bigngreen
Well-Known Member
Well my WOTac finally wore out and I needed to make an optic upgrade so I ran into a nice selection of Vortex optics at a local store and felt them up and ended coming home with a Vortex 4-16x44 HS LR with the Dead HoldBDC reticle and a set of Nightforce ultra light rings.
I was a bit worried about this optic being set up with 1/2 MOA elevation clicks but liked the idea of having 24 MOA in one rev and after looking at the facts of the situation it's about as ideal a set up for the rifle it's going on, a 0-1200 yard meat whacker!!
I set it up in the rings on my test stand and leveled it then locked it down and commenced tracking calibration. It is tracking 1.042 at 100 yards so just shy of perfect MOA, as a side note here my dads Vortex PST tracks at the same value so we're 2 for 2 on Vortex product tracking very, very close!!
I whipped off the WOTac, tightened a loose base
and set up the Vortex on my 270 WSM, it fit much better and gave me a more comfortable check weld, loaded up some 175 Matrix and calibrated the Applied Ballistics program and ran to the range.
The optical clarity was such an upgrade and even with conditions that just flat knocked out my other optics the Vortex was easy to shoot. I could easily pick out the aim point on an antelope at 980 yards in heavy mirage so I really couldn't be happier with the glass.
I got zeroed and set the elevation turret,and installed the zero stop shims, really happy to have a zero stop and with a 20 MOA rail I have 72 MOA of elevation left! The capped windage turret simply zeros by lifting and turning, I like having it capped and tight to the scope for thrashing timber and the cap matches the elevation turret nicely.
First target was an 8in gong at 600 yards and spun it first shot and I could easily see the hit which I could not before. Second shot went to 1030 yards, dialed in one rev of 24 MOA and cranked on some wind and put it within 1/2 MOA of POA, so I'm very happy at this point and dial back to the zero stop and take the windage out and capped the turret. Next target was 1450 yards, dialed on 41.5 MOA and cranked the scope to 8x which put the second windage mark as 8 MOA, held on the second windage mark and let it go and watched it land at the base of a 18in rock, put on one more click and smoked it gun) I wanted to try using the reticle for hold over to see how it would do in a closer range situation. Ranged an 8in rock at 560 yards and checked my program and it called for 10 MOA up and 2 right so the second bar down is 4.5 MOA at 16x so I dialed it back to 8x again so it would be 9 MOA and I held at the top of the rock and over and wacked it twice quickly and turned back to the zero stop and checked zero again.
I'm very happy with the versatility this optic is going to bring to my hunting and it's going to work very well for the effective range of my rifle. I'll get my ranges set for the BDC reticle at the different substention that are clearly marked on the power ring and I can have a range and shoot ability but I can easily and quickly dial in for range and hold for wind out past 600 yards or so. It's really trimmed up my rifle, next to get changed is the barrel is going to go to a lighter contour and the stock is going to a Manners MCS-T giving me what I think is going to be a very versatile and effective meat stick that is packable
I was a bit worried about this optic being set up with 1/2 MOA elevation clicks but liked the idea of having 24 MOA in one rev and after looking at the facts of the situation it's about as ideal a set up for the rifle it's going on, a 0-1200 yard meat whacker!!
I set it up in the rings on my test stand and leveled it then locked it down and commenced tracking calibration. It is tracking 1.042 at 100 yards so just shy of perfect MOA, as a side note here my dads Vortex PST tracks at the same value so we're 2 for 2 on Vortex product tracking very, very close!!
I whipped off the WOTac, tightened a loose base
and set up the Vortex on my 270 WSM, it fit much better and gave me a more comfortable check weld, loaded up some 175 Matrix and calibrated the Applied Ballistics program and ran to the range. The optical clarity was such an upgrade and even with conditions that just flat knocked out my other optics the Vortex was easy to shoot. I could easily pick out the aim point on an antelope at 980 yards in heavy mirage so I really couldn't be happier with the glass.
I got zeroed and set the elevation turret,and installed the zero stop shims, really happy to have a zero stop and with a 20 MOA rail I have 72 MOA of elevation left! The capped windage turret simply zeros by lifting and turning, I like having it capped and tight to the scope for thrashing timber and the cap matches the elevation turret nicely.
First target was an 8in gong at 600 yards and spun it first shot and I could easily see the hit which I could not before. Second shot went to 1030 yards, dialed in one rev of 24 MOA and cranked on some wind and put it within 1/2 MOA of POA, so I'm very happy at this point and dial back to the zero stop and take the windage out and capped the turret. Next target was 1450 yards, dialed on 41.5 MOA and cranked the scope to 8x which put the second windage mark as 8 MOA, held on the second windage mark and let it go and watched it land at the base of a 18in rock, put on one more click and smoked it gun) I wanted to try using the reticle for hold over to see how it would do in a closer range situation. Ranged an 8in rock at 560 yards and checked my program and it called for 10 MOA up and 2 right so the second bar down is 4.5 MOA at 16x so I dialed it back to 8x again so it would be 9 MOA and I held at the top of the rock and over and wacked it twice quickly and turned back to the zero stop and checked zero again.
I'm very happy with the versatility this optic is going to bring to my hunting and it's going to work very well for the effective range of my rifle. I'll get my ranges set for the BDC reticle at the different substention that are clearly marked on the power ring and I can have a range and shoot ability but I can easily and quickly dial in for range and hold for wind out past 600 yards or so. It's really trimmed up my rifle, next to get changed is the barrel is going to go to a lighter contour and the stock is going to a Manners MCS-T giving me what I think is going to be a very versatile and effective meat stick that is packable
