Update for anyone following along - I had hoped to share results from doing my own version of Form’s drop test with the Maven but had some issues with my proofing rig. I think I may have damaged my SWFA 3-15 in the process of proving the system. It actually did pass the full eval but I noticed the elevation turret was bent and loose when I got done and then proceeded to have tracking issues when attempting to re-zero it with my suppressor back in place.
In hindsight, I don’t think using a blanket and Matty McMatt Face (my usual prone shooting setup) is a good stand in for a foam shooting mat like Form uses, especially on the packed dirt at the range. The Matty compresses very easily and I think this allowed too much force to trasmit to the scope via the turret. For anyone attempting their own drop tests, hopefully you can learn from my mistake - don’t deviate from the protocol of soft ground and a foam shooting mat unless you’re comfortable breaking your scope.
Given the damage to the SWFA I don’t have any results to share for the maven and likely won’t for some time, if ever. It seems dropping scopes is best left to the experts so I’ll just humbly say I’m glad there are others willing to do this and do it well, because this isn’t something I plan on doing regularly. Perhaps I’ll proof my rigs with 18” drops in the future and call it good as long as that model also passes the formal Rokslide drop eval as well. This seems like a good compromise to avoid breaking expensive things while maintaining trust in the system I’ll be using…
Okay all, seeing all these posts asking for drop test results has made me realize I need to share my full experience, as there is more to the story I’ve withheld for fear of the broken SWFA impacting the results but I now realize despite that, some may find my experience useful.
So I actually did drop the Maven after proofing my rig with SWFA and being pleased with the results. It was only at the end when I tried to re-zero the SWFA on my rig that I realized it was broken. I have a few videos of drops but don’t know that posting them will add much. 18” was knee height and 36” was crotch height. As a reminder, I messed up and used EVA foam + a blanket rather than a shooting mat and was on firm packed dirt/gravel at the range. My rifle/scope weights about 12 pounds, which also may have contributed to increased force. In talking to some other forum members more familiar with scope durability, they noted almost any scope would suffer a broken eyepiece or damaged turret from this amount of force, so keep that in mind as you consider my “results”.
First photo is the drop setup.
Second photo is the SWFA drop test. I used handloads that shoot around 1.5 MOA but I’m more like a 2 MOA shooter, especially without my suppressor. My orange dots are 2”. Top left is initial zero, top right confirmed this zero. Bottom left if 7 shots of drop eval. 18” x 3, 36” x 3 and 9x36”. At this point I felt the SWFA passed. Later on I shot another group to confirm the zero held in the lower right target, which was off and that’s when I realized I’d broken the elevation turret on the SWFA.
Third photo is the maven drop test. Same pattern for targets. The shot that is right and outside the lower left dot is after the second 36” drop, which was onto the windage turret. Given the “miss”, I moved to lower right target and shot 4 more shots, which are labeled. To me, it seems the erector may have bound and reset. I was running out of light so moved on to the 9x36” drops to complete the eval but after these drops I noticed the scope had rotated slightly in the rings and the elevation turret was bent and difficult to turn.
After adjusting the scope to be straight in the rings again I tried to re-zero but due to getting dark I was having trouble seeing my shots. I ended up firing 6 shots at three different aiming points to try and see my impacts but ultimately gave up. Interestingly, upon reviewing the target, I’d say those 6 shots formed an aggragate group that was within 1.5 MOA based on where I was aiming so it appears the scope may still function despite the damage to the turret.
The last photo shows what happened to my SWFA during this test, with the turret fully separating from the tube. I don’t have any photos of the maven as you can’t really tell it’s damaged. In summary, aside from a slightly bent elevation turret it still seems brand new. Windage, parallax and illumination work perfectly. Elevation seems to work but is harder to turn now due to the bend.
All said, the maven held up better than my SWFA and I am very impressed, though also a bit displeased with myself for damaging my gear due to a poorly designed drop test. I may try to get the maven out again to see if it still works but it could be a while as this month is very busy for me. Also tempted to send it in for repairs and see what their assessment is. I’ll try to update if I learn more.