Weird Scope Fault

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I Dont Care About You

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Experienced a very weird fault with an old scope today. I've had this scope for the better part of $20 years and it has been excellent over all the years.

Everything was fine. I looked through the scope and everything was normal. Then I fiddled with the power ring and when I looked through it again, the reticle had rotated 45 degrees. I have no idea why or how this happened and I have never seen a scope do anything like this before.

The most annoying part is that this is the second scope that has sh!t the bed on this rifle in two consecutive range trips this week. Thinking maybe I need to sacrifice a chicken over the rifle to cleanse it of whatever bad karma it has picked up. :ang3
 
I Dont Care About You said:
Experienced a very weird fault with an old scope today. I've had this scope for the better part of $20 years and it has been excellent over all the years.

Everything was fine. I looked through the scope and everything was normal. Then I fiddled with the power ring and when I looked through it again, the reticle had rotated 45 degrees. I have no idea why or how this happened and I have never seen a scope do anything like this before.

The most annoying part is that this is the second scope that has sh!t the bed on this rifle in two consecutive range trips this week. Thinking maybe I need to sacrifice a chicken over the rifle to cleanse it of whatever bad karma it has picked up. :ang3
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Reticle rotation, the glue holding it in place failed, dried up, etc. I have a swfa that has done the same thing, twice. Trace will fix it for you. - dan
 
dan belisle said:
Reticle rotation, the glue holding it in place failed, dried up, etc. I have a swfa that has done the same thing, twice. Trace will fix it for you. - dan
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I'm not positive it is worth fixing. IIRC I only paid about $100 for it 20 years ago. I'd suspect the repair cost would be greater than the purchase price. But then I'd need a replacement scope, which would def cost more than repairing this scope.
 
9.3mauser said:
^This. Life's too short to piss around with old/cheap optics.
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Well this cheap optic has given sterling service for around 20 years. Not bad for a $100 investment. I've never been a fan of Leupold, they are mostly focussed on the needs of hunters and generally don't have the features I am looking for ... except for the very expensive models.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
Well this cheap optic has given sterling service for around 20 years. Not bad for a $100 investment. I've never been a fan of Leupold, they are mostly focussed on the needs of hunters and generally don't have the features I am looking for ... except for the very expensive models.
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So your 20 year old $100 dollar scope crapped the bed, if it had been a Leupold then you could have gotten a new scope out of the deal but since it isn't then throw it in the garbage and move on.
 
Falconflyer said:
So your 20 year old $100 dollar scope crapped the bed, if it had been a Leupold then you could have gotten a new scope out of the deal but since it isn't then throw it in the garbage and move on.
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You gonna be OK? Its not personal that I don't buy Leupold ...

In my first post I did say that this scope didn't owe me anything. I'm not at all upset, I just had never seen a reticle turn 45 deg before. The only annoying thing is the timing of two back to back scope failures on the same rifle in two trips to the range. I mean, what are the odds?
 
cath8r said:
100$!
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RIGHT! Can't really beat that for the years of service I got out of it. That scope spent most of its time on my gopher rifle, being dragged through a millions fields and over / under a thousand fences / dropped a hundred times and bounced around in he back of the truck etc. It didn't lead a cushy life. I don't regret buying it at all.

I'm gonna see what Trace Scope Repair might charge, just for the sentimental value of the scope. ;)
 
I Dont Care About You said:
You gonna be OK? Its not personal that I don't buy Leupold ...

In my first post I did say that this scope didn't owe me anything. I'm not at all upset, I just had never seen a reticle turn 45 deg before. The only annoying thing is the timing of two back to back scope failures on the same rifle in two trips to the range. I mean, what are the odds?
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I'm good... and I'm not upset either.

Yeah the odds are pretty slim alright but I've found that scope failures seem to happen when or right after you start messing with the zero settings if they haven't been moved in a while.

I don't care if you buy Leupold or not, just saying that if it was then you'd be getting a new scope.
 
Falconflyer said:
I'm good... and I'm not upset either.

Yeah the odds are pretty slim alright but I've found that scope failures seem to happen when or right after you start messing with the zero settings if they haven't been moved in a while.
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Interestingly, that is exactly what I did. The scope had not been used or the turrets turned in a really long time. Then I moved it to the "cursed" rifle and before I had a chance to even fire a zero'ing shot, the reticle went haywire. I had turned the turrets to boresight the thing the day before.

I'm still not a fan of Leupold.
 
dreaded dead reticle. Seen it twice. One of those things that happens to some scopes.

i started out with leupold, then upgraded to sightron and now Apex, with 1 remaining sightron.

Leupold, lagged behind in innovating and modernizing for a long time, but they are a solid scope with new features now.
If you're worried about durability, see this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cqdjOZqp-s
 
I Dont Care About You said:
Interestingly, that is exactly what I did. The scope had not been used or the turrets turned in a really long time. Then I moved it to the "cursed" rifle and before I had a chance to even fire a zero'ing shot, the reticle went haywire. I had turned the turrets to boresight the thing the day before.

I'm still not a fan of Leupold.
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Yup, sounds familiar.

I'm not pushing any kind of scope on anybody and I certainly am not saying they are the best but I can tell you that for many decades now, Leupold hasn't let me down on many rifles and many hunting expeditions.
 
Don’t know how much they would charge to fix a 20 years old scope but pretty sure would be over 100$, nothing cheap those day.
 
Hardhammer said:
Don’t know how much they would charge to fix a 20 years old scope but pretty sure would be over 100$, nothing cheap those day.
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I suppose the requisite math would be, will the repair cost be greater than what a replacement scope would cost? I suspect the repair would be considerably cheaper.
 
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