Old Weaver Scope Durability: Update Dropped it (Sorta)

[Luke S]

Wondering if anyone has an idea how durable older Weaver scopes are. I have a Weaver 1-3 that I really liked on my 358 for a while. I think I'll drop test it in a few days and see how it does. It's probably not a scope I'd take on a once in a lifetime hunt but for local stuff it's nice because it's fast (think bear defense) but I can dial it up to 3 and stretch to about 200.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Funny, I have an old Weaver that my dad gave me that is probably 50-60 years old and is still in great shape. It is currently not on a rifle but will be soon enough.

 

[Luke S]

Mine isn't that old but I think it's from the old days when Weaver scopes were made in Japan. Basically I'd be happy with iron sites or a red dot but the 3x is nice occasionally

 

[TMKSHOOTER]

The fixed powers are more rugged in my opinion. I had two of the older variables quit on me. A 3-9 that went hazy while shooting, thinking it lost its purge and a 2-7 the reticle came loose in.

 

[Teodoro]

I had a fix 4 from the Japan era fail this year. I'd always heard they were pretty sturdy, so it was a bummer.

 

[Ohiohuntr]

I have a fixed 4 that’s been on a 22-250 for 45 years ( about 7 years before me) I shot it the other day and it still hits true, spent most of its life in a soft case behind the seat in a single cab….

 

[gbflyer]

I have a El Paso steel tube, maybe 2 if I can find them, I’d donate for the shipping if someone wanted to get them fixed. 4X. They killed a lot of shit over the years.

 

[Luke S]

Well it was NOT a perfect test.
-I don't know how solid the rifle bedding is.
-The scope mount was a cheap Vortex one
-It was dark and I was shooting and illuminated target that was shadowy.
-I condensed the drops into 3 (top and sides) then shot without shooting after each individual drop.

This was very much an abbreviated test to see if I could break the scope or if it was worth doing the test right when I had daylight and time.

All that aside here is my first group plus the group after 3 18 inch drops

The top left hole is from the bore site. I adjusted and did a 9 round group. Forgot the next picture before dropping it at 18 inches. But from memory nothing shifted much out of the cone.

I dropped from 3 feet 3 times and did another 10 round group on a fresh target.

Hard to make definite conclusions because a lot of variables weren't accounted for and the human factor probably doubled or tripled the normal group sizes for this rifle/scope at 25 yards (in the dark).

But this is not a 400 yard scope. I'm not taking it to Africa for a once in a lifetime hunt. It will probably go on a .358 that will be a backup. Kids can shoot my 308 or 223 (both suppressed) while I backup with this. I think it will be "minute of bear" if anything goes sideways. I'm happy I didn't break it so far.

 

[Luke S]

I shot/dropped the rifle again with more daylight. Groups were better but not great. Probably the cheap test rifle (using subsonic 22 because can't shot big stuff at the moment). The only time drops clearly shifted it outside the (roughly 2.5 MAO) cone was the last 3 foot drop directly on top of the scope onto a rubber mat. It didn't bounce so all the energy of the fall went into the scope. One hit was high. The next 9 rounds went back into the cone with no adjustments.

I may fiddle a bit more but I think I've established that for closer range I probably won't rattle this scope off zero. For close range bear hunting it makes a good loaner gun scope.

My aim point was the corner of the white sticker (stick on targets kept falling off). The hole in the white is the shift after the top drop. The hit on the far right and vertical string are probably human error more than anything. The right hit was not connected to a side drop. It was part of the final 10 round group.