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Which Vortex Viper scope?


Mike41

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We shot out to 800 yards on Saturday and I didn't have any trouble making out the IPSC sized target with a 3" orange dot with my 6-18. I can't answer your other questions, I'm not familiar with the Vipers, mine is a Leupold.

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Pst is very good, hst is a notch down. I have an hst in 4-16 for my ar in a LaRue mount so I can switch it out with my three gun scope if I want to go longer range and it works pretty good. I shot a PRS match this weekend, and most of the time The Bushy was around 16x, and you can shoot at 1k on 16x, but there are going to be times where you WILL want more power, and there were shots where I had it cranked to 24x. It all depends on your budget. And what you want. Most people shooting long range prefer mils. Someone might come on here and start talking math and get into all this complicated bs, that really doesn't matter. Zero your rifle at 100 yds. Chrono your loads, and use a good ballistic program to get your come ups. Put a spot of Velcro inside your scope cap, and stick a mini dope chart in there. When you want to go longer, just dial that elevation knob to where you need it, and take your shot. Of course you have to do some homework, and check your data, you can't go out there blind and get perfect hits out of the box, but you will be close. With a good spotter you can tweak your data and be good to go with a little effort. I'd your budget allows, the pst with an Ebr 2 and ffp would be very nice ( if the razor is out of reach). I went with the hst for my ar, because I will only be using it out to 600, and it's not my primary long range rifle, so the hst was "good enough" for what I needed. When it comes to glass, match the scope to the intended purpose, and buy the best you can afford, as long as it fits the job, and enjoy shooting.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I do not like the viper series at all, a lot of people like them but if you do a search there are quite a few problems .. I had one sent back to the factory 4 times before they decided to give me a refund... With a leupold and an old weaver my rifle would print 3/8"-1/2" 10 shot groups at 100. Those groups opened to 1.5" - 2" with the viper...

For those that have a viper I encourage you to do this..

While looking through the scope (mine was FFP so I don't know if SFP will react the same ) and the rifle/scope in a solid rest or a vice, wiggle the quick focus eyepiece. Think of this motion as removing a cork from a wine bottle. Doing that while looking through the scope the whole field of view moved across my target , several inches..

After the 3rd trip to vortex I decided to prove to them that I was not crazy. They blamed me for the problem and said that it was t even possible . I took a bench vise, lag screwed it to a big oak stump that I had just cut down, put the scope, (in a cantalever vortex mount) in the vice. Videoed the problem , sent it to vortex, they said I was moving the entire rifle. That was until I sent the the rest of the video clip that showed it was impossible for the "rifle" to be moving. They changed their tune and sent me a check lol.

There is a reason everyone knows about their "great customer service"

Because so many people have had to use it . ( btw I had the same issue on 2 scopes)

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I think the viper series is WAY over rated I'm not a fan of the glass personally. In that price range, I would take a look at the Weaver tactical line which has much better glass. The reticles are not the best but overal I think it's a better optic. Also Burris' XTRII line with the SCR reticle seems to be a great optic for the price. If your dead set on a Vortex scope I'd save up for a first gen Razor.

Edited by razerok1
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  • 2 weeks later...

The PST is good for what it is and is one the best at its price point.

They had a bad run with some 4-16s a few years back but I've had near 20 of their scopes from the HS-T, HS, PST, Razor, and Gen2 Razor product lines. I have been very impressed with every offering from them and these were all competition guns of some sorts so they weren't safe queens or on some static range.

back to the OP question, hunting on 4x.... are you talking close 20yd shots? or maybe 800yd hunting shot? I shot a 3-12 for years and I was able to get out beyond a mile with that. For the longest time I competed with a NF 3.5-15 and even engaged some 2300yd targets with it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have both PST in 4-24x50 sfp and HS LR in 3-12x40mm ffp I believe. They are both ok for the money, and I'd take the pst over the other for features alone, but both lack a bit in glass clarity and forgiveness in eye relief. I would say my sightron S3's easily beat them, and sightron is coming around with better feature sets on their scopes and they aren't too far off PST price points.

My newer mid range scopes have been VX-6, and the 3-18x44 is an awesome scope for many uses, as is the new 4-24. Incredible eye relief across the board, crystal clear, and Leupold has recently impressed me with great customer service. My turrets on one vx-6 are the only part of the scope I'm not in love with, they are a little "soft" on the clicks, but seem to track true and hold 0 despite that.

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The Mark 6 3-18x is a $2200 scope so I hope it's a better optic. LOL You can go with a Vortex 3-18x50 Razor II at that price point and get illumination as well as solid clicks and tracking. Razor II glass is on par with S&B scopes too.

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I think the viper series is WAY over rated I'm not a fan of the glass personally. In that price range, I would take a look at the Weaver tactical line which has much better glass. The reticles are not the best but overal I think it's a better optic. Also Burris' XTRII line with the SCR reticle seems to be a great optic for the price. If your dead set on a Vortex scope I'd save up for a first gen Razor.

I second the Burris XTR line. I've played with the 1-8, 2-10, 3-15 and 5-25. They are Philippines knock-offs of the Steiner Military series (which are AWESOME!), have great controls, usable reticles, and are definitely a good bang for the buck. They don't look like you're looking through a paper towel roll like the Vipers, either. Don't get me wrong, I love Vortex, but only if it says "Razor" on it.

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The Mark 6 3-18x is a $2200 scope so I hope it's a better optic. LOL You can go with a Vortex 3-18x50 Razor II at that price point and get illumination as well as solid clicks and tracking. Razor II glass is on par with S&B scopes too.

I have razor glass as well, very happy with it but heavy. I didn't think the vx6 was nearly that much - got that 3-18 from Cabela's last year on sale for under $1,200. A step up but not a huge step up from the pst price tag. For $2k there are way better scopes out there I agree.

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I shot the Viper PST 6-25 with an MRAD reticle for years before I finally threw down the cash to upgrade to a Rasor HD II. For the money, I think the PST is an excellent scope. I've used it to take my .260 AI past 1000 on several occasions without any issues. My only real issue was that I got a bit of glare when the sun was to my front, but simply using the sun shade took care of it. I found the glass to be very good for the money, and I really liked the reticle.

But for me, the real seller (and the reason I went to a nicer Vortex and not to another brand) was the customer service I got when I managed to break my PST in shipping. Vortex had it back to me good as new in about a week with no questions asked and not a cent charged. You can't put a price on good service.

A

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