new long range optics for my rifles

[farmerboy78]

So I been shooting long range for a little over 2 years now and decided to get myself some serious scopes to top off my 2 precision rifles. I had a vortex viper pst 6-24 ffp on my custom 6.5-06 and a vortex viper hst 4-16 on my savage lrp 6.5 Creedmoor. So I've been doing some research on optics and found several makers I'm interested in such as vortex, ior, us optics, s&b, nightforce, and Bushnell elite xrs. I have been shopping around to find my best options within my budget and figured out that wasn't possible. So I began looking for quality used scopes from these groups and struck 2 times. I bought a vortex razor gen1 hd 4-20x50 and an ior valdada 3-18x42 ffp. I have already received the razor and I am blown away by its construction compared to my vipers. My razor has the ebr-2b reticle and the ior has the mp8 extreme x-1 which look useful for hold offs without dialing for quick shots. I'm hoping I made good scope choices, what do you guys think?

 

[farmerboy78]

Oh yeah, I stepped my vipers down to other rifles. The pst went on my custom sako m28/76 and the hst went on my WOA 20" sdm ar.

 

[taliv]

the difference in the pst and gen1 razor is about the same as the difference between the gen1 and gen2 razors. depending on your budget, any of the three are excellent choices.

i would have tried to talk you out of the IOR, but it's not the end of the world. hopefully it works well for you.

bushnell elite is good stuff. definitely skip the S&B. NF is hit or miss depending on the model. USO is good to great depending. (famous for QC issues, but getting better)

i have the christmas tree reticles in my vortex gen2s and wish i didn't. they suck. unnecessary clutter hurts more than it helps.

 

[WelshShooter]

So I been shooting long range for a little over 2 years now and decided to get myself some serious scopes to top off my 2 precision rifles. I had a vortex viper pst 6-24 ffp on my custom 6.5-06 and a vortex viper hst 4-16 on my savage lrp 6.5 Creedmoor. So I've been doing some research on optics and found several makers I'm interested in such as vortex, ior, us optics, s&b, nightforce, and Bushnell elite xrs. I have been shopping around to find my best options within my budget and figured out that wasn't possible. So I began looking for quality used scopes from these groups and struck 2 times. I bought a vortex razor gen1 hd 4-20x50 and an ior valdada 3-18x42 ffp. I have already received the razor and I am blown away by its construction compared to my vipers. My razor has the ebr-2b reticle and the ior has the mp8 extreme x-1 which look useful for hold offs without dialing for quick shots. I'm hoping I made good scope choices, what do you guys think?

I had a Vortex Viper 6-24x50 FFP with the EBR-MRAD reticle scope on my 6,5x47 Lapua rifle. This shot great out to ~1,300m but I found that I could really do with some clearer optics. I decided on the IOR 3-18x42 (valdada as you guys call it) and am really hapy with it. The glass is much nicer on full magnification but with this FFP there is a drawback with the reticle, it is much thicker than the Viper! I have the SHX-65 which is similar to the MP-8 but it has windage holdovers along the elevation axis. The central dot is nice, measuring in at 0,1mrad and the centre is bare - the elevation and windage lines aren't visible until 0,5mrad so this reticle is not very good for precision shooting at 100m. I'm assuming that since you've gone for FFP mrad optics is because you are either targets at unknown distances or shooting long range. The MP-8 reticle will be perfect for this unless you need to measure a target less than 0,5mrad for the reason given above.

I am based in Europe I was considering the Razer over the IOR as they are similar in pricing. However, based on comparisons I've read online the optical clarity of the IOR surpassed the Razer and for me the IOR was the better priced optic. I looked through a friends Razer Gen1 and compared with my Viper PST I couldn't see the justification in the extra cost, but this is down to my perspective. So far I have only shot this scope at 100m and next weekend I will be trying it out to ~1,400m to see if the better clarity makes any difference.

One thing to keep in mind with this scope is that the rear ocular eye piece is very short compared to other rifles but the eye relief is similar to the Vortex PST. With standard mounts I could not get the scope to the rear of my rail enough, so I have to buy some extended rings to ensure good eye relief while maintaining a good cheek weld. I went with a 3" offset 0moa scope base made by Samsung Mfg who make this in a 35mm tube which is suitable for the Razer or the IOR 35mm tube.

You won't go wrong with the Viper or the IOR, they are great scopes and good value for the money. The Viper has a lifetime warranty and the IOR has a 30 warranty. I was looking at S&B but their warranty is 2 years or less; if I'm going to be spending that much on a scope I at least want a great warranty to cover any issues with the scope.

 

[farmerboy78]

Well both of my scopes came in and are now mounted on my rifles. Again, the razor is on my match 6.5-06 with the Bartlein barrel and the ior is on my factory savage lrp 6.5 Creedmoor. I like both scopes, but that razor just talks to me! can anyone help me out on setting the zero stops for both these optics?

 

[taliv]

zero stop on the gen2 is fixed at .5 mil below zero. i didn't realize the gen1 razor had a zero stop

 

[farmerboy78]

zero stop on the gen2 is fixed at .5 mil below zero. i didn't realize the gen1 razor had a zero stop

Yes it sure does have a zero stop, I just watched a video on the vortex website and it seems fairly straight forward to set...

 

[WelshShooter]

Well both of my scopes came in and are now mounted on my rifles. Again, the razor is on my match 6.5-06 with the Bartlein barrel and the ior is on my factory savage lrp 6.5 Creedmoor. I like both scopes, but that razor just talks to me! can anyone help me out on setting the zero stops for both these optics?

There's no zero stops on the IOR unfortunately, a nice feature that I do miss from Vortex. However, there's 10mrad of elevation per rotation so it's not hard to lose where you are. My 6,5x47 requires ~9,0mrad of elevation for 1,000m so that's not even a full rotation.

As for the Vortex, I'm not sure if it's the same for the Razer as for the Viper PST. If it is, then it's pretty straight forward. First you must zero your rifle in then you can unscrew the elevation & windage turret cap screws to loosen the turret cap for removal. You pull the turret off and then place the brass shims in the exposed turret one at a time in an opposite fashion since they are "C" shaped and you want them to overlap neatly. Keep adding the shims in until you can just about squeeze the last one in, don't force it in! Then slide the turret back over making sure that the zero aligns up facing forwards. Then tighten the turret cap screws in hand tight. You can still reduce lower your elevation by 0,5-1,0mrad but you'll know the the "0" you pass is your actual zero and not the next rotation above it.

Hope this makes sense?

Also, pics or it didn't happen!

 

[farmerboy78]

There's no zero stops on the IOR unfortunately, a nice feature that I do miss from Vortex. However, there's 10mrad of elevation per rotation so it's not hard to lose where you are. My 6,5x47 requires ~9,0mrad of elevation for 1,000m so that's not even a full rotation.

As for the Vortex, I'm not sure if it's the same for the Razer as for the Viper PST. If it is, then it's pretty straight forward. First you must zero your rifle in then you can unscrew the elevation & windage turret cap screws to loosen the turret cap for removal. You pull the turret off and then place the brass shims in the exposed turret one at a time in an opposite fashion since they are "C" shaped and you want them to overlap neatly. Keep adding the shims in until you can just about squeeze the last one in, don't force it in! Then slide the turret back over making sure that the zero aligns up facing forwards. Then tighten the turret cap screws in hand tight. You can still reduce lower your elevation by 0,5-1,0mrad but you'll know the the "0" you pass is your actual zero and not the next rotation above it.

Hope this makes sense?

Also, pics or it didn't happen!

It makes sense, it's how 2 of my vipers work. The razor it different and has a hard stop that you don't dial below once you hit your set zero. My ior has a zero stop, once you find your zero. You loosen the 3 silver Allen heads on the elevation turret and leave the 4 blacks ones tight. Then rotate the numbered part of the turret until it bottoms out on the flat part of the tube at 0, and then tighten the Allens back and your set!

 

[farmerboy78]

I plan to zero these new scopes either Monday or Tuesday afternoon and then run them out past 600yds... I'll put up my thoughts on both of them afterwards.

 

[WelshShooter]

It makes sense, it's how 2 of my vipers work. The razor it different and has a hard stop that you don't dial below once you hit your set zero. My ior has a zero stop, once you find your zero. You loosen the 3 silver Allen heads on the elevation turret and leave the 4 blacks ones tight. Then rotate the numbered part of the turret until it bottoms out on the flat part of the tube at 0, and then tighten the Allens back and your set!

Wow, so I do actually have one? I thought the other screws were for the "second zero" lever or something. There's definitely no mention of this in the user manual. Thanks!

 

[Ks5shooter]

I am a Leupold fan for many years and is all Ill use. Made in U.S.A. means a lot to me. Some of the newcomers to the high end scope market are charging close to Leupold prices and are using extremely cheap almost slave labor from third world countries and charging top dollar. Also if your twenty year old Leupold breaks and there are no current parts to fix it,they give you a current upgraded model of the broken scope no charge. Now that's a warranty.

 

[farmerboy78]

Well I took my 2 rifles topped with these scopes to the range today and man o man I like these two! After initial zero, I worked both to distance and each worked flawless I do prefer the razor over the ior but it is only by a small margin and it's mainly due to the turrets. Function and feel are better. But don't get me wrong, the ior is no slouch... these are both some very top notch high end scopes. Love them and would recommend either to anyone in need of a good scope.

 

[WelshShooter]

I am glad that you enjoyed them. If you don't need the IOR, just ship it to me in the UK, I'll give you about tree-fiddy for the effort