DIY drop tests

[noKnees]

If this has been covered before please forgive me. I am a FNG guy here and don't always find everything with a search.

Do you any of you drop test your rifle/scopes before big/expensive hunts?

Pretty much all the cool features of a scope are totally secondary to being zeroed after getting carried around for a week. of hunting. So I have followed Forms drop tests, but of course they are sample sets of one and don't necessarily cover all the scopes I own.

A have about 45 days before I leave out on my first hunt this year and have a second rifle worked up and ready. so I am wondering is it worth it for confidence and peace of mind to try the 36" drop tests on my primary rifle? The 36" drops wouldn't take too long nor use much ammo. But of course a bad result would destroy my confidence in my #1 rig.

 

[TaperPin]

It’s a very small percentage of people that buy into actually drop testing your hunting rifles. It’s fun to read Forms tests, but I’d be livid if someone did that with one of my rifles.

What I find amusing about drop tests are the claims that scope that don’t pass just willy nilly change point of impact just ridding around in the backseat, or while shooting at the range for a week. If that is true wouldn’t it be an easy thing to simply write down any adjustments you have to do to the scope and over time if something isn’t reliable it would show up with no drops required. Without a well bedded rifle folks are just guessing issues are scope related when they are quite often the action moving in the stock. If someone hunts year after year, shooting every month of the year with no problems I fail to see how a drop test has any relevance. Simply paying attention to what the scope is doing.

If the idea is to have a reliable scope I find it curious how many people don’t track small changes to their zero. Just a simple tiny log book so you aren’t relying on memory will show more issues over time.

 

[PathFinder]

Yes, it's as much a part of getting a rifle ready to hunt as establishing a zero or validating trajectory. Not sure why people are more willing to hunt with an unproven system than they are to drop a rifle. It's a shooting tool, not a Porsche.
With proven components, a quick set of 18 or 24 inch drops should be sufficient.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I can see the virtue in conducting a drop test, even if I tend to baby my rifles all the time.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”

 

[Kyguy]

I think it depends on what you honestly should expect out of a certain setup. I do drop mine, out curiosity, to see what happens. Its not nearly as systematic as Form though. I bed/bond all bases, and I almost exclusively use rings like Burris Tactical, SWFA, that style of ring. I did a chest high drop on a Burris Droptine 3-9 last month, just one drop, scope facing down so that the full weight of the rifle (Winchester XPR .350 Legend) was on it. It shifted around an inch with the next three shot group. I adjusted an inch and it put three more 3 shot groups where they need to be. I'm ok with that on a $130 scope on a $400 rifle that's never going to shoot at anything past 250yds max, and 99% of it will be within 150 yards.

I did the same thing on the same rifle with 3 different Leupold 3.5-10 scopes.....a VX3, a VX3i, and a VX3-HD. All of them shifted inches, the oldest scope shifted the least, about 2.5 inches, the other two both moved 6 inches. I'll add the caveat that they were all bought used, so there may have been undisclosed issues pre-existing. They all got sent to Leupold, they were sent back with the normal "basically replaced all internals" and then sold with that disclosed. After other issues with multiple scopes of the brand over the last 20 years, it's safe to say, I am not a Leupold fan, though I would like to be.

Now if I was going on a upper four figure or a five figure hunt that's been planned for good time in advance, I wouldn't wait until right before the hunt to start drop testing scopes. I would be doing that months out, at a minimum, in case there are issues to be resolved.

You've got to take the drop tests with a little bit of a grain of salt, they're all mostly examples of one, although there tends to be a trend with certain brands of reliability and unreliability. Of course there can be a lemon in any brand or a unicorn in any brand. Nothing made by the hand of man is perfect or infallible.

 

[TaperPin]

One more reason to never buy used scopes here. Lol

 

[BLJ]

Yes, it's as much a part of getting a rifle ready to hunt as establishing a zero or validating trajectory. Not sure why people are more willing to hunt with an unproven system than they are to drop a rifle. It's a shooting tool, not a Porsche.
With proven components, a quick set of 18 or 24 inch drops should be sufficient.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

Would 3 18” drops and 5 shots inside the original come be what you’re looking for?

Curious about people’s personal test. Thanks.

 

[Kyguy]

One more reason to never buy used scopes here. Lol

I'm about done buying used scopes anywhere. Most of what I've bought have been on eBay. I'd say that 80%, regardless of brand, got sent into the manufacturer and replaced/repaired after they got delivered and examined.

 

[PathFinder]

Yeah that should be fine. I generally zero with 10, then do 1x3 drops with a shot in between each, then 3x3 drops with 5 shots after.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[BLJ]

18” seems to show you what you need to know?

 

[peaches]

If this has been covered before please forgive me. I am a FNG guy here and don't always find everything with a search.

Do you any of you drop test your rifle/scopes before big/expensive hunts?

Pretty much all the cool features of a scope are totally secondary to being zeroed after getting carried around for a week. of hunting. So I have followed Forms drop tests, but of course they are sample sets of one and don't necessarily cover all the scopes I own.

A have about 45 days before I leave out on my first hunt this year and have a second rifle worked up and ready. so I am wondering is it worth it for confidence and peace of mind to try the 36" drop tests on my primary rifle? The 36" drops wouldn't take too long nor use much ammo. But of course a bad result would destroy my confidence in my #1 rig.

Heck no., but I don't piss on electric fences either.

 

[JGRaider]

Yes, it's as much a part of getting a rifle ready to hunt as establishing a zero or validating trajectory. Not sure why people are more willing to hunt with an unproven system than they are to drop a rifle. It's a shooting tool, not a Porsche.
With proven components, a quick set of 18 or 24 inch drops should be sufficient.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

So if I understand you correctly, if you do not perform drop tests on your rig, you have an unproven system? Is that what you're saying?

 

[JGRaider]

If this has been covered before please forgive me. I am a FNG guy here and don't always find everything with a search.

Do you any of you drop test your rifle/scopes before big/expensive hunts?

Pretty much all the cool features of a scope are totally secondary to being zeroed after getting carried around for a week. of hunting. So I have followed Forms drop tests, but of course they are sample sets of one and don't necessarily cover all the scopes I own.

A have about 45 days before I leave out on my first hunt this year and have a second rifle worked up and ready. so I am wondering is it worth it for confidence and peace of mind to try the 36" drop tests on my primary rifle? The 36" drops wouldn't take too long nor use much ammo. But of course a bad result would destroy my confidence in my #1 rig.

This will be my 54th big game hunting season, and no, I've never performed any drop test, or know anyone who has.

 

[Reed104R]

"This will be my 54th big game hunting season, and no, I've never performed any drop test, or know anyone who has."

This is the correct response. I cannot imagine intentionally trying to break my scope before a hunt. I have been big game hunting for nearly fifty years and know better. Properly mount a quality scope on a quality rifle, zero with good ammo, and go hunting.

 

[justinspicher]

I did an accidental drop test once in Kentucky. I dropped my rifle right onto my scope out of a treestand about 20’ up. Shot two deer with it about an hour later. Checked the zero that night and it was still good. In fact, that scope is still good today and it’s been one several different rifles.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

"This will be my 54th big game hunting season, and no, I've never performed any drop test, or know anyone who has."

This is the correct response. I cannot imagine intentionally trying to break my scope before a hunt. I have been big game hunting for nearly fifty years and know better. Properly mount a quality scope on a quality rifle, zero with good ammo, and go hunting.

Yeah, upon further consideration, I think it is sufficient to have someone else test the general reliability of the scope. If you have set it up properly, then your system should work.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”