Vortex Optics???

[Niner]

Youse guys know anything about the Vortex line of riflescopes?

[Trav]

I know Big Sky has a couple but I don't remember which model.

[Big Skyz]

Yes, stick with the Viper line and up. The are excellent. Like many things you get what you pay for. The Viper line and up are very good scopes. I have no knowledge of their lower end scopes and have no interest in learning anything about them.

[Booger]

I've been looking real hard at a Vortex scope. Son's been hired as the archery "lead" man at the Bass Pro shop due to open here in September. He gets some SERIOUS discounts. Planning on a new .308 sniper rifle and scope.

[Niner]

I have a rifle or two that need scopes attached. I didn't want to sink a bunch of money into another scope that, honestly, will probably not see THAT much use. I have some oldies around here, and WAS considering the Redfield Revolution scope until I read this article.

http://www.opticstalk.com/inexpensive-scope-comparison_topic21176.html

I guess I must be living under a rock or something, because until I saw that article I'd never heard of Vortex. The author gave some pretty high praise for the Diamondback in this "Inexpensive Scope Comparison".

I have about $150 in "Cabelas Points" that I need to burn. I was just about ready to "pull the trigger" and order the Diamondback and add fiddy bucks to the pot. However....now that BS has chimed in with praise for the Viper (which seems to be the next step up in their lineup), I MAY have to reconsider and see if I can scrape up a hunert and fiddy dallas instead. (ALSO.... I AM thinking about buying an AR lower...and money isn't growing on trees these days.)

I'm looking at the 3-9x40 scopes, as that's the "size" that works best in this part of the country....and the hunting/shooting that I do.

I was at the Academy Sports here in town yesterday, and looked at a Vortex Crossfire they had on display. This is Vorex's low-end scope, and I was pretty impressed with it in the store. The power ring adjusts very "nicely" and the fast-focus eyepiece focused to my bifocaled eye pretty easily. I thought that if THAT is their low end scope, their "better" units must be quite the value.

[HideHunter]

I was pretty much in the same boat as you Niner. The old Weaver K4 I had on my truck gun just wasn't enough for 60+ year old eyes anymore. I was looking for something on the 'upper end of cheap". I went to a shop and had a Bushnell, a Nikon and a Leupold laid out on the counter. Guy ask me if I was familiar with Vortex and drug out a Diamondback. Clarity was every bit as good as any of the three - price was below and the warrantee sold me. Only had it 6 months but it's worked real well on my .223.

[Big Skyz]

Niner if you'll do a Google search and type in "Vortex Viper 4-12x40 Scope Review - Long Range Hunting" you'll see I have an article at longrangehunting.com about the Viper. I can't access the LRH site from my work computer or I'd post a link for you.

[Chicken Dinner]

Dang Troy, are you guys back in school already?

[Big Skyz]

Chicken Dinner, not for another week. Just down here trying to get my room in order.

[Niner]

Schools started back down here last week.

Sky, That's a very well written article you posted over there.
http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/vortex-viper-4-12x40-scope-review-1.php

After reading your article, and the comments on it in the Forum, I think I am going to go ahead and go with the Diamondback 3-9x40 from Cabelas. The Viper is, I am sure, a VERY nice unit...but I just don't think that I can justify the extra $$$ for the hunting/shooting applications we have down here....and my eyesight. I'm not sure if your unit has all those adjustable controls on it or not. I think, FOR ME, that they would be more of a hindrance than a help.

The longest shot I have EVER taken on a deer was 250 yards. This was sitting in a tower stand on a power line on a deer-lease I was in quite a while back. I made a one-shot kill on the buck! The rifle was my good old M70 Featherweight, and the scope was a Bushnell "low end" unit....which it is still wearing. The "average" shot in the deer woods around here is more like 50 to 100 yards or so. I have a couple of "old" Leupold Vari-XII 3-9x40 scopes that need to be put on something. My original plan was to replace that old Bushnell on my Featherweight with one of those....but I may put the Vortex on it. I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison when it gets here to see how they compare. By the by....I have a Leupold VX-II on my new M70 that I got at a reallllly good price as it was on clearance in the Cabela's Bargain Cave. It's a nice unit, but I don't think I could have paid "full retail" for it.