What happened to US optics?
- Thread starter Macmann1
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It's been about 20 years since USO had a great rep. Options were between s&b pm2, premier, hensdoldt or USO in the high end markets. They were the only US made scope. Their quality went down the shitter and people stopped buying them. I remember telling the owner George he needed to move out of CA to keep his prices competitive. Their prices stayed high, quality went down and the competition came along and made them irrelevant. Later on George died/sold the company and they started using the name to import cheap OEM shit that just kept on devaluing the brand. They did come up with the first true 1-8x LPVO / DFP that was usable. But they never improved it and their reticle options for the most part sucked ( and still don't this day).
They were kinda like March is. You can spec anything and they will hand build what you want...which was pretty cool. Ultimately ownership let their tech stagnate and didn't keep up the quality commensurate with their price point.
They were kinda like March is. You can spec anything and they will hand build what you want...which was pretty cool. Ultimately ownership let their tech stagnate and didn't keep up the quality commensurate with their price point.
Several ownership changes and a GAP reticle with EREK elevation knob is not novel like it once was years ago
They're still selling 20 year old designs and started importing Chinese made stuff for their "affordable" line that's on par with stuff half the cost.
They just need to die and be gone at this point.
They just need to die and be gone at this point.
Imported by Americans for Americans!
Was US Optics the reason the Spuhr 4003B was made?
That's pretty accurate, except it is John, not George. He sold the company and is alive and well. He did move out of California. I talked to him a couple of weeks ago.
When the company was sold, it was first heading to Montana. It turned out that there were some shenanigans between the team that bought them, so the company ended up in North Carolina, owned by the same gentleman who owns Zero Delta.
ILya
Connelly Springs/Hickory. They still sell scopes that at least look like the legacy scopes. No idea of manufacture and components source though. I will say I needed a new EREK for a 20 year old SN3 1.8-10 on my .22 rimfire and they handled it quickly and well with custom etching to boot.
It was in Montana for a bit. I met the guy that was running the place when it was here.
Sounded like he bought it, realized how little the margins were, and sold it.
+1
Like Leupold at the time, they had a competitive product 15-20 years ago but sat on it (post CA) while everyone else was making improvements. (At least Leupold figured it out eventually and brought updated products to market).
When JBW III sold USO, and it went from being owned by an afficionado (my opinion) to being owned by your typical 'venture capital' company. Profits became more important than product, and the image that the Brea, CA company created was no more. Innovation turned into importing cheap products, and slapping their name on it in hopes that brand recognition would create more sales.
*****
I had an ST-10 in about 2007, and I just bought a MST-100 that was made in 2008. Believe it or not, the glass is still good... not competitive with today's Alpha optics, but noticeably better than your legacy Mark 4s and Bushnell DMRs.
Made good beating sticks, hammers, pry bars, etc… as well. I had a legacy ST10 and wish I would have kept it. It held up to the Barrett very well
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