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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gulf1263" data-source="post: 3171592" data-attributes="member: 99783">Most "factories" get their sand for optical glass from Hoya in Japan, even Schott buys from them, so even if you make your own glass you are still not a "factory" by some definitions.Leupold has parts made all over the world, some lenses are coated here in the US by Pyrex I believe and many components are produced in the US and assembled here.For a time it was rumored that certain lens coating were so nasty environmentally that they were actually done in places like North Korea.A Fed Ex pilot who flew into Somalia told me that for about four years he was carrying a lot of optical glass that was being coated there because of environmental concerns, it went to China, Korea and Europe to be assembled.The US government (and others too) have satellites that can discern some of these industrial processes and know who does what.All of this is very tightly controlled information by the companies involved so most of us really have no idea what happens where.Design and quality control is the most important aspect of the optical chain, some done onsite and some done by batch.Just my two cents.Art</blockquote>