Rifle Scopes Kahles K318i Just arrived brand new with scratched lenses

EDMJustin

Canadian Eh
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 24, 2017
80
161
Alberta, Canada
Well I just got home from work and had a parcel waiting for me. It was my new rifle and scope. After checking out my rifle I opened the scope box up and started to look through it and play with the turrets. I turned on the illumination and looked through the scope. While looking through the scope at dark objects or the objective covered with the illumination on high you can clearly see swirl scratch marks on the lense. I cleaned the lense with some cleaner thinking it was on the outside but now matter what I do it changes nothing. It is clearly on the inside of the scope. I was only able to pick up a few with my iphone and the quality is not great. If you look at center to the 7 o'clock position you can see the biggests one.

If this were a less expensive scope I would not care, but this is not an inexpensive optic. I am sure I can get this warrantied with no issue. I will be contacting the shop where I purchased it in the morning but I am assuming I will have to go through Kahles to get them to take a look at this. I am not new to top tier scopes either, I have a Minox zp5, S&B Pm2 as well and this just really blows my mind how this could slip through the cracks. First look through the scope out of my kitchen window I noticed it.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Help with expected turn around or past experience with Kahles warranty would awesome so I know what to expect.
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Im sure someone here can write a post that'll fix it.

Or alternatively contact the place you bought it from or Kahles themselves and get it fixed
Well If you read the whole post I already stated that is what I am going to do it first thing in the morning. Those 2 exact things actually. I just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this. Or possibly some insight on the process seeing as how I have never had to warranty a scope before. Sorry, never owned a Vortex.
 
I had a brand new Kahles 624i and the illumination stopped working. I contacted Swarovski and they had me send it back and said it may have to go to Austria and could take 6-8 weeks. Within a few days they sent me a brand new scope!! I’m sure they will do the same for you. Their customer service was great!! Good luck!!
 
Seriously? Are you 12? WTF do you think you should do? Get on the phone and call the dealer you bought it from and tell them to email you a shipping label and return it! It's not up to you to warranty it, it's their problem.
 
Seriously? Are you 12? WTF do you think you should do? Get on the phone and call the dealer you bought it from and tell them to email you a shipping label and return it! It's not up to you to warranty it, it's their problem.

Why are you being such a dick? He’s frustrated. Go have a drink and chill. Have a great weekend and holiday!!
 
Why? Because there was absolutely no need to post anything about this until the issue was resolved by the dealer and Kahles. Then post away about how terrible or commendable the response and turn around was. Shit, life in general is frustrating every day and everyone wants to cry publicly on FB and internet forums so the rest of the world feels sorry for them. Handle your business professionally like a man and then tell as many people as you want the outcome if you feel the need. We seem to be under some kind of delusion that by being frustrated it's acceptable to behave any way we choose and not be held accountable for our actions. This is just an example of the poor judgement I deal with every day of my life.

Three custom rifles built by the same builder over the span of 5 years. Each one was damaged in some way when I opened the box. My only recourse was to stop using this builder after the last one. Not once did I ever jump on here or any other forum and make it known let alone ask other members for ideas. Why, because it was MINE and the builders problem and no one else's.

You have yourself a great weekend and holiday as well.
 
Slipped through the cracks just like anyone who’s had any of those other brands you mentioned who ended up with a lemon.

You’re a sample size of 1 and you can’t make an assessment of QC solely based on your personal experience of a single optic. Even if you owned a 100 other optics, you still wouldn’t be able to have enough evidence of bad QC based on this one product.

It just so happened it was your turn in the barrel this time. Statistical variance sucks when you’re on the wrong end of it.

I’ve had 3 AMG that ran flawless. I had 1 ATACR that took a shit on me in a match. If I only took my personal experience, I wouldn’t be impressed with nightforce. But I know this is a very small % of the optics they produce.
 
Why? Because there was absolutely no need to post anything about this until the issue was resolved by the dealer and Kahles. Then post away about how terrible or commendable the response and turn around was. Shit, life in general is frustrating every day and everyone wants to cry publicly on FB and internet forums so the rest of the world feels sorry for them. Handle your business professionally like a man and then tell as many people as you want the outcome if you feel the need. We seem to be under some kind of delusion that by being frustrated it's acceptable to behave any way we choose and not be held accountable for our actions. This is just an example of the poor judgement I deal with every day of my life.

Three custom rifles built by the same builder over the span of 5 years. Each one was damaged in some way when I opened the box. My only recourse was to stop using this builder after the last one. Not once did I ever jump on here or any other forum and make it known let alone ask other members for ideas. Why, because it was MINE and the builders problem and no one else's.

You have yourself a great weekend and holiday as well.
No need for you to post your response either..... move on. The guy just wants some advice!
 
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Let me simplify this for you. Consumer buys a product that is flawed. Send it back. Shit happens all the time. If you need advice from your favorite internet forum to figure that out I'm sorry.
 
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Let me simplify this for you. Consumer buys a product that is flawed. Send it back. Shit happens all the time. If you need advice from your favorite internet forum to figure that out I'm sorry.
If no one ever stated their problems with a product we would never see a pattern and be able to get something done about it. Think Steiner... he didn't come on here and bash the company. If a bunch of other guys come on here and say they had the same problem then that's a problem. If this is the only one we ever hear about, it's a fluke deal and we all move on.

This place is a group of generally smarter than average people. This is not Facebook
 
Just curious how you had a rifle shipped directly to you?
And why did it take 3 rifles for you to figure out there's a problem? I bet if you would have said something like the OP you might have known after the first one when a bunch of others jumped on and said they had the same problem. Tactical Rifles anyone???
 
So I did contact the dealer where I purchased the scope as planned and they contacted Kahles about the problem. They were very helpful as expected. The rep at Kahles told my dealer that they have never seen anything like this with any of there scopes before. It is being sent back to be looked at to be repaired or replaced as expected with no issues.

To all the hate about this post. First of all, yes I was upset when opening the box and finding this. Who wouldn't be? Second I came here to show all of you, not to bash Kahles, but to see if anyone has ever experienced this before. Also to anyone who ownes of of there new scopes to maybe take a good look at it seeing as this could be the case with yours as well and never noticed it before. I have never heard of this happening and I figure with the wealth of knowledge on here one of you might have be able to tell me exactly what it was or what caused it in the manufacturing process.

Do you really think I thought I was shit out of luck and got screwed over? Of course not. I was mostly curious if someone could give me some insight on turnaround time and past customer experience with Kahles warranty department. If you are offended that even a top of the line scope can be flawed from the factory then clearly I am not the one with the issues.
 
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I never said they were shipped directly to me. But since you are asking, 2 of them were Sako TRG-42's that I already owned that were shipped to me after being re-barreled and the stocks were damaged on both of them and the 3rd was a rifle that was shipped to my FFL and was damaged when I opened the box. Does that answer your question?
 
Why? Because there was absolutely no need to post anything about this until the issue was resolved by the dealer and Kahles. Then post away about how terrible or commendable the response and turn around was. Shit, life in general is frustrating every day and everyone wants to cry publicly on FB and internet forums so the rest of the world feels sorry for them. Handle your business professionally like a man and then tell as many people as you want the outcome if you feel the need. We seem to be under some kind of delusion that by being frustrated it's acceptable to behave any way we choose and not be held accountable for our actions. This is just an example of the poor judgement I deal with every day of my life.

Three custom rifles built by the same builder over the span of 5 years. Each one was damaged in some way when I opened the box. My only recourse was to stop using this builder after the last one. Not once did I ever jump on here or any other forum and make it known let alone ask other members for ideas. Why, because it was MINE and the builders problem and no one else's.

You have yourself a great weekend and holiday as well.

It took you three defective rifles from the same builder to learn your lesson? Maybe you should have jumped on here after the first one and you could have saved some time and money.

You have a great weekend to.
 
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I never said they were shipped directly to me. But since you are asking, 2 of them were Sako TRG-42's that I already owned that were shipped to me after being re-barreled and the stocks were damaged on both of them and the 3rd was a rifle that was shipped to my FFL and was damaged when I opened the box. Does that answer your question?

The question was directed to the op cowboy
 
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I had a brand new Kahles 624i and the illumination stopped working. I contacted Swarovski and they had me send it back and said it may have to go to Austria and could take 6-8 weeks. Within a few days they sent me a brand new scope!! I’m sure they will do the same for you. Their customer service was great!! Good luck!!
Thanks for the timeframe
How big are the swirl marks?
I would say that they are about 2/3 the size of the objective lense while looking through the scope.
 
@EDMJustin Just curious how you had a rifle shipped directly to you?
I live in Canada. It can be shipped right to your door. You just have to produce your Firearms licence (PAL / RPAL) when checking out. Sometimes just the number on the card, sometimes they like a picture of the card. Once it is verified by the dealer it can be shipped directly to your house. No wait time, usually the next day shipping. Signature required at the door of course.

Just had a Christensen Arms Modern Precision RIfle waiting for me when I got home!
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I live in Canada. It can be shipped right to your door. You just have to produce your Firearms licence (PAL / RPAL) when checking out. Sometimes just the number on the card, sometimes they like a picture of the card. Once it is verified by the dealer it can be shipped directly to your house. No wait time, usually the next day shipping. Signature required at the door of course.

Just had a Christensen Arms Modern Precision RIfle waiting for me when I got home!View attachment 6938842


Very cool, just had never heard of such a thing
 
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Loyalty and customer service. There must be a lot of divorced members here if all it takes is one mistake for you to run to the computer and share all your problems before a resolution is in place.

And why did it take 3 rifles for you to figure out there's a problem? I bet if you would have said something like the OP you might have known after the first one when a bunch of others jumped on and said they had the same problem. Tactical Rifles anyone???
 
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I don't disagree with you to a point. Meaning if a vendor/dealer is putting out bad information or an inferior product then by all means let us know. A scratched lens in this situation is nothing more than unfortunate, bad luck. How the dealer/Kahles handles it is what we want to know. I promise you this pre-resolution post isn't going to stop me from buying a Kahles if that's the next scope I'm in the market for, however if I read his post after he had spoken with the dealer or Kahles and they told him to pound salt or there was going to be a 6 month turn around on the repair, that would be useful information and would have a definite impact on my decision.
If no one ever stated their problems with a product we would never see a pattern and be able to get something done about it. Think Steiner... he didn't come on here and bash the company. If a bunch of other guys come on here and say they had the same problem then that's a problem. If this is the only one we ever hear about, it's a fluke deal and we all move on.

This place is a group of generally smarter than average people. This is not Facebook
 
If no one ever stated their problems with a product we would never see a pattern and be able to get something done about it. Think Steiner... he didn't come on here and bash the company. If a bunch of other guys come on here and say they had the same problem then that's a problem. If this is the only one we ever hear about, it's a fluke deal and we all move on.

This place is a group of generally smarter than average people. This is not Facebook

Actually, he did bash the company a little.

He flat out said he felt the QC was lacking based on one optic and because he owned a couple other high end optics.
 
Actually, he did bash the company a little.

He flat out said he felt the QC was lacking based on one optic and because he owned a couple other high end optics.
This is true, I won't deny it. I personally think that QC should have caught it. I believe a watched a video about every Kahles scopes being hand assembled and individually inspected. So I am openly admitting I am guilty of thinking there QC was lacking on the scope I received.

Kahles Manufacturing and Assembly
 
Are you sure the swirl marks aren’t internal reflections of the reticle ?
I am pretty sure but can not be certain. They are not all circular. Some are horizontal and vertical at odd angles to be reflections of the internal lenses. There is also no cemetery to them and they do no move over the lense when i look through the optic at different angles.
 
Why? Because there was absolutely no need to post anything about this until the issue was resolved by the dealer and Kahles. Then post away about how terrible or commendable the response and turn around was. Shit, life in general is frustrating every day and everyone wants to cry publicly on FB and internet forums so the rest of the world feels sorry for them. Handle your business professionally like a man and then tell as many people as you want the outcome if you feel the need. We seem to be under some kind of delusion that by being frustrated it's acceptable to behave any way we choose and not be held accountable for our actions. This is just an example of the poor judgement I deal with every day of my life.

Three custom rifles built by the same builder over the span of 5 years. Each one was damaged in some way when I opened the box. My only recourse was to stop using this builder after the last one. Not once did I ever jump on here or any other forum and make it known let alone ask other members for ideas. Why, because it was MINE and the builders problem and no one else's.

You have yourself a great weekend and holiday as well.

I can see your point you just came across a little harsh. You a police officer? Who is the custom rifle builder?
 
You are correct it was a bit harsh but I guess the fact that there were barely fingerprints on the scope before we all new that it was damaged just hit a nerve.

I am not a police officer and feel nothing good will come of sharing who the rifle builder was, but I can assure you it's not Tactical Rifles as someone else mentioned.
 
So I did contact the dealer where I purchased the scope as planned and they contacted Kahles about the problem. They were very helpful as expected. The rep at Kahles told my dealer that they have never seen anything like this with any of there scopes before. It is being sent back to be looked at to be repaired or replaced as expected with no issues.

To all the hate about this post. First of all, yes I was upset when opening the box and finding this. Who wouldn't be? Second I came here to show all of you, not to bash Kahles, but to see if anyone has ever experienced this before. Also to anyone who ownes of of there new scopes to maybe take a good look at it seeing as this could be the case with yours as well and never noticed it before. I have never heard of this happening and I figure with the wealth of knowledge on here one of you might have be able to tell me exactly what it was or what caused it in the manufacturing process.

Do you really think I thought I was shit out of luck and got screwed over? Of course not. I was mostly curious if someone could give me some insight on turnaround time and past customer experience with Kahles warranty department. If you are offended that even a top of the line scope can be flawed from the factory then clearly I am not the one with the issues.

I understand the frustration, as when you buy anything brand new and it comes defective it puts a real damper on the whole experience.
But, unfortunately no matter how expensive an item costs there is always the potential for a defect to slip through the cracks.

I think a better way to have poised this topic would've been waiting until you had a reply from the dealer and/or Kahles and commented on the service you had received. That way it would have looked as though you were thankful for being well looked after, or disappointed and rightly called out the company and/or dealer.
As it was it came across as just trying to bash Kahles which I don't think they deserve, well unless they offered poor after sales support.
 
I understand the frustration, as when you buy anything brand new and it comes defective it puts a real damper on the whole experience.
But, unfortunately no matter how expensive an item costs there is always the potential for a defect to slip through the cracks.

I think a better way to have poised this topic would've been waiting until you had a reply from the dealer and/or Kahles and commented on the service you had received. That way it would have looked as though you were thankful for being well looked after, or disappointed and rightly called out the company and/or dealer.
As it was it came across as just trying to bash Kahles which I don't think they deserve, well unless they offered poor after sales support.
You are correct it was a bit harsh but I guess the fact that there were barely fingerprints on the scope before we all new that it was damaged just hit a nerve.

I am not a police officer and feel nothing good will come of sharing who the rifle builder was, but I can assure you it's not Tactical Rifles as someone else mentioned.

Don't feed the Trolls!
 
There's nothing wrong with posting an experience with a manufacturer be it negative or positive. My take on the responses to the OP's post are that some here place their identity in brand names thus they see it as an attack on their social value within this community when they hear any negative feedback about a brand they rely on for status. I think those individuals are just trying to rile up the OP to see if they can get him into a pissing contest type of arguement to cause him to loose credibility as their way of doing damage control over any negative publicly their favorite brand may be recieving.
 
Op has the right to post and is still within the rules and confine of this forum however I see this as a needless post this happen with our everyday product and its just an error in production.
 
There's nothing wrong with posting an experience with a manufacturer be it negative or positive. My take on the responses to the OP's post are that some here place their identity in brand names thus they see it as an attack on their social value within this community when they hear any negative feedback about a brand they rely on for status. I think those individuals are just trying to rile up the OP to see if they can get him into a pissing contest type of arguement to cause him to loose credibility as their way of doing damage control over any negative publicly their favorite brand may be recieving.

Not necessarily, I don't own a Kahles scope and have no desire to own the K318 in question here, it's just not overly productive to have the first step in the rectification process a post on an online forum before even contacting the dealer.
Again I understand the OPs frustrations, but the measure of a company is often not in having zero defects ever with a scope but how they deal with it after, hence the popularity of Vortex (I don't own a Vortex either).

Op has the right to post and is still within the rules and confine of this forum however I see this as a needless post this happen with our everyday product and its just an error in production.

This is basically what I agree with, but with the exception of posting the results of the customer service to have the scope repaired or replaced.
Which is what a lot of folk on this forum and other forums have done, be it rifles, scopes, cars or microwaves.
 
Not necessarily, I don't own a Kahles scope and have no desire to own the K318 in question here, it's just not overly productive to have the first step in the rectification process a post on an online forum before even contacting the dealer.
Again I understand the OPs frustrations, but the measure of a company is often not in having zero defects ever with a scope but how they deal with it after, hence the popularity of Vortex (I don't own a Vortex either).



This is basically what I agree with, but with the exception of posting the results of the customer service to have the scope repaired or replaced.
Which is what a lot of folk on this forum and other forums have done, be it rifles, scopes, cars or microwaves.

You don't have a choice on whether the OP posts about his experience the only thing you do have a choice on is how you relate to the OP about it if you make him as uncomfortable as possible I'm sure he'll be far more likely to post how Kahles customer service takes care of the issue.
 
Well I just got home from work and had a parcel waiting for me. It was my new rifle and scope. After checking out my rifle I opened the scope box up and started to look through it and play with the turrets. I turned on the illumination and looked through the scope. While looking through the scope at dark objects or the objective covered with the illumination on high you can clearly see swirl scratch marks on the lense. I cleaned the lense with some cleaner thinking it was on the outside but now matter what I do it changes nothing. It is clearly on the inside of the scope. I was only able to pick up a few with my iphone and the quality is not great. If you look at center to the 7 o'clock position you can see the biggests one.

If this were a less expensive scope I would not care, but this is not an inexpensive optic. I am sure I can get this warrantied with no issue. I will be contacting the shop where I purchased it in the morning but I am assuming I will have to go through Kahles to get them to take a look at this. I am not new to top tier scopes either, I have a Minox zp5, S&B Pm2 as well and this just really blows my mind how this could slip through the cracks. First look through the scope out of my kitchen window I noticed it.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Help with expected turn around or past experience with Kahles warranty would awesome so I know what to expect.View attachment 6938532View attachment 6938533View attachment 6938534View attachment 6938535
EDMjustin,
Don’t sweat it. Kahles will take care of it for you. I bought a second hand 624i a couple of years ago only to find it had a canted reticle. They took care of it quite promptly considering it had to go back to Austria. I had it back in 2 1/2 weeks and it has been a gem ever since. It does suck to have to send back a brand new toy but it does happen. I also don’t feel your post was out of line.
Chuck
 
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EDMjustin,
Don’t sweat it. Kahles will take care of it for you. I bought a second hand 624i a couple of years ago only to find it had a canted reticle. They took care of it quite promptly considering it had to go back to Austria. I had it back in 2 1/2 weeks and it has been a gem ever since. It does suck to have to send back a brand new toy but it does happen. I also don’t feel your post was not out of line.
Chuck
 
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So I did contact the dealer where I purchased the scope as planned and they contacted Kahles about the problem. They were very helpful as expected. The rep at Kahles told my dealer that they have never seen anything like this with any of there scopes before. It is being sent back to be looked at to be repaired or replaced as expected with no issues.

To all the hate about this post. First of all, yes I was upset when opening the box and finding this. Who wouldn't be? Second I came here to show all of you, not to bash Kahles, but to see if anyone has ever experienced this before. Also to anyone who ownes of of there new scopes to maybe take a good look at it seeing as this could be the case with yours as well and never noticed it before. I have never heard of this happening and I figure with the wealth of knowledge on here one of you might have be able to tell me exactly what it was or what caused it in the manufacturing process.

Do you really think I thought I was shit out of luck and got screwed over? Of course not. I was mostly curious if someone could give me some insight on turnaround time and past customer experience with Kahles warranty department. If you are offended that even a top of the line scope can be flawed from the factory then clearly I am not the one with the issues.

Hey Justin, sorry to see you getting pummeled over this. From my semi-interested perspective, I'd like to know how others are being treated by vendors/manufacturers when problems like this come up. Helps me in my buying decisions. I think you'll be in pretty good shape with Kahles and they'll take good care of you. If not, please post with results....actually, it's only fair that you post either way, particularly if they do good by you.
In a similar light, based on personal experience and what others here have experienced, there is a well known reamer manufacturer that I will no longer do business with.
 
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I am sure they will take care of it. I had some dust inside my new K624i. Contacted the dealer, he put me in contact with someone at swarovski, I had a prepaid shipping label by Tuesday and a new scope in hand Friday. This was right in the middle of their transition period with swarovski where they were worried about an actual repair being done in a timely manner. Just give them a chance.
 
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