Failure happens

[Elkeater]

So nothing catastrophic here. But we all see the scope failures and such around here and up until yesterday equipment failures just weren't something I saw. Seen a few loose scope bases but that's about it.

I played hooky from work for a couple hours on Thursday to sneak out to the range and test some handloads in my AR. It's been a great rifle and consistently turns in very sub MOA accuracy with a variety of ammo. Well I started getting 3-4 MOA groups. I'm didn't think about much at first because I was using a new bullet for that rifle but it kept getting worse. After the 4th group I tried some of my regular varmint loads and they weren't even on paper. So I started checking for loose items. Rings were tight, suppressor was tight, then I get to by cantilever scope base. The screws felt mushy. Not loose but I kept tightening them and it felt like stripped screws. I went home and the more I thought about it the more curious I got. Last night I took my base off and metal came out. Turns out that over the years the screws had eaten through the metal and could literally pass through the base plate clamp. In the photo below on the left side you can see the holes are much larger and the metal in the recessed holes is gone. The ones on the right are almost gone. And since someone is gonna ask it was a vortex brand mount that is obviously made of some softer metal. I'll go buy a new one today at cal ranch.

Moral of the story is check your gear and don't automatically assume your ammo is the problem.

 

[Hoss50]

So nothing catastrophic here. But we all see the scope failures and such around here and up until yesterday equipment failures just weren't something I saw. Seen a few loose scope bases but that's about it.

I played hooky from work for a couple hours on Thursday to sneak out to the range and test some handloads in my AR. It's been a great rifle and consistently turns in very sub MOA accuracy with a variety of ammo. Well I started getting 3-4 MOA groups. I'm didn't think about much at first because I was using a new bullet for that rifle but it kept getting worse. After the 4th group I tried some of my regular varmint loads and they weren't even on paper. So I started checking for loose items. Rings were tight, suppressor was tight, then I get to by cantilever scope base. The screws felt mushy. Not loose but I kept tightening them and it felt like stripped screws. I went home and the more I thought about it the more curious I got. Last night I took my base off and metal came out. Turns out that over the years the screws had eaten through the metal and could literally pass through the base plate clamp. In the photo below on the left side you can see the holes are much larger and the metal in the recessed holes is gone. The ones on the right are almost gone. And since someone is gonna ask it was a vortex brand mount that is obviously made of some softer metal. I'll go buy a new one today at cal ranch. View attachment 521810

Moral of the story is check your gear and don't automatically assume your ammo is the problem.

If it is vortex, you can probably send it back for a new replacement.

I have been using the Burris PEPR mounts on AR with good luck so far.