First, apologize for not updating sooner, but have had serious distractions. Bottom line r.e. RS.2, I liked the scope but when I eventually did 9 drop tests (3 each each side and top) from about 40 inches onto a shooting mat over grass covered hard ground....on one of those last drops...on the top, the rifle tipped backward just as I dropped it, with the result that the diopter/focus piece hit the mat at about a 30 degree angle, and bent. It may have "jumped" a thread, but either way, I couldn't get it straight. The impact didn't seem to alter the focus/view/etc. HOWEVER, something on the inside got totally screwed up. The POI moved about 4 inches @ 10:30. When I tried to readjust it down, the impact didn't change at all. When I tried to adjust the horizontal back to center, the impact moved a few more inches in the wrong direction...about 10:30 instead of 3:00 as it should have. I had it mounted with Talley Lightweight (TLW) mounts. They held fine.
In fair objectivity, I need to add that during another day's testing, one of the 40 inch side drops slightly bent the lip of a TLW mount to the extent that it was not possible/practical to return/lap it to "round." It was not visibly out-of-round, but had pronounced scope contact just at the lip. I believe a significant factor was the fact that the scope (Swaro Z3) did not have a side parallax adjuster, and the side of the Talley mount was therefore the widest part of that setup. Within "normal" use I doubt it would ever have been an issue. Further, having said this, I have only ever dropped one rifle with a scope, and that was a fairly heavy rifle with a Nightforce NXS 3.5 -15, mounted with TLW mounts. Actually, I dropped that rifle two days in a row, one time onto frozen ground from about 4 feet, and the second time from about 6 feet onto flat rock (moral: don't go hunting when you can barely walk due to two recently ruptured discs and everything is covered in ice!). The last accident bent the front housing of the NF objective lens....but the mounts held solid. The POI may have shifted very slightly (too much pain to remember) but essentially no damage. A month or so later, when I recovered enough to assess the damage with that rifle/scope/mount, I shot the only true one hole group I have ever shot. (3 shots in one hole with no measurable variance, other than the hole was "cleaner" on its inside edges). The scope was wider than the mounts. The NF NXS "took the hit" directly, and the TLW mounts withstood it.
My conclusions: As a result of my own testing, using portions of Form's more complete process, my assessment of needs resulted in replacing my Leupold and Swarovski scopes with one RS1.2, four Trij. Credos, and four Trij. Hurons. Frankly, for hunting in the Midwest where I don't need to dial, and won't be bouncing the rifle around on rough roads, the Leupolds and Swaros would probably have lasted a lifetime with no noticable failures. Nonetheless, on the scopes with no side objective adjustment, I also replaced the TLW mounts with Murphy Precision rails, and UTG rings (hope those work out!).
RS.2: It was essentially brand new, and in normal use would probably have lasted a lifetime. So, in good conscience, couldn't send it in for repair.
TLW mounts: Talley has been incredibly helpful and accomodating to me over the years...and their products have always served ME very well with this one exception, so I don't want to point despair their way. In normal use, I have "bounced around" several scopes with no issue with any Talley mount. For what they are, I think they are very good. If you want "bullet proof" good steel is probably better than aluminum.
Deepest apology for not updating this sooner. P.S. While exploring the lever action world about 50 years ago, I had a love affair with .35 Rem. Killed stuff pretty dead. Just about like a .338 WM or .223 Rem!
