Scope damage from recoil

Years ago I had a Weatherby Vanguard in .300Wby. It wore a cheap Simmons ATEC on top as that was all I could afford. I shot that gun a lot and the scope held up for a while. One day shooting at 300yds I put the first one in the bullseye, the next two weren't even on paper. I picked the rifle up and it sounded like a tin can filled with rocks. Pulled the caps off and things were bulging and broken. That scope took a lot of punishment but when it let go, it let go completely.

Other than a Nikon Buckmaster that was sent back and replaced, then the replacement sent back and replaced shortly after for breakage, the only other issue I've had was a Leupold VXIII that lost its seal. Leupold resealed and purged the scope under warranty and Nikon replaced theirs every time, though I had lost all confidence in their products at that point. Never considered trying to get the Simmons fixed, I just sold the rifle.

All products can and will break with enough abuse and useage, even quality items. If you shoot long enough you'll run into it at one time or another.
 
Air rifles don't recoil so much as they deliver a shock to the scope, sort of like when you hit a baseball with a bat and the ball doesn't strike the bat's sweet spot. It's almost like you're hitting the rifle with a hammer.
 
Contact Leupold and Weaver. Tell them the type of weapon used and ask them for the recommended scope for the type of shooting you do. Ask them for the specific ring/base for the mounting. Pick up a torque screw driver that is capable of the 20-45 range. Follow the torque specs per the packaging that comes with the rings/base. Don't use screw lock when using torque. Watch some Leupold an Weaver scope mounting vids to get the idea of proper mounting techniques. When you speak to the tech reps, have some questions written down ahead of time to ensure you get the answers you want.
 
Bt.30, if one is not either using Burris signature rings, or lapping all other type rings, all their efforts are seriously marginalized. You can do everything right, but when you take slight misalignment of the drilling in the action, compound that by slight imperfections in the base and slight imperfections in the ring; all you are doing is putting twisting forces on a scope tube.
 
I've mounted a gagilion scopes without any torque driver, alignment aids or lapping rods.

However, I now own them all and, yes, they're nice to have.

I got them at the same time I needed to install two sets of rings. One DMZ Game Reaper and one set of Warne. Neither were out of alignment and Warne specifically says never to lap their rings. (I know folks will say it doesn't matter, lap them anyway)

So, all I used was the torque driver, so I know the bases and rings are correctly installed.

I've never had any trouble with any rings except the Warne set I had on my Encore Pro Hunter handgun in 7mm-08 topped with a Burris 3-12x40 AO scope. That wasn't really a ring problem. It's well known that few if any rings will hold that kind of recoil with a heavy scope and only two rings.
 
Warne is not an ideal design for a precision application. Its Brute and rugged, but not extremely precision. They present some re-alignment issues when removed and put back onto a rifle.
 
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