It landed on the scope

I had my Rock River AR15 on the bench, it caught my sleeve and down it went.

I made a gallant grab for it knowing it was unloaded and safe but it was too far gone and I missed the catch.

The whole package hit first on the front of the Bushnell Elite 5X-15 scope and laid down on its side.

I had the gun perfectly zeroed at 100 yards and I loaded er' up again to see what may have happened.

I wasn't even on the target backer.

I was able to determine the gun was shooting high and no adjustment would bring it in.

Now I have a $300 paper weight on my hands so I took it home and went searching for the reasons.

Loosening up the mount clamps it was clear to see the scope tube bent. Nothing else seemed wrong and there was no visible marks, dents or scratches on the scope itself.

I figured Bushnell would charge a major percentage of the original cost to repair it so I made a go no go decision.

I marked the high spot on the scope by turning it in the mount and got my trusty rubber mallet out. The thing that messed it up in the first place was a sharp blow when it hit the ground so the question was, "Would another sharp blow make it all good again"? There was nothing to loose so ---- whack, down came the hammer flush on the top front of the scope.

I turned it in the mount and the movement was considerably less.

I then cut a few shims of wood that fit between the bottom front of the scope and the handrail.

I clobbered it again and turned it one more time to see the results. Less movement up and down. I fit another shim of wood to measure things more accurately and gave it another shot.

This time no matter how I turned it, there was an equal distance all around. It seemed the bend was gone and the cross hairs were solid in place.

I locked the scope back down and took everything back out to the range. My first shot, after setting the vertical adjustment to its center was about an inch off. A few clicks later the gun was zeroed again.

I rested the gun on the bench and shot a 5 shot group 4 shots of which touched each other.

Darn, now I have to stop at Wal-Mart and BUY a paper weight.

Double tap, see below

How do you feel about your hammered-back-together Bushnell scope?

Trust it now for anything important?

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As time goes by and if it keeps performing like it did after the repair, I feel quite good about it and I would trust it with what is was intended for. Varmint and target shooting.

That Bushnell can go on an air rifle and survive the double kick that they provide. That can't be said for many of the high priced spreads that would be consumed by the jolt of an air rifle because they have been designed to take recoil punishment in one plain only.

So far it seems the scope looked at me and asked, "is that all you got"? after I got done clocking it with the mallet. It has done well through a number of range trips up to now after the beatin'.

Not too bad at 100 yards while hand held with elbow resting on a bench.

I may have to come up a click or two.

Now there's a man who thinks like me. Don't do a bunch of hand-wringing and worrying about what-if. You can't hurt it any more and it ain't no good like it is. Pick up a hammer and make somethin' happen. I think me an' ol' Mousegun would get along just fine...

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Just knowin' we sure would get along great. I'll beat on anything if I think I could improve it and for once, in this case, I did.

Have you checked it at different ranges? It may wander as you increase / decrease range.

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I set the gun up on a table with support to the front and rear ends and turned the magnification from 5X to the full 15X while on a very small target. The cross hairs tracked perfectly and stayed right on target. I have yet to try it at different ranges as such but I will.

It also warms my heart that if it does fail in the future, I may be able to get it fixed at Bushnell. I would not expect them to do much if it was clear that the scope was dropped and there was a ding in the front where it hit but that is not the case. It is mark free so it will be carefully tested and watched to see if there are any issues.

Thanks for all your information.