scope horror stories

[John Y Cannuck]

This thread is about scope and or mount failures.
Me, I've not been a huge user of scopes. But aging eyes have forced me into them the last few years.
Looking back, and this goes back to the late 60's, the only scope failure I've ever seen was on a Tasco wide angle fixed 4X that a friend had on his 30-06 Remington. He was a Fudd type guy, hardly ever fired his rifle, but one day he looks through the scope, and the crosshairs are laying at the bottom barely in his field of view. My go to scope is a Leupold 1-4, and yeah, it's probably older than a lot of the guys reading this right now. But so is the old Bushnell BDC inherited from my uncle. They have stood the test of time.

So, what have you seen WRT failures? Cheap Chinese stuff? Mid range stuff? High end German stuff?

What have you seen?

 

[DMS1]

I had a vortex crossfire shotgun scope that the reticle turned like the hands of a clock with each shot...

 

[Alpheus]

For S and G, I put a super cheap no-name scope that I got as part of a 10/22 package onto a K31. First round, crosshairs disappeared. Was like looking through a ####ty spotting scope.

 

[johnl]

Had a leupold pistol scope shatter on a S&W 629 after a diet of full loads.

 

[nomad 68]

I've been pretty lucky. I had a bushnell scope chief vi fog up on first hunt. It was replaced promptly by bushnell. Had an elite 3200 lose some brightness. They replaced it. Had a Japanese tasco world class start wandering after 19 yrs on at least 3 different rifles that saw a lot of use. By then tasco was sold to bushnell. They replaced it with an inferior bushnell that I just gave away. Not bad considering I've been using scopes for 35 yrs.

 

[Big Bad]

I had the scope of a 10/22 I was having accuracy problems with just slide off and land on the floor, explaining the problem. Lack of Loctite on the mounts blamed.

I heard of a guy who let his son mount a really expensive if older Leupold on his air rifle and play around with it over a summer. The scope was destroyed internally because it wasn't built to deal with the forward recoil of the compression spring, and Leupold him he was SOL on grounds of misuse.

 

[Dogleg]

I wish that I could be so lucky as to have the crosshairs laying on the bottom of the scope. A lens falling out or the tube breaking in half would be great too. Porky the friggen Pig saying "That's all folks"would be perfect.

The trouble with scopes is you seldom get a flashing red light to tell you your scope is pooched.

Groups opening can mean its broken.
Random fliers can mean its broken.
Failure to hold zero is broken.
Failure to track or return to zero is broken.
Any degradation in the image quality is broken.
Lens coating break-down is broken.
Excess parallax is broken, or often a symptom that something else is broken.
Any specks or floaters is broken. That junk that came out of nowhere came from somewhere.

You can shoot up one big pile of ammo trying to chase down the first several. More than a lot of cheap scopes are worth. The first step is admitting that there might be a problem; instead of a blustering denial with a glistening eyes and trembling lower lip when someone suggests a pooched scope is the cause of their problem. I see a lot of denial; based as near as I can tell on the owner not wanting it to be his scope. That's too bad; because when your rig goes sour having it be the scope's fault is great news. It's a lot better than it being the gun.

 

[Arseno]

Seen a cheap air gun scope used on a .223 and when it broke the cross-hairs would turn with the power adjustment knob. Another was a Simmons predator scope in 6x18 and on 18 power you couldn't see through the scope

 

[0357]

You could not pay me to use a bushnell elite series scope.
Gave em two chances adjustment knob seized on both of them.

 

[kamlooky]

Four Bushnells in one sitting at the Salmon Arm/South Canoe range.
Mr. H and I yews'in our lead sleds.
I was beside meself.
We both sold the sleds.

An old B&L 3000 and three 3200's.

 

[brybenn]

My 458wm kept canada post busy sending vortex scopes back and forth till i got tired of that non sense
My high powered pellet guns killed their fair share of cheap scopes over the years. Some could last a fair while while others couldnt. I now have purpose built air gun scooes on them now.

 

[lone ranger]

had a tasco 3x39. when you adjusted the elevation.....the windage would move left..lol how does that work ??

 

[Dogleg]

had a tasco 3x39. when you adjusted the elevation.....the windage would move left..lol how does that work ??

Sometimes the windage adjustment is so far to one side or the other that you can't adjust the elevation without the inside of the tube forcing the erector assembly to the side.

Somewhat less likely is a scope mounted 1/4 turn off. I once had a heck of a time straightening out a guy who couldn't figure out why up was left and right was up. He just kept pointing at the dial where it said "Up".

 

[coleman1495]

I just received my Swarovski Z5 back from Rhode Island. It was moving and not holding zero.They replaced the objective assembly.

Had two Vortex Vipers that wouldn’t hold zero.

Seen a few bad Nikons that wouldn’t hold zero. A Prostaff that wouldn’t focus.Luckily none of the Nikons were mine.

 

[Huntin' Gun]

years ago I bought a Simmons aetec scope. I had it on a 30-06 and it did okay. I then had it on a 300 magnum and the reticle collapsed. I sent it in under warranty and got a new one. I put it on a .270 and it died again. I sent it in again and got a whitetail model back. I put it on a .17hmr. I hope it can handle that recoil.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Four Bushnells in one sitting at the Salmon Arm/South Canoe range.
Mr. H and I yews'in our lead sleds.
I was beside meself.
We both sold the sleds.

An old B&L 3000 and three 3200's.

I've heard of sleds breaking stocks too. All that energy has to go somewhere.

 

[GUB]

I wish that I could be so lucky as to have the crosshairs laying on the bottom of the scope. A lens falling out or the tube breaking in half would be great too. Porky the friggen Pig saying "That's all folks"would be perfect.

The trouble with scopes is you seldom get a flashing red light to tell you your scope is pooched.

Groups opening can mean its broken.
Random fliers can mean its broken.
Failure to hold zero is broken.
Failure to track or return to zero is broken.
Any degradation in the image quality is broken.
Lens coating break-down is broken.
Excess parallax is broken, or often a symptom that something else is broken.
Any specks or floaters is broken. That junk that came out of nowhere came from somewhere.

You can shoot up one big pile of ammo trying to chase down the first several. More than a lot of cheap scopes are worth. The first step is admitting that there might be a problem; instead of a blustering denial with a glistening eyes and trembling lower lip when someone suggests a pooched scope is the cause of their problem. I see a lot of denial; based as near as I can tell on the owner not wanting it to be his scope. That's too bad; because when your rig goes sour having it be the scope's fault is great news. It's a lot better than it being the gun.

And you nailed it..Most people are in denial??? I've had several types pack it in... 2 of the guys I work with both have pooched Bushnells
I'll be helping them take them off and sending back for warranty??
Unless you are on CGN.. Most people don't even Know how or try to send them back

 

[savagelh]

I guess I've been lucky. I shoot quite a bit. I use Nikon, bushnell and sometimes vortex or Leupold. No malfunctions yet.

 

[BR427]

Got a couple of Tasco scopes lately, they seem fine for the small amount of money I've spent on them. Any opinions?

 

[GUB]

Got a couple of Tasco scopes lately, they seem fine for the small amount of money I've spent on them. Any opinions?

Yep..Use them till they break