I have had universally poor luck with Butler Creek scope caps in recent years. I’ve had broken springs, broken latches, and broken hinges. I stopped buying them because they were so terrible which is a real shame because they are easily the most available scope caps on the market. My moratorium on buying Butler Creek scope caps ended a couple of months ago when I came across their new Tactical One Piece Flip Caps and had to give them a try.
The Tactical One Piece Flip Caps are different from other Butler Creek scope caps because they lack every part that I have ever broken on their caps. They are made from a material that feels like a sturdy rubber or maybe a flexible polymer. Like their name suggests, they are made from a single molded piece. There are no springs, no latches, and no hinges which hopefully means there is less that can break.
The flexible materials used in their construction means that the collar can stretch a bit to fit a wide variety of scope objective and eye piece diameters. Butler Creek only offers a handful sizes in these caps but, because of how they stretch, those few sizes will cover most scopes.
Instead of a hinge, these scope caps have the lid connected to the collar via two flexible pillars. They are molded so that the lids spring open enough to not obstruct your view through the scope when you push the tab to unlatch the lid. The lids can be further secured from flapping around on your optic by bending them all the way back and tucking them behind a small fin that holds the lid nearly flat, folded back on the optic itself. Its a very simple system that seems to work well.
I am not sure that, after only a couple of months with these Tactical One Piece Flip Caps, I am ready to say they are going to last for the long haul but they definitely seem to be an improvement over the regular Butler Creek Scope Caps. They are also similarly affordable and widely available, both which are nice.
You can check out the Tactical One Piece Flip Caps at Butler Creek.
