406precision
Well-Known Member
Well I finally got my hands on a 3x18x50 gen 2 mil-mil scope for my 338 lapua and thought that you guys might like to hear my initial impressions of the optic.
Now the disclaimer here is that I am just a shooter not a professional optics guru and I do not have a shed full of highly scientific machinery to use for reviews of optics.
I am however a long range shooter and instructor and have spent a lot of time behind a lot of different optics with the two God given instruments in my head.
That being said the gen 2 razor from vortex is about as nice of an optic as I have ever laid my grubby paws on. The first thing you notice when you get the package is that the scope is well protected and the box is well organized. The scope comes with a sunshade, a lens cloth, battery, and specialized tool for sighting in the scope and setting zero stop.
First impression when I took the scope out of the box was **** this thing is built like a tank...and I finally have something to beat my spotter over the head when he gives me the wrong damned wind call repeatedly!!! All kidding aside if your looking for a scope for a sheep hunt stop reading here.....this is a purpose built optic with a specific use in mind and that was long range precision shooting ...where the rifles usually have more than a little heft to them and the owners are generally more concerned with pin point accuracy than the slim profile of their rig.
Once I got the scope out of the box I ran to my special testing area (my back yard) and took a peak through the dang thing...my intial impression was holy Sh@T this thing looks awesome...but all glass looks good in backyard time to get this thing into the field and use it.
I got the scope mounted, leveled, properly torqued and the bubble level installed and headed out to the range. We are pretty spoiled to have a 2000 plus private range within minutes of the house..and it sure makes it nice for drops and data work for sure.
On this trip to the range I had a few customer rifles along and Jason had his 338 lapua and gen 1 razor along as well.
First task was bore sighting and zeroing the scope at 100 yards...I found the new zero stop function of the l-tech turrets to be really easy to use and a snap to zero...having the infinite range of adjustment during the zero process makes it really easy to get your zero dead nutz no more having to settle with being a click high or click low when sighting the rig in.
After the scope was mounted I ran a quick tall target test (something I recommend everyone does with a new to you scope) as expected the scope passed the test with flying colors. Once I had completed the tall target test and got my zero stop set.
I ran the scope out from 200 to 1050 yards I stopped there as the wind was really ripping and I was also using this time to get some data collected or my lapua on top of just checking out the functions of the scope and here are my thoughts on that..
Turrets: Awesome the large turret size and very positive clicks were impressive...I am also a fan of the locking turrets...if for no other reason than I don 't have to worry about them during transport or in my scabbard. I also chose to hold off for windage rather than dial and the locking turret makes it very easy to secure my left to right zero. I had heard a complaint about the turrets it would be that they are fairly stiff when pulling them out to make adjustments, but I actually feel this is a good thing what good would a lock be if they moved too easily??
One thing I really like is the rotation indicator located on the elevation turret...it simply protrudes with a marked line as you turn the turret each full revolution and makes it very easy to see where you are at any given moment in the range of adjustment...is this a necessity? No but it is sure a nice added bonus for those that find themselves wondering how many times they have been around the horn.
Parallax and focus:
I found the focus ring to work well and be easy to adjust it was during initial setting that the quality of glass really started to become apparent. When properly focused the scope was extremely crisp and clear and color dispersion seemed amazing.
Parallax adjustment was also very crisp and easy to manipulate the knob turned easy and the sight picture was very clear when the parallax was adjusted properly for the given range.
Reticle: I really dig the 2bc reticle weather it is in mil or moa I find it one of the best designed and useful reticles available..is it for everyone I am sure not, but it just happens to fit me and my style of shooting like a glove. I also found that the newly designed ffp reticle is awesome very well thought out and the narrow cross hairs are a delight and a definite upgrade from the thickness on the Gen 1 in my mind. As with all ffp scopes when on 3x the reticle is only useable for conventional aiming and stays that way until you reach 6 x or so depending on your eyesight and focus setting.
Glass: Here is what I can say about the glass it is outstanding...I don't have the technical back ground to quote you a bunch of bs about why it is outstanding, but can tell you that the eye relief is better than the gen one razor I would put it more on par of how forgiving the nxs nightforce scopes are ...the image is very crisp and clear well beyond the gen 1 in my opinion is it a S&B I don't know but it is very very good.
Well that was pretty long winded for an initial review, but I tried to be as thorough as possible...if you have any questions feel free to ask I'll do my best to answer them,.
Here are a few pics for you
Jordan@406
Now the disclaimer here is that I am just a shooter not a professional optics guru and I do not have a shed full of highly scientific machinery to use for reviews of optics.
I am however a long range shooter and instructor and have spent a lot of time behind a lot of different optics with the two God given instruments in my head.
That being said the gen 2 razor from vortex is about as nice of an optic as I have ever laid my grubby paws on. The first thing you notice when you get the package is that the scope is well protected and the box is well organized. The scope comes with a sunshade, a lens cloth, battery, and specialized tool for sighting in the scope and setting zero stop.
First impression when I took the scope out of the box was **** this thing is built like a tank...and I finally have something to beat my spotter over the head when he gives me the wrong damned wind call repeatedly!!! All kidding aside if your looking for a scope for a sheep hunt stop reading here.....this is a purpose built optic with a specific use in mind and that was long range precision shooting ...where the rifles usually have more than a little heft to them and the owners are generally more concerned with pin point accuracy than the slim profile of their rig.
Once I got the scope out of the box I ran to my special testing area (my back yard) and took a peak through the dang thing...my intial impression was holy Sh@T this thing looks awesome...but all glass looks good in backyard time to get this thing into the field and use it.
I got the scope mounted, leveled, properly torqued and the bubble level installed and headed out to the range. We are pretty spoiled to have a 2000 plus private range within minutes of the house..and it sure makes it nice for drops and data work for sure.
On this trip to the range I had a few customer rifles along and Jason had his 338 lapua and gen 1 razor along as well.
First task was bore sighting and zeroing the scope at 100 yards...I found the new zero stop function of the l-tech turrets to be really easy to use and a snap to zero...having the infinite range of adjustment during the zero process makes it really easy to get your zero dead nutz no more having to settle with being a click high or click low when sighting the rig in.
After the scope was mounted I ran a quick tall target test (something I recommend everyone does with a new to you scope) as expected the scope passed the test with flying colors. Once I had completed the tall target test and got my zero stop set.
I ran the scope out from 200 to 1050 yards I stopped there as the wind was really ripping and I was also using this time to get some data collected or my lapua on top of just checking out the functions of the scope and here are my thoughts on that..
Turrets: Awesome the large turret size and very positive clicks were impressive...I am also a fan of the locking turrets...if for no other reason than I don 't have to worry about them during transport or in my scabbard. I also chose to hold off for windage rather than dial and the locking turret makes it very easy to secure my left to right zero. I had heard a complaint about the turrets it would be that they are fairly stiff when pulling them out to make adjustments, but I actually feel this is a good thing what good would a lock be if they moved too easily??
One thing I really like is the rotation indicator located on the elevation turret...it simply protrudes with a marked line as you turn the turret each full revolution and makes it very easy to see where you are at any given moment in the range of adjustment...is this a necessity? No but it is sure a nice added bonus for those that find themselves wondering how many times they have been around the horn.
Parallax and focus:
I found the focus ring to work well and be easy to adjust it was during initial setting that the quality of glass really started to become apparent. When properly focused the scope was extremely crisp and clear and color dispersion seemed amazing.
Parallax adjustment was also very crisp and easy to manipulate the knob turned easy and the sight picture was very clear when the parallax was adjusted properly for the given range.
Reticle: I really dig the 2bc reticle weather it is in mil or moa I find it one of the best designed and useful reticles available..is it for everyone I am sure not, but it just happens to fit me and my style of shooting like a glove. I also found that the newly designed ffp reticle is awesome very well thought out and the narrow cross hairs are a delight and a definite upgrade from the thickness on the Gen 1 in my mind. As with all ffp scopes when on 3x the reticle is only useable for conventional aiming and stays that way until you reach 6 x or so depending on your eyesight and focus setting.
Glass: Here is what I can say about the glass it is outstanding...I don't have the technical back ground to quote you a bunch of bs about why it is outstanding, but can tell you that the eye relief is better than the gen one razor I would put it more on par of how forgiving the nxs nightforce scopes are ...the image is very crisp and clear well beyond the gen 1 in my opinion is it a S&B I don't know but it is very very good.
Well that was pretty long winded for an initial review, but I tried to be as thorough as possible...if you have any questions feel free to ask I'll do my best to answer them,.
Here are a few pics for you
Jordan@406
