Rifle Scopes Uhhh, what the heck is this???

[EXSOCAL]

I pulled this scope (Leupold VX-III 3.5-10x40mm) off my dad's hunting rifle that I am re-building for him and was just about to re-mount it after doing the barrel and stock work and noticed crap on the lens... At first I thought it was on the outside lens so I cleaned the objective and ocular lenses with a camel hair brush and some photo lens paper. The spots are still there. This scope is less than 2.5 years old, has been on 2 hunting trips, and always kept in a climate controlled safe.

So here are the pics, is this mold, dust, or what??? Does anyone have any experience with Leupold's customer service on issues like this? The specs are faint through the pics unfortunately, but they are there.

 

[Sportin Wood]

Appears to be little flakes of dust. I had a Vortex with the same issue, except it was a FFP so when you cranked up the power those little dust pieces became huge.

 

[42769vette]

I have had 2 experiances with Leupold Customer service but they were about 5 years ago. I sure hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[EXSOCAL]

I am wondering if the dust has always been there, but flew under the radar due to the fact that my dad's eyes aren't the best anymore... This is too bad, I have always had great luck with Leupold hunting scopes. Time to test out there CS and see if the gold ring company lives up to there Lifetime Guarantee.

 

[pawprint2]

I have had 2 experiances with Leupold Customer service but they were about 5 years ago. I sure hope you have better luck than I did.

That is really too bad. I have no way of knowing what happened, but that's 180 degrees from what I've experienced. Leupold has been great to deal with, they lived up to their word. I just hope the scope in question wasn't "taken apart" at some time!

 

[SomeOtherGuy]

This is dust on the glass-etched B&C reticle. Leupold service will clean the reticle and remove the dust if you send it in. I experienced this with a Mark 4 that had never even been on a rifle, but was several years old.

This can happen on any scope with a glass etched reticle, but happening after little to no use makes me wonder about Leupold's quality control.

With the Mark 4 I sent in, they cleaned the reticle perfectly and sent it back no hassle, but they also put a big ding in the ocular while it was there. I was not impressed.

 

[ORD]

Time to break out the phone book and give it the scope a couple good whacks against it...might clear up/knock off some of the crud...might not. If that doesn't work, you (or your Dad) can send it in for service with Leupy as noted above and they SHOULD take care of it, or you can leave it alone. It won't effect the function of the scope in the least and as far as performance goes, unless it is distracting enough in the field that it gets in the way or otherwise obstructs your view, its no big deal (aside from the scope being fairly new and not abused and already having this issue).

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

call customer service / warranty issues first.

it's a Leupold, anything like that is unacceptable.


then if you get the run around, it "breaks" under what the warranty covers if there is a runaround.

take pictures of everything before sending it in in the event more damage is done, you'll have it documented it wasn't sent in with scratches, dents, dings in case it occurs.

 

[EXSOCAL]

call customer service / warranty issues first.

it's a Leupold, anything like that is unacceptable.


then if you get the run around, it "breaks" under what the warranty covers if there is a runaround.

take pictures of everything before sending it in in the event more damage is done, you'll have it documented it wasn't sent in with scratches, dents, dings in case it occurs.

Will do, that's good advise.

Thank you.

 

[SomeOtherGuy]

take pictures of everything before sending it in in the event more damage is done, you'll have it documented it wasn't sent in with scratches, dents, dings in case it occurs.

And then do what? Spend another $30 on insured shipping back to them again, and hope they fix the one ding they caused without adding others? To me, a company either takes service seriously or it doesn't. The ding on my scope was so big and so obvious they could not have missed it or cared about it. I didn't try fighting them over it, but I'd be astonished if the response had been anything other than "we don't fix cosmetic damage."

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

pictures are to make sure that if it does come back with damage, you have proof that it was done on their end and wasn't sent that way, and they should pick up the tab for additional shipping. they caused the damage, not the owner.

it's not like we have to get film developed anymore, a few digital pictures from different angles, it's just extra assurance / insurance.

did you follow up with them on the ding? a mark4 is worth a phone call back.

 

[slowr1der]

And then do what? Spend another $30 on insured shipping back to them again, and hope they fix the one ding they caused without adding others? To me, a company either takes service seriously or it doesn't. The ding on my scope was so big and so obvious they could not have missed it or cared about it. I didn't try fighting them over it, but I'd be astonished if the response had been anything other than "we don't fix cosmetic damage."

They will pay for the shipping the second time around. I know this, because I've had to send two scopes back a second time to them. The first one failed again after a few months. The second one, was sent in for a similar issue as above only it had one big spot of dirt instead of a bunch of small ones. They sent it back with the big spot gone, but tons of small specs all over it that weren't there the first time. I had to send it back again and they finally got it right the second time. I've not had good luck with Leupold scopes, but their CS does usually fix it, sometimes it just takes them a little time. I've sent 4-5 scopes in to them over the years so I've dealt with them a fair amount.