Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Basement flooded. Data on 28 submerged scopes

Recently my basement flooded under 4 feet of water for several hours. 28 scopes were submerged, and 3 leaked. This is a small data sample but interesting.

Leupold 12 scopes, no leaks
Bushnell/B&L 5 scopes, 2 leaked
Swift 3 scopes, 1 leaked
Redfield 2 scopes, no leaks
Sightron 2 scopes, no leaks
Burris 1 scope, no leak
Nikon 1 scope, no leak
Vortex 1 scope, no leak
Weaver 1 scope, no leak

The scopes that leaked are Swift Premier 3-9, Baush&Lomb Elite 4000 2.5-10, and Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9. I am very disappointed in the Elites; if they were Banners OK but not Elites. I will send the scopes to the manufacturers and let you know how their service goes.

Did the water get into a gun safe?

Wish the test were given under different circumstances. Dang, that sucks!

Curious to see how this turns out. Am in the market for a scope and while I probably wont be going the elite route(or Bushnell) Im curious to see if their warranty service turns out to be like a previous post here.

Reading through your list, it was mostly as I would expect, especially reading Bushnell and initially assuming lower end models.

I'll echo your sentiment on the Elites leaking. I would expect it from the lower end stuff, but a little surprised at that one.

That sucks that you had to conduct a test under such circumstances as I am sure there is a lot more to this story!

I was curious as to which three Bushnell/B&L's didn't leak. Very surprised at the 4000 B&L I must say.

Wait.... a Bushnell leaked?

Color me shocked.

Good luck with the warranty dept.

And, very sorry you had to run the test as indicated.

Man, you're almost getting as bad as Eremicus when Swarovski gets mentioned....................almost.

Naw.... all of them didn't leak.

Hell, I actually like the older B&L scopes, and have a set of B&L binos on my bookshelf; good glass.

I just find it amazing when folks marvel at a the idea of a product from a company that has deservingly earned a rather suspect reputation, producing a product that lives up to the same.

What's even more amusing is that probably most of the scopes mentioned share the same compoenents with the exception of the Leupolds.

Bushnell sucks

I know....I know.

If so, then assembly (i.e. Bushnell) would be the only difference, would it not?

For the most part yes. I was surprised at the 4000 B&L report cause it's built in the finest optical house in Japan.

This is so confusing. All those guys on the internet were saying Elites are better than Leupolds. And now this!

Not to worry, they were right.