Can you drown a scope?

[JW@TRACT]

For those of us who hunt in wet environments here's a question for you. Can You Drown a Scope?
Has anyone had a scope fail from too much water? What was it and how much water?

 

[CoStick]

It is probably prudent to submerge your scope after drop testing it to make sure if you drop it in a lake or river while hunting it will not fail.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

When I lived in Kodiak, I had a cheap Simmons 22 Mag that I had on my snowshoe hare 10/22. It got rained on regularly and eventually failed, but you expect that from a $30 scope. None of my big game rifles were ever affected by the wet environment.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

It is probably prudent to submerge your scope after drop testing it to make sure if you drop it in a lake or river while hunting it will not fail.

Did you type that in sarcasm font?

 

[freddyG]

Probably not scopes designed to function correctly.

Technology - Nightforce Optics

That’s a strong claim, without a doubt. But, it’s a claim we can prove. And our customers do prove it… every day, under some of the harshest, most unforgiving conditions on earth. We didn’t start building scopes and expect people to find uses for them. Instead, we looked at real-world needs...

www.nightforceoptics.com

 

[I hunt_dm3]

It is probably prudent to submerge your scope after drop testing it to make sure if you drop it in a lake or river while hunting it will not fail.

I bet you own a Vortex…

I’ve had cheap 22lr scope that cost $25 that got water, that’s it.

 

[CoStick]

I bet you own a Vortex…

I’ve had cheap 22lr scope that cost $25 that got water, that’s it.

I don’t, but have seen game successful killed with them.

 

[Bcleck90]

Missing Rifle Scope Features?

My apologies for the delayed responses, and thank you to everyone who tagged me to keep me updated. We stand behind the quality of our products, which is why we offer a lifetime guarantee on the workmanship that we do. I think there may have been some confusion in regards to testing being...

www.rokslide.com

@CoStick I’m assuming is referring to this and I agree with him if that’s the case. Relax guys. Maybe @JW@TRACT can respond to any questions.

 

[CoStick]

Missing Rifle Scope Features?

My apologies for the delayed responses, and thank you to everyone who tagged me to keep me updated. We stand behind the quality of our products, which is why we offer a lifetime guarantee on the workmanship that we do. I think there may have been some confusion in regards to testing being...

www.rokslide.com

@CoStick I’m assuming is referring to this and I agree with him if that’s the case. Relax guys. Maybe @JW@TRACT can respond to any questions.

I haven’t read that.

 

[roosiebull]

I have not had any moisture issues with any glass of any kind, and I live in a very wet climate… I’m pretty careful to keep my glass dry, so a scope would have to get water through the turrets, I always have scope covers on when it’s wet, and of all things, the only thing I trust to keep my glass dry is those cheap rubber bikini covers

Spring bear hunting when I may be in some showers, but not all day driving rain, I use a rapid rifle cover instead (that I regularly spray with waterproof spray)

Blacktail hunting in the wet, bikini covers are my favorite

 

[PredatorSlayer]

Missing Rifle Scope Features?

My apologies for the delayed responses, and thank you to everyone who tagged me to keep me updated. We stand behind the quality of our products, which is why we offer a lifetime guarantee on the workmanship that we do. I think there may have been some confusion in regards to testing being...

www.rokslide.com

@CoStick I’m assuming is referring to this and I agree with him if that’s the case. Relax guys. Maybe @JW@TRACT can respond to any questions.

I think this scope manufacturers need to realize the most important feature in a scope is toughness and reliability for anybody who takes their hunting seriously. I personally love the drop tests and am switching up a bunch of my scopes now for those that pass. By the time you pay for travel and tags and time off work, last thing you need is for your equipment to ruin a hunt. In addition to drop tests, maybe they should dump it at the bottom of a river or lake and make sure it still functions.

Nightforce is the only company I have seen beat the crap out of their scopes, 100% abuse, in a video. It takes Zelensky size balls to do something like that.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I personally love the drop tests and am switching up a bunch of my scopes now for those that pass.

You'll want to make sure you do to your rifle what is done with the test rifles. If not, a drop could induce a shift even with a proven scope.

 

[Marbles]

For those of us who hunt in wet environments here's a question for you. Can You Drown a Scope?
Has anyone had a scope fail from too much water? What was it and how much water?

A garbage scope, yes. Anything worth a hamburger after 7 days in the mountains, no.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

You'll want to make sure you do to your rifle what is done with the test rifles. If not, a drop could induce a shift even with a proven scope.

Yeah, I am not going to bond my action to the chassis or stock. I realize other things can fail, I just try and eliminate where I can. I use NF UL rings. My rifles have 20 moa rails milled into the action. Action screws are torqued to spec. Anything mechanical can fail, some just fail less than others.

 

[Team4LongGun]

For those of us who hunt in wet environments here's a question for you. Can You Drown a Scope?
Has anyone had a scope fail from too much water? What was it and how much water?

You guys make scopes right? I’m gonna assume you know the answer and this is rhetorical? At least hope so.
I have never had a scope “drown” but have had several buddies who show up with red dots, optics and “LR scopes” lmao....that all cost under $300 and wonder why they suck. Change in temps/humidity fogging and POI dancing, failure to retain zero are all related to junk optics. Round after round they painfully come to realize the ramifications of ignoring sound advice.

 

[Macintosh]

For those of us who hunt in wet environments here's a question for you. Can You Drown a Scope?
Has anyone had a scope fail from too much water? What was it and how much water?

You should know better than me, but the only scopes ive seen fail from wet were older scopes that I assume either were never purged and filled with nitrogen or the like, or the seals were compromised so atmospheric air got inside and fogged the inside of the scope in wet weather.
Buddy I was hunting with had a missed opportunity at a moose many years ago as a result—Still-hunting through a clear cut in rain and fog, moose stood up out of a bed less than 30 yards away, and he literally could not even see a blur through the scope, lowered the rifle, moose is still standing right there looking at us, raise the rifle it’s still fogged, lower the rifle and moose is gone just like that. He was hunting with his dads hand me down rifle, not a low-quality scope but at least 30 years old.

So, what makes a acope air-tight? Is it a rubber o-ring or seal? Or a metal-to-metal fit? Glues around lenses? If its a rubber or similar seal, or the way a lense is sealed with an adhesive, then I imagine even a top-shelf “Form-tested” optic can easily fail after TIME.

I think a better question might be at what age do you start worrying about the seals on a scope maintaining their integrity? Are there particular conditions that cause scope seals to fail faster, ie very dry conditions, high heat, vibration, impact, etc? And, how can we tell before its a problem on a trip? Because if Im correct in this assessment, just because I spent $$$$$ on a super-duper reliable scope, that probably is irrelevant if an o-ring or rubber seal just gets old and fails.

FWIW I have a couple relatively inexpensive scopes that are over 15 years old that seem to stay dry even in very wet/foggy weather. Submersing them would put more pressure on the seals, but I would imagine it’s fog (high humidity and falling temps) more so than liquid water that I need to worry about. Ive never seen a newer scope of ANY level of quality fail from getting liquid water inside.

 

[Wrench]

I'll bite.

Take the scope and pull it from a sub zero environment and warm it up quickly......you'll get your moisture.

As for submerged failure, it's gotta be a pretty substantial leak or prolonged submerging to evidence the flaw......unless the temperature delta is high.

 

[S.Clancy]

I had a scope fail after being underwater for 30-40 minutes after I dumped my canoe. I was just happy to get the gun and canoe back