-15X to 50-60X or more scope capable of parallaxing from 8 to 60 yards...They are just not interested given the R&D involved and volume requirements.

Leupold is such a huge operation that I wish they would make us a FT scope...Most of the employees from this company have been long time workers or are second generation and a lot of their ideas as hunters and shooters are heard and implemented in the production. There are a lot of proud hunters and Benchrest shooters inside the factory so they know their business very well...
Very unfortunately I haven't heard of a FT shooter working within the premises and maybe I will visit them as they are only about 5 hours west by ground.

Going back to my scope, everything seems OK other that I have never shot (out of the bench) with a 40X comp scope and today when I tried it for the first time I had a hard time coping with so much movement ...How do you guys do it?

Regards...

AZUARO