Dropped Rifle - Will Accuracy be Compromised

[CmdrSlander]

I had just gotten back from the range with my Stevens 200 .223 with Bushnell 3-9x40 scope, and was cleaning the rifle when it fell of the table, about 3 and 1/2 feet and hit the floor. Thankfully it rolled off the table and landed on its left side, not on the muzzle, bolt handle or scope. I picked it up and finished cleaning it, the scope wasn't cracked and I made sure nothing was rattling around or loose, nothing, not even the crappy plastic trigger guard was cracked or bent. I only have one problem, I finally got this rifle tuned in and sub-moa at 75 yards, and shot the best group of my life with it today, right before the incident. Will I need to sight it in again (which took about 150 rounds and 2 range trips all told )? I keep telling myself no, because I'd imagine a hunting rifle scope is built to handle drops and shocks, especially since the plastic stock took the hit, and not the scope itself.

 

[Liberty1776]

You'll only be able to tell by shooting it. There is a reason that after travel, virtually all outfitters have their hunters confirm the sighting of their rifles, and most travel transfer is less jarring than a 3 1/2 foot drop.

 

[xfyrfiter]

The next time you are at the range just take a couple of sighters, checks your zero and fouls the barrel so you don't have that annoying first round flyer.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

This happened to me once with my rifle. It lost it's zero but if yours has good rings and scope, it should be fine. Of course right after sighting in my rifle today (finally got around to it) I got it zeroed in at 50 yards. Went to 100 and shot a nice group and then it dropped halfway down the paper and an inch to left. Time for some new rings or even a new scope for me.

 

[W.E.G.]

You will be forever sighting-in your rifles.

Things like this just make it more interesting.

 

[jhnrckr]

There is only one way to find out but maybe you can see from the dings where and how it landed to ease your mind til you get to shoot it again.

 

[dubbleA]

Will I need to sight it in again (which took about 150 rounds and 2 range trips all told )?

With all due respect it should only take 2-3 shots to sight in a scoped rifle at 75-100 yards. Something is wrong with your process. You will need to fire the rifle again to check your zero, there is simply no other way to know.

 

[CmdrSlander]

@jhnrckr

Thankfully it rolled off the table and landed on its left side, not on the muzzle, bolt handle or scope.

Plastic stock, no dings or marks.

 

[CmdrSlander]

@Dubble a

I know, but the adjustment knobs on the scope are really crappy and often overtravel. Also, it took maybe 15 rounds to sight it in, the other were used for fine tuning and working towards sub-moa, which was finally achieved this afternoon.

 

[Fremmer]

It should be fine. You should still do 50 push ups, though.

 

[Chuck R.]

This is one of the reasons I really like my Leupold Zero Point Boresighter. I record all my zeros on grid sheets, should a rifle take a fall, it takes a couple minutes to install and verify my zero, or go back to it.

http://www.leupold.com/hunting-and-.../zero-point-magnetic-illuminated-boresighter/


Chuck

 

[snakeman]

It will most likely be knocked out of zero. Just sight it back in and you should be fine.

 

[taliv]

the question of the fall affecting accuracy is a little different from whether or not the rifle is still zeroed.

the former may depend on whether the bedding was damaged or if the action shifted in the stock. worst case is a damaged crown.

the latter will likely just be a function of the scope and rings, which judging by the # of rounds it took to sight in, are more trouble than they're worth. offhand, i'd say you should consider for future purchases, spending a little more money on the scope, as that one just wasted 145 rounds worth of your $

 

[mshootnit]

I dropped my fav ruger out of a truck 4 feet to an asphalt road and SMACK
Never even shifted the zero on the Leupold scope which took the main hit. Your rifle is fine.

 

[HOOfan_1]

I dropped my fav ruger out of a truck 4 feet to an asphalt road and SMACK
Never even shifted the zero on the Leupold scope which took the main hit. Your rifle is fine.

My dad had his sporterized mauser fall out of his gun rack while driving on a tilted dirt road...fell smack dab with a scope turret on a rock, huge dent in the turret cover cap. It was an OLD Bushnell 4x. He still uses that scope.

 

[Murphys Law]

As others have said, you will have to shoot it to confirm. I've seen scopes lose their zero after a fall like that. The internal mechanisms inside the scope are held in place by heavy springs and a hard shock can cause the springs to bounce. Everything inside free floats for a micro-second and can shift before the springs reengage. I think the part of the scope I'm referring to is called the Gimbal (spelling?) but don't hold me to that. Its been a very long time since I read this. It doesn't always happen with every fall but, I would check it.

 

[IsaacCarlson]

Plan for the worst. Hope for the best.

 

[Fishbed77]

I dropped my wood-stocked Remington 700ADL with Redfield Scope (the old Redfield-not the new Leupold-owned one) out of a deerstand once. It fell almost 30 feet and hit the ground (hard-packed earth) near the butt.

There was no damage to the rifle and accuracy was not affected. Heck, the scope didn't even neeed to be re-zeroed.

 

[Stantdm]

If your a friend of Murphy it will go like this: go to range and it is dead on. Don't check it, go hunting, see Elk of a life-time and it will be three feet high. Sight it in again.

 

[CmdrSlander]

@Stantdm

It's a .223 Varmint popper, so no elk of a lifetime for me Prairie dog of a lifetime maybe... Though the smaller target means accuracy is even more important, and you're point about making sure it is sighted in was made.

 

[W.E.G.]

Isn't there a rule that you have to give your rifle a French woman's name after you've dropped it?

 

[NOLAEMT]

Isn't there a rule that you have to give your rifle a French woman's name after you've dropped it?

Only if it is picked up by a German.

 

[helotaxi]

The only times that I've had zero affected from dropping a rifle were because something got broken in the fall. In both cases it wasn't noticed until the next time it was taken to be fired.

My 10/22 was in a pretty nasty car wreck that totaled the truck and the cheap scope that was on the rifle. It was pretty obvious the next time that I looked through the scope. The wire crosshair snapped.

The second was a little more subtle. Savage model 12FV with a Bushnell E4200 6-24x40 mounted with Burris 2-piece bases and Sig Zee rings fell off the kitchen table and landed on the scope on the tile floor. At the time, all I noticed was that the sunshade got knocked sideways and the elevation turret cap was pretty severely dented. Fixed the sunshade and took it back out to verify zero and found it shooting several feet right at 100yds. Examined it more closely and discovered that the front base (single slot Weaver style aluminum) was actually bent. Took it home, swapped the base took it back out and it settled right back in. Pretty sure that it wouldn't have moved appreciably other than the bent base. Still use the scope. Still tracks perfectly.

 

[BrocLuno]

Most scopes are pretty tough. But the whole system can have issues? Yours seems to have had issues from the get go. Just guessing, but I'll wager it will either need to have all the screws gone through again and re-zero'd or something

 

[rori]

If I had a rifle that couldn't handle a fall it would be gone very fast!!!! I dont own any rifles that cant handle the types of rough handling that hunting involves. Combat is even harder on them. FRJ