What's your opinion? Vortex scopes

[buxman66]

+1 ^^

[davemuzz]

Well, I read a bunch about the Viper Vortex (I think that was the model I bought....then sold). I believe it was a 6.5-24X 50mm. Cost was around $750 if memory serves me right. I used it for bench shooting and varmint hunting. I dropped the rifle...a "soft" drop...not a hard one, and was frankly the scope was off when I checked it. Well, I sold it for a small loss ($50) and bought a VX-3 8.5-25 50MM side focus with a Varmint hunter's reticle. I liked it so much I purchased a second one for my .223.

Now, just to be as objective as you can, just go over to Snipers Hide and look at their for sale section. You will find Viper scopes for sale all the time. You will also find members posting "rave reviews" about Vipers. Then, you will not find Leupold VX-3's for sale so easy. Meh. Just saying...

Dave

[Westcliffe01]

Dave, I think Vortex has sold a LOT of the Viper scopes. When has there been a waiting list for Leupold scopes in recent memory ?

I do think that when people upgrade the Vortex scopes, they are typically stepping up to the $1200+ scope bracket, more often that not to a NightForce. Often times this involves scaling back on the number of rifles and scopes to perhaps 2 or 3, sometimes just 1 for long range hunting.

[sniper15545]

I have several Vortex Vipers as well as A dozen or so leupolds, Don't get me wrong the Viper is not a Leupold but neither is the price. My Vipers 6.5x20x50's were about $500.00 My Leupolds in the same power are a $1000.00. My Vipers perform's fine and always have.
Its been my experience when a scope gets bumped off of zero a lot of times its the Base or Rings that malfunction. Its all in how much you want to spend on the optics. I know a lot of people who spend $800.00 on a rifle and $75.00 on optics. I personally would take the cheaper weapon with better then optics than the other way around. But that's just my opinion. What do I know?

[davemuzz]

Dave, I think Vortex has sold a LOT of the Viper scopes. When has there been a waiting list for Leupold scopes in recent memory ?

I do think that when people upgrade the Vortex scopes, they are typically stepping up to the $1200+ scope bracket, more often that not to a NightForce. Often times this involves scaling back on the number of rifles and scopes to perhaps 2 or 3, sometimes just 1 for long range hunting.

Well, when I bought my second VX-3 with the Varmint reticle I had to do some searching and waited about a month before I "found" one. Not a long wait by any means, but not a "click 'n buy" either. OTOH, if people think they are paying $750 for a Vortex and getting a $1,000 scope, their not. They are getting a $750 scope. I think the reason you see Vortex scopes for sale on the secondary market is because after shooting these scopes for 6 months or a year, the shooters want to step up to a $1,000 or better scope. IMHO, save your dollars any get the $1,000 scope right out of the box and then you won't have to attempt to convince yourself you have a $1,000 scope up front only to learn later that you don't.

Now, that doesn't mean that the Vortex doesn't have a market or a place. It most certainly does. And that market is the $750 scope price point. But, like anything else, you get what you pay for.

MHO

Dave

[bluealtered]

I guess what it comes down to is what you expect to get for the money spent, i don't expect to get top end quality for a low price, it just doesn't work that way. And after reading these two pages what remains the same to me is that you get what you pay for no matter what brand it is, and what scope works for your eyesight might be junk for mine. Heck i've had $100 centerpoint scopes that were just amazing for my eyes yet when a buddy looked though it, it wasn't any good at all for him.

If i have learned only one thing in the past 50 years of firearms, it's no matter what you buy, always buy it from a company that will stand behind their product no matter what happened.

[Tantor]

To the OP, as you can see it's pretty much to each he's own. One person will say this is the best another will say no this one is best. I have had both the inexpensive and now expensive scopes. The one I have now is the Vortex Viper PST which sells for $950+. I've looked through a bunch of different brands and styles including bushnell, Burris, NF, vortex and others. I chose the vortex because it was the one that seemed to be best fit for me and my eyes. Everyone's eyes will see things different through scopes. What works for me may not work for you or anyone else and I'm not gonna say vortex is the best but some may say they suck just because they have something different.
I liked the way the turrets turned and the zero stop and to me the clarity was no different than the $1500+ scopes. Plus the lifetime warranty is a big plus. Hell, I had a BSA 8-32 on a 12fv that shot out to 550y hitting a 8-10in plate just as well as my brothers rem with a NF. I'm the better shooter hehe. Point is get what is best for you, your eyes and the way you plan on using rifle and optics and go shoot the heck out of it. If someone asks why did you but brand x instead of brand y, maybe because they have brand y , tell them why and don't let their bash or banter about brand x get to you.

Just my personal thoughts and observations

[shooterfclass]

I have a vortex viper 4-16x44 with standard duplex. Cameraland ran a special old model bring back deal, for it for $280 I am very pleased, turrets seem solid and repeatable, toolless zero, respectable amount of elevation, clear. But eye relief is short. On a stock pencil barrel 308 heavy load, have to hold rifle very solid or will bump my safety glasses upon firing

[Slowpoke Slim]

The only Vortex scopes I own are the standard Vipers. I own 4 of them. 1 2-7x, 1 4-16x, and 2 6-20x scopes. I also bought 2 more of the 2-7x's as gifts for others. I've had mine for years. I have no complaints, no problems with any of them and clarity or holding zero.

My 2-7x viper sits on my 375 H&H and has taken the pounding of between 200 and 300 full power 300 grain loads. It has never moved zero. I have done several box tests with that scope through that shooting to make sure the mechanical adjustments are holding up, and they are fine. Passes the box test every time. I've never heard of this eye box or eye position problem with the Viper scopes before. Trust me when I tell you that the 375 will let you know if your eye relief is not correct, and it will do so in a big way.

My "test" for acceptable eye relief on any scope that goes on a big kicker is that I have to be able to put my whole width of my hand between the eye piece and the frame of my shooting glasses (think of it almost as you're saluting while looking through the scope). And I can easily do so with this scope.

But setting the eye relief properly when installing the scope is critical. I've seen some very poorly installed scopes, and shortcuts made with the wrong hardware. So it does make me wonder exactly what the real issue is when I read these types of things.

One of my 6-20x50's sits on my 243 Win prairie dog gun. While it's not a kicker, it will pass the same eye relief test. I can clearly see prairie dog sized targets in this scope out to 500-600 yards, which is what I bought this scope to do. I would have to check on my exact round count on that scope, as it's on it's second barrel on that gun, but I can confidently say it is well over 500 rounds, and likely very close to 1000 rounds. Once again, this scope is clear, and it has never gone out mechanically. This scope constantly gets clicked up and down for various distance shooting. And I am highly confident I could pull it out and it would pass another "box test" right now.

My other 6-20x still sits languishing in it's box, waiting for the next project rifle to be built.

My 4-16x Viper sits on my single shot 17 HMR. Yeah, that's right, a rimfire. That rifle is a prairie dog death machine out to 200-250 yards. And that scope probably gets treated the worst of any, the most adjustment range changes back and forth, and it gets carried, bounced around, rides in the seat of the truck, and it gets used as a "walking varminter" more so than the others. Once again, it passes the "box test" anytime I try it.

So there you go, one more anecdotal evidence story on Vortex Viper scopes. I can only speak for six of their scopes (the 2 gift scopes are sitting on deer rifles and still going strong), but they're six scopes that are all good. Six is not much of a sampling to be sure. But neither is one or two here and there, either good or bad. I'm satisfied with mine and would buy them over again today.

Good luck no matter what you decide.

[Szumi]

I have a Viper PST 4x16 FFP on my Savage 10 FCP-HS, seems like a decent scope so far. I only have a few hundred .308 rounds down range so far and it is on a 12# rifle so it isn't getting beat to death. I've been happy with it so far. I wanted a Leupold tactical scope but I didn't have the money.

For my Savage 11 build in 7-08, I have a Leupold VX-3 6.5-20x40mm EFR target dot Scope coming my way. I am looking forward to comparing them against each other. One thing I can say about Leupold is I bet they will be still be around when my nephews inherit my guns.

I've only had to send back one scope that was used in its application range. I broke a 1.25x fixed jap tasco after shooting some, over the top, .44 mag loads in my superblackhawk. It lasted a over a decade shooting inside the fence post magnum loads. They replaced it, new scope, a 1.?-4 variable hasn't died yet.

[chukarmandoo]

Well I bought the cheapest custom rifle I could find (Savage) and the most expensive scope I could afford (Vortex) and the combo just works. The scope is an excellent piece of craftsmanship. Very good glass but that's not the high point. the high points are reticial, turrets, and parallax. When I run my dope on this gun it is flawless repeatable and consistent. For instance, I had to run two targets in a stage. One at 540 yds. The other was 1020 yds. Had to engage both targets in a 90 sec. drill alternating targets. So I dialed the 540 and held the 1020. I scored 4 hits on the 540 and 2 on the 1020 with 8 shots total. Magazine failure to feed cost me two shots. When a scope can perform like this it ranks pretty high in my book.

[proline]

The vortex scopes that I have are viper 6.5-20x50 on my .223 and I had a 4-12x40 diamondback on my 270 win which I swapped for a 4-16x50 hs-lr ffp and my 7mm is topped with a 6-24x50 pst sfp
They have all worked flawless for me and I will keep on buying vortex scopes unless something drastically changes