I ordered my Vortex PST 4-16x50 FFP from Opticsbestbuy.com the other day. I payed an additional $38 for Next Day Air shipping so that I'd receive it at the office on Friday, so I could in turn take it to the range Sunday for a zero and some playing around. Well, a scope showed up yesterday, but it wasn't the right one. I called the 1-800 # and the gentleman I spoke to was apologetic. Crap happens I guess; usually it happens to me. I was upset that I wouldn't have the one I ordered for this weekend, but as I sit and type this, I'm sneezing my a$$ off and fighting a headache and shivers. Sick. Wouldn't have gotten to go play tomorrow anyway, and momma's not letting me out of the house. So now I'm playing with this one! The replacement will be in my hands on Monday.
I ordered my scope for the Remington 700 I've been building up for the last 12 months. This is going to be the icing on the proverbial cake, as I feel like this rifle's about as built as it's going to get. I must say, I'm very, very pleased with the quality of this optic, in the construction, finish, features and optical clarity.
We begin. The Vortex Viper PST 1-4x24 with illuminated TMCQ MRAD reticle.
The weight of this optic is solid; 1 lb on the nose. Recently, I went out into Lexington and shopped around for an optic in my price point of $1k or less. I handled Leupolds, Burris, Weaver, and others. None of them make the same impression during handling as this one; you kind of feel like you're twirling around a solid piece of aluminum bar stock. I like that.
The mechanicals here are a big turn on. Turrets are easy to turn without being too light or too stiff; clicks are audible and positive. The tick marks are dead nuts centered on the reading slots, in both directions. The zoom ring is stiffer (as it should be) and the settings are easy to read. There is absolutely zero slop or backlash in any of the turrets. It feels great to me; nothing feels cheap about this thing.
The clarity and brightness of the optic is spot on; edge distortion doesn't exist. Intentionally swinging my eye behind the scope doesn't reveal anything unexpected (chromatic abberation, etc.). I can't say that about my Bushnell Elite! I did notice earlier outside that 1X multiplication is only 1X out to a certain yardage. At 5 yards, it was 1 to 1, but at further distances, the magnification seemed to be closer to 0.9. I personally wouldn't pick on this too bad; after all, it is a close quarters piece for an AR or shotgun.
Moving on to the illumination and the TMCQ MRAD reticle:
The brightness/power control has the same tactile feel of the elevation and windage turrets, albiet a little lighter in the stiffness department. I like that the brightness control alternates an Off setting between brightness selections. The focus ring follows suite, in that it's not quite as stiff as the zoom ring, but it definitely puts up some resistance which IMO, is spot on.
The retical is small relative to the field of view; one will find the radian subtensions a bit difficult to read, but there's no mistaking the 4 semi-circular marks that call out center of the reticle and bullseye dot. When illuminated, I think the designers only intended to light up the center dot and the semi-circular pattern. The subtensions remain difficult to read, and are only slightly illuminated due to their proximity to the main reticle etching. (apologies for the fuzziness.. my camera only wishes it was an SLR)
I'm not going to pick on the reticle too much though; the intended use for the optic is close quarters out to what I would consider short range, say 100 yards or so. At those ranges, I don't know how useful the MRAD portion of the reticle would really be to anyone anyway at those ranges. This one in particular isn't the First Focal version, so the reticle stays the same no matter the magnification. I feel like they probably could have left it out.
So, do the features here on this little guy warrant the $500 price tag? Based on my local store to store quest for glass, seeing what's out there, I'd vote yes. I held a $900 Leupold and a few others the other day, and none of them really made that "oh damn this is nice" kind of impression. Holding this piece reassures me that I didn't make a bad decision in paying $900 for the scope that I'm really after. When it shows up, I'm positive that I'll be stroking all of it's bells and whistles to, before I strap it down to the Remmy.
I hit my picture per post limit, but you can see the full set here: Picasa Web Album I'll chase this post with a few zoomed pics of the reticle. I wish I had the money to keep this one at the moment; it would give me an official excuse to get started on my AR build! Unfortunately I have to box it up and send it back to Texas on Monday. (Booh!)
Anywho, it's time to go dope up on some more Sudafed and take another shot of Alka-Seltzer. *sniffles*
I ordered my scope for the Remington 700 I've been building up for the last 12 months. This is going to be the icing on the proverbial cake, as I feel like this rifle's about as built as it's going to get. I must say, I'm very, very pleased with the quality of this optic, in the construction, finish, features and optical clarity.
We begin. The Vortex Viper PST 1-4x24 with illuminated TMCQ MRAD reticle.
The weight of this optic is solid; 1 lb on the nose. Recently, I went out into Lexington and shopped around for an optic in my price point of $1k or less. I handled Leupolds, Burris, Weaver, and others. None of them make the same impression during handling as this one; you kind of feel like you're twirling around a solid piece of aluminum bar stock. I like that.
The mechanicals here are a big turn on. Turrets are easy to turn without being too light or too stiff; clicks are audible and positive. The tick marks are dead nuts centered on the reading slots, in both directions. The zoom ring is stiffer (as it should be) and the settings are easy to read. There is absolutely zero slop or backlash in any of the turrets. It feels great to me; nothing feels cheap about this thing.
The clarity and brightness of the optic is spot on; edge distortion doesn't exist. Intentionally swinging my eye behind the scope doesn't reveal anything unexpected (chromatic abberation, etc.). I can't say that about my Bushnell Elite! I did notice earlier outside that 1X multiplication is only 1X out to a certain yardage. At 5 yards, it was 1 to 1, but at further distances, the magnification seemed to be closer to 0.9. I personally wouldn't pick on this too bad; after all, it is a close quarters piece for an AR or shotgun.
Moving on to the illumination and the TMCQ MRAD reticle:
The brightness/power control has the same tactile feel of the elevation and windage turrets, albiet a little lighter in the stiffness department. I like that the brightness control alternates an Off setting between brightness selections. The focus ring follows suite, in that it's not quite as stiff as the zoom ring, but it definitely puts up some resistance which IMO, is spot on.
The retical is small relative to the field of view; one will find the radian subtensions a bit difficult to read, but there's no mistaking the 4 semi-circular marks that call out center of the reticle and bullseye dot. When illuminated, I think the designers only intended to light up the center dot and the semi-circular pattern. The subtensions remain difficult to read, and are only slightly illuminated due to their proximity to the main reticle etching. (apologies for the fuzziness.. my camera only wishes it was an SLR)
I'm not going to pick on the reticle too much though; the intended use for the optic is close quarters out to what I would consider short range, say 100 yards or so. At those ranges, I don't know how useful the MRAD portion of the reticle would really be to anyone anyway at those ranges. This one in particular isn't the First Focal version, so the reticle stays the same no matter the magnification. I feel like they probably could have left it out.
So, do the features here on this little guy warrant the $500 price tag? Based on my local store to store quest for glass, seeing what's out there, I'd vote yes. I held a $900 Leupold and a few others the other day, and none of them really made that "oh damn this is nice" kind of impression. Holding this piece reassures me that I didn't make a bad decision in paying $900 for the scope that I'm really after. When it shows up, I'm positive that I'll be stroking all of it's bells and whistles to, before I strap it down to the Remmy.
I hit my picture per post limit, but you can see the full set here: Picasa Web Album I'll chase this post with a few zoomed pics of the reticle. I wish I had the money to keep this one at the moment; it would give me an official excuse to get started on my AR build! Unfortunately I have to box it up and send it back to Texas on Monday. (Booh!)
Anywho, it's time to go dope up on some more Sudafed and take another shot of Alka-Seltzer. *sniffles*
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