Leupold® is issuing a customer alert to purchasers of products, particularly via Internet sales, in regards to bogus Leupold products that are apparently being illegally imported from the People’s Republic of China. These products bear many of the marks and trade dress of current Leupold & Stevens riflescopes making them very hard to distinguish externally from authentic Leupold products.
- Most people aren't sufficiently knowledgeable to recognize that detailed a difference. If a person is looking at used Leupold scopes on eBay, about half of them are incorrectly described, as sellers either don't know that there is a difference between Vari-X IIs, VX-IIs, and VX-2s and between VX-Is and VX-1s, or they are purposely advertising an older scope with lower grade optics as a newer.
- You can phone Leupold in the US and they will check serial no. They can confirm the model from the no. I've done it several times to check if a scope is fake (there are many out there, especially Mark IV).
- We’ve been making world-class optics that bear our family name for over 100 years. We honor that legacy every day as we design, machine and assemble riflescopes at our state-of-the-art facility in Beaverton, Oregon. When you buy Leupold, you become part o.
Every Leupold scope produced since 1974 will have a letter included in the serial number acting as a date-code. Scopes manufactured prior to 1974 will typically have a five or six digit serial number without a prefix or suffix. Scopes using a letter as a prefix (the beginning of the serial number) were produced between 1974 and 1992. I'm trying to identify this Leupold Scope for my dad. He has had it for quite a while, at least 20 years. From what I can tell its a 3-9x40. It doesn't have a gold ring on the front tube which omits it from most models I could find on their website, and the serial number (shown in pics) doesn't have a letter prefix that would indicate manufacture date.
Counterfeited Leupold Mark 4® riflescopes and more recently, counterfeited Leupold Prismatic riflescopes have begun to arrive with increasing regularity at the firm’s Beaverton, Oregon, headquarters for service. These products are not manufactured by Leupold and are not covered by the Leupold Full Lifetime Guarantee.
Leupold employs serial number tracking for all its riflescopes, so if a customer finds a scope that is suspect, he or she can simply write down the serial number and call 1-800-LEUPOLD to confirm if it is indeed authentic.
Counterfeited Leupold Mark 4® riflescopes:
In general, most of the scopes appear to originate from Hong Kong (People’s Republic of China), and have “Leupold Mark 4” laser engraved on the bottom of the turret in a silver etch, while the black ring on the objective is etched in white and does not include the name “Leupold”. The scopes also do not bear the Leupold medallion, a mark all Leupold scopes will always possess. An authentic Mark 4 riflescope will always be engraved black on black and have the name “Leupold” engraved on the black ring.
Identifying Marks:
Counterfeited Leupold Prismatic riflescopes:
The absence of a serial number and barcode on the bottom of the scope is the easiest way to identify these counterfeits. A brass ring may be visible when looking into the objective and screws can be seen on the top of the finger click adjustments under the caps. The product name is not engraved on the black ring.
Leupold Rifle Scope Serial Numbers
Leupold Scope Serial Number Location
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