billmo said:
SB, What was the deal with Leupold and Premier anyway? I never heard much about that situation. Bill
Bill,
I'll try to be as brief as possible, but first I'll need to go over a bit of past history.
Years ago, when all of this first started, Leupold did not offer any variable scopes over 10X and any fixed power scopes over 24X. Target shooters recognized the superior quality of Leupold scopes, but wanted more magnification and a broader choice of reticles. Leupold wouldn't make these scopes, citing the "relatively small market and low demand" as a reason.
Along comes Dick Thomas, founder of Premier Reticle in Winchester VA. Premier was in the business of making custom target and hunting reticles at the time. Dick answered shooters demand for higher powered Leupold target scopes by power boosting Leupold's factory offerings. Target shooters ate them up, and they were so successful that by 1983 Leupold started making their own higher powered scopes beginning with the M8 36X fixed power and the VariX-III 6.5-20X models. The rest was history.
Many target shooters wanted even higher magnification along with the other custom features that Premier Reticle continued to provide to them. You might say that Dick Thomas and Premier Reticle put Leupold on the map as a major manufacturer of American-made target scopes at that time, and the two companies continued to grow together. Leupold was selling more scopes and Premier was able to offer more and more custom features for these scopes. They had an excellent working relationship, and if a shooter wanted a Leupold scope with features that the factory couldn't,or wouldn't) provide he was referred to Premier. Both companies honored each others warranties, and everybody was happy. In effect, Premier Reticle had become Leupold's unofficial Custom Shop. Both companier prospered.
Around the mid-1980's the US Army was in the market for a scope for its new M24 sniper rifle. Several bids to compete for the contract were put out. At first the Army wanted their own version of the Unertl USMC Sniper 10X scope, but John Unertl refused to put in his bid. Some say it was because Unertl didn't want to take the risk and go into debt to expand his factory. It was all he could do at the time to meet his USMC contract production demands. Others say it was because he felt that the Army snubbed him during WWII and he was holding a grudge.
In any case, Leupold decided to go after the Army contract and won it with their M3 Ultra 10X scope. The only fly in the ointment was that the Army specs required that their scope be equipped with a Mil-Dot reticle, which Leupold was not prepared to make at the time. Leupold turned to Premier reticle, and Dick Thomas made all of the Mil-Dot reticles that went into the Army contract M3 Ultra scopes. The Ultra scopes eventually morphed into the Mk4 lineup, and Leupold started making its own Mil-Dot reticles for these scopes. It could be said that Dick Thomas was a major player in Leupold's success in the military market.
Then the skies started to get cloudy for the Leupold/Premier Reticle relationship. There were calls for an improvement to the conventional Mil-Dot reticle, because while it worked pretty well it still had its flaws. Dick Thomas responded by designing and patenting,or copywriting?) his own new version that he named the Generation II Mil-Dot. A great imporvement! It was an immediate success, and sales of Leupolds factory installed standard Mil-Dot scopes dropped a little as Premier's Gen II reticle became more and more popular.
At the same time Leupold was going through a major management shakeup. Their stockholders wanted more profit, and hired a new President who was instructed to aggressively cut costs and increase the bottom line. Leupold attempted to "steal" Premiers Gen II reticle and offer it as an option from their own newly expanded Custom Shop without paying Premier any fees or royalties for its use. A court battle ensued, with Premier winning. In fact, I believe that a Forum member was instrumental in helping Dick Thomas defend his patent in court. He'll speak out about this if he feels like it
All of this resulted in bad blood between Leupold and Premier, but for the time being it was business as usual. Things really hit the fan however, when the USMC put out a call for bids on a new variable scope,with a Gen II style reticle) to go with its new M40A3 sniper rifle. Schmidt & Bender beat out Leupold for the new USMC contract with its 3-12x50mm PMII tactical scope. These scopes are shipped in pieces to Premier in Winchester, VA where they are assembled and the Gen II reticle is installed before being forwarded to the Marines.
Obviously this really ticked Leupold off, and they issued a press release severing all ties with Premier Reticle without even giving Premier any warning. Leupold stated that while they would honor the warranty on Premier modified Leupold scopes made up to that date, they wouldn't warranty any made after then. They even refused to sell Premier any parts to allow them to continue servicing Leupold scopes. All of this while Dick Thomas lie dying on an operating table during a heart transplant.
Although Premier had a small stock of Leupold parts that would allow them to meet their warranty obligations for the time being they could no longer work on any Leupold scopes in the future. It looks to me as if they must have run out of parts if they're no longer able to warranty their old products. Too bad for us shooters.
For all of the above reasons, and some others that I haven't mentioned, I will not purchase any Leupold products as long as the situation goes unchanged. Ya'll do whatever you think is right. It's still a free country,for the time being).
Sorry for the extra-long post, but remember .....you asked me
