Dropping your rifle during a hunt?

WhelanLad

WhelanLad

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Hey , plenty of us have knocked the Scope about whilst climbing over , under around or ontop of something out in the Bush, it happens... but how many of you have "dropped" your rifle before and thought, Gosh it must be shooting a foot to the L or R for sure.......

only to have lined up a target an Poleaxed that target!?


i did, i was tryin to juggle the ruger 1 and kimber from the gun safe to the lounge room when i lost grip an fumbled my kimber, within moments i heard the big crash as it landed on the floor....... carpet this time.

i was ment to hunt it in the following morning, so thats why i ended up grabbing the 35 Whelen for a run (boy is that thing heavy)

anyway

this afternoon during our #5 covid lockdown state wide for -100 cases, i got to line up a target at 100m an fired.... an i fired again thinking it must be a fluke....

they landed touching, precisley 2 inches above the X...........


Talley Rings must be good eh!??

and the Burris fullfield ii has not let me down yet!

i wsa amazed.

Whats your story?
 
Fumbled and dropped one on a rock one deer season. It visible bent the front bell downwards. Time for a new scope.
 
Years ago I placed a scoped rifle on a tree branch using the sling. Branch looked good & was 2 " in dia.
The branch broke while I was too far to catch. The scope tube had a small dint & the vert. cross hair
looked out of place a little. I shot @ a target about 70 yds. & hit it within 4" of center.
The scope was a Tasco World Class ( lifetime garanteed). I sent it back to company where it was repaired 4 free.
That was the last time I placed a sling on a branch. Gun on ground always.
 
Many years ago I had a Tasco World Class on an M70 in a saddle scabard, the horse fell on top of the rifle and although the rifle and scope looked ok, when I looked through the scope I noticed the verticle cross hair was broken. I took the scope to the retailer where I purchased it, the guy looked through the scope and reached under the counter and handed me a brand new scope! Horses can be hard on scoped rifles!
 
I had a rifle fall from being leaned up against the wall (not in a corner, my mistake) to the ground. Went hunting but saw nothing, decided to check the zero at lunch & it was 10" off at ~50m, I got it roughly back on & went hunting... Thankful I did check it because I shot a 10point buck. I would have missed clean if I hadn't checked the rifle!
 
Reminds me of an old Leupold add where a guy loses his rifle in a beaver pond and finds it the next year a rusted mess and only the Leupold scope is undamaged.
 
CZ 550 .416 Rigby with a USO 1-4 mounted on a screwed in pic rail with CZ removable rings.
Overseas, it was set in the horizontal gun rack in the back of the open Landcruiser.
Some rough, aggressive driving though the grass for several miles, we hit a bunch rocks and ruble under the grass, the rifle launches out of the rack, bounces off the wheel well and landed on the steel back deck of the cruiser.

It looked fine, kept going, and eventually shot two critters at 300 and 450 yds without a hiccup.
Afterwards, the test firing showed it did not move an iota.
Love that set up.
 
I have an old Bausch&Lomb BalVar 2.5X8X32 that I accidently put a small ding on the objective bezel in 1980. I thought it was done,so,I changed it out and stored it intending to send it away for repairs. That didn't happen and there it sat until my grandson found it ayear ago. He put it in the freezer for a couple of hours,then,removed it to warm up. I thought it would fog inside and be instant garbage,but,it didn't. He tossed in a sink full of water and it didn't leak a drop. It now sits on his Sako Vixen .222 and still gets 1moa@200M. Fooled hell out of me,let me tell ya.
 
JIMMY 808 said:
Leupold scopes will loose 0 all by themselves no need to drop.
Click to expand...

Stop reading 24 hour campfire and the leupold smear campaign. You’ll be better off. As for losing zero, yes once I fell very hard on a rifle and it hit the ground with my full weight and banged around a bit. It was off paper when I checked it. Unusual circumstances though. It’s not something I’d worry about on a regular basis.
 
Slung my rifle heading out for elk, only to have the top sling swivel fail. Rifle dropped in an arc, scope down, and unceremoniously slammed into the ground. Picked it up, cursed the sling swivel (old style Uncle Mike's), checked the bore for dirt (none present), then went on about my morning hunt. Rifle was a sporterized Mauser (KS Arms), scope was a Leupold 3.5-10x40. No issues whatsoever.
 
Did the lazy mans boot tie, the old wrap around instead of using all the eye hook. Planted me right on my face with my rifle under me. Literally bounced it off the frozen ground. Immediately missed a mule buck at buck at 75 yards. found it was shooting almost a foot high at 100 yards.
 
Only time I recall losing zero on a hunting trip was when I got off my horse "for just a minute" and promptly got engrossed in glassing some goats. Sure enough the horse rolled all over the rifle in the scabbard. It was shooting high and to the right but I didn't know it until shooting at a buck and saw the bullet smack a rock behind him. I adjusted my aim to compensate and dropped him with a neck shot. That was an older Bushnell scope.

Had many other tumbles with better quality scopes with no problem. A friend crashed his ATV and sent his rifle flying and the ATV ran over it. Many people assured him that it was screwed but it was a VX 3 scope and I said it probably was fine, which shooting at paper confirmed. Quality gear will give you the best chance at not having failures.
 
Vortex Viper 1" 3-9x40 has held up to a few drops, falls, etc over the last 4 years. Nothing like Gatehouse describes involving ATVs or Horses mind you.
 
Yes sure, dropped, dropped again when strap failed, fallen on, landed on top when I fell riding my bike with rifle over shoulder, I've done it all.
 
Falconflyer said:
I've had/have lots of Leupold scopes over the years and have yet to see one lose it's zero, not saying it can't happen but....
Click to expand...

Sent dozens back many of the same scopes more then once.

Korth service, looks, low mounting ect are partly the reason my rifles still wear them.
 
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Had a Simmons give up on my 264 WM years ago during a snow storm following fresh deer tracks with a buddy, had dropped the rifle in fresh snow in a case taking it out from behind the seat that morning and didn’t think anything of it. Walked him up in his bed in swirling fog, saw him, fog closed in. Rifle up, fog opened up, deer was standing and looking at me, dead broadside at about 75 yards and I shot him behind the shoulder. Deer reared up and walked in two circles on his back legs and then crashed to the ground. Further inspection showed a hit on the very front of the brisket and low.

Checked the scope afterwards as there was zero chance I pulled the shot that far, and found it to be 18” to the right and 6” low.

A couple of test shots had the reticle rotating to the right.

I’ve also had a couple Leupolds that failed to track properly or hold zero, but the zero didn’t move enough to have negatively impacted a shot that much inside 300 yards. Still would have killed deer.
 
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