Leupold Mk4 obj lens came loose. Wasn’t sure why rifle wasn’t keeping zero until I noticed the reticle bobbing around and the lens rattling. Warranty turn-around was about 3 weeks.
Rifle Scopes Optic Failures
- Thread starter deersniper
- Start date
Really? Pretty sure mine got sent back to Burris's facility in Colorado and shipped back from there.
Dented objective lens threads on Vortex PST gen 2 1-6 and really stiff turrets. Repaired by vortex no questions asked.
a small speck of dust in lens of a Eotech vudu 1-6 Eotech asked to send it in said they would repair it then apparently they got lazy and just sent a new one.
got a Steiner T5XI right now that am pretty sure the parallax is f....ed up
a small speck of dust in lens of a Eotech vudu 1-6 Eotech asked to send it in said they would repair it then apparently they got lazy and just sent a new one.
got a Steiner T5XI right now that am pretty sure the parallax is f....ed up
That's likely because Beretta Holdings has the "Burris Division" based in CO, that acquired Steiner in 2008.
Only optics I've ever owned that were perfect start to stop was
1) Steiner Military 3-12x56.
2) Trijicon ACOG 4x32 for service weapon.
Leupold Mk4: reticle / erector tube problems, and totally unreliable tracking.
SWFA 10x42 SS: of three, only one tracked repeatably, albeit with a 6% error. Other two had parallax problems, did not track either precisely or repeatably, one had massive turret disorders. SWFA fixed one, and gave me guff on the other (finally refused to fix it), so no more super-chickens for me. Their brochure says it's good to -50*F, but at -49*F this year the one "good" one totally crapped out. Anything below -20*F seems to give it problems.
Nightforce NX8 4-32x50: out of the box zero-stop problem, much like Rob01. Followed Nightforce's instructions to the letter, watched all youtube videos I could find on NF ZS, and found I could not turn the upper clutch down to zero stop. Doing some research trying to diagnose problem, found several folks with similar problem.
Apparently Nightforce knows about it and refers to it as a "frozen zero stop", and it's present up to the ATACR 7-35x56's, at least back to November 2018.
Snipershide: NXS zero stop problem
Snipershide: NF ATACR: can't set zero stop
Outside site: New NF issues
1) Steiner Military 3-12x56.
2) Trijicon ACOG 4x32 for service weapon.
Leupold Mk4: reticle / erector tube problems, and totally unreliable tracking.
SWFA 10x42 SS: of three, only one tracked repeatably, albeit with a 6% error. Other two had parallax problems, did not track either precisely or repeatably, one had massive turret disorders. SWFA fixed one, and gave me guff on the other (finally refused to fix it), so no more super-chickens for me. Their brochure says it's good to -50*F, but at -49*F this year the one "good" one totally crapped out. Anything below -20*F seems to give it problems.
Nightforce NX8 4-32x50: out of the box zero-stop problem, much like Rob01. Followed Nightforce's instructions to the letter, watched all youtube videos I could find on NF ZS, and found I could not turn the upper clutch down to zero stop. Doing some research trying to diagnose problem, found several folks with similar problem.
Apparently Nightforce knows about it and refers to it as a "frozen zero stop", and it's present up to the ATACR 7-35x56's, at least back to November 2018.
Snipershide: NXS zero stop problem
Snipershide: NF ATACR: can't set zero stop
Outside site: New NF issues
Last edited:
I've got one right now.
My Kahles K624i is boxed up and ready to be shipped back to Austria for repairs. When you turn the magnification dial, the reticle jumps approx 0.3 mils. Very visible on high magnification. If you just turn the mag dial back and forth a few degrees the reticle jumps up and down (and a little bit left/right).
I spoke to Kahles and they'll check it out and likely (hopefully) take the blame and repair it free of charge.
Is there somebody here who could tell me how this happened? Have I overtightened the turret screws or something?
My Kahles K624i is boxed up and ready to be shipped back to Austria for repairs. When you turn the magnification dial, the reticle jumps approx 0.3 mils. Very visible on high magnification. If you just turn the mag dial back and forth a few degrees the reticle jumps up and down (and a little bit left/right).
I spoke to Kahles and they'll check it out and likely (hopefully) take the blame and repair it free of charge.
Is there somebody here who could tell me how this happened? Have I overtightened the turret screws or something?
The T5xi is a Steiner Product.
Burris handles Steiners US warranty work.
It's not uncommon to have your GMC warranty work done at a Chevy dealership
Burris and Steiner USA are based in Greeley Colorado. They have completely separate product lines. The scope repair technicians may very well be the only overlap between the two companies.
I just sent my T5XI to Steiner for parallax issues....had to pay my own shipping smh.
Blurry target image could not get it into full focus. parallax distances on knob completely off, I understand they’re not supposed to match up but for example I was shooting at 1040 yards and my parallax was set at 300 meters to get it image clear and parallax free. I tried all the tricks to get my diopter set properly but at this point I don’t believe thats the issue.
Military Steiner: Illumination does not work. When I pulled the battery out the battery terminal fell off. Now I have to send it back for repair.
Burris xtrll ocular housing so loose you can physically see and feel it move.Sent back to Burris and was informed that it was within their standards.
I’ve had two scopes fail. One Bushnell legion and a Ziess conquest. The Bushnell failed to track and the ziess failed in a rain storm hunting. Fogged up so bad I missed a 75 yard shot. Could not see shit.
Bushnell sent me a nitro before they hit the shelves and ziess replaced the conquest with an hd5. CS in both cases were great.
Bushnell sent me a nitro before they hit the shelves and ziess replaced the conquest with an hd5. CS in both cases were great.
Vx5 canted reticle and 50% off in tracking wouldn’t hold zero. Sent it in they said nothing was wrong with but the reticle was straight. Vx2 cds wouldn’t track or hold zero.
Lost elevation adjustment on a Thompson "Recoil Proof" pistol scope three days before a combo moose and caribou hunt. I was only pushing 400 grain flat/soft points through a 14" 45-70 barrel. I borrowed a friend's .338 Win Mag for the hunt. When I got back put a Bushnell 2-6x handgun scope on it and happily used it to take two black bear, a trophy moose and a long range caribou. Thompson replaced the scope and I promptly sold it NIB.
S&B T96 Polar. 5th shot from new. 270. med weight rifle, no brake.
Last edited:
I resemble that comment above. Trijicon ACOG with the 300 b/o bdc reticle. Ocular lens had what looked like a chip in it. There were no exterior marks. Triji took it back, repaired and sent it back within a week. They said there was a bur on the inside the tube. When the lens impacted the bur, it chipped the lense.
Before I knew better, I had a Barska on my .17hmr and I set it standing up on its butt pad in my camper on carpet. It slid over onto the turret, on carpet, and it broke. Lol would not hold zero after that. No warranty. Oh well.
no other scope failures in my limited subsequent scopes.
leupy Mk4 LRT
Swfa fixed 10x
2 different SWFA 3-15’s
Bushnell 3-12 with G2 reticle forget model.
Weaver 6-30x56
Incoming bushy nitro 3-12. No experience yet on that new line.
no other scope failures in my limited subsequent scopes.
leupy Mk4 LRT
Swfa fixed 10x
2 different SWFA 3-15’s
Bushnell 3-12 with G2 reticle forget model.
Weaver 6-30x56
Incoming bushy nitro 3-12. No experience yet on that new line.
Customer service is where it’s at. Back in the day I sent three separate Nikon Monarchs back for loose/rotating reticles, as well as a Zeiss Victory compact bino due to a loss of barrel alignment. Each company replaced or fixed the issue no questions asked. That makes one a firm believer in a company, even if the product sometimes has issues.
I did swear off of Nikon scopes though. Enough was enough. That was about 15 years ago. No issues with any scope I’ve purchased in the last five years or so but they do keep getting more expensive.
I did swear off of Nikon scopes though. Enough was enough. That was about 15 years ago. No issues with any scope I’ve purchased in the last five years or so but they do keep getting more expensive.
Vortex AMG the erector hinge pin came loose. Well that is what they told me. USO B25 the elevation screw wore out and stop adjusting. The reticle in VX 3 came loose and rotated. USO B25 the locking ring on top will not stay tight.
Sightron S-Tac 2.5-17x56. Mounted on a 7.62 AR. Recoil broke something loose inside and it wouldn't retain focus. Mailed it off to NC for warranty repair and, since NC is on quarantine, that's where it's sits for 3 weeks now. A good warranty is nice, but I'd prefer a product that didn't fail. I know everything breaks but some brands are definitely better than others.
I guess I wouldn’t call it a failure, more of an annoyance. ZCO527 every time I would reset turrets hashes wouldn’t line up after dialing 3 mils and up. No matter how hard I tried, I would set turret very carefully to line up at zero, once I dialed past 3 mils or so I would look and clicks would be in between hashes.
Ive had 2 different Aimpoint PRO'S that would blink on and off during recoil. 1 was a replacement of a replacement. The original would flatten a battery in 24 hours so they replaced it with one that shut off under recoil 
The ones with the cracked lenses, or the people who didn't put their turrets on right?
Leupold 36x - had two of them, each worked for about 18 months then had to be sent in. Turnaround under a month, came back as good as new, very good service.
Kahles 6x24, used, bought from the Hide, illumination didn't work. Sent in, fixed. Took about 2 months.
Kahles 5x25, used, bought from the Hide, after a shot the view was just a blur, no visible reticle. Sent it, fixed. Took about 2 months.
Aimpoint M68 - no issues after years of regular use.
All scopes can break. Good support is a necessary feature for a working gun. Also critical, do not over-torque the ring screws - 15 inch-pounds.
Kahles 6x24, used, bought from the Hide, illumination didn't work. Sent in, fixed. Took about 2 months.
Kahles 5x25, used, bought from the Hide, after a shot the view was just a blur, no visible reticle. Sent it, fixed. Took about 2 months.
Aimpoint M68 - no issues after years of regular use.
All scopes can break. Good support is a necessary feature for a working gun. Also critical, do not over-torque the ring screws - 15 inch-pounds.
The XTRIIs and IIIs are tough as nails. When I toured the facility in April there were only two XTRIII returns on the shelf from a two month period. No XTRIIs.
They had replaced them both and had torn them apart to see what went wrong. One had a funny little tic with the parallax knob that caused the optical array inside to kinda move when parallax was cranked all the way to the end. But what was really cool is we went into a room where an engineer had an XTRIII all torn apart with all the parts and pieces spread out. He had found what had caused the problem and was working on the fix. Great conversation with that guy, learned a lot from him.
But how cool is that. That one scope that has been on the market for 3 years gets a return. And they dive in to correct it. One small flaw out of thousands of scopes produced and sold and they still dive in and correct the design on future models.
SWFA SS on a .50 BMG. It lasted a couple of years before the big fifty ate it, broken glass in it, reticle rotates when shooting.
NF NXS Zero Stop freeze-called NF and reset the zero stop.
I had some old Tasco's from when I was a kid, broken lenses to broken reticle.
I have a 33'sh year old Leupold 3-9 that I bought for my .22lr that still works, I had a friend tinker with it when the reticle wouldn't elevate because I bottomed it out (I think that was the issue but it works fine now and sits on my sons rifle).
No other issues minus applying the Vudu that is the erec system on the SN3 T-Pal (still a really cool optic).
NF NXS Zero Stop freeze-called NF and reset the zero stop.
I had some old Tasco's from when I was a kid, broken lenses to broken reticle.
I have a 33'sh year old Leupold 3-9 that I bought for my .22lr that still works, I had a friend tinker with it when the reticle wouldn't elevate because I bottomed it out (I think that was the issue but it works fine now and sits on my sons rifle).
No other issues minus applying the Vudu that is the erec system on the SN3 T-Pal (still a really cool optic).
Burris - XTRIII - Debris on the scope, they sent me a shipping label and had it back in about a week. I had bought it 2nd hand and they repaired it w/o issue.
Vortex - UH1 Gen 1 - Batteries would drain when not in use. Contacted vortex and they sent me a shipping label and a few days later an email saying they couldn't reproduce the problem in a timely manner and sent me a brand new UH1 Gen 2. No issues with that one.
And in regards to customer service (as this one was not an optics failure)
Minox - ZP8 - I contacted customer service because I bought a ZP8 2nd hand and couldn't find the lens covers anywhere. Asked where/if I could buy some from them, they got my addy and sent me a pair from Europe free of charge.
Vortex - UH1 Gen 1 - Batteries would drain when not in use. Contacted vortex and they sent me a shipping label and a few days later an email saying they couldn't reproduce the problem in a timely manner and sent me a brand new UH1 Gen 2. No issues with that one.
And in regards to customer service (as this one was not an optics failure)
Minox - ZP8 - I contacted customer service because I bought a ZP8 2nd hand and couldn't find the lens covers anywhere. Asked where/if I could buy some from them, they got my addy and sent me a pair from Europe free of charge.
Vortex UH1 gen 2- controls would occasionally stop working and I’d have to take the battery out to get it to work again. Vortex fixed it and I sold it as soon as I got it back so no idea if it had more issues
Burris xtr gen 2 1-5- gritty throw that eventually seized up entirely. Burris replaced it with a Steiner P4xi but it took several months(this was during early Covid)
Burris xtr gen 2 1-5- gritty throw that eventually seized up entirely. Burris replaced it with a Steiner P4xi but it took several months(this was during early Covid)
Killed several reticles in vortex.
Killed a few turrets in cheap scopes.
Had 1 sightron turret fail at about 15 years old. They replaced it with a current model that's 3x the msrp of the broken one because it was the closest thing they could come up with. New one is 5+ years old now. Have another that's from the same time frame with zero issues 24 years later.
Killed a few turrets in cheap scopes.
Had 1 sightron turret fail at about 15 years old. They replaced it with a current model that's 3x the msrp of the broken one because it was the closest thing they could come up with. New one is 5+ years old now. Have another that's from the same time frame with zero issues 24 years later.
Gen 1 razor-Tracking was .5 too fast after return from Vortex with updates, turned some components that weren't compatible with the older scopes were used.
Burris XTR 416-Reticle came loose wouldn't hold zero {Replaced}
Burris XTR 312- parallax locked up and image went blurry {replaced}
Bushnell ERS-3.5-21 I had more than one with bound up zero stop and turret mechanism {All fixed}
Bushnell LRHS-3-12- Bent turret housing {Fixed or replaced not sure}
Bushnell LRTSi 3-12- Internal debris {Still sitting on my bench}
Steiner 3-15-TX5i-factory defects {NIB} Fixed
Burris 3.3-18 XTRIII-internal fogging {NIB} Fixed
Steiner PX4 4-16-Stupid stiff turrets {NIB} Told the tracking was fine
Steiner 4-16 Military-Sent for a hitch i the second rev indicator, told it was normal {Laughed because my other one didn't do it}
Athlon Cronus Gen 1-Tracking .5 too fast, i was told that was within spec
4-20 XTRII-To see if they were for real with the GI Joe glass, they were at the time. {First production with the 8 mil turrets} Tracked great though.
Burris XTR 416-Reticle came loose wouldn't hold zero {Replaced}
Burris XTR 312- parallax locked up and image went blurry {replaced}
Bushnell ERS-3.5-21 I had more than one with bound up zero stop and turret mechanism {All fixed}
Bushnell LRHS-3-12- Bent turret housing {Fixed or replaced not sure}
Bushnell LRTSi 3-12- Internal debris {Still sitting on my bench}
Steiner 3-15-TX5i-factory defects {NIB} Fixed
Burris 3.3-18 XTRIII-internal fogging {NIB} Fixed
Steiner PX4 4-16-Stupid stiff turrets {NIB} Told the tracking was fine
Steiner 4-16 Military-Sent for a hitch i the second rev indicator, told it was normal {Laughed because my other one didn't do it}
Athlon Cronus Gen 1-Tracking .5 too fast, i was told that was within spec
4-20 XTRII-To see if they were for real with the GI Joe glass, they were at the time. {First production with the 8 mil turrets} Tracked great though.
I had an athlon midas reticle rotate on me after 10 rounds. I spoke with Athlon and they immediately replaced it and gave me a newer generation of the scope.
Had 2 different illum issues in a 1-6 razor e. The fiber optic separated from the reticle first and they fixed it. About 6 months later the illum wouldn’t turn on reliably due to an issue with the battery housing.
Still tracked fine. They replaced it after the 2nd time.
Still tracked fine. They replaced it after the 2nd time.
Holy Shit. I would be rocking iron sights if I had that kind of luck!
I sent back 3 Vortex HSLR, for various reasons. Some were comically bad. In typical Vortex fashion, they had me a new one in a hurry. Quit using those scopes.
Sent back a Burris 3-18 xtrIII. Had an issue with the parallax and no amount of fucking with it would get me a clear sight picture. The either fixed or sent me a new one and that scope is light years better.
I had a Bushnell Banner on a muzzle loader in the back of a Uhaul truck moving from NY to Texas. Guess it got a little hot in there and the coating on thye lens got a little melty. Little wavy patterns that your eye can focus on.
Also have an Athlon Argos BTR 6-24. If I tighten the rear scope ring too much it makes the paralax knob a little stiff. So I put a drop of loctite on the top and bottom, torque it light and it works fine. Propably a super thin tube. Seems to work fine otherwise.
Also have an Athlon Argos BTR 6-24. If I tighten the rear scope ring too much it makes the paralax knob a little stiff. So I put a drop of loctite on the top and bottom, torque it light and it works fine. Propably a super thin tube. Seems to work fine otherwise.
A buddy of mine has a S+B, one of the earlier ones. Says its one of the best scopes ever. I believe him.
You don't realize that the scope is so good you are probably seeing something the naked eye can not. Those are orbs. UFOs or spirits, your choice.
Well, the goods news is there is no physical damage. The bad news is that you have to send it back to get it cleaned up. Oh well, "QC"
.I worked for a US Sub of a German Power Electronics company up until last August. It was maddening how long it took the German mothership to correct problems that our US customers were having for a year or more.
They generally made really good products. They'd finally get the problems corrected, but it took them a ridiculous amount of time to do it. There was a lot of arrogance on their part. You'd have to go to extreme lengths to prove it was a factory problem. They'd finally give in and change their processes, only to repeat the same mistakes on new(er) product releases.
This was from a few years back. Sent it to the repair center in Va. and had it back in a few weeks.Well, the goods news is there is no physical damage. The bad news is that you have to send it back to get it cleaned up. Oh well, "QC"
I worked for a US Sub of a German Power Electronics company up until last August. It was maddening how long it took the German mothership to correct problems that our US customers were having for a year or more.
They generally made really good products. They'd finally get the problems corrected, but it took them a ridiculous amount of time to do it. There was a lot of arrogance on their part. You'd have to go to extreme lengths to prove it was a factory problem. They'd finally give in and change their processes, only to repeat the same mistakes on new(er) product releases.
