Another dead scope - my Burris FFII

603Country · February 17, 2012, 07:25 PM

Well Darn...I've had a Burris FFII on my Ruger 260 Rem for about 7 months and I've said on this forum that I liked it quite a bit. I think that it has died. Just this week I got a pound of Reloader 17 to try out, and I couldn't get a decent group with any powder load. I was just spraying them all over in a completely random fashion. I checked all screws, mounts, etc. and found nothing wrong. Not a bore fouling problem either. Well, this afternoon I decided to go pig hunting, so I took 2 rounds of my favorite load (4064) and thought I'd just check my zero. Bang! And the first hole is 6 inches right of the target. Hmmm. That's not possible. Chamber the second round. Bang! And this one is 6 inches left of the target. Distance between holes is just about a foot. OK, well we've all had bad days at the range, but that was a load that used to shoot into less than 3/4 inch time and again. My load data book says "this load shot into about 1/2 inch, so this is the go-to hunting load". Wasn't that long ago I had a Nikon fail me. Here I go again, but this time with Burris customer service. I hope these people are not too tough to deal with. If they are, I swear to all that's holy that I'll smash it flat with a sledgehammer and ship it back to them. And buy another Leupold VX3. I'm in Full Curmudgeon mode right now. These people had better be nice to me. Grump grump grump!

TX Hunter · February 18, 2012, 10:32 AM

Just checking out your post, I have a similar Rifle, mine is .308 as you saw from the other post, I added a Spacer, a Packmyer, and mounted a Leupold VX 2 3x9x40 over the reciever, its accurate, but as you know Im trying to get a more lethal load for it.

I couldnt help but notice that you said you had two scope failures, I was wondering if they were both on the same Rifle? If both scopes failed on your Ruger, my next question is, do you have the correct rings on, the taller one in the rear, the shorter one in the front? The reason is that if its not exactly right, your rings may be causing your scope to stress, or bend somewhat, and leading to early failures. I would check that out first, Burris will probably repair or replace your scope, as Much as I love Leupold, I do recognize Burris as a quality brand. Good luck hope you get it sorted out.

PawPaw · February 18, 2012, 11:28 AM

I agree, I'd look at something past the scope. If you've had two scopes "go South" on the same rifle, there's another issue beyond bad luck.

I've never had but one scope totally crap-out on me, and that one was immediately recognizable. The crosshair + turned into an X. I gave that one to a grandkid for a spy scope.

603Country · February 18, 2012, 01:08 PM

No guys, it wasn't on the same rifle. And luckily, both rifles had a functioning scope prior to the ones that died. My 223 Ruger Hawkeye had a cheap Bushnell on it first, but I wanted a 4X16, so I got a Nikon. It shot good groups with the Bushnell and also with the Nikon, but after a time the groups with the Nikon got worse and worse. It still took me a lot of reloads before I figured out what was happening. I got a Leupold VXII for it, and now it shoots great groups. The 260 was bought from a friend, and it came with a Weaver 2X10. It also shot good groups, which I recorded in my range book at the time. Eventually I wanted a different power range (4.5X14), so I thought I'd try the Burris. There were times, and I mentioned it on the forum, that I wasn't so sure that the Burris was holding zero, but I kept making long shots on pigs and coyotes, so I thought that it must be just my imagination. But, with the new powder to try out, I really got down to some serious shooting, cleaning, and reloading. And like I said in my original post, the groups with my favorite loads (developed with the Weaver on it) went from less than 3/4 inch to over 6 inches. Now I'll admit that I haven't yet absolutely proven that it's the scope that's bad, but I'll go test that out shortly. The humor here is that when the Nikon died, I did the rifle retest with that 'cheap' Bushnell. It worked great. Now I'll check out the 260 with that same 'cheap' Bushnell. I sure wish that I could swap out whatever Burris eventually sends me for what I should've bought in the first place. Leupold VX3 in 4.5X14. Now I'll be stuck with another Burris, and they may be fine scopes, but my confidence in them is a bit low right now. Still, I'll admit that till it broke, I liked everything about it. I emailed Burris Customer Service on Friday, after being on phone ignore for 20 minutes, but no response so far. I guess they don't work on weekends. I guess I can't complain about that. I'm retired and don't work on weekends, or even weekdays.

TX Hunter · February 18, 2012, 03:16 PM

I understand, I have had scope issues in the past myself, I switched over to Leupold and have had very good luck with them. I hope everthing works out for you.

603Country · February 18, 2012, 06:04 PM

One final note regarding the scope. I did 'borrow' that Bushnell scope back off of the grandson's 308 (he has no use for it, recently getting a car and a cute new girlfriend) and put it on the Ruger. I had 10 rounds on hand, which were the load I had been testing when the Burris went belly up. The rifle and scope grouped real nice with the Bushnell. So at least I'm back in the pig blasting business, but still have to deal with the Burris folks. And ALLLL of that load development work I did and all the powder and lead I sent downrange was for absolutely nothing. Gotta get a new scope and start all over. I wonder if there's a chance I can sweettalk the Burris folks into letting me upgrade to one of their more expensive scopes. I'll ask.

Fusion · February 19, 2012, 01:46 AM

It won't hurt to ask. My experience with Burris CS was fairly positive. I know what it's like to have a scope go belly up and it's not fun knowing you wasted that much on ammo. This doesn't seem to be a normal occurrence for these scopes, but I guess a bad one slips through every now and then.

oldcspsarge · February 19, 2012, 10:34 AM

IF the BURRIS name is on it....it has a lifetime, no questions, no reciept, no registration card needed warranty...period.

They are the BEST scopes made in the USA and are now owned by Beretta.

They transmit light much better than LEUPOLD.

I doubt if it is the scope but you are covered there !

Check the rings and mounts for a loose screw !

603Country · February 19, 2012, 12:46 PM

Sarge, I wish it was just a loose screw, but all of those things were the first things I looked for. And when I took the scope off the rifle, I checked the bases and mounts. All tight. Then I put the Bushnell Legend 3X12 on it and started shooting decent groups. I'm not real fond of that Bushnell, for several reasons, but it does hold a zero (so far). What I have is a Burris scope that won't hold zero. But when it was still working properly, I did like it. Nice and bright and the Ballistic Plex was quite useful on long pig and coyote shots. I bragged on it till it died - 7 months after I put it on the gun. It appears that my only real option now is to stay with Burris, either with a replacement scope or a rebuild of this one. Honestly, I'd jump back to Leupold if there was any way to do so, but that isn't an option in this case. Hopefully on Monday the Burris folk will be back in the office and I can talk to them. We'll see how this goes, and how good Burris customer service really is.

Over the years I've had scope death with Weaver, Redfield, Tasco, Nikon, and now with Burris. In 35 years or more of using top of the line Leupold scopes I have never even once had the need to talk with their customer service department. Maybe that means that the best customer service is when you don't even need customer service. And now, seven months after buying my first Burris, I have a dead one. At least it lasted longer than the Nikon Monarch (about 5 months). I'm venting, but it isn't aimed at you. I'm just a bit frustrated right now.

Maybe I'll start a post next week on how this interaction goes with Burris and how it gets resolved.

February 17, 2012, 07:25 PM	#1
603Country Senior Member Join Date: January 6, 2011 Location: Thornton, Texas Posts: 3,998	Another dead scope - my Burris FFII Well Darn...I've had a Burris FFII on my Ruger 260 Rem for about 7 months and I've said on this forum that I liked it quite a bit. I think that it has died. Just this week I got a pound of Reloader 17 to try out, and I couldn't get a decent group with any powder load. I was just spraying them all over in a completely random fashion. I checked all screws, mounts, etc. and found nothing wrong. Not a bore fouling problem either. Well, this afternoon I decided to go pig hunting, so I took 2 rounds of my favorite load (4064) and thought I'd just check my zero. Bang! And the first hole is 6 inches right of the target. Hmmm. That's not possible. Chamber the second round. Bang! And this one is 6 inches left of the target. Distance between holes is just about a foot. OK, well we've all had bad days at the range, but that was a load that used to shoot into less than 3/4 inch time and again. My load data book says "this load shot into about 1/2 inch, so this is the go-to hunting load". Wasn't that long ago I had a Nikon fail me. Here I go again, but this time with Burris customer service. I hope these people are not too tough to deal with. If they are, I swear to all that's holy that I'll smash it flat with a sledgehammer and ship it back to them. And buy another Leupold VX3. I'm in Full Curmudgeon mode right now. These people had better be nice to me. Grump grump grump!

February 18, 2012, 10:32 AM	#2
TX Hunter Senior Member Join Date: February 11, 2010 Location: East Texas USA Posts: 1,805	603 Country, Just checking out your post, I have a similar Rifle, mine is .308 as you saw from the other post, I added a Spacer, a Packmyer, and mounted a Leupold VX 2 3x9x40 over the reciever, its accurate, but as you know Im trying to get a more lethal load for it. I couldnt help but notice that you said you had two scope failures, I was wondering if they were both on the same Rifle? If both scopes failed on your Ruger, my next question is, do you have the correct rings on, the taller one in the rear, the shorter one in the front? The reason is that if its not exactly right, your rings may be causing your scope to stress, or bend somewhat, and leading to early failures. I would check that out first, Burris will probably repair or replace your scope, as Much as I love Leupold, I do recognize Burris as a quality brand. Good luck hope you get it sorted out. Last edited by TX Hunter; February 18, 2012 at 11:38 AM.

February 18, 2012, 11:28 AM	#3
PawPaw Senior Member Join Date: December 24, 2010 Location: Central Louisiana Posts: 3,137	I agree, I'd look at something past the scope. If you've had two scopes "go South" on the same rifle, there's another issue beyond bad luck. I've never had but one scope totally crap-out on me, and that one was immediately recognizable. The crosshair + turned into an X. I gave that one to a grandkid for a spy scope. __________________ Dennis Dezendorf http://pawpawshouse.blogspot.com

February 18, 2012, 03:16 PM	#5
TX Hunter Senior Member Join Date: February 11, 2010 Location: East Texas USA Posts: 1,805	603 Country, I understand, I have had scope issues in the past myself, I switched over to Leupold and have had very good luck with them. I hope everthing works out for you.

February 18, 2012, 01:08 PM	#4
603Country Senior Member Join Date: January 6, 2011 Location: Thornton, Texas Posts: 3,998	No guys, it wasn't on the same rifle. And luckily, both rifles had a functioning scope prior to the ones that died. My 223 Ruger Hawkeye had a cheap Bushnell on it first, but I wanted a 4X16, so I got a Nikon. It shot good groups with the Bushnell and also with the Nikon, but after a time the groups with the Nikon got worse and worse. It still took me a lot of reloads before I figured out what was happening. I got a Leupold VXII for it, and now it shoots great groups. The 260 was bought from a friend, and it came with a Weaver 2X10. It also shot good groups, which I recorded in my range book at the time. Eventually I wanted a different power range (4.5X14), so I thought I'd try the Burris. There were times, and I mentioned it on the forum, that I wasn't so sure that the Burris was holding zero, but I kept making long shots on pigs and coyotes, so I thought that it must be just my imagination. But, with the new powder to try out, I really got down to some serious shooting, cleaning, and reloading. And like I said in my original post, the groups with my favorite loads (developed with the Weaver on it) went from less than 3/4 inch to over 6 inches. Now I'll admit that I haven't yet absolutely proven that it's the scope that's bad, but I'll go test that out shortly. The humor here is that when the Nikon died, I did the rifle retest with that 'cheap' Bushnell. It worked great. Now I'll check out the 260 with that same 'cheap' Bushnell. I sure wish that I could swap out whatever Burris eventually sends me for what I should've bought in the first place. Leupold VX3 in 4.5X14. Now I'll be stuck with another Burris, and they may be fine scopes, but my confidence in them is a bit low right now. Still, I'll admit that till it broke, I liked everything about it. I emailed Burris Customer Service on Friday, after being on phone ignore for 20 minutes, but no response so far. I guess they don't work on weekends. I guess I can't complain about that. I'm retired and don't work on weekends, or even weekdays.

February 18, 2012, 06:04 PM	#6
603Country Senior Member Join Date: January 6, 2011 Location: Thornton, Texas Posts: 3,998	One final note regarding the scope. I did 'borrow' that Bushnell scope back off of the grandson's 308 (he has no use for it, recently getting a car and a cute new girlfriend) and put it on the Ruger. I had 10 rounds on hand, which were the load I had been testing when the Burris went belly up. The rifle and scope grouped real nice with the Bushnell. So at least I'm back in the pig blasting business, but still have to deal with the Burris folks. And ALLLL of that load development work I did and all the powder and lead I sent downrange was for absolutely nothing. Gotta get a new scope and start all over. I wonder if there's a chance I can sweettalk the Burris folks into letting me upgrade to one of their more expensive scopes. I'll ask.

February 19, 2012, 01:46 AM	#7
Fusion Senior Member Join Date: August 13, 2010 Posts: 429	It won't hurt to ask. My experience with Burris CS was fairly positive. I know what it's like to have a scope go belly up and it's not fun knowing you wasted that much on ammo. This doesn't seem to be a normal occurrence for these scopes, but I guess a bad one slips through every now and then.

February 19, 2012, 10:34 AM	#8
oldcspsarge Senior Member Join Date: January 11, 2008 Location: Rocky Mountains Posts: 441	IF the BURRIS name is on it....it has a lifetime, no questions, no reciept, no registration card needed warranty...period. They are the BEST scopes made in the USA and are now owned by Beretta. They transmit light much better than LEUPOLD. I doubt if it is the scope but you are covered there ! Check the rings and mounts for a loose screw !

February 19, 2012, 12:46 PM	#9
603Country Senior Member Join Date: January 6, 2011 Location: Thornton, Texas Posts: 3,998	Sarge, I wish it was just a loose screw, but all of those things were the first things I looked for. And when I took the scope off the rifle, I checked the bases and mounts. All tight. Then I put the Bushnell Legend 3X12 on it and started shooting decent groups. I'm not real fond of that Bushnell, for several reasons, but it does hold a zero (so far). What I have is a Burris scope that won't hold zero. But when it was still working properly, I did like it. Nice and bright and the Ballistic Plex was quite useful on long pig and coyote shots. I bragged on it till it died - 7 months after I put it on the gun. It appears that my only real option now is to stay with Burris, either with a replacement scope or a rebuild of this one. Honestly, I'd jump back to Leupold if there was any way to do so, but that isn't an option in this case. Hopefully on Monday the Burris folk will be back in the office and I can talk to them. We'll see how this goes, and how good Burris customer service really is. Over the years I've had scope death with Weaver, Redfield, Tasco, Nikon, and now with Burris. In 35 years or more of using top of the line Leupold scopes I have never even once had the need to talk with their customer service department. Maybe that means that the best customer service is when you don't even need customer service. And now, seven months after buying my first Burris, I have a dead one. At least it lasted longer than the Nikon Monarch (about 5 months). I'm venting, but it isn't aimed at you. I'm just a bit frustrated right now. Maybe I'll start a post next week on how this interaction goes with Burris and how it gets resolved.