tightneck said:
rmist said:
Why did premier stop boosting scopes ??
Thanx... Rmist
The man who started premier passed away a couple years ago. I don't know exactly how it all transpired, but Premier was a certified Leupold repair center until his passing. When he died his son took over but the Leupold contract was not renewed.
Actually, that's not what happened.
Dick Thomas, who owned Premier Reticles, did custom reticles repairs and modifications on Leupold scopes from the beginning.
It was Dick Thomas that put Leupold scopes on the map.
In the beginning, Premier Reticles made reticles for the military and optical industry... and Leupold made very high quality hunting and varmint scopes - Weaver was the king of the benchrest crowd,hard to believe now, Huh?).
So Premier started putting Mildot reticles in the Leupold military scopes - the MK4-M3 and the MK4-M1.
Then he started boosting the power of the varmint scopes with really good lenses, and Leupold/boosted scopes started pushing out Weaver.
Premier became a dealer and the only repair station for Leupold.
Then Premier started making all kinds of custom reticles for the Leupold. Since they would only work on Leupolds, people that wanted custom reticles started buying Leupolds instead of other scopes because they could get the reticle of their dreams... the relationship benefited both companies.
About ten~ish years ago, Leupold brought in some Harvard/Yale type MBAs.
These grubby assholes thought, "Hell, we could be making money on these custom reticles instead of those guys - and one of the first things they did was start shutting out Premier Reticles.
At the time, Leupold made a nifty little spotting scope called the 25x50. IIRC, it listed for around $250~ish. It was the size of a beer can, with really good optics.
Premier put mildot reticles in these and sold them to the military and tactical shooters for a whoppin $800. Plus, Premier had a ton of special military Cordura cases made for them with A.L.I.C.E. clips, so they could be attached to web belts or Alice packs.
It wasn't a ripoff, there was a ton of work in it and a lot of special machinery involved.
Well... the Harvard/Yale type MBAs decided to discontinue the little scope and bring in some Asian junk,the Wind River line).
Instead of telling Premier, and giving them the opportunity to purchase all of the remaining 25x50 scopes, Leupold said "Nothing"!
So, when Premier runs low on the 25x50, and orders more, they get a terse form letter saying "No longer available".
So Dick calls Leupold, and asks why they didn't get advance warning,cuz they had a ton of orders pending), and why they didn't get a chance to buy all of the remaining inventory when the decision was made to disco the scopes... Dick was told, "You are not part of our business decisions!".
Dick Thomas was miffed, but thought he still had a working relationship with Leupold.
That was part one...
Part two:
Dick designs a new type of Mildot reticle called the "Gen-II", and applies for a patent. he starts to sell them under the "Patent pending" protection of patent law.
Leupold rips him off, and starts selling Gen-II reticle'd scopes to the military.
Then Nikon follows.
Leupold was claiming that the Gen-II reticle was a copy of the "Smith reticle",,which no body used cuz it was junk), but under that, Leupold was claiming that since the Gen-II reticle was a copy of the Smith reticle, and since the Smith reticle's patent had run out, then the Gen-II reticle was "Public art",meaning no patent protection!!!).
That was Leupold's position to the Patent Office. So the Patent Office denied Premier Reticle's patent application.
So Dick calls them and says "What the hell is going on here?", and is politely told by the Harvard/Yale type MBAs...
... "That's business!, Oh and by the way, while we have you on the phone, you are getting no more scopes, no more parts, and we will not honor the Warranties any of your work or repairs after,XXX DATE)".
Out of the bleu, with no warning, Premier was shut off and shut down - since they had limited their work to only Leupold, Leupold had effectively put them out of business.
So I got a call from Dick, and he asked if I could help him on the Gen-II problem.
So I spent a few weeks looking up the Smith Reticle, and wrote the challenge to the Patent Office's decision, and we won!!
Dick got a patent for the Gen-II, and then promptly sued Leupold,and now Nikon) for patent infringement, and was awarded triple damages,A LOT OF MONEY).
Then Premier went off in different directions.
That's how it happened.
.