Trijicon woes

[jgh4445]

Bad day at the range today. Top that off with a big helping of dumb on my part.

I went to the range to do some chrony work on some loads I was working up. Decided to start with my Sig AR. It wears a Trijicon Accupoint 3-9X40. Nice scope. Was... We had about a 15 mph cross wind today with an occasional gust to 20 or so according to the weather guys here. Not conducive to shooting tiny groups, but fine for the chronograph work 10 feet from the muzzle. I shot a couple of groups of five and recorded the velocities. I decided to walk down range and check the target and let the barrel cool. Like an idiot, I left the rifle with the forearm supported by the Caldwell rest and the stock on my leather bag with "ears". The bench is concrete, 4 feet from a concrete floor. Carpet cut to conform to the shape of the top of the bench was in place on the top of the bench with the rifle rests, ammunition, chronograph display etc. lying on the carpet. The carpet is not secured to the table top, it just lies there. ( I'll fix that you can bet) While down range, I thought I heard the sound of limbs breaking in the wind behind me. Could have been, there is a pine ridge just to my right while I'm at the target stands and there was a strong wind gusting. When I got back to the bench, there was my AR on its side on the concrete floor. Not hard to figure out what happened. It wasn't limbs I heard breaking. The wind got under the carpet and it flipped the rifle off the bench. A corner of the carpet was still turned up. My own stupid fault for not lying the rifle on its side on the bench or putting it in the rack behind the bench. I was the only soul at he range so I didn't think it was a big deal. So much for that.

I checked everything over carefully and saw that the bell of the scope was flat in a spot right on the lip. Glass wasn't broken. Couldn't find any other marks on the rifle or scope. The scope was mounted in a Warne one piece mount. It was still tight and not moving. I shot a 3 shot group and discovered that I was 8 inches high and 5 inches to the right. I made the adjustment with the turret and shot some more. Got it re-zero'd with no problem. Should have stopped there, but no....not me! I got to looking at the scope and thought that the part that was bent was only the threaded ring to which the sunshade screws in to. It looked like it would just unscrew. It did. Easily. Trijicon accupoints DO NOT HAVE a removable part that a sunshade screws in to. Ask me how I know. I know because while I was turning the end of the scope and looking over the rest of the scope and rifle, THE WHOLE FRONT OF THE SCOPE CAME OFF, LENSE AND ALL. Wanna bet there isn't any Nitrogen in my scope any more? Guess I'll have to call Trijicon Monday AM to get an RA number.

Actually, even though I got it to re-zero, it wouldn't hold for more than 3 shots and I was going to have to send it in anyway. Probably gonna cost a pretty penny too. If so, I'm gonna go ahead and have them change the reticle from the post with the green triangle on it to the cross hairs with the green mil dot if they will. I learned an expensive lesson from this today. Think about what you are doing and take the time to do it right.

 

[Jackal]

Even premium companies ship out turds.

 

[jgh4445]

Totally my fault, not the company's. Can't believe I was so careless.
:banghead:

 

[Hookeye]

I had an old Redfield Tracker scope (bought new) where the recticle got loose (could hear it rattle).

The wires were not broken and the design of the scope allowed for simple eye bell removal. Tightened the 3 screws holding recticle to erector tube

Took to work and placed scope pcs in clear plastic bag. Removed air from bag with simple vac line (have that in lab). Then I took a Nitrogen line from IC storage cabinet and filled bag 1/2 full.

This allowed me to grab the parts through the bag and reassemble.

I couldn't get the scope to fog, and nothing came loose. Guy that bought it later took his best buck in totally crappy weather..............scope worked fine.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

if you consider a scope that was dropped on concrete and failed a turd id like to know what brand you use. Accupoints are a VERY rugged scope. As far as ruggedness goes in a standard scope there isn't much better unless you get up into the price range of a nightforce.

 

[The_Next_Generation]

Op, hopefully trijicon will be able to help you out. The scope shouldn't have unscrewed so easily, imho.

Lloyd, I think the SWFA line of fixed power scopes are capable of taking an incredible licking. The base models come in at $300.

 

[jgh4445]

Called Trijicon Monday morning and got a CS rep named Ann. I explained all that had happened and she said that they probably would not be able to repair tha scope and she was sorry. I said, " are you telling me I have a $1000 scope that you can't fix and I'm just stuck with it?' She replied that she was "afraid so". I hung up and streamed a bit and thought why do they have a warranty/repair section if they can't repair a scope? I waited about an hour doing some other stuff and called back and asked for a tech person. A really nice guy answered and I told him what happened. He laughed and said, nope, the TR20's don't have a sun shade. I told him the adjustments seemed to work ok and that I thought I was just needing it re charged with Nitrogen. He said that the adjustments were farther back in the scope and he wasn't surprised that they still worked. Said it was a good thing. He also said he was worried that the parallex was gone now and that would have to be checked out also. I asked if he thought it would be repairable and he laughed and said that they repair scopes that look like two semis and a train have run over. I asked if while they had the scope, could they do a reticle swap. I have a post with the triangle and would like to switch to a cross hair with a green dot. He said it would cost an extra $101 on top of the repair bill. He advised me to fill out the online form and get an RA number and send it in for evaluation. Filled out the form on line and got an email with a return authorization number. Shipped it off via UPS as they suggest and they will get it Thursday. Now for the wait. email said "allow for a possible 2-4 week processing time." Don't know if that's a turnaround time or a "4 weeks till we get to your scope for evaluation" time. Will update.

 

[jgh4445]

Forgot to update this and I owe it to Trijicon and to a couple of you wondering " what ever happened with......"to do so. Nice bunch of folks. They contacted me within the two week period they quoted and told me that to repair the scope would cost $138. They apologized and said that a bent objective just couldn't be repaired under warranty.( i had never mentioned repairing it under warranty) I was expecting about a $500 charge so I was/am really happy. I also opted for the $101 up charge for changing the reticle to a green dot, mil dot cross hair. Should get it this week or the week after Thanksgiving.

 

[CLP]

Glad I read this. I also shoot off a bench with a piece of unsecured carpet. Will at least make sure it's weighted down when I walk down range.

 

[1KPerDay]

I hope you told someone in management about the first service rep.

 

[jgh4445]

I did.

 

[Clark]

What a story!

Someone had a worse day at the range than me.

And then the $138 ending.

I hope I don't get nightmares from this.

 

[rcmodel]

Will at least make sure it's weighted down when I walk down range.

Thats another use for your target staple gun!!

rc

 

[jgh4445]

Staple gun alone wouldn't have done the job if its a normal sized one. Laying the rifle down on its side on the carpet would have worked or the staple gun and a couple of boxes of ammo maybe.

 

[CLP]

Thats another use for your target staple gun!!

rc

my club has concrete benches. rock beats staple

 

[gspn]

Wanna bet there isn't any Nitrogen in my scope any more?

Probably not, but I took the bell off my Pentax Lightseeker scope about a decade ago...no nitrogen left in it. I hunt in MS, and TN...it's warm and humid, then cold and wet, then warm and humid, then freezing...the gun comes into warm buildings from being out in the cold and vice-versa, and it's never once fogged on me.

Also, your story reminded me of a something I saw the second week of boot camp at Parris Island. Our Senior DI came in and saw some weapons unsecured. He lost his mind, began grabbing them by the barrels and throwing them as far down the middle of the squad bay as he could...and he was a big dude so they went a long way before crashing onto the concrete deck. It made one hell of an impression on us. We didn't forget to to lock them up anymore after his wrath was levied upon us. I know that doesn't help you with your scope...but just think about how much better shape your rifle is in that those were.

 

[Berg]

Even premium companies ship out turds.

I read the whole post and can't figure out how you would come to this conclusion.

Thanks for the update OP. I suspect you will be getting a new tritium vial with your reticle change which will last you another 12 or so years.