Vortex Razor LHT Unintentional drop test

[207North]

I dropped my hunting rifle with a Razor LHT 4.5-22 off a tripod and it landed on a rock. It was about 3 feet high.

Any guesses to how bad the zero shifted?

I will check zero tonight after I get out of the woods and report back.

 

[Johnwell]

I’m going to guess 4” at 100 yards.

 

[207North]

Wow. Its bad. Will post more when I get home. Dont drop your LHT.

 

[Jbehredt]

Off the paper at 100!

 

[207North]

This the setup.


Target before shooting. There was some hits before I shot. All I had was paper towels to verify, but this needed to be done tonight.

I shot a 3 round group and could not believe it was this bad. Followed up with 2 more. Ignore my group size as this was shot kneeling off a tripod with a flashlight lighting the target up.


The bullets impacted 3.4 mils right of the aim point and 1.7 mils high at 100y.

I re-zeroed and it seemed to track back, but this is being put aside for now.

I have seen the Drop test thread on here but took it with a grain of salt. Figured the guy didnt like Vortex. Nope it is real.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Well damn. . .

 

[Chris in TN]

In fairness to Vortex, dropping three feet *onto a rock* is a bit extreme.

 

[Buglebrush]

I have a Razor LHT, but this is my first year with it. Is this only a Razor thing? My old Viper HST had three serious drops. The worst was flying off the bed rail of a truck where my daughter had laid it, and bouncing down the pavement. Thankfully I saw it in the rearview. Never once lost zero. I use Seekins rings, and sometimes I think it's people's rings.

 

[alexnelon]

I have a Razor LHT, but this is my first year with it. Is this only a Razor thing? My old Viper HST had three serious drops. The worst was flying off the bed rail of a truck where my daughter had laid it, and bouncing down the pavement. Thankfully I saw it in the rearview. Never once lost zero. I use Seekins rings, and sometimes I think it's people's rings.

There’s 20 things that can fail when a rifle falls.

But no it’s all vortex scopes. Maybe not every time one falls, but pretty close.

 

[JohnJohnson]

In fairness to Vortex, dropping three feet *onto a rock* is a bit extreme.

Agreed but my NF ATACR 7-35 dropped 3-4 feet onto rocks a few days ago and held its zero.

 

[Formidilosus]

This the setup.View attachment 966157


Target before shooting. There was some hits before I shot. All I had was paper towels to verify, but this needed to be done tonight.

I shot a 3 round group and could not believe it was this bad. Followed up with 2 more. Ignore my group size as this was shot kneeling off a tripod with a flashlight lighting the target up.

View attachment 966161
The bullets impacted 3.4 mils right of the aim point and 1.7 mils high at 100y.

I re-zeroed and it seemed to track back, but this is being put aside for now.

I have seen the Drop test thread on here but took it with a grain of salt. Figured the guy didnt like Vortex. Nope it is real.

What is the rifle setup? Rings, base, stock, how was it all assembled?

 

[Buglebrush]

There’s 20 things that can fail when a rifle falls.

But no it’s all vortex scopes. Maybe not every time one falls, but pretty close.

Except that mine has taken three major falls worse than 3' onto rocks and held zero every time. I am skeptical of all the Vortex hate. Try properly torqued Seekins Rings.

 

[207North]

What is the rifle setup? Rings, base, stock, how was it all assembled?

Zermatt origin action, which has a pinned base, seekins scope rings, MDT HNT26. The rings and fasteners were cleaned with alcohol and pushed forward in the pic rail slot, barreled action was mounted in the Chassis by holding everything vertically slightly snugging the screws while bouncing with rearward peessure on the buttpad while tightening and then all torquing via fix it sticks. Medium strength loctite on all fasteners.

The fall was buttstock first, then slid along a tripod leg as it was tipping over. Picture leaning the rifle against a wall and having it slide down on its side.

 

[JGRaider]

In fairness to Vortex, dropping three feet *onto a rock* is a bit extreme.

Yeah, no kidding.

 

[Formidilosus]

Zermatt origin action, which has a pinned base, seekins scope rings, MDT HNT26. The rings and fasteners were cleaned with alcohol and pushed forward in the pic rail slot, barreled action was mounted in the Chassis by holding everything vertically slightly snugging the screws while bouncing with rearward peessure on the buttpad while tightening and then all torquing via fix it sticks. Medium strength loctite on all fasteners.

The fall was buttstock first, then slid along a tripod leg as it was tipping over. Picture leaning the rifle against a wall and having it slide down on its side.

(Edit: I didn’t see the answer to my question).


Seekins rings have shown some issues in testing. While I have not seen them cause a a 3+ mil shift, they are certainly another possibility factor.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Thank you. What are the rings?

Looks like Seekins.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[thefuzz250]

That's crazy. Mine got knocked over from bipod height but later shot fine. Good to know how sensitive they can be.

 

[5MilesBack]

Agreed but my NF ATACR 7-35 dropped 3-4 feet onto rocks a few days ago and held its zero.

My daughter was switching shoulders with a rifle and lost control of it. It fell straight down, with the windage turret on an older Leupold Mark 4 hitting directly on a rock leaving a ding on it. I told her we were done until we could re-zero the rifle. Surprisingly, it was still dead on. She ended up shooting a whitetail a couple days later at 375 yards and center-punched it, right behind the shoulder.

That was 9 years ago. It's still holding its zero and tracking, with many trips to the range between 100 and 600 yards. It's got a NF rail and NF UL rings.

 

[207North]

I was fully expecting to have a .2-.3 mil shift from a drop like this.

I guess in the future any bump with this setup will need to be verified on paper before continuing hunting with it.

Sunday I might remove the barreled action from the chassis and remount, then remove the scope keeping it in the rings and remount the rail and rings. See if it holds its current zero or moves substantially. This would rule out if it is the setup or the scope.

 

[207North]

In fairness to Vortex, dropping three feet *onto a rock* is a bit extreme.

I guess, but it is well within what could happen under normal hunting circumstances. This rifle is on the shelf until can re verify that the scope still tracks.

At the very least it is going to end your day hunting.

This is not to pile on Vortex. I guarantee they will come through with the warranty if it does not track.