Test "known" scope models until their setup passes.
If someone sees similar shift with two or more models that should not see significant shift, it's fair to say they probably do not have a suitable setup for evaluating.
If someone can get one other scope to have significantly smaller shift, then the setup is almost certainly proofed. Scope slippage then needs to be checked on the shifting scope.
If a setup can be proofed prior to, a new scope shows shift, and then the original setup does not, then there's a good chance the scope got wonky.
As one of the potential amateurs hoping to drop this scope and provide the forum with some useful data, I’ve also been reflecting on the usefulness of an amateur drop test. My thoughts are in agreement with other comments earlier in this thread…
If a scope passes an amateur drop test, that has a lot of value, because it held zero despite the drops. The system used for that testing doesn't matter much if it passes, because everything had to work correctly for it to pass.
Conversely, if a scope fails an amateur drop test, this may be of some value, but is difficult to draw conclusions from. Especially for someone like myself who is a newer shooter and has not done any formal drop testing in the past. As
@sndmn11 pointed out, having a system that is proofed with a known reliable scope will go a long way in showing the system previously functioned so if it later fails with a different scope, it’s most likely the scope itself or the scope mounting system.
To try a make my “test” as valuable as possible, I plan to first drop setup with an SWFA 3-15 and make sure it can pass the drop test in that configuration. If so, then I’ll move on to dropping the same setup with the Maven, if not, then it will be back to the drawing board until I have a setup that can pass prior to testing the Maven.
It will be interesting to see how it all comes together, hopefully it will pass and that makes it easy to draw conclusions, but even if it fails I’ll let you all know the results and do my best to help interpret them for those following along.