Scope eye - who has been cut by their scope?

KEC · Tuesday at 8:12 AM

I've never had magnum eyebrow from any scope with a rubber eye piece but to be fair those scopes have been on lighter calibers. It's happened a few times with my Leupold's shooting from odd angles with the heavy kickers but mostly prone in warmer weather wearing lighter cloths.

Choupique · Tuesday at 8:44 AM

Hasn't happened to me yet knocking on all the wood within reach. Sure looks like it hurts!

chashardy · Tuesday at 8:52 AM

Yes. Sitting in a brush blind on a water hole in Limpopo. Group of zebra came in and I leaned forward in my chair with my 416 Rigby to take the shot. The cut wasn't too bad and the zebra went down quickly.

Green Chile · Tuesday at 8:59 AM

mark-hunter said:
Me, few times I got a scope cut.
Come to think of it, with rental guns only.

Later, I developed procedure for unfamiliar guns.
Brim of baseball hat.

Brim must touch the scope rear lense.

Then i know i am approximately good with my eye releif, and after that I make final positioning of the eye before taking a proper aim.
Under adrenaline, tired, under sweat, and during the hunt, this is very soild guidance for adjustment the eye releif with unknown rifle.

On the range session, without adrenaline shot i focus on proper sight picture without side shades to establish proper eye releif.

This is exactly what I do and thankfully have not been cut by a scope. I also don't always use a bench to sight in, particularly on some of the hard kickers. If I do use a bench, I get a lead sled and don't tie the gun down...allow it to move. I much prefer to sight in the big guns with a standing rest. They allow the most movement for recoil control.

TX049 · Tuesday at 9:13 AM

I've never had scope eye, but I did dislocate a bicep the first time I fired a 12ga shotgun around 10 or 11 years old. I was afraid of the gun so, as is common for new/fearful shooters, I held it away from my body and "shouldered" it on my bicep (it didn't help the gun itself was too big for me). That was a painful lesson.

Minor aside, but it's funny how our memory works. After I fired, my grandfather told me to "quit yer whinin' about recoil" so I finished shooting the clay stand in agony. Only after did he realize what happened (probably from my inability to rotate my arm and the the massive bruise forming) and how much pain I was really in. I distinctly remember him doing the instant 180 from stern/stoic grandpa to concerned/caring grandpa. It's just funny how I remember that part more than anything.

coreydb · Tuesday at 10:04 AM

Oh yeah......on a rifle where the scope's eye relief what wasn't adjusted to me. I had to move my face close to the scope before I could get the correct sight picture........ embarrassed and pissed off at the same time.

rookhawk · Tuesday at 10:25 AM

Altitude sickness said:
Shooting uphill it’s easy to do

with a monte carlo stock, especially. A proper British stock is designed so as you shoot uphill and your tricep retracts, your face is still tight on the comb rather than stuck on a horizontal plane that makes a weatherby kiss more likely.

I also find that people suck in general at buying the correct scope, with the correct rings, and the correct mounts to get the scope perfectly adjusted to the eye. Often, people are restricted to limited adjustment of their scope due to the turrets locations and total length of straight tube using "economy rings".

There are better ways, but local gun shops don't know anything about this because they don't sell premium rings and bases.

Jeff505 · Tuesday at 10:45 AM

A kiss from my 505, it was slightly worse on the other end of the gun for the buffalo.

fourfive8 · Tuesday at 12:15 PM

Did it a couple of times years ago. Neither very deep not serious. One a 30-06 and one a 338WM. Crawl a stock that is already too short using a scope with inadequate eye relief and find out! My “bigger” calibers, 375 HH and above all have scopes with about 5” eye relief and none have short butts, short lengths of pull. The worst “scope eyebrow” incident I ever saw was on a pronghorn hunt with the hunter touching off a 270 before getting the butt set into his shoulder. Buck fever I guess. The scope took out 3 or 4 of his front teeth along with severe cuts through the lips. Blood everywhere

PARA45 · Tuesday at 12:56 PM

I've been lucky. I've been touched by the scope. but never cut. However, I can't say the say about a shotgun. When I was a kid, I shot a single shot 12 ga shotgun, and my hand move with the recoil and hit my mouth busting my lip.

Safari Dave · Tuesday at 8:02 PM

Only slightly, on a couple of occasions when I could not get the rifle firmly planted in that pocket that God designed for a rifle butt.

Hogpatrol · Tuesday at 8:11 PM

Friend 700 back in the '60s bought a 7mm RM. Asked if I wanted to shoot it. Yep, scope eye. My disdain for that Satanic recoiling cartridge lasts to this day. One other time, off balance sitting on the ground with a smokeless muzzleloader.

SoDak Jay · Tuesday at 8:40 PM

Overcompensated in how tightly I was holding a 416 Rigby and it fricken rocked me. First time time I got scoped.

Raven · 2026-10-28T10:24:01-0500

I've never been hit in the eye or forehead by a scope. I guess I was lucky considering I've been hunting with .375 H&H Mag for a long time.

But now I have scope on a double rifle in caliber .470 NE. I'm afraid to imagine what would happen if he hit me.

Scope eye - who has been cut by their scope?

KEC

Choupique

chashardy

Green Chile

TX049

coreydb

rookhawk

Jeff505

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PARA45

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