Happy birthday, Leupold®: America's optics authority celebrates a century!

Shooting Industry, Nov, 2007 by John Morrison

This has been a year of celebration at Leupold & Stevens, as the legendary company marks its 100th anniversary. A Century Sweepstakes, with an impressive array of prizes, a Golden Ring Century Limited Edition riflescope and other commemorative optics, and special events and promotions have honored the company's first 100 years. More important, according to Tom Fruechtel, president and CEO, the company has honored its employees.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Ultimately, we could not have reached this centennial without the entire Leupold family--the employees who provide the inspiration and dedication to building what many consider the best sporting optics in the world. I know the founders would be pleased with the success we have worked so hard to achieve," Fruechtel said.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Indeed. Leupold & Stevens has achieved significant milestones in the fields of optics, engineering and manufacturing that have gained them an admirable reputation recognized around the world.

However, few people realize that for almost half of its first century of history, "America's Optics Authority" did not make or sell riflescopes. Until the founder's oldest son missed a shot at a big buck deer due to a fogged scope, Leupold & Stevens built and repaired surveying and water-metering instruments.

Born in Ravensburg, Germany, young Marcus Friederich "Fred" Leupold was apprenticed as a machinist in Bavaria. In 1891, at only 16 years old, he immigrated to America the hard way--as a "steerage space" passenger. In Boston he found both a job and a friend, fellow immigrant and skilled technician Adam Voelpel. It wasn't long before the two headed to Alaska for the great Klondike gold rush. They returned to Boston broke, but determined to go West again. In 1907 they founded Leupold & Voelpel in Portland, Ore.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In the rapidly growing West, Leupold and Voelpel built a successful business and a solid reputation for the precision and ruggedness of their transits and compasses. Later, J.C. Stevens contributed his remarkable business skills and 17 patented hydrographic devices. Around 1913, William Bushnell Osborne, a forester and engineer, brought a prototype optical "fire-finder" to Leupold for production. The Osborne fire-finder became standard U.S. Forest Service equipment, and over 4,000 units were installed across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Some of them are still in use today.

A New Direction

During World War II, Leupold & Stevens built compasses and sextants for Liberty and Victory ships, and repaired machine gun sights for the Merchant Marine. In the process, they pioneered a new and superior method of waterproofing optical devices--by filling them with nitrogen gas.

At the war's end, Leupold celebrated victory, but found the devices they had built for government agencies were too good. They weren't wearing out. Business was falling off, and Fred's son, Marcus Leupold, felt personally responsible for his "family" of employees.

He looked for a new direction for the company and found it on a deer hunt in western Oregon. When he missed a shot at a nice buck due to a fogged scope, he thundered, "Hell! I could build a better scope than this!" In 1946 the first Plainsman 4X riflescope appeared, and the rest is, as they say, history. Offering the only nitrogen-filled fog-proof riflescope and an unheard-of lifetime guarantee, Leupold was on its way to becoming a legend in outdoor optics.

Still Pioneering

Over the past four decades Leupold's list of "firsts" in optics have included the nitrogen anti-fogging process; the Duplex reticle, providing rapid acquisition and a more precise aiming point; side-focus dials for faster, easier parallax adjustments; Generation II waterproofing, featuring a proprietary Argon/Krypton gas blend; advanced ruggedness testing, using the industry's most stringent procedures--in addition to continuing its Full Lifetime Guarantee.

During the company's yearlong 100th birthday celebration, Leupold has won a half-dozen prestigious accolades for innovation and excellence, including the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence 2007 Optic of the Year Award for the VX-7 Series riflescopes. During the 16-year history of the academy, Leupold has dominated the Optic of the Year category, receiving the honor 11 times. In 2004, Leupold was honored by the academy as the Manufacturer of the Year, the only optics manufacturer to receive the award.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

From the rugged new illuminated 1 x 14mm Prismatic to the 45 x 45mm Competition Series riflescope; from affordably priced and eminently adjustable Yosemite Green Ring binoculars to the state-of-the-art Golden Ring Switch/Power Technology series: from the 60-power Sequoia spotting scopes to the RX-IV Digital Laser Rangefinder, Leupold leads the way in sporting and tactical optics.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The company also has a strong commitment to developing optics for law enforcement and the military, and Leupold tactical optics and prismatic sights are "on duty" throughout the world.