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Scope field evaluations on rokslide

It doesn't really even have to be super extreme terrain. Hunt long enough either a fall happens, gear breaks, or even some scopes will shift zeros just from driving around in the truck.
The bouncing around on side by sides, horses, and four wheelers needs to added to the list of accidents, gear breaks, and trucks for things that happen to cause a zero shift
 
Standard procedure for whom? I don't really do super long range stuff but require adequate accuracy and I haven't changed my zero for years. It's a Zeiss Diavari with Optilocks on a Tikka mount. Although I have to admit that if I'd travel long distances to hunt and have the rifle thrashed around, I'd prefer to check the zero. However, I hunt 15 min from my home so I go for a hunt dozens of times a year so it's a bit different for me.

I'd say that if you zero your rifle one day and on the next range trip you need to change the zero slightly (<0.3 mrad), it's not about the scope not holding its zero. It's about the temperature, humidity, barrel fouling, the hold of the gun, powder temp, position of the saturnus etc if you're using a decent quality scope.
Well , what I meant was way different from your scenario . Some hunters here travel long distances to hunt . I completed a 4700 mile trip to make two Elk hunts last month . I've done it several times and some with less miles , but the first thing the guides or staff ALWAYS say is do you want to check your rifle . One time on a whitetail hunt to Texas my zero was 5 inches high , on my Nikon FX1000 .
Obviously you haven't read the thread by form ?
 
I'd say that if you zero your rifle one day and on the next range trip you need to change the zero slightly (<0.3 mrad), it's not about the scope not holding its zero. It's about the temperature, humidity, barrel fouling, the hold of the gun, powder temp, position of the saturnus etc
An inch movement at 100 yards is not environmental. If you're actually moving .3 mrad you have an issue somewhere.
if you're using a decent quality scope.
Yeah that's the point lol

How come we pressure scope companies to improve every single aspect of scopes except whether they hold zero and track? It's the only variable we go well I'm sure they know more than me! All these people with bad experience must just be daydreaming.

Years ago the long range benchrest crowd got tired of expensive high end Br scopes moving and drifting for each shot and started building rigs to mechanically fix a bonded/frozen scope to a test scope and showed scopes were drifting around randomly from just the recoil on a 16 pound bench rifle. It ****ed off the world but it made some manufacturers change and improve and it showed guys they can't just blindly follow trust equipment because their wallet is lighter. Those companies promised those scopes worked too. If a 2000 dollar scope is shifting from the recoil of a 16lb 6BR what do you think it's doing on a 8 pound 300 weatherby? What about when your razor slams a hole?

We need to be doing the same with rough use and durability
 
Fallen off my snowmobile numerous times while climbing crazy mountains.
And now you know.
The dings, scratches and gouges in my rifles aren't from safe rash.
Rain, clay and mountains make for super slick footing.
You can think you have an excellent foothold, but once the static friction shifts to dynamic, luck and agility have a hand in your fate.
 
And now you know.
The dings, scratches and gouges in my rifles aren't from safe rash.
Rain, clay and mountains make for super slick footing.
You can think you have an excellent foothold, but once the static friction shifts to dynamic, luck and agility have a hand in your fate.

20 plus foot deep powder snow tends to cushion everything. I've watched my sled roll 10 plus times, and the damage is 0, not even a cracked windshield or broken brake lever. If I were carrying my rifle, it would sustain 0 trauma.
 
I grew up in the Midwest and went hunting with some uncles on multiple occasions. They had 40 year old Remingtons with tasco or leupold scopes mounted 40 years ago that lived their life in a farm truck or tractor, getting bounced around daily, never cleaned, beat to ****, and somehow every year they shot a deer without verifying zero or even shooting the **** thing until the season started. Year after year...
 
Well Im really happy with the way the new Leupold worked on its first hunt. North Carolina, Verona Lodge two weeks ago. Early morning , lots of ground fog . Nice and clear. VX 5 3x to 15x on a 30mm tube. Lighted reticle , which I did not use. Custom CDL dial , which I did not use. I was too excited to fiddle with stuff. So I held high and fired !! I needed a second shot this year. I know NF make a great scope, as does Zeiss and Swavarsky( please excuse my spelling ) However, I remain completely happy with Leupold scopes.
 

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I think a lot of what has been typed out is missing the point.

Rough use, sure, whatever.

The purpose is to learn the likelihood of a scope retaining zero. No more parameters than that, but, it includes being babied, light use, mild use, new and old. The folks who point out that they never fall and always take care of their stuff benefit the most because they assume things work. They buy at the price point they want, probably shopping heavily on "warranty", with the mindset they don't need a durable scope because they are kind to their stuff. They forget that aiming is the priority, and fail to see that numerous scopes have lost zero while the brand states nothing broke. Think about that... Nothing broke, the brand inspects and sends it back with a "passed" note, yet it still fails at purpose number one.
 
I'd say that if you zero your rifle one day and on the next range trip you need to change the zero slightly (<0.3 mrad), it's not about the scope not holding its zero. It's about the temperature, humidity, barrel fouling, the hold of the gun, powder temp, position of the saturnus etc if you're using a decent quality scope.
People accept this and with a 100 yard zero you should absolutely not be seeing up to .3 drift. That's 100% a scope losing zero or something mechanical going on with the rifle.

I fought a Swaro X5 that was doing this and it was super frustrating. When I have seen other scopes fail it's normally been easy to see like a full mil or a few moa if it's a moa based scope. This X5 was never a big shift, usually .75 to 1.25 moa. Just small enough that it made me question my loads, my shooting that day etc. I chased my tail thinking it couldn't be the scope since at the time I had another X5 that had been bulletproof.

I finally just switched scopes to make sure it wasn't the scope and sure enough all my problems went away. No more horizontal misses on no wind days, no more vertical misses with proven dope, no more fliers turning a .75 group into a 1.5" group.
 

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