Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Scopes, How Long They Will Last Before Failing to Hold Zero

Heavy recoiling magnums I'd estimate 1200 rounds average.

270 and less recoil I'd estimate 5000+ rds.

My biggest caliber I have is a 270 Winchester and I've always gone standard for a reason. It kills plenty well and I never seem to have the scope or scope ring/ bases issues I here many rant about.



Shod

I have a 2.5x10 Vortex SPF , ~ 1000 rounds on a 300 Win and 30-06 and another 1000 on a 223. Dials have been ripped from 100 TP 1100+ yards with no issues. Must of gotten lucky on that one.

Scopes that were made 40 years ago (or 10 years ago) have absolutely no bearing on scopes made now, even with the same label.



Sitting on the shelf or in padded safe.... They all last. If being shot from a bench is your idea of "use" then I guess they last a long time.


I'm thinking I've shot more than a whole freaking lot, and the gent that stated "200-600" ain't far off. A Leupold made today, ain't the same as one made 20 years ago.


This week was the first in a long time that I didn't see or have an optic failure..... Granted the only things shot were irons, Aimpints, Nightforces and SWFAs. And it were a slow week as I only pressed the trigger about 1,300 times.

I don't think he's far off either especially with Leupold as of lately. I've got four scopes that Leupold can't seem to fix. Fourth trip for two of them and third for the other two.

SWFA needs to come out with a lighter hunting scope with the same internals and low profile windage. Tell me that wouldn't fill a niche.

Other than a Nikon pro-staff, that I had on my model 88, in 308, I don't have a scope made since the 60s, several back into the 50s. Have NEVER had a problem with them not adjusting. Used a American made, in Denver Redfield on my 375 and 300 Wby. also, on the Wby, used a Balvar 8, and of course, nothing to adjust, as adjustments in the bases. Might get some newer ones, as noticed the optics so much clearer in the new scopes do to the coatings, etc.

I have a cheap Bushnell Banner from forty odd years ago, when they were still decent scopes. It has been on every rifle I've owned except two, and is still on a currently used rifle. It is a 3-9x40.

The most aggravating thing about a scope that has a few hundred rounds fired under it, is changing point of impact. It will shoot a 1/4 inch group and then shoot another 1/4 inch group 2 inch or more from the first one. People who never use a scope except from one deer or elk season too another never know what a bad scope is from a good one. If you don't shoot a lot on paper or in the field a scope sitting in the safe will last you a life time. I do think friction adjustments seem to hold zero better than most click adjustments. Most scope internal failures seem to happen after around 2 to 3 hundred rounds when used on light weight rifles with recoil in the 25-06 range and sooner in the magnums in my experience. There are only three or four top brand scopes that have a really good rep for lasting over the long haul and they cost what the down payment on a new car would be, except for the Super Sniper. If you have never had a internal scope failure then you don't shoot all that often.

All scopes are prone to failure, sooner or later IMO. There's no way to answer the OP's question without SWAG'ing it, which is what everyone has done on this thread, and what I would do if I answered, so I'll leave it as "who knows"?

That being said, the only way to know if you have a shifting POI/etc is from the bench when you happen to shoot on a good day. I do not believe the average shooter, which is what 95% of the shooting public is, when shooting from hunting positions in the field, i.e. prone, Bog Pod, bipod, etc, is good enough to know if it's a scope problem or a shooter problem, especially when the complaint is "my scope is off by 1-2 inches at 200 yds". It's convenient to always blame the scope, which is what the reply is from our hunters who miss. Don't forget there are lots of people, including gunsmiths, who do not know how to properly mount a scope in the first place.

Yeah, I've seen as many (and probably more) "bad" scopes caused by poor mounting as actually bad scopes.

That said, I've now had 16 different brands of scopes fail from sheer shooting over the decades. That's brands, not individual scopes, and they included several high-priced models.

Wow....that's pretty discouraging.

Wow, over 600 rds over a 43 year period. I'm overwhelmed by the shear enormity of that round count. That's three quarters of a box of ammo per year !!!!! No one should subject a scope to that much punishment and expect it to last.

Poor mounting is an issue! A few years back I started using Burris Signature Zee rings on Talley rails where ever possible. They are very forgiving and trouble free, just torque the screws to the correct value, even if it doesn't seem that tight.

A SWFA SS 3-15 x 42 with low profile turrets like the ones on the Bushnell LRHS would put a hurting on Bushnell's version of that scope. Let us pray........

You may have something there.

I have a thirty year old Vari-X III 2.5-8x36 that spent many a year on top of 7mm and 300 magnums, and some time on a 338, back when I used to think recoil was part of the fun.

In the last decade or so it has spent its time on top of various 308's for a lot of rounds. When it's on top of my 5R Milspec or 40X I cut small groups with it, and the adjustments are positive and they return to zero.

That seems possible. I keep hearing how the Mark 4's don't hold up.

I have an older Vari-x III long range, the one they were making just before they came out with the Mark 4, and it's absorbed over 2500 rounds of 7mm STW without a single hitch. I have to wonder how the new Leupolds would take the same beating.

What if a feller had forty or fifty rifles, shot 600 outta one in 43 years; Coupla thousand out of another half dozen or so; And maybe only a few hundred in a dozen or so others?

Quite a few people I know shoot less than a hundred rounds per year in anything, yet manage to mosey out on opening day of deer season, for example and still manage to kill a deer every year. Lucky sumbeeches. ;O)

My opinion, real world experiences with various scopes over time, is worth reading about, which is what the OP was asking.

Well, that would be very different, however in E's case, my little joke probably is more accurate as he has a tendency to relay his "experiences" over and over and over again here. Never heard him speak of a vast gun library. Also, and again I'm messing with E, he went into a different topic about how his scopes have held up to being dropped and banged around, when the OP wanted to know about round count and scope wear.

E has a ton of experience hunting western deer and tracking the animals he hunts. I'm sure he has a wealth of knowledge on the topic. I wish he would share more about those experiences instead of repeating his optics knowledge which, by his post content, has little experience with a couple of scopes he's actually used. Believe it or not, I do respect his hunting experience.

Boy, is my face red. Didn't even notice that was "his eminence" there. Musta been throwed off by the modified handle?

Pretty sure 2" off from field positions at 200 yards would not be something that I would notice, i thought I was a good shot but i'm certainly part of the 95% if that is the hurdle.

From the bench or maybe prone i would notice but a softball sized group at 200 yards off both knees or sticks is perfectly acceptable for a deer rifle. I practice with drinking water bottles at that distance but really don't care where on the bottle it hits as long as it blows up and waters the landscape.

I've had only one scope lose its zero a cheap swift decided to shift 8" up and 3" left at 100 yards during a Colorado mule deer hunt and at about 280 yards i missed the biggest buck I have ever seen through crosshairs. I'm sure that I scared the hell out of him 3 times but those big tracks were still moving well with no blood a mile away when they lost me. Even worse the rock i used to check at 80 yards was big enough to be hit so i thought it was all me choking the shot.

That allowed me to miss another buck at about the same distance the week i got home before i went to the range to get the bad news. After that i changed mounts, bought a zeiss conquest and a rangefinder and learned my lesson about cheap scopes.

If only it had shifted 8" left id still be talking about head shooting that monster buck at almost 300 yards.

Last year I mounted a new Z3 Swarovski 4-12x50 on a Weatherby Fibermark 7mm wby. The first 2 bullets out of a cold barrel at 100 yards were touching. I cranked it up 1.5 high and that group same result but they were just a tad further apart but still way better then I had anticipated. I put it down to cool and fired my other guns and then I went home and cleaned it . I went back to the range 2 weeks later and it was a 1 foot group and that is being kind. No w/e adjustment would do a thing as far as POI, it went back to Swaro and they replaced a spring . It went back to the range and it was its old self. I sold it after hunting season ended.