Gentlemen & Ladies,

I recently had to send an older model Burris scope in for repair to their facility in CO.
The top turret inner became loose and no longer could be adjusted - so off it went.
Since it's been 3 wks. out there, I tried to call them today. I COULD NOT get through, even on the 2nd time! What gives...?
This company is owned by Beretta. To say
I am disappointed in not being able to reach them is an understatement!
Has anyone close had this problem with Burris Optics?
Thank you,
Brittman

It took a while, like 3 months but they made mine good. never had trouble reaching them, mostly by their message system though

Poor service, to be sure, but I'm wondering what caused the problem. Could it be the erector-tube spring has collapsed, whereby there would be no tension on the turret screw?

If so, I'd be glad to hear the story because it might be grist for my mill. (I have never owned a Burris scope but do have attitude because Don Burris may have invented image-movement when he was at Kollmorgen/Redfield. )

Live Oak,
I was only to get an E-mail from them. I never was able to get thru to Burris by phone! I hope it doesn't take 3 months for mine?

sambarman338,
It COULD be a broken spring in the erector-tube assy.? I will let you guys know what it was after I receive it back.
Thanks!
Brittman

Thanks Brittman, don't be surprised if they they don't tell you what was wrong. You may know that I consider the whole 'constantly centred' reticle system prone to damage and that the makers know it but no one is game to get off the merry-go-round.

I once worked for Siebe Gorman, the inventors of the old deep-sea diving suit. Their policy in batch production was to make an extra 5% of everything for spares. I'll bet modern scope manufacturers make a damned sight more erector tube assys than that. One advantage might be, I suppose, that because they are just inserted from the back and not tightly fitted along the scope barrel, they are probably easy to replace. This may not help you if one buggers up in the middle of Africa.

sambarman338,

Thanks for your insight and knowledge of rifle scopes. I admit I know little about them!

I do expect NOT to be told what was wrong with my Burris scope, as you said.

Please enlighten me? Do the erector assy. tubes in most scopes go bad frequently? Mine was like the tension left the elev. adj. scale completely!

Other than the foggy inside, I had hoped to get the AO to go down to 50', but I assume it was not capable of such a short distance? It is an older 6x-18X model.

Thank you all again for your knowledge and help - it's appreciated! All the best...

Any other things you know about scopes would be great! Please feel free to share.

Brittman

I'm afraid I don't know how often erector essemblies break down, Brittman, just have a vague appreciation of the inertia pressure that must bear on a four-inch, brass-and-glass entity moveably located inside. (Swarovski admits that the force under recoil can be as as much as 800 times that of the tube at rest.)

My only estimation of how many go wrong comes from the praise a certain brand gets in a forum like this. Most people say what a great scope it makes but many others praise it for the generosity of its warranty dealings. One writer recently said he bought an old one from a pawn shop, found it was crook, sent it off to the maker and was rewarded with a new one. Like quantitative easing, it's kinda like magic pudding

Well, I received my repaired Burris scope back several days ago. It was right at 5 wks. total. No charge...
It looks clear and we'll see how it tracks one day next week after the Memorial Day activities are over. I hope the elevation turret works OK now?
Brittman

... and no explanation of the problem?

sambarman338,
The paper that was returned said, completed test & found, scope was hoaxed out, eye piece too far out...further down was -
Removed internal debris, resealed & nitrogen. Email sent to customer - which I never received!
It said nothing about the elev. screw being TOO loose... It appears tight now, however.
As I said, I intend to try it out next week one day and see if it functions as it should?
Wish me luck!
Brittman

Thanks Brittman.
I'm afraid the term 'hoaxed out' is a mystery to me but I take it they mean the ocular had been screwed out too far in trying to focus.

I suppose that could lead to the erector tube backing out of position under the second phase of recoil inertia, as your shoulder stops the rifle but anything loose keeps coming. This could, maybe, dislocate the erector tube spring from the other end.

I have seen some strange things looking backwards through scopes but cannot imagine what that debris could be ... unless it was a spring, broken or unsecured.

Had you previously had trouble focusing the reticle, causing you to screw the ocular housing out very far?

I know that recoil can make the erector tube and an attached reticle move forward or back, causing parallax, but the possibility you have uncovered had escaped me until now.

sambarman338,
Sorry for the confusion. I had originally typed in "maxed out", but did not see the iPad change it! (I should have caught it before sending it.)
Yes, I previously couldn't focus the reticle in the past - now it appears I can? I'll report on it after trying it out next week.
Thanks,
Brittman

Thanks Brittman,
this story may even get a mention in my book if it doesn't incur 'author's alt' fees. (Traditionally, that's where printers made their profits - they would quote low on the job but charge horrendously if any late changes were required.)

Brittman, was there any other information in the repair report between saying that the ocular had been screwed out too far and that they removed debris and re-gassed the scope?

No, I just relayed what they did to it. I will report shortly on it's performance this week.
Brittman

Thanks again. The reason I asked is I'm still trying to get my head around how having the ocular screwed out a long way could affect tension at the turret.

I took a cheap old image-movement scope to bits yesterday and even it had a washer screwed in behind the reticle and erector tube, to keep them from moving back. I also googled scope problems and found one guy saying that the most prestigious European brand often breaks erector springs in its cheaper models.

So, I'm thinking the debris might have been a broken spring. It might have been just filings ground off the erector tube by the turret screws, of course, as it seems brass is the favored casing for the tubes and sometimes is used for the screws, too.

If your rifle has much recoil, such filings could also result from the erector tube dipping at every shot and rubbing against the windage screw as it returns to battery.

The old reticle-movement scopes can also suffer some wear from screw turning, too, but their reticles weigh a tiny fraction of an erector tube's mass and are generally expected to stay where you leave them.

I am no help to the Burris issue.
But I have owned many dozen Leupolds. Had an issue with one. It was fixed for free in less than two weeks.

Have you used any of your scopes on heavy-recoil rifles for any time, df06?

As modern scopes go, I'm sure Leupold is one of the best - but all brands (bar some Valdadas?) now have a certain space-occupying lesion bouncing around inside - which is needed only because makers assume people are too simple, lazy or lousy to get the scope mounted straight.

Fatigue will affect any mounted scope eventually but one without a large movable mass inside should last longer. If anyone has a Leupold made before 1964, I'd love to hear about it.