All posts tagged Leupold Scopes

Magnification and sending long distance phone calls

Ok, that was a dumb thing to say, but I still chuckle at one of my buddies comments whenever we’re on the long range.   Reaching out and touching someone at 600yds is precisely what a sniper does.  I have learned to notice that clarity of rifle optics but one thing that is becoming more and more of an experience is looking through all of the optics out there and their reticles.   A long time ago, people were more concerned with the durability of the optic and making sure it wasn’t going to fog up on them when they took the scope caps off in the early morning when they went out chasing whitetails.  Now some of your least expensive rifle optics don’t fog up.

I have a few Zeiss Conquest scopes that I’m quiet happy with, but I think I could go with less magnification on some of them.   When  you are trying to hit a 6ft target at 600yds, it’s really not that hard to see it.   When people try and see an X on a 2ft piece of paper in their rifle scopes, that’s a whole other thing and in my opinion something not worth pursuing.   I have walked off shooting ranges in the summer time because the mirage given off from the  heat was so bad that it was completely impossible for me to even see a target at 100yds and testing my hand loaded ammunition would have been a waste.

Top

Lasers and Flashlights the key is to know when to turn them off

I did a demonstration with one of my friends how using night vision and IR was really easy to pick up from a counter sniper situation if you were projecting it from the same location.   For instance, if you have night owl night vision which is pretty good for the money, the IR is located right above the objective lense.   If you had something like that mounted on a rifle scope and someone who had the same nightvision, but didn’t turn there IR on, they could find you as easily as you would have if you turned on a flashlight in the night.   The best way to aid a sniper in combat is to project IR from above and not directly from a rifle.  The point of this is just because you can do something with an accessory on a firearm doesn’t mean it’s really going to give you the edge.  You have to know how to deploy it.

I never thought just slapping a laser on my AR15 would be fun, I always thought it was kind of pointless because a laser is virtually a perfect beam of light, but a bullets trajectory changes very fast and the laser is about as good as a red dot or rifle scopes in all practicality.   Flashlights are a good thing to have around or on your firearm in your home, but if you are going to use it offensively and not defensively, you have to deploy  tactics that hide movement and don’t give your direction of movement away.   If you are in  your house and hiding in your bedroom ect.  In 99% of situations, yelling down the stairs that you have a gun and you are going to blow their head off if they come up will stop a threat being able to identify something in a corner like a burglar in hiding is what your flashlight it for.

Top

Lights that don’t go out

I’ve been involved with several gun clubs that ran various competitions.  My favorites are always the Carbine events.   Every year we get to see who the best shooters are and almost every year, the guys that show up with the most expensive guns are not the ones with the highest scores.   If you got money to blow there’s no reason you can’t buy what you want, but operator caused malfunctions are the #1 reason I see guns go down.

I’ve had a love hate relationship with my Eotech rifle scopes.    I love how easy the reticle is to pick up when shooting, but I hate how hard it is to nail targets beyind 100yds in low light because of how the reticle obscures the targets.   I’ll never forget my first 100yd shooting experience with my Eotech where we were shooting steel plates.   I couldn’t see any of the 3 inch plates with my Eotech at 100yds.   The shade of the trees darkened the targets and when I shot with iron sights, I could clearly make out the plates.   Battery operated optics are something that will surely go extinct in the not too distant future.

Top

Serious shooters and serious gear

Tactical Rifle ScopesThere is no need to trash people that are using inferior optics.   Somtimes a $100 scope that holds zero is all that is needed and long range shooting isn’t a reality.   Plenty of people get there kicks out of inexpensive optics and aren’t concerned about how bright their optics are or if they’ll hold up to thousands of rounds.   Most optics that cost $200-$300 are probable all you need for most hunting, plinking purposes and some manufacturers make some great optics in that price range.   There are levels of gear though and there is a certain point that you have to realize that your gear isn’t up to par.
When do we need to upgrade our gear?   Serious shooters usually go there from trial and error and there is plenty of info on the internet about which optics are better than others.   Most of the info you hear about might need to go through a BS meter to determine if people are full of it, but the real test of what holds up is pretty much a proveable fact and the evidence is out there.   Nikon, Trijicon, Leupold and Zeiss are  a few of the manufacturers that will come up whenever you get a Top 5 long Tactical Rifle Scopes level optics.   Keep in mind that optic durability and holding zero also depends on what type of rings you are using and you can easily void a scopes durability out with 2nd rate scope rings.

Top

Leupold Scopes

Leupold ScopesIt’s a decidedly American story: one century ago in 1907, a young German immigrant named Fred Leupold set up a one man shop at 5th and Oak Streets in Portland, Oregon, repairing optics for surveying equipment. Leupold & Stevens is still family owned, though our focus has turned from surveying to helping people all across the globe survey their environments with the innovative, high-performance sports optics and accessories.

A lot happened in between. Fred Leupold was joined by his brother-in-law, Adam Voelpel. Later, an ingenious and prolific inventor and consulting engineer named John Cyprian Stevens became a partner in the business. The small company survived the First World War and the Great Depression. But it was the Second World War that would change the company forever. Working with the U.S. Army on a riflescope and the Navy on Leuopold optics for use aboard ships, the engineers at Leupold learned the secrets of waterproofing and durable construction that would completely change the world of sports optics.

Top
Page 1 of 1