Scope Reliability

[Tex .416]

There is so much discussion here about scopes, but almost never any discussion about scope reliability and durability.

To me, the single most important quality in a scope, rifle, and ammo, is that it will work correctly to send the bullet to the intended point of aim. When the animal of a lifetime is standing there, I want everything to work - right then and there. A warranty is utterly useless at that moment.

To me, the best customer service is not free return shipping to fix something, but to have designed it right, built it right, and give it a quality control check before it goes out the door so it will work correctly and not need to go back.

Through the years, scopes that broke on me include Leupold, Zeiss, Redfield, US Optics, Unertl, Nikon, and some cheap stuff that came on rifles.

Even the much vaunted Swarovski EE has reports on here of it breaking.

In 2005, I bought my first Nightforce and have bought several more since. So far, not one has ever had a problem. That oldest NF conservatively has 25,000+ rounds fired under it including 1000’s of 7 WSM, .300 Win Mag, and .338 Lapua. It still works perfectly. I have a 75 year old Lyman Alaskan fixed 4x still works correctly.

Curious to hear, especially from the PH’s, which scopes others have seen fail and which seem to be most durable and reliable?

 

[fisherofmen]

There is so much discussion here about scopes, but almost never any discussion about scope reliability and durability.

To me, the single most important quality in a scope, rifle, and ammo, is that it will work correctly to send the bullet to the intended point of aim. When the animal of a lifetime is standing there, I want everything to work - right then and there. A warranty is utterly useless at that moment.

To me, the best customer service is not free return shipping to fix something, but to have designed it right, built it right, and give it a quality control check before it goes out the door so it will work correctly and not need to go back.

Through the years, scopes that broke on me include Leupold, Zeiss, Redfield, US Optics, Unertl, Nikon, and some cheap stuff that came on rifles.

Even the much vaunted Swarovski EE has reports on here of it breaking.

In 2005, I bought my first Nightforce and have bought several more since. So far, not one has ever had a problem. That oldest NF conservatively has 25,000+ rounds fired under it including 1000’s of 7 WSM, .300 Win Mag, and .338 Lapua. It still works perfectly. I have a 75 year old Lyman Alaskan fixed 4x still works correctly.

Curious to hear, especially from the PH’s, which scopes others have seen fail and which seem to be most durable and reliable?

When I worked at a sporting goods store several years ago we would take a Nightforce and bang it on the counter. The counter was dented.
I dropped a rifle with a 30 mm Burris Euro 3-9 from a metal ladder stand, about 15 feet. Scope and rifle showed scratches and dents. Took it to the range and it hit exactly where it was dialed in. I was impressed.

 

[JimP]

48 years ago I purchased my first Leopold scope a VX2 3-9x40. I installed it onto a brand new Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag. A couple of days later I sighted it it. To this day that rifle still shoots to the same point of aim, I have never readjusted the scope. During those 48 years it has had a horse roll on it, fallen off of my shoulder and smacked some rocks, endured numerous rain and snow storms and the rifle has been shot more than I care to think.

Around 30 years ago I purchased my second Leopold scope, a VX3 3.5-10x40 to place on my 340 Weatherby. This scope has also seen the same kind of use as my first one. Plus it has endured two trips to South Africa and one to British Colombia where while crossing a creek (in the guides words) and was submerged for a short time, after drying it off it showed no effect of the dunking or in the 7 days of hunting in the rain.

I also have other Leopold's, another VX2 3-9x40 and a VX3 4.5-14x40 and a VXIII 6.5-20x50AO.

They are great scopes without breaking the bank.

 

[rookhawk]

There is so much discussion here about scopes, but almost never any discussion about scope reliability and durability.

To me, the single most important quality in a scope, rifle, and ammo, is that it will work correctly to send the bullet to the intended point of aim. When the animal of a lifetime is standing there, I want everything to work - right then and there. A warranty is utterly useless at that moment.

To me, the best customer service is not free return shipping to fix something, but to have designed it right, built it right, and give it a quality control check before it goes out the door so it will work correctly and not need to go back.

Through the years, scopes that broke on me include Leupold, Zeiss, Redfield, US Optics, Unertl, Nikon, and some cheap stuff that came on rifles.

Even the much vaunted Swarovski EE has reports on here of it breaking.

In 2005, I bought my first Nightforce and have bought several more since. So far, not one has ever had a problem. That oldest NF conservatively has 25,000+ rounds fired under it including 1000’s of 7 WSM, .300 Win Mag, and .338 Lapua. It still works perfectly. I have a 75 year old Lyman Alaskan fixed 4x still works correctly.

Curious to hear, especially from the PH’s, which scopes others have seen fail and which seem to be most durable and reliable?

If reliability is your aim, a S&B or Nightforce is your answer.

In the same way that if durability is your aim, don't buy white carrera marble counters, I have a granite boulder outside that is way more durable.

Swarovski and Leica are sporting optics, compromising durability in exchange for a svelt lightweight optic that is not milspec. I'd rather have a rabies infested clam bite me while skinny dipping rather than own a milspec optic, but I attribute portability and lightweight properties to my optics.

Nightforce has a video of them freezing their optics in a block of ice, then smashing the ice block with a hammer, mounting the optic, and then shooting it. Kudos to them for what they were able to build, but I still don't want them.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[TMac]

Trijicon is worth a look too. They do quite a bit of shock and drop testing. You can get close to mil spec durability & reliability in close to sport optic weight. Imo similar to a Nightforce SHV level ruggedness, not quite up to the top level NF scope ruggedness.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Trijicon went through the U.S. mail and took a good hit to bend the end of the objective lens. Still works, just can't use a sun shield. It's the 2.5-10 Accupoint. Have it mounted on a 17 Fireball and used it today at 200m targets, no issues. Have NF and IMHO, it's a tossup between the two for able to take a beating.

 

[Sideshow]

You want to talk with @michael458 he has broken more than a few. Interesting what he uses.

 

[Luvthunt]

48 years ago I purchased my first Leopold scope a VX2 3-9x40. I installed it onto a brand new Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag. A couple of days later I sighted it it. To this day that rifle still shoots to the same point of aim, I have never readjusted the scope. During those 48 years it has had a horse roll on it, fallen off of my shoulder and smacked some rocks, endured numerous rain and snow storms and the rifle has been shot more than I care to think.

Around 30 years ago I purchased my second Leopold scope, a VX3 3.5-10x40 to place on my 340 Weatherby. This scope has also seen the same kind of use as my first one. Plus it has endured two trips to South Africa and one to British Colombia where while crossing a creek (in the guides words) and was submerged for a short time, after drying it off it showed no effect of the dunking or in the 7 days of hunting in the rain.

I also have other Leopold's, another VX2 3-9x40 and a VX3 4.5-14x40 and a VXIII 6.5-20x50AO.

They are great scopes without breaking the bank.

+1

 

[michael458]

You want to talk with @michael458 he has broken more than a few. Interesting what he uses.

This could be a very long story, so I will try to cut it as short as possible............

First, lets clear the air a bit, I do not like 30mm Scopes....... they are too big, too bulky, too heavy for my tastes, and even my guns......... Most 30mm Scopes it is my belief they are a bit tougher than 1 inch scopes and most can probably handle more recoil overall. Regardless of that, I just cannot deal with one on my rifle, of any make or design.

In my early days of this great adventure, For the overall Size, FIELD OF VIEW at very close range (10 steps), and of course eye relief, I found it hard to beat the 1X5 Leupold Vari or VX 3, or even the 1X4 Leupold VX2 or vari....... Perfect in every way, except for one........

Now, mind you, I am or was a shooter, developing several big bore cartridges, different rifle designs, short and handy, developing bullet designs, and doing load data and pressure data on all these. I am shooting anything from 200-300 rounds of big bore every week, several days a week, from 416-.500 caliber, and most of this 458-500 caliber........ Week after week, for several years........ I had probably 15+ of these Leupolds on rifles and on hand. I was busting these weekly, I always had 3-4 on the bench to send for repairs, while waiting on 3-4 to be returned from being repaired, it was a constant, consistent circle for a very long time. It was just another price to pay, except it was greatly interfering with my productivity, taking broken scopes off, and putting new or repaired one back on, sighting back in, takes a lot of time, and if you are doing this a couple of times a week....... well, eats into your time you could be doing pressure data, load data, bullet tech tests, and so forth.......

I was working close with JD Jones at the time, SSK Industries did all my work. JD caught wind of my scope busting issues, and contacted a person he knew at Leupold. JD knew everyone in the industry at that time. The fellow from Leupold touched base with me and I explained the problems. He asked if I had tried their 1X6 30mm something or other, and I explained my disdain for 30mm and why. He told me he would replace all my 1X5 and 1X4s with this scope if I wanted!!!! HOLY COW< the scope he was talking about ran about $1200 at this time...... I said thank you, that was an incredible offer, but really I just could not do 30mm on my rifles, damn scopes bigger than the guns! Finally he talked me into trying one as a test, I agreed and I did test it for about 150 rounds of 50 B&M, which is a scope busting little rifle..... fact is, one time I put a brand new 1X5 VX 3 Leupold on a 50 B&M and it busted on the third round fired trying to sight it in!!!!!!! 3 Rounds and it was done! I watched it explode inside. The 1X6 30mm did very well, I did not bust it in `150 or so rounds, but it was just too big, bulky and heavy for my purposes, I boxed it up, sent it back with my gratitude for the test and the effort, thank you, but no thanks...........

I was growing somewhat weary of the continuous circle of busted scopes and lost time doing research. I decided to take a look at what was available....... My requirements;
1. 1 Inch Scope... similar in size to the 1X5 Leupold
2. Large Field of view at very short range. I have two full mounted lions at 10 yards, I wanted to see the entire lion on low power at that range.
3. Eye Relief of 4" or so, not so much fun getting your head busted at odd shooting scenarios.

There was not much to work with, I found a Trijicon 1" at the time, 1X4 with German Crosshairs...... A 1X3 Weaver that looked promising, and a 1X4 Nikon African that looked promising. I ordered all three to test.

There was some issues with the Weaver, clarity and some other things I don't remember now, so it was ruled out.

The Trijicon actually did a fantastic job, I still have it today on a 458 of mine. It never gave any issues at all, and I wish that the 1 inch version was available today, which I can't find that it is. All I see is the 30mm versions. Of which I bought the 30mm a couple of years ago, and 30mm is still just too bulky on most of my rifles, the B&M Series guns are short and handy, most 18 inch barrels, some at 20......... and 30mm just is not suitable on those. I put the 30mm Trijicon on a 458 Lott with 22 inch barrel, its ok there, but I will never hunt with that anyway........

I did not much like the Nikon to begin with, the turrents were just too tall it seemed from what I was used to. Glass was as clear as I can use, eye relief plenty, field of view great, size was right too, both weight and length. I put it on a 500 MDM that has a great deal of recoil, 8 lb rifle, 20 inch barrel, .500 caliber, 500 gr bullets at 2450 fps........ I did my best to bust the scope, but after a few 100 rounds it was holding on with zero issues.

I had a choice, I needed a lot of scopes to set up on several rifles, 10-15 at least........ Trijicon cost at that time around $600 for the 1" version, the Nikon $276.00 from any source. Hmmmm? I went with Nikon. I bought a couple more, put on 458s and other .500s, after many 100s of rounds, still zero issues, nothing, no problems, no busted scopes, zero......... I repeated this again, and still no issues on anything........I boxed up all Leupolds and sold everything at 1/2 price, as is....... replaced everything with Nikons........I even moved all the 8x 10X to Nikons............ Just did a quick count, 28 big bore rifles equiped with 1X4 Nikons, they dropped the "African" and went to Monarch, and I have 7 spares not on rifles........... I have hunted them extensively, have fired 1000s on top of 1000s of rounds of big bore, and to this day after many years, I still have never had one bust, break, or have any issues at all, ZERO. And I still have that very first Nikon that was put on a 500 MDM and after 1000s of rounds in it, zero issues, problems......... So, for that first year, I was able to get much more done without having to change scopes every two or three shooting sessions.........

A few years ago Nikon went seriously WOKE, really too bad, they quit making any scopes of any kind. The best place to find one today is Ebay, I bought several of my spare scopes from there.

Yes, we have also busted other scopes here, some guys used to come in with the Swarovskis and they can't handle the recoil, and those had to be replaced with 1X4 Nikons........ there have been others over the years as well........

This is an 18 inch 458 B&M of course with the 1x4 Nikon.......... This gun weighs in at 7.5 lbs, no scope, so it is rather handy and not too difficult to tote around all day.......

Yeah, I know, many of you are convinced you have to spend $1000-$2500 or more on a scope to be reliable and whatever other attributes desired, I just never found that to be the case, and in fact was served very well by a $276.00 Nikon for many trips, many a buffalo, many a elephant, hippo and so forth, and above all many 1000s of rounds fired, big bore, not mediums or smalls............ I wish Trijicon still had those 1 inch versions, it is still around and doing fine as well, but at a bit more cost.
Ended up being a long story after all...... Apologies.........

 

[Philip Glass]

I have dropped or fell with guns a time or two but never had a problem with a scope on a hunt. I have had trouble with QD mounts however.