In early 2025, I stepped into my new role as Product Category Manager for Leupold Optics, overseeing sales across Australia. Not long after, I was fortunate enough to travel to the USA for a Leupold factory tour and immersion training.

My journey in the firearms world began at a local gun shop.

The past three years at NIOA as an optics technician—working on and customising Leupolds—gave me an intimate understanding of their riflescopes. Now, it was time to see the heart and home of Leupold.

As a lifelong competitive shooter now representing one of the most respected optics brands in both business and competition, it was an experience I won’t forget.

A Legacy of Innovation

Leupold is based in Oregon’s prime hunting country. The company was founded in 1907 by Fredrick Leupold and Adam Voelpel, crafting high-precision surveying equipment combining both intricate mechanical designs and optical elements long before riflescopes entered the frame. Fredrick’s philosophy of a “Square Deal”—where customers who invested in quality deserved lifetime support—became the basis of Leupold’s famous guarantee.

In the 1940s, hunting enthusiast Marcus Leupold, frustrated by a fogged-up riflescope while on a hunt, decided to design and produce his own riflescope: the Leupold Plainsman. Released in 1947, it became the first riflescope to use nitrogen purging, preventing fogging and setting a new standard in optics. From there came the now-famous M8 and Vari-X designs that would take the company to new heights.

Today, Leupold employs over 750 staff, including 80 optical engineers. Their in-house design, manufacturing and testing are uncompromising. By keeping this whole process in-house, Leupold has full control over the design, manufacturing and quality control process without compromise. Additionally, all models—from VX-Freedom to Mark 5HD—must pass “The Punisher”, a recoil simulation test well exceeding the punishment of a .375 H&H. Each unit must endure 5,000+ cycles with zero issues before release.

Stepping onto the Leupold factory floor in Beaverton, Oregon, felt like entering a hybrid world where cutting-edge innovation meets old-school craftsmanship. This isn’t just a production line—it’s a precision lab, a testing ground and a place where pride in workmanship is clearly alive and well.

Factory Tour—A Masterclass in American Manufacturing

Every component of a Leupold riflescope starts as raw material—locally sourced wherever possible—and is then transformed through some of the most advanced CNC machinery available. These high-spec German machines operate with surgical accuracy, machining everything from turrets to main tubes to within microns of tolerance. What’s most impressive is not just the technology, but the fact that it's all done in-house, under one roof. That’s increasingly rare in today’s optics industry.

But the machines are just the beginning. The real soul of the factory lies with the people. Each technician is deeply skilled, highly trained, and—most importantly—committed to doing the job right. Most employees I spoke to had been with Leupold for decades and you can vividly sense the pride as they go about their work. This isn’t about churning out volume. It all calls back to Marcus Leupold's original vision and the very reason he decided to produce a riflescope after being let down in the field. They build every scope as if it was going on their own rifle and going on their own hunts or trips to the range. It’s a heartfelt guarantee of performance in the field.

Once the raw parts are machined, they undergo a series of processes to prepare them including bead blasting, anodising for durability, laser engraving for the selectors, dials and logos and finally, a rigorous round of quality control. This alone would be impressive, but it’s the assembly stage where things really start to come alive.

Every scope is hand-assembled. It’s a process requiring immense concentration, dexterity and cleanliness. Each and every lens is cleaned to a microscopic level before being inserted. One speck of dust or a fingerprint can compromise the performance, so technicians wear gloves and work in controlled environments. The optics must remain perfectly clean as each additional component is added—reticles, locknuts, springs, lenses, seals and adjustments—all fitted and aligned with absolute precision.

This part of the process is so delicate that some scopes take multiple hours to assemble. Watching the techs working at their benches, you appreciate this is as much art as science. Every movement is deliberate and calculated, their keen eyes checking and verifying repeatedly as they fit each component.

Once assembled, scopes are nitrogen-purged—just like the original Plainsman from 1947—but with state-of-the-art systems to ensure purity and consistency. This prevents internal fogging and ensures longevity in the harshest conditions. After purging, each scope is sealed and moved to testing. Here, they’re subjected to extreme pressure and temperature simulations—down to nine atmospheres underwater, and rapid heat/cold transitions—to ensure no moisture has survived within the scope and guarantee absolute reliability in all conditions.

The key element that’s always attracted me to Leupold stands out the most here. Every single scope, whether it’s a VX-Freedom or a top-tier Mark 5HD, goes through this same treatment. There’s no shortcut for the entry-level products. That’s part of what makes Leupold so special—durability and quality aren’t reserved for the elite models. All Leupolds must live up to the same exceptionally high standard. It’s embedded into every product they make.

Our final stop on the tour was the internal 100m underground test range and the service department. This is where Leupold not only verifies the optical and mechanical performance of each scope but also honours their lifetime guarantee. Like NIOA, they take pride in servicing and restoring scopes that may have been through decades of hard use. It's not just about making scopes that last—it's about keeping them in the field where they belong.

In an era where outsourcing and automation often dilute the integrity of product manufacturing, Leupold stands firm. Everything I saw reinforced the fact that these optics are built by shooters, for shooters—by a team that genuinely cares about the end user. As someone who’s spent years working on Leupold scopes in Australia, getting to see where they’re born, and the people who make them, was nothing short of inspiring.

Low Light and Glare Performance

The next day we travelled three hours inland, over Mount Hood to Madras, where we tested a wide array of optics from across the market in real-world lighting. At sunset and well into darkness, we observed subtle changes, moment-to-moment in the image particularly around contrast. Leupold’s ability to enhance the eye’s natural capabilities in low light really stood out once the sun had disappeared entirely and our ‘natural night vision’ formed.

At 4am, we rose to test glare performance into the rising sun. Facing a ridge 1,200m away, we compared scopes as sunlight entered the field of view. This was where Leupold’s superiority shone—literally. With optics, we often speak at depth about light transmission. In reality, it’s all about light management. Leupold’s cutting edge glass coatings, the optical design and mechanical design of the components is extremely critical in this. For example, if you look ‘backwards’ through your objective lens, you’ll notice hundreds of precise cuts in the inside of the maintube. Every surface is specifically designed to redirect light to prevent glare.

For me, the glare test left a lasting impression. Being able to produce a riflescope that excels in both low light and extreme brightness such as glare gives you performance on both ends of the spectrum. Comparing with other manufacturers, some ranged from a reduction in contrast or colour all the way through to being completely unusable for close to an hour in one case. If you haven’t tested your optic in this twilight zone of sunsets and sunrises, I highly recommend doing so. In a world where it takes trained eyes to pick the difference between ‘equivalent’ optics, this test exposes poor light management for all to see. The difference is truly night and day!

Range Time at Madras

The next day, we headed to Leupold's Madras range—a long-range shooter’s paradise. Hundreds of steel targets spanned the bowl-like range out to a mile allowing for pan and distance.

We started by trialling the new VX-6HD Gen2 scopes with the tool-less CDS-SZL2 dial system. After confirming zero at 100 yards (super easy with the tool-less dials!) we then ranged and engaged targets in a hunting scenario. Starting at 180 yards all the way through to 970 yards, we confidently engaged vital zones on deer targets. The CDS system made adjusting for elevation simply intuitive, fast and precise—perfect for hunting situations.

Next came the Mark 5HD series. Under the guidance of Leupold instructor Brent Baer, we refined our wind-calls using Kestrels and developed wind brackets to shoot effectively out to a mile. From barricades and props, we practised holding over with the PR2-MIL reticle—simulating PRS-style challenges under pressure.

A Final Cast on the Columbia River

Back in Portland, we switched gears with a day on the Columbia River. Leupold is more than just hunting and shooting—they’re outdoors people through and through. With their new Daylight Max eyewear and dry bags, we hit the water.

Like matching ski goggle lenses to snow conditions, these glasses are designed to boost brightness and clarity without sacrificing glare control. The performance was impressive—we could see the fish, though, sadly, none were biting. Still, fishing with mates is

about the experience, not just the catch and it was a cracking day on the water.

Reflections

After catching nothing but a cold, it was time to head back to Brisbane. The trip was an unforgettable deep dive into Leupold’s culture of excellence. Watching how they pursue quality so relentlessly was a privilege. I’m proud to work with two companies—NIOA and Leupold—that are defined by precision, performance, and passion.