And
How do you “use” a Jeep Rubicon? If I ask for a durable and reliable off road vehicle, and you start telling me how awesome your rubicon is, and yet when I look at your jeep there is not a single scratch on it, doesn’t look like it had ever gotten dirty, the undercarriage looks pristine, there are no marks on the rock sliders, no dirt whatsoever inside, and when I turn it on I see that you have 5,000 miles on the odometer. So I ask you about it, and you reply “well, no I don’t beat it up, I take care of it”…
How do you know it’s reliable and durable for off-road use, when you have put zero off-road use on it? If someone takes their vehicle off-road, it’s going to show it. That’s use. If after two hunting seasons or in the case of what I referred to (PRS shooters) your rifle and scope doesn’t have marks showing use- worn spots in the paint on the grip from carrying, worn spots on the anodizing of the scope from turret use and marks from straps cinching it down- you haven’t used it, you’ve babied it. And while that’s perfectly fine and people can do what they want, your opinion or belief in its “durability and reliability” is not based in reality and should carry no weight.
What’s reputable? According to most every scope is reputable and all about the same.
But I’m not sure how slowelk or you got on “I don’t abuse my gear” train. Unless I’m mistaken I didn’t say anything about anyone except that if your equipment looks new, you have not “used” it, and you have no idea what it does or doesn’t so. These aren’t benchrest scopes, they’re field scopes. Most are marketed or directly pushed as “sniper” optics. I don’t give two flips if a benchrest scope has marks or dings or shows use, as that’s not what it’s for. A field scope? Yeah, when it actually gets used, it shows.
Yes. If you actually care about your system holding zero, you have to drop it and check. The scope might hold zero, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the system does. At no point have I ever suggested that people take what I am doing on its face value. You need to check your system.
Think about the ludicrousness of this- “my custom rifle is awesome, and I trust it in backpack hunts any where…. But I’m afraid of it getting dropped on a padded mat and will go out of my way to keep it from getting a scritch…”