I’ve had 2 scopes on my .338wm in the 30 years that I’ve owned it. For the first half of it’s life it wore a Simmons Aetec since that’s what I could afford back then. I put around 500 rounds through that combo over 15+ years and it NEVER missed a beat. It always shot sub MOA and never needed adjustment. One night (early morning) after a big party and band in the barn I was walking to the truck to head to the bunkhouse and I slipped on the ice and landed hard on the scope. I put a big dent in the objective and figured it was toast. The next morning I took it to the “range” on my buds ranch to confirm that I ruined it. First shot dead center bullseye and the next 3 rounds printed a large ragged hole. I was completely amazed that NOTHING was knocked out of whack by that abuse. I hunted that afternoon and shot my elk, killing it with one shot. I didn’t like the dent in the scope so I replaced it with a Leupold VX-II which is still sitting on that rifle. It too has never missed a beat, never needed to be re-zeroed or faltered in anyway but it’s only had maybe 250 rounds and thousands of miles on it by truck, airplanes, hiking, horseback, ATV and snowmachine. While I have many more scopes that are much more expensive I ain’t fixing something that ain’t broke so it’ll keep getting used. That rifle doesn’t get dialed so that isn’t a concern, holding zero under all conditions is however and that combo has done it in spades for the last decade+.
A guy that knew me well bought the Aetec off me and put it on his .338wm. He died unexpectedly a few years ago and I don’t know what happened to the scope but as of his passing I know that he had total faith in a dented Aetec and his .338.
