Chinese made scopes and products

[Raythemanroe]

I have looked at most companies and Burris is making almost all of there stuff in China (sad). Viper I don't know if they was ever made here, Leupold already outsourced Redfield very quickly not to mention there binocs are foreign made now. Well, I guess what I'm getting at Viper is pretty expensive and not cheap for a China product..Burris is not cheap for a Philippians scope Is it me or do other people feel even if the product has the same quality you know it is costing much less to produce and I have a hard time buying Chinese junk for what American and German products cost...Japan make good stuff to.

 

[Raythemanroe]

Just saying at these price points don't everybody think it should be made here at least 51% enough to be called American?

 

[jonbearman]

It is truly sad that all the companys included in our beloved sport have turned over our work to the chinese govt because these companys are all state controlled and their military will have all of our engineering for free to flood the market with fakes. I wish leupold and the others would bring the jobs back here.

 

[KMart]

Jon
With the cost of governmental regulation, health care, taxes, etc,etc, it is way to costly to bring the jobs back. Plus, it is easier to have a "Green" sales facility than it is to have a Green production facility.

 

[Raythemanroe]

Government is definitely the problem but they are far to expensive for Chinese products.

 

[LHSmith]

I believe this thread has a lot of erroneous information. The Redfield Revolution Series IS made in Oregon, where-as the entire Redfield line had been made overseas ever since the Denver plant closed. Leupold should be applauded for their efforts to maintain as much manufacturing in the States as possible....although in the end it may just be a loosing proposition with the anti-business climate that exists in this country today. They certainly don't deserve to get a bad rap on a forum through bad info, when they are one of the last optic manufacturers to maintain their primary business in the USA....Made Right...Made Here.

 

[Raythemanroe]

The revolution is made here but you already new that and the revenge which is gonna be Redfields main model with the most options is made in the Philippians..I believe, you may not, but if a company buy's the name and advertises it as a American company come back to us like some great story book tale then does a bate and switch it's pretty low...Redfield (leupold) and Vortex along with others try to hide that fact very well..The fact of not being American made that is.. I would like to repeat this is not about bashing or anything like that but I do believe that we are getting ripped of by dirt low Chinese, Philippians or who ever is building it for pennies...How much did a Vortex Razor HD cost to build in the Philippians? My guess no where even remotely near $1999.95 right? Is it that much better then a Nightforce? Which last I new was still made hear and ruffly the same price..

 

[LHSmith]

Nightforce is manufactured in Japan. Inspected and tested in Idaho.
Leupold Gold Ring products are made in the USA. If it doesn't have a Gold Ring i.e, Rifleman Scopes, binoculars, some spotting scopes , they are imported.
This is all info found on their websites. I find no hidden agenda, or bait and switch. It just stands to reason that low price point products will be made elsewhere and imported. An American Company is incorporated in the USA and pays taxes here, and most likely is predominately controlled by Americans.
If we are getting "ripped off" by poor foreign made products, then we can only blame ourselves for buying junk that is inferior and cannot be repaired because we are too cheap to buy well established brands with excellent service history. I could care less what the manufacturing costs of a Vortex Razor HD is. They are a new start-up company, and if they want to stay around they will have to produce a quality product with excellent service ....at a price point that is competitive to that particular market....if the owner of Vortex makes enough profit to push him past the 1 % 'er's......more power to him.

 

[Raythemanroe]

I gotta tell ya if everybody is paying that kinda of money for Japanese scopes it won't be long Leupold's complete line will be imported..They would be stupid to pay more to build them...That being said most of these Philippians scopes are coming out of the same factory's.

 

[gmorganal]

Why do we keep talking about scopes made in the Philippians? Last I checked, that was a book in the Bible.

 

[BigDMT]

It is what it is and there's nothing we can do about it.

 

[tenring]

I remember 50 years ago when everything made in Japan was considered "junk". Today, Japanese products are (mostly) very good quality. The Chinese are going thru the same metamorphsis. A few Chinese products are very good, others just the opposite. What really burns me is that our political hacks in DC keep borrowing from a Communist country. If China ever calls in our debt it will bankrupt the US.

 

[boltman13]

Being so deep in debt to China is certainly a concern, but the main problem is if China and the rest of the world we borrow from loose faith in out ability to repay that debt, we will be in the same position as Greece or Spain, only able to borrow at very high interest rates and forced to divert a much higher amount of our taxes to cover our debts and impose tremendous austerity measures on the people which could lead to civic unrest, revolution or national bankrupcy if no one will loan us money at all. If the duds in Washington don't get their act togather and spend less than they take in it is a dismal future we all face. Rant concluded.

 

[JRS]

When it comes down to optics, the Chinese are every bit as capable as everyone else. It depends on what you want, and are willing to pay. They source their lenses from Austria, Japan, Germany or Romania. Each company makes lenses of varying grades depending upon your wants and amount of money you are willing to spend.

 

[Gman]

Nightforce is manufactured in Japan. Inspected and tested in Idaho.
Leupold Gold Ring products are made in the USA. If it doesn't have a Gold Ring i.e, Rifleman Scopes, binoculars, some spotting scopes , they are imported.
This is all info found on their websites. I find no hidden agenda, or bait and switch. It just stands to reason that low price point products will be made elsewhere and imported. An American Company is incorporated in the USA and pays taxes here, and most likely is predominately controlled by Americans.
If we are getting "ripped off" by poor foreign made products, then we can only blame ourselves for buying junk that is inferior and cannot be repaired because we are too cheap to buy well established brands with excellent service history. I could care less what the manufacturing costs of a Vortex Razor HD is. They are a new start-up company, and if they want to stay around they will have to produce a quality product with excellent service ....at a price point that is competitive to that particular market....if the owner of Vortex makes enough profit to push him past the 1 % 'er's......more power to him.

Nightforces BR series scope tubes are made in Japan. The lens' also come from Japan. (possibly Deon Optical) All of the internal parts are from various places around the globe (including some "Made in the USA"), and the scopes are assembled in Idaho. This was the way it was explained to me by Brian who is a technician at NF. Although the phone conversation I had with him was 2 + years ago. I suppose things could have changed since then.

 

[LHSmith]

I got my info from the current NF website in the FAQ page.
This whole imported or not imported business is silly. Just a fact of life in these times that it is most cases less expensive to produce a product abroad.....get used to it.....it ain't gonna turn around any time soon....if ever.
I've seen too many gripes on this board about Leupold being "less bang for the buck" and on occasion having a problem with a repair.......then turn around and question why nothing is made domestically anymore. If you want to buy USA ....you are going to pay a premium......just that simple.

 

[JRS]

I got my info from the current NF website in the FAQ page.
This whole imported or not imported business is silly. Just a fact of life in these times that it is most cases less expensive to produce a product abroad.....get used to it.....it ain't gonna turn around any time soon....if ever.
I've seen too many gripes on this board about Leupold being "less bang for the buck" and on occasion having a problem with a repair.......then turn around and question why nothing is made domestically anymore. If you want to buy USA ....you are going to pay a premium......just that simple.

+1

Also, Deon Optical does not manufacture their lenses. They are made and ground to specs by a lens manufacture using the design from Deon. Nightforce continues to use lenses made by Schott.

 

[jhelmuth]

There is a "big picture" problem here. American workers have a very difficult time making a living wage and have a direct impact on the cost to produce product. If our cost of living (and standards) were more like "China", we would be in a better position to compete with CHina on cost. However... this is not the only factor on the downward spiral of American Made products. America also regulates businesses in some very positive (yet also expensive) ways. Between environmental, worker safety, and union pressures, American companies add some significant costs to their products. Lastly, American consumers are a big part too. We want to buy these Chinese imports because they are so much cheaper than the soon-to-be-extinct American made products. What do we expect an American company to do when it's customers are demanding low cost products?

WE are the problem. If WE want to fix it, WE have to decide that cost is not the most imortant factor in purchases. I do not deny my fellow man a decent profit so that he can live and rasie a family, and I expect the same. When did we stop understanding all this?

 

[wwbrown]

I am currently working on some electronic products for the shooting industry and would love to be able to stamp "100% made in the US of A!" but it is not possible in the electronics world to do that as most of the electrical components are made overseas. I intend to do the assembly here but I will not be able to source many components here. I am not making any claims about why or how this is happening, I am just trying to bring some products out on the market.

I realize that this discussion is about optics but wanted to put up another example.

 

[jonbearman]

Here is another example.Xerox corporation was on the skids alittle while back.Afetr all the studie's outside the company by accounting firms,the real problem was the management just draining the company with high pay and unreal bonuses.They cured it and are now in a much better way. I always thought it was govt restrictions and high union pay.It usually boils down to too many chiefs and not enough indians. It is a fact.This is in direct proportion to why things cost so much as the management produe's nothing and is a pure drain to be offset by increasing prices.