Rifle scope padding & protection

[TTT]

When traveling on hunts, I have never bothered to do more than put my guns in padded hard cases and transported them in the truck bed. I have never had a failure afield.
A friend insists on putting his cased guns on the back seat, not on the floorboards or in the back. How much bumping and vibration can a well-mounted average rifle scope take before losing zero? Am I being too cavalier?

 

[JJMoody]

Sad truth is, you’ll never really know til you know...

 

[rayporter]

^^^
in competition i see scopes go bad more that you would think that they should. i can set you down behind a good rifle with a good scope and have you touch it with your finger and you can watch the x hair move.

now i have dragged my rifle with a cheap scope in the bottom of a rubber raft for hundreds of miles and had it be on zero for years. same one carried on horseback or in a 4x4 or on my back in a pack, and then poof.

scopes are funny things and when it is their time they go belly up. some last longer than others.

i give my rifle scope every chance to be babied until it has to be carried where it will get used and abused.
i wont put mine in the back of the truck either.

 

[BCsteve]

My scoped rifles often rides for miles in the gunboot of my quad on bumpy trials and roads. So far, so good.

 

[Ens Entium]

When traveling on hunts, I have never bothered to do more than put my guns in padded hard cases and transported them in the truck bed. I have never had a failure afield.
A friend insists on putting his cased guns on the back seat, not on the floorboards or in the back. How much bumping and vibration can a well-mounted average rifle scope take before losing zero? Am I being too cavalier?

If the gun/scope cannot handle being bumped around in a case what would happen during a fall on the mountain?

This is where high quality components make a difference in that they retain their zero. Might get scuffed/look ugly but at least it won't take you out of the hunt.

 

[wapitibob]

My leupold needed to ride on my lap, the Nightforce gets stuffed in a cheap soft case and put wherever it fits.

 

[TTT]

More specifically then, after reading the above, what would most likely alter a scope’s aim (if tube bending and reticle misalignment/dislodging are not present since the scoped rifle is cased)?

 

[ClearCreek]

If your rifle scope can't take riding in a padded hard case in the back of a pickup or on the floorboard of the back seat what is going to happen when you pull the trigger and the scope is subjected to the recoil of the round(s) fired?


ClearCreek

 

[JLane330]

My son slipped and fell on the rifle (ML) and scope last year. Result was a decent dent in the bell of a new Leupold VX5HD :-( Killed a nice bull with it two days later at 249 yds. We did not check it after the fall. It even had the vertical Warne rings that seem to have a reputation for not holding zero.
Truth is, the scope may have not been perfectly zero'd after the fall, but it was obviously plenty accurate for an elk hunt. Maybe we just got really lucky? I agree with those who say it should be able to ride fine in a padded hard case.

 

[Ens Entium]

More specifically then, after reading the above, what would most likely alter a scope’s aim (if tube bending and reticle misalignment/dislodging are not present since the scoped rifle is cased)?

With lower quality components (scope, rings, bases) the quality of the metals and machining may not be as good. This could lead to parts not mating perfectly so a small bump could cause the pieces to no longer mate in the same position. Screws also could back out or become lose and cause zero shifts as well if not torqued to spec.

I am not as familiar with scope inner workings but I believe it would be similar in that the design is less forgiving to abuse so mechanisms for the lenses internally move/break whether under recoil or falls even if the outside is intact.