Short story: We bought a Steiner 5-25x56 MSR with terrible CA/purple fringing. We were told to send it in, spent $53 on shipping, and six weeks later we're getting the scope back with no work done. Tech told us every Steiner 5-25x56 MSR looks this way. We're not happy with either the scope or the customer service.
Long story:
My wife recently has had more free time so we thought it would be fun to shoot more practical rifle matches together. She had a blast at Woody's PRS match earlier this year and we got by sharing a rifle. Right after the match we decided to build her a new rifle. We did plenty of research on higher-end scopes as we thought it would be nicer for her to use something better than our Vortex Viper PST 6-24x FFP. Based entirely on reviews we on the Hide, we settled on a Steiner 5-25x56 MSR. The glass quality, the customer service/warranty, the reticle, and the value we thought we were getting were the main selling points.
Mechanically, the scope was nice. It held zero, tracked fine, the zero stop worked great. However, after two matches and plenty of time on the range, we felt the glass quality was not living up to its reputation. There was significant chromatic aberration/purple fringing. At the highest magnification levels black targets looked purple and there was heavy purple fringing coming off white paper, off white steel targets, etc. I promptly called Burris and explained our problem. They said that was not normal and that we should send in the scope so they could take a look at it. The next day, we sent the scope back at a cost of $53 in shipping/insurance.
The quoted turnaround time from Burris is 4-6 weeks for service. Our scope is due to arrive next Tuesday, exactly six weeks from when we sent it off. Not too bad, but certainly not a fast turnaround time. Our two main issues with Burris CS was that 1) the issue was not resolved and 2) it didn't seem like they were very on the ball. We have a competition coming up this Saturday so I was hoping we could get the scope back in time for zeroing and practice. Three weeks after I sent off the scope, I called and asked what the status was. The tech said that they hadn't looked at it yet, but that it looked like they would get to it next Friday. No problem, I was just a few weeks into the wait and if they're going to get to it by that next Friday, there would still be plenty of time to get the rifle zeroed and still have some time for practice. So I called the next Friday to see if we were getting it back soon and they said no, they would probably get to it next Friday. I mentioned that it's been about four weeks already since we sent off the scope and the tech said that they only had the scope checked in since May 19th for service. I also asked to pay for 2nd day return shipping so we could get have the scope back with the most time possible before the match. The tech said no problem, we'd be upgraded to 2nd day shipping for free. After the phone call I checked the tracking number for the scope and it said it was delivered to the front desk on May 12. For seven days the scope was sitting around somewhere before it was even checked in. I don't know if this is normal but it doesn't seem that great to me.
Last week we got an email from Burris saying that they looked at the scope, that it was in spec, that chromatic aberration is normal for scopes on high magnification, and that the scope would be returned shortly. If this were slight CA I wouldn't mind. Our Vortex Viper PST has slight CA. I've looked through a Bushnell DMR 3.5-21x and saw slight CA. I could live with that amount. But our scope had terrible CA. Black targets looked purple, that's how bad the CA was. The glass quality was frankly disappointing. We looked through a couple Razors, a Premier, etc and never noticed any CA on the highest magnification levels. Do any of you high-end scope owners find this level of CA acceptable? What level of CA would be acceptable to you? I wish they had told us CA was normal on our scope at least that would've saved us $53 in shipping and six weeks of our time. Not hearing anything by the end of the week, I called CS to see if I could get an ETA on when the scope would be shipped back and he said he didn't have one. I asked if there was still 2day return shipping and he said yes. With no real ETA and 5 business days left until the match I felt like I had to order a backup scope. I ordered a SWFA SS 12x with MQ reticle and it should arrive today.
Today we got a tracking number and I called Steiner to see if anything was done. The tech I spoke to said probably not. I asked if there was a fee I could pay for a replacement scope and he said no, and that even if I did it wouldn't matter. Apparently every Steiner 5-25x56 would look the same, with the same CA and everything. I don't know if that's something the tech told us so we couldn't get a replacement scope or if that's actually the case, but it definitely wasn't a reassuring thing to hear. Also, the shipping notice showed regular ground (4 days) instead of the promised 2day. Good thing I ordered the backup scope because the Steiner's due to arrive next week, after this weekend's match. It's pretty frustrating since we were largely sold on the Steiner because we thought the glass and CS would be great. In both areas the Steiner is largely disappointing. It just stings a little since this shooting sport is so expensive already that not being happy with what you buy kinda sucks. This was our first big "nice" purchase for this sport too and we can't help but feel we got a lemon considering how great everybody's experience is with Steiner scopes. Looking through a Bushnell DMR 3.5-21x, liking the glass, and then reading how their CS replaced HDMR's with poor CA makes me regret that we bought a Steiner. Every scope company puts out lemons, but there's companies out there that will own up to them and make sure the customer is happy. I don't think Steiner fits into that category. As for our scope, we're just going to have to live with it since with the new TX5i coming out and the CA there's no way we could get anywhere close to what we paid for it.
Long story:
My wife recently has had more free time so we thought it would be fun to shoot more practical rifle matches together. She had a blast at Woody's PRS match earlier this year and we got by sharing a rifle. Right after the match we decided to build her a new rifle. We did plenty of research on higher-end scopes as we thought it would be nicer for her to use something better than our Vortex Viper PST 6-24x FFP. Based entirely on reviews we on the Hide, we settled on a Steiner 5-25x56 MSR. The glass quality, the customer service/warranty, the reticle, and the value we thought we were getting were the main selling points.
Mechanically, the scope was nice. It held zero, tracked fine, the zero stop worked great. However, after two matches and plenty of time on the range, we felt the glass quality was not living up to its reputation. There was significant chromatic aberration/purple fringing. At the highest magnification levels black targets looked purple and there was heavy purple fringing coming off white paper, off white steel targets, etc. I promptly called Burris and explained our problem. They said that was not normal and that we should send in the scope so they could take a look at it. The next day, we sent the scope back at a cost of $53 in shipping/insurance.
The quoted turnaround time from Burris is 4-6 weeks for service. Our scope is due to arrive next Tuesday, exactly six weeks from when we sent it off. Not too bad, but certainly not a fast turnaround time. Our two main issues with Burris CS was that 1) the issue was not resolved and 2) it didn't seem like they were very on the ball. We have a competition coming up this Saturday so I was hoping we could get the scope back in time for zeroing and practice. Three weeks after I sent off the scope, I called and asked what the status was. The tech said that they hadn't looked at it yet, but that it looked like they would get to it next Friday. No problem, I was just a few weeks into the wait and if they're going to get to it by that next Friday, there would still be plenty of time to get the rifle zeroed and still have some time for practice. So I called the next Friday to see if we were getting it back soon and they said no, they would probably get to it next Friday. I mentioned that it's been about four weeks already since we sent off the scope and the tech said that they only had the scope checked in since May 19th for service. I also asked to pay for 2nd day return shipping so we could get have the scope back with the most time possible before the match. The tech said no problem, we'd be upgraded to 2nd day shipping for free. After the phone call I checked the tracking number for the scope and it said it was delivered to the front desk on May 12. For seven days the scope was sitting around somewhere before it was even checked in. I don't know if this is normal but it doesn't seem that great to me.
Last week we got an email from Burris saying that they looked at the scope, that it was in spec, that chromatic aberration is normal for scopes on high magnification, and that the scope would be returned shortly. If this were slight CA I wouldn't mind. Our Vortex Viper PST has slight CA. I've looked through a Bushnell DMR 3.5-21x and saw slight CA. I could live with that amount. But our scope had terrible CA. Black targets looked purple, that's how bad the CA was. The glass quality was frankly disappointing. We looked through a couple Razors, a Premier, etc and never noticed any CA on the highest magnification levels. Do any of you high-end scope owners find this level of CA acceptable? What level of CA would be acceptable to you? I wish they had told us CA was normal on our scope at least that would've saved us $53 in shipping and six weeks of our time. Not hearing anything by the end of the week, I called CS to see if I could get an ETA on when the scope would be shipped back and he said he didn't have one. I asked if there was still 2day return shipping and he said yes. With no real ETA and 5 business days left until the match I felt like I had to order a backup scope. I ordered a SWFA SS 12x with MQ reticle and it should arrive today.
Today we got a tracking number and I called Steiner to see if anything was done. The tech I spoke to said probably not. I asked if there was a fee I could pay for a replacement scope and he said no, and that even if I did it wouldn't matter. Apparently every Steiner 5-25x56 would look the same, with the same CA and everything. I don't know if that's something the tech told us so we couldn't get a replacement scope or if that's actually the case, but it definitely wasn't a reassuring thing to hear. Also, the shipping notice showed regular ground (4 days) instead of the promised 2day. Good thing I ordered the backup scope because the Steiner's due to arrive next week, after this weekend's match. It's pretty frustrating since we were largely sold on the Steiner because we thought the glass and CS would be great. In both areas the Steiner is largely disappointing. It just stings a little since this shooting sport is so expensive already that not being happy with what you buy kinda sucks. This was our first big "nice" purchase for this sport too and we can't help but feel we got a lemon considering how great everybody's experience is with Steiner scopes. Looking through a Bushnell DMR 3.5-21x, liking the glass, and then reading how their CS replaced HDMR's with poor CA makes me regret that we bought a Steiner. Every scope company puts out lemons, but there's companies out there that will own up to them and make sure the customer is happy. I don't think Steiner fits into that category. As for our scope, we're just going to have to live with it since with the new TX5i coming out and the CA there's no way we could get anywhere close to what we paid for it.
