How fragile are Cmores?

[Sarge]

I have read plenty of threads where guys have extras in their range bags. That's quite an expensive spare part to just "have on hand". Do they typically fail easily enough that you have to carry a spare?

What are your experiences?

I know there are those of you who have spare guns and probably enough spare parts to totally rebuild any gun you own. I get that! But I'm an average Joe who won't be to that point for a long long time, if ever.

Thanks

Kevin

[Pro2AInPA]

I have heard of a lot of people experiences cracks in the plastic body, leading to loss of zero.

I'm thinking of replacing mine with one of the aluminum body ones, but I don't know how much heavier they are than the plastic ones. Mine is on a 90 degree mount, so a lot of extra weight would really throw the gun out of balance to the left.

[G-ManBart]

I have heard of a lot of people experiences cracks in the plastic body, leading to loss of zero.

I'm thinking of replacing mine with one of the aluminum body ones, but I don't know how much heavier they are than the plastic ones. Mine is on a 90 degree mount, so a lot of extra weight would really throw the gun out of balance to the left.

I've had one crack the body right at the windage adjustment screw, but it was so hard to see, that I missed it for over a year. I couldn't figure out why it shifted zero in the middle of a stage. The first time it did it, I did the blue loctite on the windage screw trick, and that lasted for over a year...until it did it at Nationals...d'oh.

Some folks have had the Al bodied models crack at the front just forward of the glass. I weighed both standard and AL bodied models a few months ago, and the difference was either 1.3 or 1.7oz....I may have written it down (I'll check).

I tried one with the AL body on a Quin I and as weird as it may sound, it made my gun stop running....weak extraction, cases getting hooked on the ejection port, etc. I tried a lighter spring, and it only slightly helped. I swapped back to a plastic body, and it went back to 100%. It must have been some weird harmonic thing going on that was cancelling some of the slide's energy....odd. R,

[dansy]

I haven't had one crack on me yet, and I shoot and travel a fair amount especially on Airline....I transport my gun's around in a hard case maybe that is the difference since I see a lot of open gun with just pouches...which are fine if you really take care of not bumping your bag, and don't let the airline handle it.

[Chris Keen]

4 years ago at the Indiana state match my slide racker started to come loose. Actually the set screw started backing out. Well the screw actually struck the back of the C-More body, and cracked the housing. I called Ira and he said that there was really nothing in that part of the body to cause any trouble, and that I should put a drop of Super Glue on the crack and wait and see what happens. Well that was 4 years ago, and it's still running strong.

The aluminum body seems like a marketing gimmick to me. Maybe it was designed for military contracts, and then released to the public, I dont know. But in competition, we are constantly trying to lighten everything on our guns and our gear. I run a delrin guide-rod, a titanium slide racker, and a Seredipity C-More because of the lighter weight of the plastic mount. I know 1.3 or 1.7 oz. is not alot , but it all adds up in the end.

Bottom line is I think the C-More is a very durable scope. If you want to be honest, Sarge I have never heard of people carrying backup C-Mores. In fact it was the Aimpoint tube type red-dot YEARS AGO that everybody loved, but always had to replace / repair. Most people had 3 Aimpoints ...... 1 on their gun, 1 in their range bag, and 1 in the repair shop.

[Foxbat]

C-Mores are indeed very robust. One area that shows problem is the Serendipity legs, where the front-most screw hole gets crack developed, especially if overtightened. It just broke on one of mine, the piece fell off. It is still holding zero on five screws, but I guess at this point the writing is on the wall - the sight should be converted to slide mount by removing the legs. I have done it before as per Brazos instructions, and it works well.

Edited December 14, 2010 by Foxbat

[Sean Gaines]

I have never experienced any problems with my cmore's, but I have seen some of the serendipty's crack were they screw them onto the frame. Where the person/gunsmith over tightens the screw onto the plastic. But other than that they are a pretty durable scope.

[Sarge]

Good info! Thanks everybody.

[G-ManBart]

Thread on the AL bodied models...

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=116038&view=findpost&p=1315697

[Bigpops]

This year, at the Va/Md sectional, I had the on/off intensity knob crack and fly off. Thankfully I was in the middle of shooting so the light was on. The way it broke there was no way to adjust it or shut it off. I just ran the rest of the match and popped the battery out when I was finished.

I sent the unit back to C-more explaining what happened along with all of my info. Less than a week later I received a box with my rebuilt C-more in it. No bill or anything. Gotta love that!

[Chris Keen]

One thing I know that C-More discourages is the fancy extended knobs that everyone likes to attach to their C-Mores to make it easier to turn on / off. The way I heard it said was that the recoil of an open gun is such that adding a heavy piece of stainless or aluminum to the top of a delicate electronic adjustment (potentiometer) was too stressful on that part and it would eventually work loose, and become erratic or just stop working altogether. After all, we are talking about an electronic circuit board assembly on a violent open gun.

But with that said, it's certainly not "C-More's" fault if the shooter modifies the sight or adds an external 3rd party knob to the scope.

Then there's the red-dot diode itself, but the nice thing about that is it's removable. So if anything were to go wrong with it, you can replace it on the fly. I keep a spare diode module in my range bag at all times. Not that I've ever needed it, but it's nice to have around.

As far as the Serendipity legs go, .... again it's the shooters fault if they over-tighten the screws. I've had my Serendipity for about 4 years and I've never cracked the legs, even though my screws variably come loose after every match, and I tighten them up again, at least once a week. (now that I said that, I'll go home tonite and find cracks in my C-More)

[Foxbat]

I agree on the use of metal knobs, fortunately there is plastic Arrendondo that adds very little weight.

However, on one of my sights there was a peculiar effect - with the knob set to 2 or 3 o'clock, one full magazine would turn it fully ON, so the dot would become too bright. This has to do with the amount of friction in the particular potentiometer, some will have more some less. Eccentric mass will play funny game with you!

If that is happening then the Arredondo can be trimmed slightly.

[Chris Keen]

The Arredondo know comes with a small rubber o-ring to prevent that ................ at least mine did!

[Seth]

I cracked the body of my C-more by over tightening the windage/ elevation screws. Yep. That's right... I did it.

I would PREFER that it not be that easy to crack, but I still ignored the instructions and overtightened.

[Foxbat]

They all do, that was with the ring, but perhaps it was not pushed down hard enough.

[Chris Keen]

I cracked the body of my C-more by over tightening the windage/ elevation screws. Yep. That's right... I did it.

I would PREFER that it not be that easy to crack, but I still ignored the instructions and overtightened.

Seth do you mean the locking screws?

[Seth]

I cracked the body of my C-more by over tightening the windage/ elevation screws. Yep. That's right... I did it.

I would PREFER that it not be that easy to crack, but I still ignored the instructions and overtightened.

Seth do you mean the locking screws?

Yes. The set screws can crack the body if you blatantly ignore the instructions and over tighten them.

[Bigpops]

I cracked the body of my C-more by over tightening the windage/ elevation screws. Yep. That's right... I did it.

I would PREFER that it not be that easy to crack, but I still ignored the instructions and overtightened.

Must be that brute strength from the Crusher grips!

[Seth]

I cracked the body of my C-more by over tightening the windage/ elevation screws. Yep. That's right... I did it.

I would PREFER that it not be that easy to crack, but I still ignored the instructions and overtightened.

Must be that brute strength from the Crusher grips!

I know not my own strength.

[1911Prof]

I think the reason for carrying a spare is just to protect the costs involved in shooting a major match. I have seen people catch the c-more on a port and break them (which definitely qualifies as unauthorized modification), so if you can afford to carry a spare, it would be good. But it all depends on how much security you need or can afford.

Edited December 14, 2010 by 1911Prof

[dansy]

A spare C-More is only good if you actually can get to sight it after installation...Unless you have it mounted on a spare mount and sighted already.....the same goes for a new dot they are not all made equal (but still I always a spare 1 in my bag) and most of the time they required to be sighted. This is the reason I carry a spare gun, stress free! Trying to find a bay to sight a C-More/Dot on cramped range under the gun so to speak is a little too stressful for me.

So now you have a bunch of parts to fix the gun a Spare C-More/Mount and Dot....the rest of the gun is not that much more money.....

Edited December 14, 2010 by dansy

[Foxbat]

I think the reason for carrying a spare is just to protect the costs involved in shooting a major match. I have seen people catch the c-more on a port and break them (which definitely qualifies as unauthorized modification), so if you can afford to carry a spare, it would be good. But it all depends on how much security you need or can afford.

But replacing the C-more doesn't get you back into the game, as it will definitely be grossly off. You really need a backup gun for that. Even replacing the LED module will kill your sighting.

[1911Prof]

But replacing the C-more doesn't get you back into the game, as it will definitely be grossly off. You really need a backup gun for that. Even replacing the LED module will kill your sighting.

Good point... I can't afford to carry a spare c-more anyway so I guess it was moot

[Supermoto]

Yes. The set screws can crack the body if you blatantly ignore the instructions and over tighten them.

I did the same.

[calishootr]

back in the day, before the advent of the C-more, yes, we were all carryin at least 2 if not more tasco's(either the pdp2 or 3) and had at least that many in transit to and from the factory bein fixed...sincethe invention ofthe C-more, ive had just the one on a gun, no spares, no back-ups, ive broken the main elevation screw that holds the whole plate in place(50 dollar repair) an as chris said, put on a big knob on the switch and it in turn got loose, so loose that on a 32 rd COF or more it would turn itself off(still need to get that one fixed) past that??? they run andrun, hell ive got one that i cant remember the last time i put a battery in it....its been several yrs btw...