Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Scope failure

Well, keep trying hard and maybe someday you'll finally have one fail.

Number 1 thing I do not do is put a variable such as a 3x9 on a kicker. But I had a 1x4 Weaver on a heavy kicker that held up so far.

Scope failure threads are always entertaining. If it is a brand that a poster worships, it's always "All things mechanical can fail," and if it is a brand that the poster considers worthless, it's always "that just proves what pieces of excrement that company puts out".

I hear the talk but have failed to see any convincing documentation on ALL these scope failures.

As for hard kickers, I had the same Leupold 1-4 on my 12 gauge deer slug and Turkey gun for 25 years.

100s and 100s of rounds and it still works fine on my 416 Rigby.

"I hate (fill in the blank with a brand) so I have to post about it failing.

Thinking more Teslas have burned up in parking lots.

Mine is wearing a Vortex Razor LHT
Seems to be a very durable scope. Headed to north slope with it Friday. Time will tell

It likely comes down to what people expect from thier scopes. I've had scopes from several manufacturers hold up for long, long times in set it and forget it capacities. I've had a couple scopes on levers and "woods" rifles that would sometimes experience a slight wandering zero from time to time, but it wouldn't be enough to effectuate a miss at the 100 yds or less that they were commonly used on game.

The scopes I've had fail were, with 2 exceptions, scopes that were dialed on for long range shots. The failures I experienced on these scopes ranged from tracking errors, failures to RTZ, and failures to hold zero. On the set it and forget it scopes I had fail, I had groups suddenly open up, which were corrected immediately upon mounting different scopes.

At any rate, you can chose to believe or not believe that people experience trouble with their scopes. I'm glad for you that you haven't had any issues with the over 200 scopes you've had, and I hope your luck holds.

No hatin' from me going the direction of Beaverton. 'Big Louie' stuff has served me well over the years. And while they certainly lost their way, that's not what this was about.

I'm not joined at the hip to any single manufacturer. If something looks reasonable for the intended usage, I simply give it a fair test and make up my own mind. If it works for me...great. If not...nobody died or lost their birthday and the sun will rise again the next morning. If the scope that didn't work for me works for someone else, that's cool too.


After this recent 'Scope Swap-A-Pallooza' event (that led me to start this seemingly simple thread) one section of my scope rack needed a bit of TLC and reorganization. There's still some Leupolds here:



On that single section, there are Sightrons, an Athlon, a Weaver Classic K6 and a March. The March is going to get tested next week. Both ends of several spectrums on one shelf.....



Not meant as some sort of scope 'show and tell' deal, either. I encourage people to simply get out and decide for themselves what works for their particular situation, whatever that may be.

It's really not that hard.

Good shootin' -Al

"The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it."
- George Bernard Shaw

I fail to see how this is an obvious scope failure. Please expound.

I saw your targets and thought, "Wow, your shooting has improved"....

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist messing with you a bit!

I've never been that lucky to have a scope failure at home while testing...
It's like having the car acting up while the mechanic is actually looking at the car! That never happens for me either..

I'm hoping the repair is painless as well!

LOL

Al:

I know you weren't hating on anything. I know how these threads can sometimes go, and my responses to your post/s were just an attempt to add a little levity.

My stance on scopes is similar to yours. If a scope meets someone's expectations and they're happy with it, more power to them. Similarly, I'm willing to give different brands or models from throughout the cost spectrum a try to see if it's a good fit for an intended use profile. Just recently I've been working with an Optika 6 that I picked up mostly because I like the MRAD reticle in it. Time will tell, but good so far.

Ultimately, I doubt that most people started out as brand haters or fanboys; instead, thier current stance is a derivitive of good or bad experiences, sometime warrented, sometimes not. When someone reports a failure or a glowing review, for my own knowledge base I like to inquire to find out the use factors and expectations that effectuated their current opinion. But, as you well know, questions about optics opinions and experiences need to be asked carefully; it's a tender subject for many, as people can really take the brand they identify with personally.

Very true, sir. And I savvied your injection of humor.

Good shootin' -Al

No "....story". Just a factual account of what happened. No need to blast them publicly as many people use and recommend their products. -Al

Another Maser, Cardenas sock puppet?
Check out his post history.
Happy Camper resurrected?
76 posts in the last 3 days and he's an expert on everything. LOL

Thanks for starting this thread, I'll now know what I'm looking for in my targets.

Take care.

Lots of guys collect rifles – put scopes on them and the package doesn't see a box of shells in 5 years. I'm not insinuating such is the case here but I'm curious to know of those 200+ scopes, what's the most rounds you've put beneath one of them?

Happy to. Looking back, I should have done this as a reference.

Pre scope issues. 5 shots at 100:



Retesting seating depth @ 100 three days prior to leaving for the NBRSA Nationals. "Houston, we've got a problem":



Backup scope on, same loads as the two targets above:



A couple days later at the Nationals prior to the 200 yd portion. Backup Sightron on:



Turned out okay:



Our team ended up winning the Ed Shilen Team Trophy for highest score and 'X' count:



Good shootin' -Al

This does add to the story. LOL

This definitely makes things crystal clear. Wow.

I had a rifle that I chased my tail with trying to get a good load developed. Got groups as good as I could at about 1.5 moa and thought it was just picky and hard to shoot. It was not a long range rifle so I just dealt with it. Then after a couple years I decided I wanted an illuminated reticle. I put a 3-10 SHV on there and went to sight it in. Holy cow. Same load, same gun, same bench, same rest, same rings, just dropped a new scope in. Bingo, one hole groups that look like Al’s above.

I won’t call it a failure technically, but poi was definitely shifting around a little. And yes, it was one of those expensive scopes people tout as having “great glass”. I also had a genuine failure with another scope of the same brand, so I have since moved on. But I do miss that glass! Lol.