Leupold fxii 2.5 power fail

[CO_mtnman]

38 rounds through my new 460 wby and already had a scope failure, I am not sure if it was a lemon or I need to look I to other scopes for a replacement

 

[K-man]

Wow! Too bad, I guess that's why they have a lifetime warranty. Of course, .460 weatherby, your shoulder probably looks like the scope, you just don't see it yet. Keep us posted how they treat the warranty claim.

 

[CO_mtnman]

As far as the recoil goes it's not that bad but then again I've got it loaded down to 450 rigby/dakota velocities. I am mainly just bummed because I did a ton of research on getting a scope that I could afford and would hold up to the recoil on top of waiting 2 years to get the rifle built only to have it fail within the 1st month of shooting it. I love leupold, all of my rifles have a leupold scope so I am sure that I just got a dud (well atleast that's what I am telling myself)

 

[375Fox]

That’s a serious failure. Thanks for posting.

 

[matt2H]

That is a significant fail!

Offering some hope- I recently tested Leupolds return and repair service on a new scope (turning the elevation turret had no affect on poi up or down). I spoke to a Sean who arranged to have my scope shipped to them, repaired and back to me within a week. A shoddy experience turned good with that kind of customer service.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Luvthunt]

That is an unusual failure

 

[WAB]

Something is wrong other than the scope. There should be zero movement between the rings making a separation failure impossible. The fact that it happened points to another problem:

- one ring was tight and the other was not.
- one of the bases was loose.
- some other cause of flexion/displacement between the rings.

The rings should actually provide additional strength to the tube. A recoil failure should look like the innards falling apart, the objective lens coming off, etc..

 

[TTundra]

Backing up @WAB . For the scope to separate, the front ring may have had an issue being the rear seats in the notch on a CZ integral mount.

Scopes can always have failures, but that failure while mounted is extremely odd.

That said, Leupold will make it right.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

I use this Wheeler scope lapping tool when mounting scopes. These tools make it easy to properly align the rings:

https://www.wheelertools.com/scope-...pe-ring-alignment-and-lapping-kit/305172.html

https://www.amazon.com/Wheeler-Scope-Alignment-Lapping-Combo/dp/B001FA7854

Wheeler Scope Ring Alignment and Lapping Kit Combo, 1 Inch and 30mm Lapping Bars, Compound for Scope Mounting and Leveling

Aligning the scope rings

Lapping the rings

 

[Fixfire]

Agreed to mounting issue. Who did the mounting?? Don’t assume the local gun store and/or bubba can properly mount a scope. This “routine” service is often taken for granted. Ask me how I know…..

 

[CO_mtnman]

I did the mounting and torqued everything to spec with the alaskan rings, should I go ahead and get some different rings?

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Is that a CZ? If so they only have one recoil lug on the rear bridge. The front has no way to keep the ring from sliding on the dovetail. That is the single biggest flaw with the CZ550 to me.
EAW makes a set rings, they are expensive, that have a recoil lug built into the front ring. You may want to consider those as an option. Possibly someone could TIG weld a small piece of steel to rear of your ring so it would the rear of the dovetail and prevent it from sliding forward.

 

[Graham Hunter]

I agree with WAB and Tundra. There is no way that much separation could occur between the rings. Good news is Leupold has the best and fastest warranty of any manufacture. I sell a lot of Leupolds and very, very, very rarely have any issues! But when I do Leupold is fast and no questions asked even on scopes I would seriously question. But before you put any scope back on that gun you will have to figure out the mounting issue.

 

[CO_mtnman]

I am going to get this scope off to leupold sometime this week whenever my schedule permits and I will be getting another set of rings before the new one comes in thats for sure. With this being my first big bore rifle I am learning the hard way on alot of things.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Here is a picture of the EAW ring with the recoil lug. It just rests up against the rear edge of the dovetail and prevents it from sliding forward.
There has been a couple of threads on here about CZ front rings moving on high recoil applications.

 

[cajunchefray]

That's an unusual scope failure, that points to some misalignment of the rings. I suspect due to the machined bridge mounts not in alignment with each other, the barrel or both.

I had a CZ 550 in 416 Rigby with this problem. My gunsmith used the alignment bars, as referenced by @Mark A Ouellette , and showed me the misalignment. It wasn't bad but was obvious. He lapped the rings, and that fixed the wandering zero. Scope was a Leupold VX-ii, 1-4x.

Later I had a CZ 500 .500 Jeffery without alignment problems. I had to check but ended up using that rifle without a scope.

My gunsmith explained that the torsion on the scope tube was stressing the internal gimbals that aligned the reticle, and during recoil would shift. Once the rings were lapped, and alignment confirmed, problem fixed.

With your scope, the torsion on the tube from misalignment, combined with 450 Dakota level recoil could break the scope tube at a weak point, next to the turret.

Before changing rings, I would check alignment of the bases and rings. Probably need to shim the setup by a competent gunsmith who understands this geometry and has the tools and instruments to validate scope bases square to the barrel, barrel square to the receiver, and scope rings square to the whole setup.

 

[Nhoro]

I agree with the suggestions above. First check alignment of the rings and then check the rings themselves. The action will hold that scope together so that separation of tube from turret shows shifting of the rings on the scope or rings on the dovetail.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi,

The BRNOs an CZ 19 mm front dovetail HAVE a stop: the machining ends at the front. So the ring must be in touch with that part. If you want to put the front ring before that end of the dovetail, then, the rear part of the base of the ring must have some attachment to make contact with the front part of the action front bridge. Like the one Wyatt Smith shows.
Agree that failure of Leupold scope is more related with a ring (front) shift, and the 460 Wea recoil, than with other cause.

Good luck!

CF

 

[sureshot375]

Going to agree with the others here and say there had to be some movement in the mount or rings to cause this failure.


Also, I had never heard of that particular model. I looked it up and saw it was a light weight model. Not sure that is the ideal choice for 460 wby.