So, long story short: I was back-country hunting two weeks ago, and while climbing up a ridge I wiped out hard. Rifle slipped off my shoulder and landed side-on to a pile of rocks. The impact was hard enough to leave a 1" wide, 1/4" deep dent in the pistol grip, and put a 3" crack along both sides of the barrel channel from the tip of the forend back.
The scope appeared to have avoided damage, with no dents or dings that I could see. The barrel and receiver also appear undamaged. The walnut appears to have absorbed all the impact, apparently.
However, on firing a group afterwards to test the POI shift, if any, I found it had shifted a full 5" right and 5" up at 50m. (No opportunity to test POI at a longer distance at the time) I was able to get it back to POA/POI alignment with the expected amount of dial twisting, and shot a three-shot group that was close enough to minute-of-deer for the purposes of continuing the trip. Scope is a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 I bought about 11 years ago that has been rock solid until this incident, in Warne Maxima rings and bases that also appear to be tight and undamaged.
I realize that I need to shoot it quite a bit more to rule in or rule out any damage, run a box test, etc. My question is if a full 5" deviation off zero at 50m is reasonable or not, considering I put it to an admittedly hard impact? Is it even worth testing to see if it will hold zero going forward, or should I demote it to a spare?
I'll need to replace the stock on the rifle, just wondering if I should budget for a new optic as well.
Thanks in advance for any input.
The scope appeared to have avoided damage, with no dents or dings that I could see. The barrel and receiver also appear undamaged. The walnut appears to have absorbed all the impact, apparently.
However, on firing a group afterwards to test the POI shift, if any, I found it had shifted a full 5" right and 5" up at 50m. (No opportunity to test POI at a longer distance at the time) I was able to get it back to POA/POI alignment with the expected amount of dial twisting, and shot a three-shot group that was close enough to minute-of-deer for the purposes of continuing the trip. Scope is a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 I bought about 11 years ago that has been rock solid until this incident, in Warne Maxima rings and bases that also appear to be tight and undamaged.
I realize that I need to shoot it quite a bit more to rule in or rule out any damage, run a box test, etc. My question is if a full 5" deviation off zero at 50m is reasonable or not, considering I put it to an admittedly hard impact? Is it even worth testing to see if it will hold zero going forward, or should I demote it to a spare?
I'll need to replace the stock on the rifle, just wondering if I should budget for a new optic as well.
Thanks in advance for any input.
