Dropped rifle and change in zero

[B-LOT Banga]

Hunting in Hawaii and NZ I dropped my rifle and fell on it several times. I never had to re-zero my scopes on multiple rifles even when I once dented the tube. I cannot imagine it going off that much without major damage to something, scope, bent barrel or bent mounts, etc. and that would require more than just a re-zero.
The only time I had to re-zero my rifle was when I traveled. Which got me thinking how can it be when it's in a soft case, inside a SKB hard case? Well I found the answer out.... TSA. I took pics of my turrets and put clear nail polish on my turret cap seals. Sure enough when I got to my destination I opened it and yep, broken seal on the caps and the turrets been moved. Now I see why people tape scope covers on or have TSA inspect in front of them before locking with a NON-TSA lock.
To OP if your POI changed that much I suspect something is broken, bent, loose or needs changing. I would also verify at longer ranges after your initial re-zero to see if it's trued.

 

[zr600]

Lots of variables and even when it's solid it's only going to be so solid.

My match rifles, I could drop from a tree stand and they won't lose zero by more than a click or two. Between opposing the rings (one pushed forward, 1 pushed backward), bedding the rail, proper torquing, locktite, the odd dab of fingernail polish, receiver bedding, lug bedding and using silly expensive scopes that are made to be strong enough to take a drop on the ground it just happens to be the case. I'd not checked my zero on my primary match rifle until last weekend, so it must have been at least 9 months to a year since I last did that. After half a dozen matches plus practice sessions and generally being tossed around the back of my car and my garage on alternating weeks the total drift was 2 clicks of elevation. All the scopes I have ever used that would perform like this are tactical scopes, mostly with military pedigrees or built to the same standard. For a consumer grade hunting scope, I simply would not expect it to hold zero after a significant impact.

What kind of scopes do you run?