I took a 2 year break from Rokslide after getting a two week ban for trolling on wolf threads. I didn't realize I was an internet troll until I googled what that entailed. Figured I'd give myself some time to mature, lol.
It's refreshing to see that nothing has changed in my absence. People still making excuses for SWFA's crappy business model. People making emotion-driven arguments for the eradication of every predator. Leupold/Vortex guys still being obstinate. Drop test guys still trying to win the masses over by repeating the same lines over and over. A few guys pretending to ride the fence while (not so) secretly being for or against the tests.
It's beautiful, man. I keep getting older but the debates stay the same.
Here's what I learned in my time away:
Pretty much every other gun/hunting related forum calls the RS drop tests "fudd testing". The average hunter/shooter has aspirations for shooting animals at 500 yds but actually only zeros their rifles at 100yds, rarely shoots past that, and cherry picks 3 round groups to make accuracy claims.
Based on that, they would never notice a shift in zero unless it was a crazy amount. If their zero did shift a crazy amount, it's probably due to their use of crappy Amazon rings or a rail that they never bothered to check for proper installation.
Long story short, the average hunter/paper puncher wouldn't know their scope had shifted zero because they lack experience and knowledge. Most of these guys are the target demographic for Vortex and Leupold. They maybe shoot a box of ammo a year thru their rifle and call it good. They probably kill a deer or so every couple of years, at 150 yds or less, and that reinforces the belief that their scope is fine and drop tests are stupid.
Obviously there are some guys on here that kill lots of shit with their Leupolds and Vortex scopes. From what I've seen though, they are the minority. I don't doubt their claims at all but that doesn't change what I've seen across a dozen forums and in real life talking to dudes at ranges.
Over the last 4 years, I've gotten rid of almost all my Vortex scopes and replaced them with SWFA and Trijicon for my "hard use" rifles. Why? It's not because I'm 100% sold on the drop tests as being the defacto end all be all. I did it because my time and money is precious and I'm reasonably certain that the drop tests weed out the fragile shit. I see enough value in the tests to reasonably conclude that my best option is to START with the scopes that have been abused and passed the test. If they don't perform how I expect them to, then I'll move on.
So far they're doing just fine so I'm not moving on.
www.midwayusa.com
. I knew this thread would produce something good eventually.
