Have you ever had a rifle or scope fail on a big game hunt ?

[Triple BB]

Was walking through the timber one morning when the top swivel on my sling decided to crap out. The gun fell backwards. There was a big thud when the scope hit a log. No external damage, but couldn't adjust the power, so it was stuck on 3x the rest of the day. It had to be sent back to Germany. Took S & B about 3 months to get the thing sent back to me.

 

[Tiny Tim]

Rebuilt weaver failed mid session at the range the day before opener. One of the lenses let loose internally. Fortunately had a backup.

Once had my holster got packed full of wet snow while making drives. Temps were falling rapidly late in the day. When I went to draw it out, it was like a frozen snow cone. Couldn't even open the cylinder let alone cock or fire it. A night in a warm tent thawed and dried it out nicely.

 

[marksman1941]

Most failures are human caused. I took a tumble and landed on a swaro z6 2-12 and knocked it well out of alignment. I had a spare gun thankfully but it wasn't fun.

The worst has been wet powder in a muzzleloader. We hunt traditional, and chasing elk with a flintlock during a wet November is difficult. At no point do you have assurance your rifle will go off, and more than likely it drew moisture and will need some work to made it light. I finally switched to an inline percussion rifle this year so there's some semblance of a chance to get an elk

 

[Lenny Foffa]

Yes!! I did once. IT was about 22 years ago on a Deer Hunt in West Virginia, a Leupold VX 2 3 X 9 that I had previously sent back to the factory for a Reticle Change , fogged all up on a cold rainy morning. Sent it back and it was fixed. Had to hunt with a friends rifle that hunt. That experience taught me to carry a spare scope.

 

[dgr416]

Funnest failure to fire or bolt was my favorite ruger 77 338 win mag .I got a piece of pine straw in the chamber and it wouldbt chsmber a round .It took forever to get it out of the chamber too .

 

[AZShooter]

Had a scope that fail during a hunt. It was a coues wt hunt, missed getting a nice animal. Switched to another rifle for the remainder of the hunt. Luckily brought along a backup.

Another scope failed a week or so before another coues wt hunt.

Had many Leupold scopes fail since 1983 when I began hunting. Many failed randomly when attempting to move the POI at the range. In all cases the cause was a broken erector. It took me a while to realize Leupold scopes had an issue.

One time I talked to a tech at Leupold. He suggested I turn the turrets lock to lock several times to distribute the grease. While it worked, I lost trust in that scope. I sold it soon thereafter.

Eventually I sold off all my Leupolds except a 2.5 compact which is on a 22RF. When considering the difficulty of being drawn and the cost of a hunt, life is too short to trust a Leupold especially if you are a turret twister. IMO at some point it will fail.

 

[marksman1941]

Had a scope that fail during a hunt. It was a coues wt hunt, missed getting a nice animal. Switched to another rifle for the remainder of the hunt. Luckily brought along a backup.

Another scope failed a week or so before another coues wt hunt.

Had many Leupold scopes fail since 1983 when I began hunting. Many failed randomly when attempting to move the POI at the range. In all cases the cause was a broken erector. It took me a while to realize Leupold scopes had an issue.

One time I talked to a tech at Leupold. He suggested I turn the turrets lock to lock several times to distribute the grease. While it worked, I lost trust in that scope. I sold it soon thereafter.

Eventually I sold off all my Leupolds except a 2.5 compact which is on a 22RF. When considering the difficulty of being drawn and the cost of a hunt, life is too short to trust a Leupold especially if you are a turret twister. IMO at some point it will fail.

I haven't lost a scope mid hunt, but often when the rifle comes out of the safe for season after sitting for 10 months, it will not be sighted in anymore. I never understood why a scope will drift from sitting there over the winter and spring. The only scopes that haven't drifted were SWFA and Trijicon. My Leupold, Burris, and bushnell elites have all walked on me.

 

[Horse1]

I haven't lost a scope mid hunt, but often when the rifle comes out of the safe for season after sitting for 10 months, it will not be sighted in anymore. I never understood why a scope will drift from sitting there over the winter and spring. The only scopes that haven't drifted were SWFA and Trijicon. My Leupold, Burris, and bushnell elites have all walked on me.

Do you clean the barrel or leave it fouled? IME a "clean" bore needs 1-3 shots to dissipate any cleaning solvent residue and return to zero.

The rifle I shoot the most is a Kimber Montana w/Lilja factory duplicate contour bbl in 1:8 22-250 with a 2.5-10x42 NF NXS. Whether it needs it or not I typically clean it sometime in Aug/Sept, double check zero on paper and then it won't see paper for a year unless something wonky happens. I haven't moved the actual "sight-in" zero in over 3yrs. That rifle lives in the pickup from Sept-May.

 

[marksman1941]

Do you clean the barrel or leave it fouled? IME a "clean" bore needs 1-3 shots to dissipate any cleaning solvent residue and return to zero.

The rifle I shoot the most is a Kimber Montana w/Lilja factory duplicate contour bbl in 1:8 22-250 with a 2.5-10x42 NF NXS. Whether it needs it or not I typically clean it sometime in Aug/Sept, double check zero on paper and then it won't see paper for a year unless something wonky happens. I haven't moved the actual "sight-in" zero in over 3yrs. That rifle lives in the pickup from Sept-May.

Typically leave it fouled unless it got wet. I'll take it out pre season and shoot a group, and sometimes the group will have walked 2-3 inches in any direction

 

[dgr416]

My cousin wanted to test his new burris posilock scope on something that kicked .We put ot on my remington model 700 in 416 rem mag .It brole the very first shot .I never trusted burris after that aand a burris mini 2x7 scope broke on my ruger 40 cal carbine .
Nikon was my go to scope i used then from 1986 on my 338s and 416 no provlems I used them in alaaka 12 years through everything you could think of no probkens thousands of hunts and shots .I hated when they stopped making Nikon scopes sad day .

 

[std7mag]

Short answer, no.
Not in the going on 40 years of hunting and shooting.

 

[carpassasin]

Yep freezing my butt off in wyoming high country deep snow and god knows how cold browning A bolt firing pin froze had to start a fire and thaw the bolt out .

 

[wv270wsm]

Yep had a scope fail first morning of buck season . Had checked the zero on my rifle the week prior.
It was a slightly warm morning till bout 10 am then the wind kicked up and the temp started to drop . By 1030 it was poking down the rain and snow mix . I looked down the ridge from me and it's the only time I can honestly say I saw horns before I saw the deer . He was magnificent 70 yards broad side walking . He realized something wasn't quite right and stopped in an opening. I shot and he just stood there I fired again . He took off like he'd been hit kinda headed towards where my dad was posted up . Bout 3 minutes later i heard dad shoot . Hoping he'd seen it and finished him off . I go down to where it was standing when I'd shot and couldn't find anything .
I walked the same trail that buck had took up through the thicket towards my dad looking for any sign of a hit . I get to where dad was and ask him if he got that big sucker . He said it really wasn't that big and we walk over to it . It was a small 6 point , definitely not the same buck I'd missed . I'd say that big boy bounced that one up and he went another direction.
That afternoon it quit taking and I checked my gun zero . It was all over the place like 2 feet off every direction. Here the crosshairs had broke loose on the right side and I hadn't noticed it . That buck was killed the next day by a 14 year old girl . He was a 13 point that was 22 inches wide . That one was hard to swallow

 

[southpa]

Was walking through the timber one morning when the top swivel on my sling decided to crap out. The gun fell backwards. There was a big thud when the scope hit a log. No external damage, but couldn't adjust the power, so it was stuck on 3x the rest of the day. It had to be sent back to Germany. Took S & B about 3 months to get the thing sent back to me.

This is why non of my rifles will ever bear a sling ever again. The funny thing about slings is that in order to shoot an animal walking through the woods the rifle needs to be in your hand and not slung on your shoulder hahah. Ive learned that the hard way too many times. And they do fail and usually put you out and the cost of damaged scopes.

Also, there is a reason I no longer use vortex optics. I've personally had issues in the field with one that cause me to eat tags and many people I know have had the same experience with them.

It sucks when this happens.