Not a pellet or .22 rifle, but a SCAR-17S is also death to rifle scopes over the long term, and for very similar reasons. The point is that, depending on what kind of action is in operation, that action can set up harmonic vibrations that are transmitted through the receiver and into the optic, damaging the internal elevation/windage mechanisms…which can be quite fragile. Thus, scopes that are rated to withstand .50 BMG recoil, can be damaged by a .308 Winchester SCAR-17S.Crash wrote: ↑Mon Dec 26, 2022 1:16 am03Lightningrocks,03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Sun Dec 25, 2022 9:38 pm I have never had the need or desire to take a scope off a .22 rifle and put it on a pellet gun but am curious about how that would ruin the scope. I suppose I never thought of any scope being specific for the caliber. Being a pellet rifle or .22.It seems to me a scope that is made well enough to take the "kick" of a .22 would definitely be OK on a pellet rifle.
I stopped being so lazy and researched it on the internet and, apparently, on a spring air pellet rifle, the force of the piston moving forward and coming to a sudden stop puts forces on a .22 LR scope that they weren't designed for.
Crash
This would easily explain why a .22LR scope could be damaged by a spring-piston driven pellet rifle, but not the other way around.
One possible answer might be to investigate the given scope's warranty policy. In my particular case, both Vortex and Primary Arms will warranty for life any scope made by them that is damaged by my rifle. I have verified this verbally by phone with Primary Arms' customer support department, and Vortex's policy is available on their website. So, if your .22 scope is made by a company that offers a no-questions-asked lifetime warranty, go ahead and mount it on the pellet rifle. OTH, you’re likely to pay at least 2x as much for such a scope in the first place, so maybe it’s not worth it to you.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Cheapest Vortex magnified optic ($289.99): https://vortexoptics.com/crossfire-ii-1 ... e-moa.html
Cheapest Primary Arms magnified optic ($89.99): https://www.primaryarms.com/primary-arm ... cope-pa14x
(When talking to PA customer support, their rep asserted that PA had, to date, put over 7000 rounds through their SCAR test bed using the same LVPO as mine, and without any failures. PA may not be the cheapest scope maker around, but they are FAR from the most expensive. It’s normally axiomatic that a $1000 rifle deserves a $1000 scope—although in my particular case, PA is letting me get away with putting a sub-$400 optic on a $3000 rifle. I get it that you don’t want to spend money unnecessarily on a scope for that pellet rifle; but just maybe a scope approaching the value of the pellet rifle—depending on how much you have invested in the rifle itself—might let you not worry about it so much.)