Vortex Razor HD

[nuclabuyer]

I just took the plunge and ordered a Vortex HD 5-20, has anyone here looked and used one. I was going to go with a Nightforce F1, but they dont have the power that I want so I stepped up and ordered the Vortex. Over on sniperhide there are alot of people that like them so I am not worried about glass or reliabilty, just curious if anyone over here has used them.

[fgw_in_fla]

Of course, you realise a full evaluation / report will be required to keep those of us that will be purchasing Vortex again, up to date.

I'm looking at getting another V-tex in the next week or so.... funds pending, of course. I just got a Crossfire, the V-tex Econo-model & really love it.

I'd like to hear about the Razor after you get it, install it & use it. It's not that I need any encouragement. It'll help me to push a few more projects thru to get the money I need quicker.


So far, the Crossfire has tolerated a substantial amount of recoil from sitting atop a 30.06. It also survived me bumping it off the table in my reload room. Luckily it hit the shelves next to the table before it made it to the floor

[nuclabuyer]

I have a Nightforce BR model 12-42 to compare it to on my 6mm Dasher and it is going to be in 3 trophy unity elk hunts this year. It has taken 10 years to get these tags and my dad, my wife and I should all get one, hopfully. It will be going on either a Sako 30-378 or a Reminton 700 in 338 edge. I should be getting it in the mail next week, and I will get it set up to go. Cant wait. This will be the only Vortex scope that I have so I hope that all the hipe about these scopes are true. If not I might have to move to IOR or Schmidt and Bender. And I dont want to shell out any more money.

[fgw_in_fla]

The hunt sounds pretty good. I hope y'all do well. I think you'll be happy with the scope. Considering the Crossfire I just bought, I feel I got 2 times the quality & features for the money I spent. Other scopes I have that go up to 20x to 24x get a little "foggy" on the higher powers. The Vtex doesn't. I would have rather it had a Mil Dot reticle or a BDC reticle but, like I said earlier.....

The price was ooohhhhhh so nice


Oh & by the way. After the first day I used it, when I got home I wanted to zero out the knobs. The elevation knob would not loosen from the shaft. I tried yanking on it just short of pulling the shaft out of the scope. I decided before I break something, send an email to Vortex. 10 minutes later, I get a response telling me to use 2 wide flat blades. I used a pair of butter knives & it jumped off the shaft. I used some 600 grit paper to polish the shaft and all's well. I've since rec'd 2 more emails from the rep at Vortex asking if everything was OK.
Great Cust. Svc!

I have absolutely NO complaints...


Good luck with yours

Frank in Fla

[GaCop]

The hunt sounds pretty good. I hope y'all do well. I think you'll be happy with the scope. Considering the Crossfire I just bought, I feel I got 2 times the quality & features for the money I spent. Other scopes I have that go up to 20x to 24x get a little "foggy" on the higher powers. The Vtex doesn't. I would have rather it had a Mil Dot reticle or a BDC reticle but, like I said earlier.....

The price was ooohhhhhh so nice


Oh & by the way. After the first day I used it, when I got home I wanted to zero out the knobs. The elevation knob would not loosen from the shaft. I tried yanking on it just short of pulling the shaft out of the scope. I decided before I break something, send an email to Vortex. 10 minutes later, I get a response telling me to use 2 wide flat blades. I used a pair of butter knives & it jumped off the shaft. I used some 600 grit paper to polish the shaft and all's well. I've since rec'd 2 more emails from the rep at Vortex asking if everything was OK.
Great Cust. Svc!

I have absolutely NO complaints...


Good luck with yours

Frank in Fla

Their customer service is excellent!

[42769vette]

i run a razor in my tactical match rifle. i usto runa nsx 5.5-22 but i was switching everything over to ffp so the nsx did not fit that bill. i could not be happier with my decision.

[nuclabuyer]

I got the scope now I am waiting for a mount

[nuclabuyer]

Well I got the scope and shot it a little. It is certainly a good scope but as I expected FFP just seems to be to thick for precision long range. I opted to get the EBR-2 over the EBR-2B because I wanted to be able to see a 6" plate at long distance. From what I can tell so far, it just seems to be to thick. I know that FFP has its uses but for me I would rather have the magnification with a fine aiming point over the ranging capabilities. I will keep it for a while longer and see what I can do with it but my feelings right now would be to sell it and buy a Ziess Victory 6-24x56 with a rapid Z 1000 or like crosshair. I do want to mention that the scope is awesome, the zerostop is terrific and its built really good. Just not sure I am a full believer in the FFP craze going on right now.

[Senderofan]

Well I got the scope and shot it a little. It is certainly a good scope but as I expected FFP just seems to be to thick for precision long range. I opted to get the EBR-2 over the EBR-2B because I wanted to be able to see a 6" plate at long distance. From what I can tell so far, it just seems to be to thick. I know that FFP has its uses but for me I would rather have the magnification with a fine aiming point over the ranging capabilities. I will keep it for a while longer and see what I can do with it but my feelings right now would be to sell it and buy a Ziess Victory 6-24x56 with a rapid Z 1000 or like crosshair. I do want to mention that the scope is awesome, the zerostop is terrific and its built really good. Just not sure I am a full believer in the FFP craze going on right now.

Having to get used to FFP....when switching from a SFP....is a spot on statement! Depending on what you plan on hunting....and what ranges...either type of scope will have positives and negatives and no one scope can be perfect for every type of shooting.. I started making a switch two years ago. I think I'll keep a couple of high mag SFP scopes around for my long range varmint hunting and long range paper punching. The FFP's will go on all my other rigs. I just have to keep my dope squared away...my FFP's are 0.1 mil adjustable and my SFP's are 1/8th moa.

Good luck with your new razor...I sincerely hope it works out for you...since it's a really nice scope that functions extremely well.

Wayne

[Don - LongRangeSupply]

Well I got the scope and shot it a little. It is certainly a good scope but as I expected FFP just seems to be to thick for precision long range. I opted to get the EBR-2 over the EBR-2B because I wanted to be able to see a 6" plate at long distance. From what I can tell so far, it just seems to be to thick. I know that FFP has its uses but for me I would rather have the magnification with a fine aiming point over the ranging capabilities. I will keep it for a while longer and see what I can do with it but my feelings right now would be to sell it and buy a Ziess Victory 6-24x56 with a rapid Z 1000 or like crosshair. I do want to mention that the scope is awesome, the zerostop is terrific and its built really good. Just not sure I am a full believer in the FFP craze going on right now.

I have yet to see a decent FFP reticle for precision shooting. No matter how it is designed there will be trade offs.

In order to have the reticle visible at the lowest zoom setting the lines have to be fairly thick thus making them too thick at the higher magnification levels.
To have a decent reticle thickness at the higher magnification levels the lines will be too thin to even see at the lower magnification levels.

There simply is no way to make a good FFP long range reticle. At some point in the zoom range something is going to be wrong no matter what you try.

Another huge fail is the 1/10 mil clicks found on most FFP optics. Why on earth would you want more COARSE clicks in a long range scope? 1/4 MOA in my view is the largest graduation I would ever want in ANY optic. 1/10 of a Mil is about .36 MOA, unacceptable for a precision scope. They need to go with 1/20th of a mil. to make it a viable instrument.

[memilanuk]

Simplest way to put is that there are different uses for 'long range' scopes. Some shooting types/venues/disciplines/whatever don't necessarily allow enough time to make worrying about being right on to the 1/8 moa a viable concern - whether because of the anticipated target size, or the shooting conditions.

The one nice thing about 1/10th mil clicks is that the math gets real simple, real quick. For me, coming up 3.6 mils is easier than 11-3/8 moa - and thats from someone fairly well versed in using MOA for a lot of years. I still look at a target or at wind indicators and 'read' things in MOA - and have to do a mental translation to mils - but its getting faster

For engaging steel targets... mil/mil FFP (mil-dot based reticle, with 0.1 mil clicks) works pretty slick - but it wouldn't necessarily be my first choice for shooting F-Class because the reticle covers most of the X-ring. It's not that it *can't* work... I've seen some people who were just 'used to' their 6.5-20x Leupold scopes with heavy duplex reticles clean up in some nasty conditions... but personally I like to be able to hold a lot finer than that when conditions allow - which is where a 12-42x NF w/ a fine line or dot reticle comes in handy.

I've got a Vortex Razor HD 5-20x EBR3 on my 12 LRP in 6.5CM... my feeling is that out to the limits of that cartridge and gun, the scope should do just fine. I talked with some of their folks about upping the magnification and getting some finer clicks for a BR/F-Class model... right now they have their hands full keeping up with the demand for existing models. Maybe in a year or two...

[Rick_W]

The one nice thing about 1/10th mil clicks is that the math gets real simple, real quick. For me, coming up 3.6 mils is easier than 11-3/8 moa - and thats from someone fairly well versed in using MOA for a lot of years. I still look at a target or at wind indicators and 'read' things in MOA - and have to do a mental translation to mils - but its getting faster

So why not just go with a moa/moa scope? Then there is no math.

[memilanuk]

smaller numbers = quicker math, quicker adjustments for me. YMMV.

I used (and still use, for my F-Class guns) MOA adjustments for years. 8.5 mil is less than one rev on the turret, vs. 29-1/8 moa which is anywhere from almost two (if you have 15 moa per rev) to almost 6 revolutions. A whole lot easier to get off a turn either coming or going.

As for doing mental math in mils... a lot of my shooting is on NRA targets, which are in MOA (or something pretty close to it). Working in mils on those is a PITA. Everything else... with a FFP mil-hash reticle, its pretty simple to look at it and figure things in 0.1 mil increments.