would wonder how that would happen as well, I was under the impression Leupold scopes had etched reticles, so they really can't break like that. They are not a wire, they are a reticle etched into a lens that is why they are supposed to be able to handle heavy recoil and spring air gun use.
Only Leupold scopes that have an etched reticle are the B&C reticled models. I would almost be willing to bet that the highend models have them as well. A lot of their reticles are made with a new process where the reticle is cut out of a extremely thin piece of metal by EDM . That would be the LR reticle.