Q&A for Vortex Razor Gen III 3-36x56mm Field Eval

[Formidilosus]

See- Vortex Gen III Razor 3-36x56mm Field Eval

 

[nobody]

Tagged in, curious to see how things shake out. the initial zero definitely is a head scratcher along with the larger dispersion in the rifle’s basal cone, I guess time will tell more stories.

@Justin Crossley do I recall you saying in your official Rokslide review that you had a weird zero issue when you first got the scope and put it on a match gun? Or am I up in the night?

 

[RussDXT]

I would think the weight of the scope stresses the mounting components quite a bit especially when impacted. Be interested in how this shakes out.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Tagged in, curious to see how things shake out. the initial zero definitely is a head scratcher along with the larger dispersion in the rifle’s basal cone, I guess time will tell more stories.

@Justin Crossley do I recall you saying in your official Rokslide review that you had a weird zero issue when you first got the scope and put it on a match gun? Or am I up in the night?

This was my review. I've learned a few things reading the evaluations Form does, and it will make my reviews better.

I didn't have any weird zero issues initially, but the first one stopped holding zero for sure. As I continued to use the replacement scope, it did seem like my groups were slightly bigger than normal. It very well could have been shifting .1 or .2 like Form mentioned. Those types of shifts are frustrating because it's hard to determine the cause when it's so slight. I think scopes have had this issue for me many times in the past, and I assumed my load/rifle was shifting.

It's easy to see when a scope completely craps out. It's harder when the variation is slight.

 

[nobody]

This was my review. I've learned a few things reading the evaluations Form does, and it will make my reviews better.

I didn't have any weird zero issues initially, but the first one stopped holding zero for sure. As I continued to use the scope, it did seem like my groups were slightly bigger than normal. It very well could have been shifting .1 or .2 like Form mentioned. Those types of shifts are frustrating because it's hard to determine the cause when it's so slight. I think scopes have had this issue for me many times in the past, and I assumed my load/rifle was shifting.

It's easy to see when a scope completely craps out. It's harder when the variation is slight.

Thanks for the clarification. I couldn’t remember exactly what had happened but I remember there being some rocky goings-on. It is interesting to see that form seems to be noticing the same patterns.

 

[Formidilosus]

It's easy to see when a scope completely craps out. It's harder when the variation is slight.

Thanks for the clarification. I couldn’t remember exactly what had happened but I remember there being some rocky goings-on. It is interesting to see that form seems to be noticing the same patterns.

One of the good things about using a 308/223 for this is the shear amount of rounds that can be fired while the barrel is stable. If this was another rifle/cartridge, even a silly good one, noticing the issues and pinpointing them to the scope would be much less definitive. However there are hundreds of ten to thirty round groups with this rifle. Both the extreme spreads and the mean radius are just enough larger than average to see that clearly something isn’t quite right.

Out of 4 or 5 groups, this is the smallest one fired with the Vortex-





This was the day before with another scope using ten rounds from the same box of ammo that the Razor started with.



Then go look at the groups from the Arken and Trijicon Credo eval done in the last couple of weeks- those are all with the same exact ammo.




Having said all that, I spotted for another RS shooting the Razor today at 1,011 yards with the 168gr Amax’s. On a 20”’ish target with the first round trueing for velocity, the next 9 were hits in switching 9mph wind across a canyon.

 

[Formidilosus]

Updated.

 

[nobody]

So far so good it seems…

 

[ID_Matt]

Have this scope on my PRS gun (switched from a mark 5). I can say that the glass is superb, FOV is great, reticle is awesome for steel, zero stop is easy to set. I haven't shot it enough to notice any zero shifts or funky groupings. It has shot just dandy out of my 6 dasher, but of course that is a 24 lb gun with a truck axle barrel. Of course none of that matters for hunting if it doesn't hold zero, but it has been an awesome PRS scope.

 

[Formidilosus]

Have this scope on my PRS gun (switched from a mark 5). I can say that the glass is superb, FOV is great, reticle is awesome for steel, zero stop is easy to set. I haven't shot it enough to notice any zero shifts or funky groupings. It has shot just dandy out of my 6 dasher, but of course that is a 24 lb gun with a truck axle barrel. Of course none of that matters for hunting if it doesn't hold zero, but it has been an awesome PRS scope.

All that’s true, but I would submit that this is not a “hunting” scope. Of course a few people will take them hunting, but no one is putting a 45oz scope on a western backpacking rifle. Even if they wanted to, the reticle is basically useless below 8x; great PRS reticle, horrible field reticle.

 

[ID_Matt]

All that’s true, but I would submit that this is not a “hunting” scope. Of course a few people will take them hunting, but no one is putting a 45oz scope on a western backpacking rifle. Even if they wanted to, the reticle is basically useless below 8x; great PRS reticle, horrible field reticle.

Agree. It will definitely live on my PRS gun and never be shot lower than 16X. And I will fire at least 1 shot before each match to check zero

 

[Formidilosus]

Updated.

 

[Formidilosus]

Updated.

 

[Justin Crossley]

It's pretty sad that a scope that expensive and that heavy isn't completely bulletproof.

 

[Brontosaurus]

Yeah especially when you can get a SWFA that actually tracks for a fraction of the price. Vortex doesn't really strike me as an optics company... They are a marketing company.

 

[Formidilosus]

It's pretty sad that a scope that expensive and that heavy isn't completely bulletproof.

I don’t know what to say. While I can’t say it’s a hunting scope, it’s a nice package as a PRS scope- reticle, “glass”, etc. are all good. I just can’t them to hold zero. I don’t have deep experience with the high power Gen 3 Razors, but do with the 1-10x and the Gen 2’s and slightly shifting zero is common.

I rezeod it and checked today, it’s good. Will keep tracking.

 

[RussDXT]

How did the first gen razors hold up?

 

[DangerRanger]

Yeah especially when you can get a SWFA that actually tracks for a fraction of the price. Vortex doesn't really strike me as an optics company... They are a marketing company.

Swfa needs to hurry up and make a competitive comp scope. The market seems saturated but when you look at field matches that toss durability into it, and with more people getting serious about statistically significant zero samples I think it’s wide open for a 2k dollar scope with a competitive reticle and high glass quality.

I know in my search for that exact scope I’m coming up with a used atacr and pretty much nothing else

 

[DangerRanger]

I’m assuming (you probably wrote it) that 16 in lbs is due to vortex spec?

I will admit I tossed that out the window with mine and did 20. I have no proof mine held zero or didn’t, it did fine for a prs match but the rifle was babied and not repeatedly checked or even used long term so I have no stock in that fire.

 

[Formidilosus]

How did the first gen razors hold up?

They didn’t.