OK, the Viper PST is done

I have a Vortex Viper PST 6-24 FFP, and I just no longer trust it to stay zeroed. You guys have been trashing it for a year or more, but I have stuck with the scope. No more. I’m flinging bullets all over the paper, and the problem is not me or the rifle. I am FED UP.

Now...the replacement...gotta give some thought to it. Don’t want to spend a fortune. What I do want:

- a fine crosshairs
- don’t know that I need FFP
- 20 power or so on the high end.
- 1” or 30 mm either one. I have the rings for both
- good glass
- not too heavy
- reliable
- set or forget is fine.

First and foremost mail that junky SOB back and get a new one.

I wish I knew what not break the bank meant to you. These come in on the high side of that thinking.

The VX-5 now comes in 4-20 but they had to double the price to get it done coming in at $1500.

SS 5-20HD can be bought from SWFA for $850. (not fine crosshairs)

Did I mention the VX-5?

My windows are small. Sorry I really like the excellent glass on the 5 & 6 HD with the firedot duplex. My 6 with the CDS-ZL2 tracked excellent as well.


Buzz has one for sale I keep looking at. A Meopta 6-18x50 that’s great glass with no bells and whistles.

I don't think any company has better glass for the money than Meopta.

Nightforce SHV

I had the neighbors coming over, so their oldest daughter could learn to shoot. I went to check the zero on that Viper and it was all over. Well, I had a 4-16 Viper PST FFP that was on my deer rifle. Never had any problems with it, so I swapped them out real quick and got the 4-16 zeroed. No problem with it.

We started the kid with the T1X 22 LR at 25 yards, and she was on the money. After a while we went to the 223 at 100 and she had a minor flinching problem. I moved her back to the 22 and she did great. She’s gonna flinch, no way around it, but at 50 yards she can kill a hog.

Any way, I guess I’ll stay with the 4-16 for a while till I decide what to replace it with. And I’ll send that 6-24 back to Vortex for their Warranty. This will be the second time the scope has been back to Vortex. They better not tell me they can’t find anything wrong with it.

I should also mention that we shot my 260 with the VX5 3-15 CDS firedot. I really was surprised at how much clearer and sharper the Leupold was. I was not ready for that. The diff was big.

IMO glass quality trumps magnification every time.

And a scope's mechanical integrity, return to zero, holding POA/POI trumps glass every time too.

^^I'm in this camp.

Swarovski rifle scopes are liable to have better glass than Night Force. I don't trust their turrets, and don't like their reticles.

Night Force tracks, and returns to zero. Yesterday I cranked up for an 8" plate at 800 yards and hit it. No warm up, no zero check, just went straight to it. That's not a brag on me, that's a brag on the Night Force ATACR.

603, I'm not suggesting an ATACR, that's not the level you asked for, but I have had some experience with the SHV, and for what you are wanting to spend, they are quite good all around. Basically I'm saying they are worth what they cost.

But this is correct.

High quality (clear) 16X is far better than blurry 20X.

I had a look (Internet) at the SHV. I don’t want the 4-14, but the 5-20 looks good, but more than I want to spend. The scope would go on my 223, which I don’t hunt much with and rarely shoot out past 300 to 400, so the SHV would be like putting pearls on a pig.

Tomorrow I’ll box up the Viper 6-24 and ship it off. For now I’ll leave the 4-16 on the rifle. I really like having an FFP scope on the 223, since I can make minor adjustments very quickly and go between 3 different loads/bullets. I didn’t buy the scope for that, but it has turned out to be quite useful. Zero for 40 gr Nosler BTs and go 2 clicks right and be on for 60 gr Partitions. Can’t beat that for switching from Varmint loads to deer. Got tape all over the scope with dope on the 3 loads out to 400 yards. So, the new scope will have to be FFP with 20X or more on the max magnification. What’s the thinking on the Gen II Viper PST 5-25. I can get that for less than $1k, but I’m a bit leery of Vortex at the moment. Will it hold up?

Box it up get it fixed, sell it when it gets back and use that for even better glass. Lots of good options but what budget?

It does not have to be FFP to have useable accurate turrets. People get hung up on FFP. It only use is if you’re going to use the reticle mils to hold instead of dialing corrections. You may already know all that but you mentioned dialing corrections and FFP together.

SWFA HD 5-20 is really a silly good scope for the money. Built like a tank, good glass, good reticle, good price.

Bushnell LRHS or LRTS 4.5-18 is another option

X2

The Burris Veracity 4-20 looks like a decent scope for the money. Under a thou. Anybody got any user experience with it?

I appreciate all the scope advice so far, but I just don’t want to spend $1200 on a scope for the 223. I do want FFP and do not want a BDC.

I’ll sell you my 3x15 pst 2. Much much better than the horrible glass on the pst 1

BiL, I’ll pass on the Gen II for now. Of the two Gen I PDT’s I have, I’ve always liked the 4-16, so a 3-15 won’t get me what I need. I’ll send in the 6-24 (already boxed) and see what Vortex says. When I get it back I’ll sell it if I can get a reasonable price. Then I’ll buy something, whatever that is.

I just sold a Burris veracity 4-20x50 that would have been right up your alley and ticked all the boxes...

If you still want the FFP, get the SHV 4-14 x 50 F1 (not the 56). SportOptics had some demos' a couple months ago.

The SHV are fine scopes

BUT

the "Zero Set" feature is no "Zero Stop"

its not as precise as the Zero Stop on the NXS/NX8/ATACR

its almost a little mushy, look at it when you look at the SHV.

I am running a 3-15X Veracity on my Tikka build in 7-08AI. Nice glass and it tracks very well. Only issue I have with it is that due to the zero stop that Burris fitted this scope with, you only get one turn of the elevation knob. That being said, 24MOA is enough to get me out to 800 yards, which is farther than I can shoot at my range, for now. They have a total of 70MOA of adjustment and I have an extra 20 MOA built in, but that zero stop is a really stupid design.

I am saving my gun money to put a NF scope on this and I will relegate the Veracity to my 280 Encore or another of my hunting rifles when that happens.

That’s good info. Thanks. At the moment, the 4-16 PST is on the 223, and I’m very happy with it. That said, I checked the scope POI of my 260 yesterday, and the scope on it is a new Leupold VX5 HD 3-15. After having shot the 223 prior to the 260, I was actually quite surprised at how much clearer the target dots were through the Leupold. So I’ll tough it out for now with the PST 4-16 and eventually upgrade to....something. The PST 6-24 is in a box.

I’ve got a Veracity, and I like it a lot.

I was talking with my buddy over the weekend hunting..
In a conversation about red dots for pistols and the Austin Police Department's policies on approved optics, Vortex isn't one of them.
They have had way too many of them go own, including Razor scopes and various red dots.

Chinese company with an American marketing front.