How often do scopes go bad?

M

mccraggen

Inactive
I’m just wondering if scopes are basically perishable, like after x number of shots in a 308 most scopes will pack it in.


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Scopes CAN last a lifetime or maybe not. Sometimes regardless of price or brand name, they just fail but higher prices generally assure better quality and longer service.
I have cheap scopes that are 30 years old and still performing flawlessly. I've also had high end scopes fail miserably within the first year of use.
For lower priced scopes, I just "set it and forget it" regarding the adjustments. If it doesn't hold zero, toss it. Worst case scenario for low or moderately priced scopes is the "knob twiddler" since much of that lower priced stuff isn't made for constant manipulation. Threads and contacts wear, stick, and fail. I don't "twiddle" as that's not the way I learned to use a scope.
 
You might narrow that down some.A quality scope,properly mounted on a bolt 308 might get passed on to your heirs.

Some semi-autos add an extra shock that can be hard on optics.

Misaligned rings or over tightening can damage a scope.

I'm partial to Leupold. They hold up,and Leupold stands behind them
 
I’m just wondering if scopes are basically perishable,
Click to expand...

I think so, but they have a fairly long lifespan.

Scopes mounted on heavy recoiling rifles may have the internal parts damaged after a number of shots fired. And a 308 CAN be a heavy recoiling rifle if in a light enough platform. You're stressing the scope just as much on a 5 lb 308 as on a 10 lb 300 WM. But that is hard to predict. Even scopes with reputations for durability could go bad with no prior warning.

But overall I'd say that on a standard weight 308 most decent scopes internal parts will probably never fail from recoil. Possibly from being dropped. The internals of scopes are generally designed to handle recoil that is coming from the same direction. Dropping a scope puts stresses on internal parts from directions where they may not be designed to handle it as well.

Also I wouldn't trust a scope over about 30 years old for an expensive out of state hunt Regardless of the initial quality rubber seals will go bad over time. They may last longer, but it is just a matter of time before seals are dry rotted and will eventually fail letting the scope leak and fog up.

And optics is one area where technology has improved exponentially while keeping prices down. A $200 entry level scope made today is a better scope than one that cost $400 thirty years ago.
 
I’ve had a few scopes fail for various reasons. Most of those lasted 5 or more years. Now that I’m retired and I’m shooting a lot more, I have come to appreciate Leupold scopes even more than before. I have a pair of 2-7 power Leupold that are just plain OLD, being 40 years old or more. Never had any problem with them. And yesterday I was shooting my 223, which wears a Vari-X III 4.5-14 that I bought, I guess, about 35 years ago. I sent that scope back to Leupold to have a new reticle put in it. They charged me for that, but they also refreshed the internals. Same with a 6.5-20 Leupold that’s about the same age.

So, a good scope can last a long time. That said, conversations with Leupold did make me aware that scope internals will age, though not always fail.
 
I'm 74 Y.O. and have been using scopes since I was 13. I've had perhaps a half dozen failures among the "economy" brands, but never had a quality scope fail.

I learned 40 years ago that a scope should cost as much or more as the rifle it's mounted on.
 
Anything mechanical can fail. Anything mechanical can be mismade.

I like to wonder about the use life of object. The use life of a barrel is only a few seconds of actual operation. I suspect that the use life of a scope is similar, maybe even several times as long, but still measured less than a few minutes of actual recoil endurance.

If used, sooner or later it will fail. As noted, quality scopes are going to tend to last longer and fail less than cheap scopes.
 
That has to be a movie title

When Scopes Go Bad! (and what is the recidivism rate?)

Sorry couldn't help it. Its a coin flip, no one can answer that.

Statistically you are better off with a good mfg scope vs a low cost one, but low cost ones have been known to last forever and good mfg fail out of the box.

If you are on the wrong end of the statistic and paid a lot for a scope its no comfort.
 
I had one "go bad" and not notice it. It was aiming the rifle just fine but when I sent it in to Leupold for installation of target knobs, they pronounced it damaged, irreparable, and discontinued, so what current model in the same price range did I want them to send?

I lost a bunch in the house fire following The Incident, but the only surprise was that it did not get all of them.
 
I've only had one scope fail me in a life time of shooting Tasco pronghorn, shot it off on a 25-06. The thing cost me about $69 brand new. The only time I have ever paid more for a scope than the rifle is on inexpensive 22 RF's! Right now my 30-06 has a 2 3/4x Denver Redfield I bought new about 1972 and used on a 338 mag for several years. My 25-06 now wears a Bushnell Banner I don't recall when I bought it but it was no where near as expensive as the rifle! Very good scope's for the hunter can be had for $300 and less. For varmint hunter's wanting long range scopes for what ever reason, my 4 1/2-14 Nikon works very well. In the past on varmint rifles I've used 3-9X scopes with zero problems. My 4 1/2-14x Nikon was just under $300!
 
A though just hit me. If I'm to pay more for the scope than the rifle, what happens if I have a very expensive custom rifle? I do have one that was appraised in 1993 at $7500, where do I get a scope that cost's more than that? How about a 30-06 in a $300 package type gun? Will a $700 scope work on it but not on an $800 30-06? This garbage with spend more on the scope than the rifle really get's absurd!
 
Don, that was meant as a general "rule of thumb."

When I was a teenager, most of the "old timers" told me: "If ya have $150 to spend on a deer rifle, buy a $50 rifle and put a $100 scope on it."

IMHO, that was very good advice.

Obviously, if you have a $75,000 Holland and Holland double, you won't spend more for a scope.

I have a heavy barrel custom varmint rifle that cost ~$1400. I had no qualms about spending $1800 for the Night Force scope on it.

One of my hunting buddies spent just over $1200 dollars on a nice SAKO, then put a $200 K-Mart Blue Light Special scope on it. Three months later, he spent $ 1600 on a Swarovski. He'll never buy another :"economy" scope.
 
When scopes go bad..?

It's random. Physical damage and/or Bubba have caused many scopes to go south. Other times one is fated to have a scope go down. The best we can do is use good stuff. That puts the odds in our favor.
 
Some scope makers will refresh every so many years or repair for the life time .
I got 18 years out of a Kmart brand 4 power on a 22 magnum when it failed it was done'
A Leupold 3x9 on a Remington 700 308 dead on sense 1993 I think they will refresh there scopes every 10 years .
 
"...after x number of shots..." Nope. You really have to abuse a scope to seriously damage it with normal use. As in aside from dropping the rifle, etc. Just shooting won't bother it. Unless it was a low end scope to start with. Or the rings and/or bases are low end too.
No scopes on a $75,000 Holland and Holland double. You Philistine. snicker.
 
There's no way to know. Quality is usually an indicator of better longevity; but failures are fairly random.
I've had erectors come loose on the first shot.
I've seen lenses break loose after 40+ years.
I've seen zeros jump constantly, right out of the box.
I've seen zeros suddenly start wandering after 20-30 years.
I've had wire cross hairs break after untold years of abuse.

I have a Tasco that's coming up on 40 years old, which is still doing just fine.
Yet, I had a Bushnell 4200 Elite that suddenly developed a wandering zero after just 4 months and about 200 rounds.

You never know.
 
I have found that leupold will honor there no bull crap warrenty even on a 60+ year old pioneer small tubed 4x scope that was cloudy-dim with a replacement new verix 11 4x scope free of charge including return shipping. it don,t get better than that.
 
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