Weaver Scopes is Officially Out of Business

Weaver Optics was founded by William R. Weaver in 1930. Since its inception, Weaver has established itself as a brand that focused on offering affordable and well-made rifle scopes in the sports optics market.

At one point 1950’s and 1960’s, Weaver was a major player in the U.S. scope market and completed well with rivals like Leupold and Redfield. And Weaver gave both of those brands some serious competition back in those days.

Although a successful optics brand, Weaver has experienced some financial challenges, and the company changed hands until it ended up being purchased by the ATK Sporting Group. ATK is an outdoor goods based conglomerate that owns several well known outdoor brands.

My own experiences with Weaver scopes started as a teen when I purchased my first Weaver K6 scope, which was a fixed 6x powered scope. Since that time, I’ve owned many Weaver scopes and always felt that they offered excellent value for the money. I’ve still got a few Grand Slam models and V-24 Classic models mounted on different rifles.

In addition to Weaver Optics, the ATK group also owns several other optics brands, including Bushnell, Simmons, Tasco, and Millet. Last summer (in 2019), while working at my day job, one of the reps who handled Bushnell mentioned that there had been internal discussions within Bushnell that Weaver was getting out of the sporting optics business but would continue to offer their Weaver brand lines of scope rings, mounts, and bases.

Knowing how long Weaver had been in the riflescope business, I was hesitant to give it much credibility as the idea didn’t make sense.

However, it now appears that information was correct as Weaver Optics is no longer producing or offering rifle scopes. I had a customer at my day job say that he called Weaver, and someone from Bushnell answered the phone saying Weaver was no longer selling scopes.

It turns out that ATK decided that it no longer made financial sense to continue the Weaver brand of scope, and instead, they wanted to focus their efforts more on the other rifle scope lines under their control.

I talked to our store representative who handles Bushnell, and he confirmed the news. Also, Weaver Optics has removed all the rifle scope models from their web site. The Weaver phone number now routes to Bushnell’s customer support.

And the process to stop production on Weaver scopes did start last summer (as in the summer of 2019) and appeared to have been done quietly as I cannot locate any formal announcements from either ATK, or any of the ATK owned brands.

Why did Weaver stop producing rifle scopes?

In conversations with people in the sporting optics industry, the theory is the decision was based on many factors, including:

• If you look at all the sporting optic brands that ATK owns: Bushnell, Millet, Simmons, and Weaver, there is some obvious overlap where each of those brands competes with each other at various price points. I’m inclined to think that some of that product overlap played a role in this decision.

• Although Weaver makes good scopes with good glass for the money involved, the brand as a whole hasn’t been updated in years. For example, Weaver never did jump on the FFP (First Focal Plane) bandwagon and offered an FFP scope option. Also, they were slow to migrate over from Adjustable Objective focus to more modern (and more popular) side focus.

• I also believe that Weaver had been slowing losing market share in the mid-priced ($400 to $600) scope market for the last few years to brands like Vortex, who were adapting to changes in the market, and doing exceptionally well in the mid-price market.

I suspect that all the factors above in conjunction led to a decrease in sales, which led to a drop in overall revenue for the brand. And optics brands that don’t make money don’t stay around all that long.

Although another theory that was also mentioned was that ATK bought Weaver with plans to eventually phase Weaver out, as Weaver was a significant competitor to Bushnell, that idea sounds a bit less plausible as ATK purchased Weaver from Meade Optics in 2008, and 10 plus years is a long time to carry a brand that you were planning to drop in the first place.

Luckily, it does sound like the rings and bases part of the Weaver business was successful enough to keep running.

And, perhaps the worst part of this situation is the fact that ATK is no longer repairing of fixing any Weaver scopes. I called the Weaver line and spoke with a Bushnell customer service person who indicated that they were not taking Weaver scopes in for repair, and the warranty was no longer being honored. They did suggest that Bushnell will offer you a very nice discount on a new Bushnell scope rather than repair the Weaver.

I’m very sad to see this happen as I kind of grew up with a Weaver scope, and hate to see a legitimately good brand go out of business.

FAQS

Here are some frequently asked questions that I’ve seen about Weaver getting out of the riflescope business:

I just looked online, and the Weaver website is still up, so are they really out of business?

Weaver Optics is not out of business as they are continuing to manufacture and sell the Weaver brand of scope bases and rings. However, Weaver is no longer producing or selling the Weaver brand of rifle scopes.

What now if I’m a Weaver scope fan?

If you like Weaver and still want to get one, then you have two options moving forward:

(1)   There are still plenty of new Weaver scopes available in different marketplaces. If you are in love with a specific Weaver model, I’d think about going out and trying to grab a few for future use.

(2)   However, if you wait too long, and all the new Weaver scopes are no longer available in the market, then you’re next best option is to see if you can find a used one of the version that you like on a site like eBay or a hunting forum.

If Weaver or that brand that owns Weaver is not servicing their scope anymore, where do I go for a Weaver scope repair?

My suggestion would be a scope repair facility in Tulsa, OK, called Iron Sight Inc. They specialize in repairing several scope brands, including Weaver. I once sent them a Weaver Grand Slam for a reticle change, and the process went well.

Here’s their contact info:

Iron Sight Inc.
4814 S Elwood Ave.
Tulsa OK 74107

(918)445-2001
(918)521-7736

A word of warning, though, as I learned the hard way:  Iron Sight can’t repair every model of Weaver scope, so I’d suggest calling them to discuss the details of a repair before you send a scope in for service. I assumed they could fix any Weaver and sent a V-22 Classic in 6-24X44 in for repair. But, it turns out they can’t repair the V-22 series. Again, if you plan to use them, it’s worth taking the time to call ahead.

Why is Weaver not selling scopes any more?

I briefly touched on a few theories about their decision above, but, at the end of the day, I think it came down to money, and which rifle scope brand within the ATK family they felt had the chance to expand moving forward. It would appear that ATK decided to choose Bushnell over Weaver.

What the Weaver scope warranty?

Based on my phone conversation with a Bushnell sales rep, it sounds like Weaver is not supporting the original Weaver warranty, so you would have to go to a 3rd party private repair facility (Such as the Iron Site facility I mentioned above) and pay to have your Weaver scope repair.

Although, if you call the Weaver helpline (which is now manned by Bushnell employees) asking about a warranty issue, those Bushnell folks have been instructed to offer a healthy discount on any Bushnell scope as a small means to make up for not supporting the Weaver warranty.

I have a really old Weaver scope that needs to be fixed. Now that Weaver is out of business, where would I go for a vintage weaver scope repair?

I would suggest first trying the Iron Site facility that I mentioned above as they specialize in repairing and serving the older Weaver rifle scopes and still have a ton of parts off of those old Weaver models in stock.

If I come across any other questions or updates, I’ll update this page.