After a time away pursuing other hobbies, I'm coming back looking for a good scope to buy (once I get my check to to stimulate the economy). I pulled out my 2004 Natchez catalog, and then went to the site to see current prices. I was surprised to see that Weaver and Sightron are cheaper now then in 2004, while all the others I looked at have increased. I was looking at the 6-24 types. Any ideas why Weaver prices have gone down? The V24 is looking like a really good value. Is there something I don't know about, like quality going down?
I'm not sure of the actual prices you are refering to, however there can be many reasons why prices fall.
1. The biggest reason is competition. As the lower cost, quality CHINESE products enter the market, Weaver/Sightron needs to respond.
2. Weaver also takes a hit in that their products at times appear to be "old". I myself like the "old" tried and true, but many consumers are looking for the latest products with new features. Fortunately the riflescope industry does not make rapid improvements like the computer industry. For example, there are side focus scopes for under $100. Many people think they need side focus scopes, and they ask "Why doesn't Weaver offer such a feature when low cost manufactures are offering such things?". Personally side focus is made to much a big deal IMHO. It has some advantages, smaller scope size, focus control knob can maybe be reached while still looking through scope. The only side focus scopes that I know are rock solid are the Zeiss and Nightforce. I would also guess Nikon, but am not sure. Last I heard, Leupold still suffers from back lash problems (aka feature) in their side focus scopes. I believe all the CHINESE side focus scopes also suffer from this. If anyone knows of a CHINESE sidefocus that doesn't suffer from this, please speak up. BTW, to detect this problem is not easy, and for many folks, it probably isn't an issue. The typical back lash work around is to reset the focus back to infinity, before changing to a new parallax/focus. Again, this is really a variation of number one, COMPETITION.
3. As the cost of setup/design of a new scope gets paid off/recouped, the vendor can and will start to drop price. Many vendors plan for this. Manufactures many times market a new product at a high price, hoping to make big profits due to high demand as well as marketing techniques for new product. Haven't you ever noticed that when a new fancy car is introduced the first year, prices for it are a premium. As years pass, and inflation drives the price up, the actual selling price of car may actually go down. As the "new" cars demand dries up in the following years, the manufacture is forced to drop price, to continue to keep sales strong, and his work force employed. In the car industry it is usually by rebates.