Bigcountry,

You are 100% correct,stiff isa good sign of tight tolerances. In fact a good friend of minehas the same scope and contacted the company about the issue, they said no problem they can fix it, but stated that is basically how they are designed.

I didn't find that much of an issue with it until I started using my Zeiss Conquest alot more lately. After the ease of using the Conquest I just can't see why the Leupold "needs" to be that tight. In my opinion the Conquest performs much better and still functions without the stiffness of the power ring.

Thescope will definitely stay on the gun for the remainder of the season. After that ...I guess I will make a final decision.