You wanna know one of the best ways I've found to knock a rifle out of line?
Carry it around by the scope.
Got to agree it isn't in the best practices manual, but often grab the danged thing that way anyway. Never carry, but often lift by the scope.
Kinda making a statement, so here you go:
Disagree, I find the scope to make an outstanding carry handle when you need a solid one-hand purchase on a rifle. Perfectly balanced, perfect control, easy transition. Never had a single scope issue in doing such, ever. But, none of these rifles were ever heavy and none of these scopes were ever big. I've done worse things to a scope than this, so I seriously doubt you could possibly tweak a fixed LEU any measurable degree by using it as a handle. I certainly hope this new S&B is not somehow a more fragile gun sight than a fixed LEU. If it is more fragile, I'll pull it off the rifle.
BTW, I'm going to order that scope shield to fit this S&B. Neither the Weaver nor either of the BCs fit this particular scope well at all, period. They make an ill fitting combination. I'd just as soon run the scope naked, but I'd like to have something to keep junk off the glass during the interim, which is also simple to go on and off. The plain jane inner tube is simple, the scope shield is clearly a better version of the simple tube. In my case, the BCs are undoable for this S&B. Result, I'll give JB's recommendation a try.
Who cares if the scope shield gets soaking wet. I used neoprene during my days of running kayaks and squirt boats in some of the most extreme big water this country has to offer, it works fine when wet. In addition, my scopes have always work well when wet and no BC cover can keep the glass dry in wet weather, unless they're kept shut and never opened.
Best
