Scope Failures

[Hannibal]

It has been my unfortunate experience to have to endure the long and hard road of finding scope failures on 2 different rifles at the same time of late.
I am not going to disclose the manufacturers involved, nor the cost of either one, other than to say one can be sent in for repair by anyone with no questions asked and the other requires the original receipt and warranty card. I only mention this to establish that names and cost do not seem to matter when it comes to scope failures. They can and will be costly in terms of wasted components and time, not to mention a few more gray hairs.

In short, what I mean to convey is if your rifle seems to have a propensity to shoot 3" groups when it feels like it and 1" groups on other days, It JUST MIGHT not be the jerk behind the trigger causing all the trouble. Consider swapping out the scope before you waste 6 months and untold $$$ in primers, powder and projectiles before you question your optics.

Those utilizing iron sights can now smile smugly and browse another thread. I can only envy such eyesight.

Just a reminder, all is not always what it seems.

[aspangler]

Found one myself this week. Replaced it and now it shoots fine. Life happens.

[jcren]

They don't make nothing like they used to. I had a mid-priced scope go bad after 6 months and maybe 100 rounds of 243. I have a 30-06 that still has its original 1979 vintage weaver 3-9 that works flawlessly. Go figure.

[SierraHunter]

About half of my guns have iron sights. I've started buying Vortex scopes because of the warranty. I have not managed to break one yet.

[lead-1]

Also going thru this now, just haven't changed the scope yet and gone back out. I've had this straight 24x scope that has been a good one in the past so I put it on a 308 I bought and just couldn't get it to shoot consistent groups, I kept changing the loads and trying anyway.
One day I shot a couple rounds and I seen a couple flakes/dark spots show up on the inside of the lens so I tapped it a couple times and the spots moved and I loaded up to go home. I cleaned the rifle and a friend stopped by and picked up the rifle and peered thru the scope and said why is your cross hairs crooked, sure enough they had rotated ccw from 12-6 to 11-5 on the ride home.
Crying shame too because I always liked that scope.

[jonp]

I've had a couple of scopes break on me lately. I just got a screaming Friday Deal on 2 Nikon Prostaff BDC 3x9 scopes at Cabelas. With a giftcard using points from Speedway they ended up $75 each over 1/2 off.

I've got a Redfield Widefield 4x from the 70's and a Redfield Ballistiplex or something like that with the 2 stadia wire bracket and yardage marker on the bottom which is even older and both work fine. One was on a 308 and the other on a 300 H&H

[lightman]

Scope problems can really make you scratch your head while you are chasing your tail. I have two different friends that are probably having scope problems right now and don't want to accept the fact. Both of these would be fixed with no questions ask.

[Mica_Hiebert]

I have a 7mag that scrambled a scope a year until I finally got a sightron that would hold a zero, it's going on about 15 years of use and I know I can get way nicer glass for it now days but I hate to fiddle with what has been proven on that scope killer. I buy exclusively vortex optics now a days.

[ShooterAZ]

I must be lucky, because I have never had a scope "just break" on me. I have broke a couple of scopes however, ie; dropping my rifle into a pile of rocks on an Elk hunt. Both were the "L" brand, one was damaged beyond repair and replaced at no charge and the other was promptly repaired also at no charge. I understand that anything with moving parts can fail. I choose to give my hard earned money to the folks who will stand behind their products, even when it's not necessarily their fault.

[Hogdaddy]

I had one go out on a hunt I was on. Cut it off & used the iron sites ; )
H/D

[Mica_Hiebert]

I've had one that the cross hairs appeared to be broke and zero wandered, I turned 1 into a kaleidoscope, had one that the zoom ring quit working and when you shot you could see some internal ring flip around inside of it, have had 3 that just would not maintain a zero, had 1 with a chipped lense after the first use and it never got banged around or mishandled and I had 1 that would change point of impact at different zoom levels, so far have had failures with Redfield, leupold, bsa, simmons and tasco, have a probably 30 year old weaver TV vision 3x9 on a 243 that was my father's that still works great. I imagine all of my rifles will probably wear vortex within the next couple of years.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Just a fact of shooting life - Weaver, Leupold, Burris, Tasco, Bushnell. Some you send back for repair, others go to a junk pile. Recoil - light rifles, heavy cartridges usual culprit. Rough roads take their toll on rifles that spend a lot of time in trucks. Now when a rifle stops shooting, groups get bigger or 'random' fliers appear I change scopes just to be sure - mostly it IS the scope. I think about Nightforce and other scopes in that range,pricey but cheap compared to wasted time reloading-shooting-frustration... Size and weight of such machines have stopped me. Still don't have a good answer, buy the best you can afford with a good warranty and hope. Simple light fixed power scopes do seem to hold up the best, 2.5 and 4 powers, but 10-15power sure does let you shoot better - until they break ?! ?!

[dverna]

For the guns that matter, I get sights that are well made and robust. One good indicator is if they are used by the military or others who live and die by their equipment. The cost is worth the peace of mind for the LR rifle and the AR's that may be used for SHTF. These are heavier than "sporting" sights as they are built to take more abuse.

My other guns wear cheaper glass, under $300. Most of my shooting is at varmints and targets, so the guns see little or no abuse. I have no plans to hunt dangerous game, ride horses etc etc.... Frankly, these "cheaper" scopes are remarkable good values for most people. But do not expect a $300 scope to equal a $1000 one.

There may be good scopes under $150 but it would be foolish to expect that. There will always be exemptions.

And yes, high end scopes can fail too....just less likely

Don Verna

[skeettx]

Had to replace an old steel tube Weaver K-6 the other day on my Ruger #3 22 Hornet, it lost focus and would not adjust in.
It now has a Weaver T-10 scope.
Mike

[jonp]

I had one go out on a hunt I was on. Cut it off & used the iron sites ; )
H/D

Which is why im very leery of rifles with no iron sights.

[samari46]

Had a Bushnell 1x5 mounted on my Marlin 444. Only shooting factory ammo. This worked great for a couple years, then got lousy accuracy. After I took the scope off you could hear something rattleing around the scope tube. Replaced it with another brand and so far so good. First scope I ever had that gave up the ghost when shooting. Frank

[Bzcraig]

Great post! I can see doing the same as you did so thanks for the heads up. I also have aging eyes but recently found out that I can still use peep sights pretty well out to about 100 yards.

[M-Tecs]

Nothing is a 100%. In 45 years of part time gunsmithing I have seen more ironsights damaged or knocked out of zero than scopes. Thirty years of long range competition has proved that every scope regardless of price can have issues.

[LAKEMASTER]

I bought a bushnell banner 2 years ago. Ran 5 shots through it to "zero" it at a friends property.

Broke a bore snake in it and had to take a 3lb hammer to the gin to get it out.

6 months later we went out to the range and the gun was 15" high. @50 yards. Scope had almost no elevation adjustment....

Took it home and bottomed out the elevation adjustment's a few times and got it to work again.

Next time out I'll let everyone know if it worked or not.

The only reason i had to by thinks scope is because the 1960s weaver scope started moving around

[Petrol & Powder]

Without getting into brand names, I will say that optics is one of those fields where you get what you pay for.

While you don't need to spend $2500 to get a scope that's good enough, it's nearly impossible to get one that's good enough for $25.

It still amuses me to see someone spend $750-$1500 on a rifle and then turn around a slap a $25 scope on it. Furthermore, they then blame everything but the scope for the poor performance.

Many years ago I learned that if I was going to spend money on a scope that I would be better off spending it once. The same holds true for rings and bases.

Optics are expensive and good optics are more expensive. When it comes to optics there is just no way to lower a price point without making sacrifices to quality. Even good quality scopes can fail but they do fail far less frequently.