Rifle Feeding and High Dollar Scope Failure

In an earlier post I discussed the problems I had with the Kimber 84M Classic I took to Gunsite. Kimber fixed that rifle completely. I had no problems with it at all when I took it to the range this weekend. I put a few boxes of ammo through it and not one problem at all. The guys at Kimber really impressed me. There is a way of thinking that says that "you learn about the quality of a company's customer service when their product fails". Well Kimber's treatment of my problem made me a big fan.

Not only does Gunsite expose any rifle problems you may have, the program can also reveal problems you may be having with sights or scopes. This is exactly what happened to me.

Let me start by saying that I hate low quality optics. I can't stand to see the guy sitting next to me at the range with a thousand dollar rifle and an $89 scope on it. What sense does that make? In general cheap scopes stink.

I had a Zeiss 1.5 x 6 Diavari scope on my Kimber and it failed on day two of the Gunsite class. The right "arm" of the reticle simply snapped. It just hung there wiggling around when the rifle moved. I was unhappy as this is a pricey piece of optics.

Luckily at the last minute I had thrown my dangerous game gun (A custom pre-64 M70 in 375 H&H) in the truck just in case I had an opportunity to shoot it while at Gunsite. It had a Leupold VX III 1.5 x 5 scope on it with an illuminated reticle. I yanked it off and popped it on the Kimber. After a quick sight in session with coach Mario I was "back in the fight". The Leupold scope performed flawlessly and was exceptional during the low light/night shooting exercise. The illuminated reticle was an advantage at night. Other shooters present could not see their reticle and mine had a nice red dot in the middle of it.

So what does all this mean in the practical sense? Is the Zeiss scope inferior, or more fragile than the Leupold? I can't draw that conclusion because this was not a scientific test. But I can tell you that I shot the rest of the course with the Leupold, and don't want to take it off my Kimber.

Would I suggest that you scrap a Zeiss scope if you have one? No.

Would I tell you that if you have a Leupold on your rifle that you don't need a backup scope? No.

I will tell you the slight advantage you may gain in the light gathering ability of a European scope may not be worth the price which is usually double or triple that of a Leupold. Furthermore I do not like the adjustment knobs on the Zeiss.

As far as customer service goes, I am very pleased with Leupold in that area as well. In preparation for a hunt in Tanzania last year, I mounted a Leupold scope on my DG gun and overtightened the Talley rings beyond reason. The next day we had a rare rain storm here in Tucson and when I dry fired the rifle that night I noticed that the lenses were fogged up badly. I called Leupold the next day and the customer service guy asked me what rings I was using and I told him. He asked me if the tops of the rings were touching each other and I said "yes". He said "that's your problem". Huh? "Well those rings are not supposed to touch at the top". "uh, oh". He said "don't worry what's your address? I'll send you a new one, just send me the broken one". That's service. I busted the scope and they sent me a new one without even getting the old one yet.

My conclusion? If you are planning a hunting trip to any place that you are considering buying a premium scope for...buy two identical scopes and set up the second one for a quick change in case you have a problem. - TJR