Reply With QuoteWell, bless your heart....Originally Posted by Peter_Kirch
unfortunately I did....once.
unfortunately I did....once.
Well, bless your heart....unfortunately I did....once.
it just helps me proclaim the crappiness ::)
Swarovski and Kahles (Swarovski now runs Kahles) is having more and more components made in China and Japan.
S&Bs are mostly assembled in Hungary, the Hungarian Opticai Works made S&B lenses and parts for years then S&B bought them out and they are now Schmidt & Bender Hungaria Optik GmbH.
Zeiss is having more work done by Meopta, the plant in the US that assembles the Conquest is actually ran by Meopta and 80% of the scope is Meopta. Supposedly the same plant is also assembling the Minox scopes.
Trijicon scopes are made in Japan then brought to the US for final assembly, the glow in the dark parts come from Israel. (OSHA doesn't let many US companies play with tritium and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a flat PITA).
The body of the ACOG was farmed out to be made in China much like the Aimpoint. Now you have a ton of clones/copies being made in China after they reverse engineered them.
Leica scopes (made by Leupold in the past) are supposedly assembled in Germany but a lot of the parts may be coming from Leica's new plant in China which is also making lens assemblies for Panasonic cameras (both video and still).
Unless your getting like a MK 4, Leupolds glass is now Chinese, higher end you get Japanese. Binos, spotting scopes and rangefinders are made in Japan, Korea and China depending on the model line.
Barska looks for the best deal, I have seen Russian made binos and spotting scopes along with Chinese made.
Darn all of this outsourcing!
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Bound to be some new brands being offered since the last update on this list which was back in 2010....
The new Redfield Revenge line is made in the Philippines.
The Swarovski Z3 is assembled here in the states at the same Meopta plant that assembles the Zeiss Conquest and Minox scopes. They have also added the capability of assembling limited numbers of the Z5 and Z6 at their Cranston, RI facility (this may be a dodge of import duty and to qualify for DoD contracts).
The new Steiner Predator Xtreme riflescopes will be assembled at the Burris plant in Greeley, CO with Burris even making the tube.
The Nikon Monarchs have been moved to the Philippines. The Monarch Gold, X and Africans are still made in Japan.
The new Weaver Kaspas are made in China but supposedly at a plant that is co-operated by a Japanese firm that made only high end binos before.
Swift Premier scopes are Korean made but the Reliant scopes are Chinese made.
Some of the new Vortex Vipers are being made at the Phillippine plant along side the Monarchs.
Higher end Pentax are still assembled by Burris but the lower end has moved from the Philippines to China. Pentax never made lenses, the lenses for both Pentax and Burris made in the states at one time came from a Japanese firm that was tied to the hip with Hoya. Supposedly since the takeover of Pentax by Hoya and the sale of Burris to Beretta the Pentax/Burris relationship isn't what it used to be.
"Swift Premier scopes are Korean made but the Reliant scopes are Chinese made."
I've got a lot of the Premiers but none of the Reliants. I thought they were Korean made too or at least use to be. Has that change recently?
Swift went thru a bankruptcy a few years back which resulted in the sport optics spilt off from "educational" (microscopes and telescopes). The sport optics is now based out of Lakewood, CO. The Premier line and pistol scopes was their bread and butter and the Reliant is their low cost line which is probly why the are now from China. The have added 30mm tubes to the Premier line but the cost doubled over the 1". Still a lifetime warranty for the Premier riflescope line and a 25 year for Premier binos and spotting scopes but the Reliant lines only carry a 5 year. They like to plug US made BaK 7 Schott prisms in their riflescopes, OK maybe they meant lenses instead of prisms, but it is not BaK 7 it is BK 7 and I was told Schott does not and has not produced it in the USA. The stuff from Korea still comes out of the same optical plant that produces a lot of top notch binos and spotting scopes for several companies (Leupold is one).
Yeah I knew all of that except for the Reliants being made in China, but as I said I've never owned a reliant, just the premiers. I think you're right in that they meant the lenses instead of prisms. As far as the price though, it depends where you get it from. I've got one of the 30mm tube models and while it was more expensive than the 1" model, it wasn't even close to twice as much.
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