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Rifle Scopes were is leupold glass made? Do they make ---

skeetlee

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My reloading guy was telling some story about that were ever leupold glass is made that the same people are making glass for another company and selling the same product for less. This guy is my friend but he is usually full of knowledge that nobody knows about, if you know what i mean. I havent ever given this, his statement much though, but after hearing him tell this story about 5 times now i thought i would ask around, and see if i could get the scoop. I love getting into debates with this fella, but on this subject i have no rebuttal. Thanks Lee
 
Re: were is leupold glass made? Do they make ---

Optical glass is made in very few places Japan and Germany being two of the primary producers.I believe Leupold like most others contract from several sources for the raw glass.They have a spec set for what they want and who ever can supply that spec at the time probably gets the order.
 
Re: were is leupold glass made? Do they make ---

I believe Leupold contracts their glass out to a company in China, I may be wrong so others please chime in. Regardless, just because a company makes glass for one vendor does not mean other glass they make is the same. As an example, Zeiss makes IOR glass. IOR is excellent, but not Diavari.

Your friend could be alluding to the cheap Mk4 knock-offs coming out of China.
 
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Re: were is leupold glass made? Do they make ---

To my knowledge, China as a nation has purchased more Optical CNC machines (for grinding and machining lens), molding machines, etc than any other country in the past decade and knocking them off as well. As a result they do have the technology to produce quality products equal to anything coming out of Japan, Germany, USA. Whether they employ that technology properly to produce a quality product is the question.

That said, all optical glass is manufactured to a specification. It is certain that the same factory can make glass for a Leupold specification and make glass for someone else to another specification. It's the same factory, but may or may not be the same glass, depending on the specification.

It goes without saying the knowledge the Chinese are getting from Leupold or other manufacturers subcontracting to them is being used by the Chinese in developing their own optics for military applications.
 
Re: were is leupold glass made? Do they make ---

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SpotcheckBilly</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Leupold isn't saying, but I believe that they're getting the glass for their cheaper scopes from China and the glass for their higher quality scopes is sourced from Japan. </div></div>


Ding,ding,ding You are correct..I have a friend that works for leupold.I asked him the same question a few months back.That sir is the awnser he gave me.
 
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