Marine Corps Scout Snipers Choose Nightforce Optics

The higher end leupold hunting scopes sure are nice but when spending that kinda money you might as well go with a scope maker that tells you where it’s made or where it’s parts especially Lenses are sourced from. For 1500$ and up I definitely wanna know. Sightron siii’s interest me even tho I’ve never seen one
 
AB_blaster said:
Leupold has removed this gem from their website but this used to be posted under the FAQ section.

"Leupold uses foreign sourced components for some parts of Golden Ring products, primarily lenses. This is because at this time, there is no American manufacturer that can supply the quantity of high quality lenses that Leupold needs for its annual Golden Ring Optics production. Leupold’s lens systems are designed at Leupold, by American optical engineers, in its state-of -the-art optics lab and then procured from outside vendors who must meet stringent quality standards.

Incoming parts are carefully inspected in our testing facility before they are accepted into the assembly process. Incidentally, all major optics producers worldwide acquire some or all of their glass from the same sources as Leupold. Some of these sources are located domestically, some are European, and some are Asian. Leupold has acquired its lenses this way for over 50 years...

The important part is they use foreign sourced comopents for PARTS, that means more than just lenses. If Leupold was sourcing lenses from Schott or a well known Japanese company then they would be proud to tell you which one. They don't say where it comes from just that some is European and some is Asian. Well Asian includes a large continent which means they don't even want to narrow to the region beyond that level. The answer is China and the Philippines for glass and likely China for anything else. Leupold scopes are assembled in the USA, not made there.
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I have been to the Leupold factory on three occasions in the last few years that had included tours of the manufacturing and assembly. I have watched actual CNC machining and extrusion of scope bodies and internal parts including rings and bases from raw materials. I was recently also the only Canadian dealer that was on the Leupold Dealer Council for 2.5 years and was given access to internal information not generally available to the general public in return for our input and advice to Leupold with regards to customer and dealer feedback to assist in developing current and new products. I signed a confidentiality agreement so I am limited in supplying specific names and details about Leupolds's out source suppliers however I can advise that the lenses in all Leupold "gold ring" scopes come from a high end Japanese supplier. A few years ago US regulations required all manufactures to advise if any parts were supplied by out of country manufacturers that this be identified in company supplied information to consumers. Other than lenses that Leupold has always advised came from out of country only a few small parts like some screws and springs were supplied from off shore manufacturers.

To suggest that Leupold "would be proud to tell" about the supplier of the lenses is not reality as most optics companies (with a few exceptions) don't offer this info as this is industrial private information that may change from time to time. Rest assured that "almost all" parts in their gold ring scopes are manufactured in the US. Phil.
 
Mike112288 said:
The higher end leupold hunting scopes sure are nice but when spending that kinda money you might as well go with a scope maker that tells you where it’s made or where it’s parts especially Lenses are sourced from. For 1500$ and up I definitely wanna know. Sightron siii’s interest me even tho I’ve never seen one
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I am also interested in this info from the other scope manufacturers and besides Zeiss I am unaware of who else supplies their glass or lenses. Phil.
 
Thanks for the info Phil.

With so many good scope options, i can't believe people are still buying Leupold.
 
Leupold Mark 5 is supposed to be real nice. For my tight money I better go with what is proven already to not waste the coins on the some new hype
 
P of PDent said:
I have been to the Leupold factory on three occasions in the last few years that had included tours of the manufacturing and assembly. I have watched actual CNC machining and extrusion of scope bodies and internal parts including rings and bases from raw materials. I was recently also the only Canadian dealer that was on the Leupold Dealer Council for 2.5 years and was given access to internal information not generally available to the general public in return for our input and advice to Leupold with regards to customer and dealer feedback to assist in developing current and new products. I signed a confidentiality agreement so I am limited in supplying specific names and details about Leupolds's out source suppliers however I can advise that the lenses in all Leupold "gold ring" scopes come from a high end Japanese supplier. A few years ago US regulations required all manufactures to advise if any parts were supplied by out of country manufacturers that this be identified in company supplied information to consumers. Other than lenses that Leupold has always advised came from out of country only a few small parts like some screws and springs were supplied from off shore manufacturers.

To suggest that Leupold "would be proud to tell" about the supplier of the lenses is not reality as most optics companies (with a few exceptions) don't offer this info as this is industrial private information that may change from time to time. Rest assured that "almost all" parts in their gold ring scopes are manufactured in the US. Phil.
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Again, if Leupold was proud of where their lenses come from they would say Japan, instead they say "Asia". I suspect that is so they don't also have to list the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Korea or any of the other less than stellar sources of glass. They do however admit to and you have confirmed that they still use offshore parts. I don't care how small or how many are used the fact remains they use offshore parts.
 
AB_blaster said:
Again, if Leupold was proud of where their lenses come from they would say Japan, instead they say "Asia". I suspect that is so they don't also have to list the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Korea or any of the other less than stellar sources of glass. They do however admit to and you have confirmed that they still use offshore parts. I don't care how small or how many are used the fact remains they use offshore parts.
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Leupold has always advertised they use lenses from outside the USA. Clearly you may know more than I do about component suppliers to Leupold but I have been advised specificely (from Leupold) that all their scope lenses originate from Japan. Again if that bothers you then only buy optics from companies that itemize where all their components originate from (the list of companies would be very small). Do you know for a fact where Nightforce, Bushnell, Nikon, Vortex, Tangent Theta, Burris, US Optics, or any other optics company based on North America get all their components from? I am just stating the facts as been given to me directly from Leupold. In the end buy what you like but be careful in assuming where any company in the firearms industry sources their parts from. Modern manufacturing companies (in all industries) have expanded to use the best suppliers available for their needs. There are few companies within Canada that can completely repair (not replace) any part of their scope that might be defective (Leupold is one). Value of products are complicated to determine and only you can determine what is most important for your needs. Phil.
 
P of PDent said:
Leupold has always advertised they use lenses from outside the USA. Clearly you may know more than I do about component suppliers to Leupold but I have been advised specificely (from Leupold) that all their scope lenses originate from Japan. Again if that bothers you then only buy optics from companies that itemize where all their components originate from (the list of companies would be very small). Do you know for a fact where Nightforce, Bushnell, Nikon, Vortex, Tangent Theta, Burris, US Optics, or any other optics company based on North America get all their components from? I am just stating the facts as been given to me directly from Leupold. In the end buy what you like but be careful in assuming where any company in the firearms industry sources their parts from. Modern manufacturing companies (in all industries) have expanded to use the best suppliers available for their needs. There are few companies within Canada that can completely repair (not replace) any part of their scope that might be defective (Leupold is one). Value of products are complicated to determine and only you can determine what is most important for your needs. Phil.
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No disrespect intended Phil, just saying that Leupold for being the "all American" scope brand is far from it. Their unwillingness to simply state which nation they get their parts from is more than a little suspect. As you say plenty of brands use glass from offshore but the good ones will at least tell you which nation they are getting them from. USO and Nightforce source from Japan, Couldn't care less about Vortex, Bushnell, Nikon, or Burris. Although Vortex sources glass from China and the Philippines and possibly other places. Bushnell is mostly Chinese, Nikon is Philippines and China and Burris is mostly Philippines. The bigger issue here isn't so much the glass it's the rest of the components. There are plenty of lower end optics with more than acceptable glass quality. Their internals are junk as is the assembly process, both of which make the lens quality a moot point. Sadly most people get hung up on glass quality and have no clue that the lenses are far from the most important factor in a quality optic.
 
AB_blaster said:
No disrespect intended Phil, just saying that Leupold for being the "all American" scope brand is far from it. Their unwillingness to simply state which nation they get their parts from is more than a little suspect. As you say plenty of brands use glass from offshore but the good ones will at least tell you which nation they are getting them from. USO and Nightforce source from Japan, Couldn't care less about Vortex, Bushnell, Nikon, or Burris. Although Vortex sources glass from China and the Philippines and possibly other places. Bushnell is mostly Chinese, Nikon is Philippines and China and Burris is mostly Philippines. The bigger issue here isn't so much the glass it's the rest of the components. There are plenty of lower end optics with more than acceptable glass quality. Their internals are junk as is the assembly process, both of which make the lens quality a moot point. Sadly most people get hung up on glass quality and have no clue that the lenses are far from the most important factor in a quality optic.
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Very few companies will itemize where their parts come from as those are trade secrets. If that is important to you then don't buy their product. I came into this discussion to respond to the statement that most if not all the components for Leupold scopes came from outside the USA...I know that not to be correct and I explained my basis for knowing that...that is all. I try not to get hung up on where things are made...it usually makes no difference to me. I am only really interested in performance, quality and durability...in other words value for the money. I personally often use Leupold when other more expensive options are available to me. Phil.
 
I'd take the Nightforce over the Schmidt all day, every day. I've shot both, Schmidt used to be the king, but I think those days are coming to an end.
Watch for others to jump off the Schmidt band wagon shortly.
 
I’m leaning towards trading my new zeiss v6 in for a nightforce atacr 4-16 second focal plane scope. Never held one but they look amazing
 
P of PDent said:
Very few companies will itemize where their parts come from as those are trade secrets. If that is important to you then don't buy their product. I came into this discussion to respond to the statement that most if not all the components for Leupold scopes came from outside the USA...I know that not to be correct and I explained my basis for knowing that...that is all. I try not to get hung up on where things are made...it usually makes no difference to me. I am only really interested in performance, quality and durability...in other words value for the money. I personally often use Leupold when other more expensive options are available to me. Phil.
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Nowhere did I say that most or all of Leupold parts are made offshore. I stated that they use parts from outside the USA and that included more than just lenses. Don't lie about what was said Phil.
 
AB_blaster said:
To be Berry compliant for Gov contracts does not require 100% US made. Leupold is almost entirely offshore made but assembled in the US. The US mil often uses Schmidt and Bender optics and they're 100% German made.
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I don't think accusing me of lying accomplishes anything. If I misinterpreted your comments of "Leupold is almost entirely offshore made but assembled in the US" means something else. I have stated my point and you have stated yours...this should be enough. Sorry this conversation is way off topic and I apologize to the OP. Phil.
 
AB_blaster said:
Leupold has removed this gem from their website but this used to be posted under the FAQ section.

"Leupold uses foreign sourced components for some parts of Golden Ring products, primarily lenses. This is because at this time, there is no American manufacturer that can supply the quantity of high quality lenses that Leupold needs for its annual Golden Ring Optics production. Leupold’s lens systems are designed at Leupold, by American optical engineers, in its state-of -the-art optics lab and then procured from outside vendors who must meet stringent quality standards.

Incoming parts are carefully inspected in our testing facility before they are accepted into the assembly process. Incidentally, all major optics producers worldwide acquire some or all of their glass from the same sources as Leupold. Some of these sources are located domestically, some are European, and some are Asian. Leupold has acquired its lenses this way for over 50 years...

The important part is they use foreign sourced comopents for PARTS, that means more than just lenses. If Leupold was sourcing lenses from Schott or a well known Japanese company then they would be proud to tell you which one. They don't say where it comes from just that some is European and some is Asian. Well Asian includes a large continent which means they don't even want to narrow to the region beyond that level. The answer is China and the Philippines for glass and likely China for anything else. Leupold scopes are assembled in the USA, not made there.
Click to expand...

P of PDent said:
I don't think accusing me of lying accomplishes anything. If I misinterpreted your comments of "Leupold is almost entirely offshore made but assembled in the US" means something else. I have stated my point and you have stated yours...this should be enough. Sorry this conversation is way off topic and I apologize to the OP. Phil.
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Again with the lies Phil. I've quoted my post from this thread. Please show me where I said "Leupold is almost entirely offshore made but assembled in the US". What I posted which came from Leupold is highlighted above in RED
 
AB_blaster said:
Again with the lies Phil. I've quoted my post from this thread. Please show me where I said "Leupold is almost entirely offshore made but assembled in the US". What I posted which came from Leupold is highlighted above in RED
Click to expand...

Read post #16. I am not trying to jam you up. You seem very upset, I am sorry this conversation has reached this level. Phil.
 
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