Leupold’s 100th Anniversary Golden Ring Commemorative Century Limited 3x9 Scope

 

by Jeff Quinn

photography by Jeff Quinn

February 18th, 2007

 

 

 

To celebrate one hundred years as America’s premier scope maker, Leupold has introduced a new limited edition scope to commemorate their landmark birthday.  Leupold has been the leader in quality American made rifle scopes for many years, while most of the legendary brands that American shooters have relied upon for decades are now being made in third world countries.  Leupold produces high quality optics for shooters, hunters, law enforcement, military, and bird watchers, and I have come to rely upon Leupold scopes almost exclusively when testing rifles for accuracy.  Working up loads and trying to determine just how accurate a rifle can be, the last thing that I want to worry about is if the scope is holding its setting properly, so I usually bolt on a Leupold.

This new Leupold Century Limited scope celebrates 100 years of quality precision instruments from the company in Beaverton, Oregon. Starting out repairing surveying equipment, and moving later into production of highly accurate measuring devices, Leupold & Stevens has an enviable reputation for quality in sporting and fighting optics throughout the world.

I often get requests to recommend a good scope for a hunting or target rifle, and ninety percent of the time, I recommend Leupold. Sometimes I write about a product that performs well for me, a reader buys one just like it, and has a problem with it. When this happens, believe me, I hear about it. When recommending Leupold, this never happens, and saves me the chore of reading through hateful emails. We put a lot of time and effort into the products that we review here at Gunblast.com, and I do not like wasting my time on junk. There are many cheaper brands on the market. I have a few boxes full of them. However, sometimes cheaper at the cash register is more expensive in the long run. I have many scopes that I will never use that seemed like a good deal at the time.

Another benefit of buying Leupold scopes has always been that they hold more of their value than do most others. I have noticed many times that when purchasing used rifles, other brand scopes add little or nothing to the value of the gun, but if it wears a Leupold, buyers are willing to pay more. That doesn’t happen with a third-world manufactured scope.  Another intangible benefit is pride of ownership. You never have to apologize for choosing a Leupold.

Anyway, back to the subject of this piece, Leupold has this limited edition scope to celebrate its one-hundredth birthday.  The scope is a 3 to 9 power with a 40mm objective lens and a one inch tube. It is the classic hunting scope, and is probably the most useful power range for most hunters, balancing exit pupil size to power range, and is entirely suitable for hunting anything from vermin to the largest game on Earth.  The reticle is Leupold’s LR Duplex design, which gives multiple aiming points for longer range shooting. The scope is gas-filled, and has one-quarter minute click adjustments, with a total of 56 minutes of elevation and 52 minutes of windage adjustment.  The eye relief averages about four inches, depending upon the power selected, but is never any less than 3.7 inches.  The scope wears a gloss black finish, with Leupold’s famous gold ring on the objective bell, and has a  unique anniversary logo on the side of the turret. Each scope also has a unique anniversary serial number.

Leupold's LR Duplex reticle

The Leupold Century Limited scope comes packaged in a special embossed metal box with a cardboard sleeve.  Within the box is a limited edition CRKT fixed-blade knife. The knife is marked with the Leupold anniversary logo, is made of German 4116 steel, and has Turkish Circassian walnut scales. The blade is hollow ground, and has fancy gold-colored bolsters, and has a hollow-ground blade. Also included is a leather sheath embossed with the Leupold logo, and a gold-colored commemorative coin. It is a real nice package that will likely become collectable. They will be made for one year only, and are shipping now.

Suggested retail price for the whole package is $439 US, but I have seen these for sale online at www.swfa.com for just under 350 bucks.

Check out the extensive line of Leupold optics at:  www.leupold.com.

Jeff Quinn

Got something to say about this article? Want to agree (or disagree) with it? Click the following link to go to the GUNBlast Feedback Page.

Click pictures for a larger version.