Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics scope failure

Yes.

I've had 1 nikon go bad on a 10-22 and a leupold go bad on a 223

Burris 4x reticle turned 45 degrees on me shooting a 358 BLR. Sent it back and has been rock solid since.
GreggH

Burris Signature 3-9x40 developed issues after hundreds of rounds sitting atop an M1A. One of the seals failed, and it fogged up on a cold day.

That was in 2008. Sent it to Burris, received it about two weeks later, and it's been fine since.

I had two Bushnell Banners fail on semi auto .22's. One within weeks and just a few hundred rounds. The other after 30 years and many thousands of rounds.

I had a BSA airgun scope fail on a .177 Springer. It was on the gun when I got it and lasted 3 shots

Had a Bushnell Banner fail on a 30-06 and a 50 year old Leupold fail on a .243 Win.

Burris FFII 3-9x40 on a .243. Leupold MKIV 3.5-10x40 (twice) on a .308. Nikon ProStaff 5 on a .243. All three had great customer service when I sent them in. Little wait time to receive fixed.

Get a polymer slide stop pin for your 10-22.

Yes^^

Scopes seem to fail often on 10/22's. Not from the brutal recoil they produce, but a steel bolt smacking a steel pin after every shot. A non metallic bolt stop pin helps a ton with this.

Mini-14s have a rep as scope killers also. I don't know why but a good fix for that will gain better accuracy in the bargain is to trade the Mini for an AR.


Ohhh! I just reread a PM I have, from a member that very well should know, & a very interesting comment;

"Helicopter rotor vibration is notoriously hard on scopes"

Not that many of us will spend much time in a copter while packing a rifle, but just another example of how other things besides heavy recoil of larger cartridges can affect an optic.

I assume that if a Denver made Redfield fails, there's no economical fix for it, right??? If so what? I'm thinking trash can?

Bugger, there is/was an independent scope repair business that worked on the old Weavers & such.

Don't know if they do Denver RF's or what the name of the company is, but searching around will turn it up if you need it.

I've killed several leupolds, and a sightron.

Had two different Weaver scopes take on water and fog-up while chasing PA bucks. Have only used Leupold’s since the mid70’s with no issues.

Not certain yet that it’s dead, but a Hawke Endurance lost zero on my Mini before I installed a buffer. Gonna try it on my 10/22, which also has a buffer now. We shall see.

An unbuffered Mini is a tough ride for ordinary scopes. Trijicon assured me their scopes will take it, and a SWFA 6x was okay for a bit, before it moved to a magnum springer airgun.

Actually no one posted it, but of scopes that fail, I don't think it is the company or the design of the scope in most cases, it might be the QC wasn't right on the particular scope that fail.... the individual one was a failure just waiting to happen the day it left the factory....

and as far as cheap scopes... I've got several 4 power Tascos that were like $25 new, back when they were still put in a box...

heck they are 30 and 40 years old and still doing just fine... got some Bushnell's like that also, 1 to 4 power Shot gun scopes...that ride on several 10/22s I have..

if one fails, it isn't the company of the scope design... you just got a bad one..

and to think of the number of scopes made, a bad one will still slip thru, regardless of who made it.

Yeah... A fuqking Leupold on my Sako 22-250 sporter

While it’s true that a bad one gets through every now and then for all scope manufacturers, scope design and build quality are certainly not equal amongst scope companies and models. Some scope companies and models let more bad ones through than others, and some scope models are easier to break than others.

Of those that I can recall right at this moment, I’ve had scopes from Leupold, Bushnell, Tasco, and Simmons fail on low-recoiling rifles.

Every failed Leupold came back with a note "replaced erector assembly." Sounds like a design flaw...

224

would ya like to guess what fails on the other brands?

the erector tube is the weak link and the others just fix it and dont admit what the problem is.

hence no one notices.