Recoil and riflescopes

[SlightlyDistracting]

I watched a documentary last night on Leupold. Part of it was all about recoil and scopes. Learned a few intersting things.

1. Some of the hardest guns on scopes in the way of recoil are air rifles

2. 9mm recoil is some of the hardest, but because the recoil happens so fast its not noticed by shooters as much. In scope torture tests it was one of the harrdest on leupold scopes

3. According to leupold the rifle with the most recoil ever recorded is a 6 pound 375h&h ackley improved. The design of the cartridge creates massive recoil, but the duration of it is longer than some bigger calibers. Because they basically are non existent they built one for testing. One shooter at leupold tried a 5 shot group. The recoil was so hard he would black out because his head would move so fast. He was taken to ER because he blew up every blood vessel in his eyes. They said that rifle has only ever saw 29 rounds. It had 10 custom stocks made for it by a quality manufacturer. It split 5 right down the center.
4. Leupold was really founded by a woman.

5. Leupold was created for one reason. To make waterproof riflescopes

6.leupold is one of only a few manufacturers to make a scope recoil proof in both directions. Forwards and backwards.

Ill try and find a link. It was on youtube. Probably pretty easy to find

[Stinky Coyote]

yes spring powered airguns recoil forwards and backwards, most scopes are made to accept recoil going the one direction, if the reticle isnt braced on both sides then they tend to snap or dislodge

the main spring of the air rifle drives one way then bounces back just as violently

interesting read, die hard leupold fan here

[SlightlyDistracting]

Yup. Luv my gold rings
I also learnt that any leupold product that has limited warranty ( electronics) say 5 years..... The five years only kicks in once you use it. So if you had to send in a 10 year old productfor any reason, with a 5 year warranty, the 5 years starts the day they recieve it. So technically thatd be a 15 year warranty. Hes states afterwards leupold will make it right. He then states youll never need the warranty. Lol

[WeatherbyFan65]

Thanks for the info, looking forward to watching it



Well I can say Im a dedicated Leupold Gold ring fan......especially the VX3 line of scopes, been using them for over 30 years without one failure, loss of zero, never missed a moments hunting due to my scopes

I have become online buddies with one of the Leupold Reps and he swears they are one of the toughest scopes on the planet for handling recoil.....so far I haven't seen anything to disagree with him as we've used them on 300 Wby for years with out issue.

A few things about a Leupold VX3i scope using the 3.5-10x40 for example,

Mountability-it will mount on short or long action rifles without issue in low mounts

Eye Relief- always a generous eye box

Weight- one of the very best for a lightweight option and still have quality optics

My favourite hunting scope now is the Leupold VX3i 4.5-14x40 30mm side focus CDS duplex scope, best compromise for a lightweight long range hunting scope imho

Durability-as I said our family has been using them for over 30 years without one failure, not to say they don't have lemons as all companies do but....

Warranty- one of the very best warranties going.....but even better it's one you may never need

Options-they have more scope options available than most companies

[SlightlyDistracting]

My latest gold ring is also a vx3i
I bought the 8.5-25x50 lrp in mills with a ffp
I absolutely luv it
Its riding a 6.5 creedmoor. They are a perfect match

[RapStaff]

Thay make a great product and if im not mistaken the Korth Group (Canadian distribution and warranty center) is here in Alberta. I made the switch to leupold and 4 sets of binos a range finder and 3 rifle scopes later I'm still happy. My latest purchase was a 6x18x40 VX2 with a long range duplex reticle and you cant beat the warranty😀

[bat119]

I'm another gold ring fan, lots of eye relief, clear sight picture never a problem with the dozen or so I've owned.
I have to share my warranty story; I bought a vx3 1.5-5 used around 1975 I mounted it on at least 6 different rifles. A couple years ago I sent it to Korth for an estimate to get retubed because some of the finish was worn off, a week later a brand new one came in the mail. You could have pushed me over with a feather.

[Jayhad]

Originally Posted by SlightlyDistracting

4. Leupold was really founded by a woman.

Leupold & Stevens was founded by the German immigrant Markus Friedrich (Fred) Leupold and his brother-in-law Adam Voelpel in 1907, under the name Leupold & Voelpel.

[EZM]

Leupold is simply the best bang for you buck. Never had an issue with one of their products and most of my rifles wear one.

[brewster29]

I am a big Leupold fan. Way back in 1989 I had a vari-x111 2.5-8x36mounted on my Rem 700 in 340 Wby...#3 contour barrel, brown precision pounder stock. Weight with scope was exactly 7 lbs. Rifle was absolutely ferocious in the recoil department firing 250’s at 2980 fps. Scope held zero perfectly. I did have to get some weight on that rifle though. It now sports a 4.5-14 vx3 30mm long range scope and a wood stock. Now have vx3’s on 8 rifles... never an issue. There may be somewhat better optics available but I don’t think they make scopes any tougher.

[lclund1946]

Originally Posted by SlightlyDistracting

I watched a documentary last night on Leupold. Part of it was all about recoil and scopes. Learned a few intersting things.

1. Some of the hardest guns on scopes in the way of recoil are air rifles

2. 9mm recoil is some of the hardest, but because the recoil happens so fast its not noticed by shooters as much. In scope torture tests it was one of the harrdest on leupold scopes

3. According to leupold the rifle with the most recoil ever recorded is a 6 pound 375h&h ackley improved. The design of the cartridge creates massive recoil, but the duration of it is longer than some bigger calibers. Because they basically are non existent they built one for testing. One shooter at leupold tried a 5 shot group. The recoil was so hard he would black out because his head would move so fast. He was taken to ER because he blew up every blood vessel in his eyes. They said that rifle has only ever saw 29 rounds. It had 10 custom stocks made for it by a quality manufacturer. It split 5 right down the center.
4. Leupold was really founded by a woman.

5. Leupold was created for one reason. To make waterproof riflescopes

6.leupold is one of only a few manufacturers to make a scope recoil proof in both directions. Forwards and backwards.

Ill try and find a link. It was on youtube. Probably pretty easy to find

Hawke Scopes were developed for the spring gun competitors in the UK and all of their products have been rated to take the forth and back recoil since their inception. The Spring /Air gun competitors also used the Side Focus as "range finders" on the Sidewinder Scopes and the SR 12 reticle, one of the first "Range Compensating Reticles" was developed by a Hawke employee. I used to order them from a supplier in the UK before they were introduced into the North American Market in 2007. Monsens, an archery wholesaler in Peterborough, Ontario, are the Canadian Distrubitor and do any warranty work. Gerry Dinesen, who is one of their sales rep's, told me that they got into distributing Hawke scopes as they stood up best to the high powered crossbows they were selling. It is interesting to note that a friend of mine had to replace the Leupold on his varmint rifle as his wife would no longer shoot it after shooting the Hawke Endurance I suggested he put on "Her Rifle. Just the other day we put a Nightforce on a rifle that I had built for another friend. After shooting it for load development I let him shoot my varmint rifle that has a Hawke 8.5X25x44 Tactical scope on it and he commented, "That is sure a good scope".

[SlightlyDistracting]

Originally Posted by Jayhad

Leupold & Stevens was founded by the German immigrant Markus Friedrich (Fred) Leupold and his brother-in-law Adam Voelpel in 1907, under the name Leupold & Voelpel.

Yes fred was taught to shoot by his wife. Open sights at first. During a hunt his glass fogged over. Thats when he said I can do it better. Had Fred not met his wife its said he would have never made riflescopes.

[SlightlyDistracting]

Originally Posted by Jayhad

Leupold & Stevens was founded by the German immigrant Markus Friedrich (Fred) Leupold and his brother-in-law Adam Voelpel in 1907, under the name Leupold & Voelpel.

And I dont believe they were into scopes at that time but other optics