Gallery

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Whoa Boy!
The owner of this scope managed to fall off of his horse and come crashing down on some nearby rocks. He had his rifle slung over his back at the time, which made for a rough landing. Suffice it to say, there was no saving his optic. I hope he had a backup.

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Long Way Down
If falling off your horse is bad for your optic, I can't imagine things would be much better should you fall off a cliff. That's what happened to the owner of the scope pictured here.

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No Disintegrations
This one perplexes even me. The note Leupold received with the scope read "Gun disintegrated in my hands and the results destroyed my new scope." I'm not sure I want to know what that fella was doing when his optic ate it.

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Screwball
There's not paying attention to what you're doing, and then there's what this scope's owner did. While mounting his new optic, he drilled a mount screw straight through into the rifle's chamber. When he proceeded to fire his rifle, said screw rocketed upward into the scope. Ouch.

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Bullseye?
If you’ve looked at the picture, I’m sure you’ve already figured out what hit it—a bullet. The rifle it was mounted on was leaning on a truck next to a camp fire when another nearby rifle fell over and fired a round that shouldn’t have been chambered. Fortunately this scope was the only casualty.

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Wild Ride
This scope’s owner told Leupold that his buddy fell off of a horse and had his rifle go off. The bullet struck this scope and, fortunately, nothing else.

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Short Story
All we know about this scope is that it and the rifle it was mounted on "took a very bad fall." From K2, presumably.

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Shocking Results
Lightning didn't have to strike twice to wreck this scope. I'm going to wager that its owners pants might not have fared well, either.

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Skydiving Down Under
Here’s an optic that went out like a champ. It (and the rifle it was mounted on) fell from a helicopter. Its owner wasn’t just out for a joyride—he was hunting kangaroos. Yes, in Australia. Now that’s adventure.

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All in the Family
This scope’s owner tried to extend an olive branch to his brother-in-law by inviting him on a hunting trip. The result? The brother-in-law wrecked his provided rifle and scope, both. Thanksgiving had to be awkward.

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Going Swimming
An Alaskan hunting guide had one of his clients dropped this scope in a river. By the time it was recovered, it was a little worse for the wear.

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Amateur Archaeologists
This might be my favorite story. Apparently this scope’s owner fell from a horse had his rifle and scope both tumble into a nearby ravine. One year later, both were found buried in the mud.

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Running Rapids
While on a moose hunt in Alaska, the owner of his scope had his boat capsize in a river. His rifle got away from him, and was later found stuck in some rocks two miles downriver. The scope was still in one piece…but far from salvageable.

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Misfire
More unsafe firearm handling killed this scope. It and and the rifle it was mounted on were hanging on a rack in the rear window of a pickup truck. The owner’s buddy went to remove a different rifle from the rack and had an accidental discharge. The resulting shot took out the scope, the pickup’s window and ultimately punched a hole in the mobile camper, too. Close call.

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Scopes Will Persevere
Everyone worries about taking their firearms and optics onto a plane, and stories like this are why. This scope was bound for a hunt when the case it was in dropped off a baggage cart at the airport…and was promptly run over by a passing 737. The case was found in bits and pieces, but the scope somehow survived the carnage, suffering only a broken main tube and scuffed eyeshell.

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Chopping Block
We're not entirely sure what happened to this scope, because it was damaged after being stolen. Its owner was baffled by the damage it had sustained by the time he got it back from the crooks, but speculates that they may have hit with an axe or other cutting tool.
