Another member had a 1-4 mounted on an AR. Rifle was propped up and slide sideways landing on the turret which compressed into the scope tube. This wasn't my scope and I can't remember the details or how SWFA handled it, just that sliding from standing on rifle's butt to floor resulted in the turret pushing into the tube....not a fall from height or hard abuse.
Yeah, that was me. And it was the SWFA 1-4 just like we're talking about in this thread.
I had the (unloaded) AR leaning up against a book shelf in my study, butt down on the carpeted floor, and I should have known better. Bad practice and my fault. I was sitting about 6 feet away on a chair doing something else, and I was actually facing toward the rifle when I saw it slowly slide over to the left. Nothing touched or hit it. Like in slow motion. I nearly got to it but the AR fell on its side onto the right turret, which itself impacted the carpet.
Wish I'd taken a photo of the turret jammed down into the scope's tube, and if I hadn't seen the whole thing happen, I would have sworn my wife had snuck into the room and maliciously smacked it a couple of times, hard, with a ball peen hammer. (Which she would never do, of course, because she's sane, but what the hell?)
I contacted SWFA and fessed up to the whole thing. I just wanted to know if (a) they could repair it, and if so (b) how much? They said send it back and they'd contact me. They sent me a new scope. No questions asked and, also, no explanation as to how such a gentle blow could have done so much damage.
So I have a working SWFA 1-4 and it gets used, but I'll never trust it to be durable.