Rifle Scopes Vortex Diamondback Tactical

[Casey_H]

I'm a new shooter and about 6 months ago bought a Diamondback Tactical 6x24x50 FFP with the EBR-2C reticle. Since then I've shot other rifles with much better scopes so I know where this one falls short as far as glass quality, mushy turrets, etc. So far I have not shot past 200 yards with it, but I am about to try to take it to 1000 yards in a few weeks time.

I'm looking for feedback from people who have taken it out to distance. Does it track? Does it hold zero? Does the lower-quality glass make a 1000 shot nearly impossible?

I will be swapping this out for a better scope as soon as I can afford it. Just looking to see what I'm about to get myself into

Thanks yall

 

[ChrisAU]

I picked one up last week for a budget build, haven't shot with it yet but I wanted to see how much elevation I had left after bore sighting using a collimator and I ran it up 28 MOA and it came right back to 0. There are a couple of tracking tests on YouTube with good results too.

 

[John Glidewell]

It holds zero and tracks fine. Glass is going to be the issue. I currently use the PST Gen 2's on most of my guns. Much better scope for the $ and deals with mirage much better. I have shot the PST Gen 2 to a mile multiple times on multiple guns. The Diamondback is on my 22lr practice rig now.

 

[Alabusa]

I had a DB tactical on my 22lr and it tracked fine and always returned to zero. The only negative I have to say about it is the glass. The glass sucks! Lots of CA and pin cushion at higher mags.

 

[Casey_H]

I had a DB tactical on my 22lr and it tracked fine and always returned to zero. The only negative I have to say about it is the glass. The glass sucks! Lots of CA and pin cushion at higher mags.

I've not heard that term before. Can you explain pin cushion?

 

[Alabusa]

I've not heard that term before. Can you explain pin cushion?

Pin cushion is distortion of the image to where it looks to be pulled in at the center of the image. It usually gets worse the higher the magnification goes.

 

[OverWatching]

Best part about Vortex is they have a lifetime warranty. I met them at SHOT show and asked what to do with a scope we had accidentally run over....they said send it in and they will take care of it.

 

[RS14]

I love mine. It’s cheap but works. I don’t know another scope in that price range with its features. Mines gonna end up on my precision 22Lr once it arrives. But it’s also been on my 6.5creed that now has a ZCO 5-27 on it.

Anyways. You should be able to shoot 1000 no problem with that scope. No zero stop is your biggest lose imo. Use it till you can afford to buy exactly what you want.

 

[SoCal326]

I have shot the PST Gen 2 to a mile multiple times on multiple guns.

How did you get enough elevation? My Balistic calculator says I need 25. 7 Mils to get my 6.5CM to 1760 yards.

The PST has 20mil elevation. Assume it zeros half way, so you're left with 10mil up. A 20MOA rail (5.8 mil) and 6 mil of holdover you only have about 22mil.

A 40MOA rail would give you 11.6 mils, so 11.6 + 10 + 4 holdover= 25.6. I guess that would do it.

I was considering the PST II but it doesnt look like I could ever pull off a mile shot with it.

I can probably dial/hold to 1400 with a more normal 20MOA rail but its sub sonic at that point anyways so I gues that's probably good enough for me.

I talked me into it. I'm getting the PST genII instead of the razor II

EDIT:
I couldn't see outside of my small balistic universe. Cartridges like 338 Lapua only need like 17MIL for a mile. Seems like the PST II could do that.

 

[koshkin]

I tested the 4-16x44 version of Diamondback Tactical and it tracked well. Optically, it was perfectly reasonable for the money and I would not hesitate to use it on a budget build.

I have never seen the 6-24x50 DT, so I can't comment on that.

Vortex Diamondback Tactical 4-16×44 FFP » OpticsThoughts

ILya

 

[John Glidewell]

I don't shoot mils. The PST gen 2 has 70 plus minutes of travel, I use a 40 moa rail so I can use all of it, and can dial 74+ minutes, I only need 63.5 to shoot a mile.

And I just looked, my 6.5CM only needs 18.6 MRAD to get to a mile.

 

[CSTactical]

We have both the 4-16 and 6-24 Vortex Diamondback FFP's in stock! Give us a call at 916-670-1103 for hide pricing

 

[SoCal326]

And I just looked, my 6.5CM only needs 18.6 MRAD to get to a mile.

Interesting.
With the Hornady 140g eldM with a .646 BC Zeroed at 100Y running at 2800 FPS my Shooter app
says I need 25.7 mil. The web based Hornady ballistic calculator says I need 22.6. I'd have to be running it at 3050 FPS to get it there with 18.5 mil according to to Hornady calculator.

Sounds like I'm running the wrong bullet/velocity for that sort of thing. Most of the youtube vids I saw people were using about 95MOA = about 28 mil. What bullet/velocity are you running?

 

[John Glidewell]

Berget BT target, 140 grain at 2900 fps

 

[John Glidewell]

 

[SoCal326]

Looks like there are big differences in the various calculators. I wonder which ones are right. Maybe I should move to Sterlok for an instant range extension with my current scope.

 

[John Glidewell]

I have used mine in matches, those numbers are correct and all distances are within .5 moa using single BC out to 2k. I am playing with multiple BCs now and it is getting tighter. I have shot the milk jug challenge the last few years and the 6.5s pretty much all use 62-75 moa to get to a mile and run mid 2700s to 2900 in velocity with 140 grain pills. I have shot the ELDs at 2730 and used 74 moa to get to a mile, so not sure what is going on with your rig/numbers.

 

[Casey_H]

It's good to know the scope should track properly. But I'll definitely be switching it out soon as possible due to the glass. Here in Central Texas with the temperature and humidity this time of year, even shooting 1" dots at 200 can be a challenge in the afternoon..

 

[SoCal326]

I've only taken mine out to about 900y and the drops I get from Shooter work great. Maybe the calculators diverge beyond that.

Here's what I get from Sterlok and Shooter. In Shooter i was using an initial vel of 2900 and G7 of 0.305

Anyways, You've done it so I trust you're data. I'll find out how it looks when I give it a shot. I'm starting to feel bad for derailing this thread so I'll Shoosh and see what happens when I get out there. Either way, Sterlok gives me values closer to what you're getting so I'll probably use this when I go out that far and consider completely switching to it.

At 500y Sterlok gives me 2.42mil and Shooter gives me 2.5 So it sounds like they diverge out at distance.

Thanks

 

[John Glidewell]

Couple things that go with this. Run tall target tracking test on scope for variance in click values and true your BC. Most ballistic calculators allow you to input this data and makes it much more accurate. I am going to be running a multi BC. I don't start truing until 1k and go to trans sonic and sub sonic distances to get best results.

 

[Markol]

I have a Diamondback Tactical 6-24x50 and so does my buddy. They're good for the money, but neither of ours has a correct parallax adjustment. To get targets focused at 100yds we have to have the parallax adjusted up to near the 300yd mark on the scope, and it doesn't really focus perfectly past 400yds. My first one broke and Vortex sent me a brand new one which has the same problem.

 

[rcmigpilot]

I'm not sure everyone has reasonable expectations about what this scope can do and what it's meant to do. It's a $400 FFP scope that not too many years ago you couldn't touch for less than a grand. Mine is on a semi custom 10/22 that generally doesn't go past 150 yards and for that application it's great. Is it as good as the PST II on my AR, not even close, but it has the same reticle and general feel and makes transitioning back a forth a lot easier. If you guys can take it out to 7-800 yards that's great, but if your expecting Razor image quality and performance you're not going to get it. There's a reason those scopes cost 4-5 times as much. If you're a PRS guy and run a PST II you can take one of these and put it on a rimfire version of your competition rig and practice for pennies on the dollar. To me, trying to take a DB out to 1,000 yards makes about as much sense as putting $3,000 Schmidt Bender on a 10/22, yes it'll work, but there are other scopes much better suited for the task.

 

[Steel head]

Looks like there are big differences in the various calculators. I wonder which ones are right. Maybe I should move to Sterlok for an instant range extension with my current scope.

Look at the DA.
Has at a higher altitude.

My low shooting spot is 2200 feet elevation and needs 22ish Mils at a mile.



My high spot often has a DA of 7000+ and 18-19ish Mils does it there


This Vortex scope seems perfect for a short range budget trainer.

 

[Casey_H]

I have a Diamondback Tactical 6-24x50 and so does my buddy. They're good for the money, but neither of ours has a correct parallax adjustment. To get targets focused at 100yds we have to have the parallax adjusted up to near the 300yd mark on the scope, and it doesn't really focus perfectly past 400yds. My first one broke and Vortex sent me a brand new one which has the same problem.

Yes I had the exact same issue with mine. But I discovered that when adjusting the parallax to the best focus, I was no longer on the correct focal plane for my target. To get the reticle and target on the same plane past 100 yards it had to be a little blurry.

 

[Casey_H]

I'm not sure everyone has reasonable expectations about what this scope can do and what it's meant to do. It's a $400 FFP scope that not too many years ago you couldn't touch for less than a grand. Mine is on a semi custom 10/22 that generally doesn't go past 150 yards and for that application it's great. Is it as good as the PST II on my AR, not even close, but it has the same reticle and general feel and makes transitioning back a forth a lot easier. If you guys can take it out to 7-800 yards that's great, but if your expecting Razor image quality and performance you're not going to get it. There's a reason those scopes cost 4-5 times as much. If you're a PRS guy and run a PST II you can take one of these and put it on a rimfire version of your competition rig and practice for pennies on the dollar. To me, trying to take a DB out to 1,000 yards makes about as much sense as putting $3,000 Schmidt Bender on a 10/22, yes it'll work, but there are other scopes much better suited for the task.

I totally get that and agree 100%. In my OP I said I will be upgrading asap. I just wanted to see if a lot of people had issues with scope tracking. Thanks for the input though

 

[sako17]

I've been considering one of these for my .308 to replace my Viper but want to get my hands on one to compare the glass. The features seem too good to be true for the value.

 

[Casey_H]

I've been considering one of these for my .308 to replace my Viper but want to get my hands on one to compare the glass. The features seem too good to be true for the value.

After using it since January I'd say it's worth every penny for what it costs, but does not really punch above its weight class. The big loss over the Viper or PST is the glass quality. Turrets are decent and it does have the EBR-2C reticle like the gen2 Razor which is nice.

 

[carbonbased]

Yeah, I really like the EBR-2C reticle with the .3 mil lines and half-mil marks. I shoot prairie dogs, so less is more in my book, and the newer Vortex reticle designs (the 7x ones) just have so many hash marks now.

Given my reticle pref, and my need for a light weight scope, that’s the only Vortex scope that fits the bill. Some of their scopes may have that reticle, but it’s the thick line version, and the only other scope with the thin version is the razor gen ii, which is a pig (but awesome on my bench gun).

The AMG comes close in reticle and weight, and I might get that down the line if I can’t handle the DT glass.

 

[slickwill]

I have purchased two 6-24x50 DB Tacs in the past four months. Both for use on 22LR trainers. Very happy with the scope for the application. However, there is a big difference in how crisp the clicks are. Is there something that can be disassembled, cleaned, or adjusted to possibly make the worse one more like the good one?

 

[acudaowner]

you could add an adjustable scope mount base if the scope does not enough elevation for you they make bases up to 300 moa just an idea some are around 500 dollars others many thousands then you have the whole ivy set up that can really turn your gun into an artillery piece .

 

[Chillson]

I own 2 DB tactical 6x24x50. Both MRAD. One on a 6.5CM and one on my AR-10. I've taken them both out to 1000yds multiple times without trouble. For the money they're great. But there are better options out there to upgrade to for sure.

 

[Jamesl0822]

I have a Diamondback on my 6.5 cm and I have taken it to 1000yds. I do not have any real experience with any other tactical scopes. I can tell you that I have not experienced any of the focus issues described above, or any problems at all.
I am certain that as I progress I will eventually buy a "better" scope but so far I have been extremely happy with either my performance or the score's.

I have to admit that I smile a lot on the inside because I only have 1300 in my whole rig....

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I wrote a short review of the Diamondback Tactical a while back and overall I found it to be a pretty good value for the money.

Vortex Diamondback Tactical 4-16×44 - The Armory Life

When I’m putting together a new long-range rifle, choosing the rifle and caliber is the easy part — choosing an optic can be the confusing experience.

www.thearmorylife.com

 

[rybern]

I wrote a short review of the Diamondback Tactical a while back and overall I found it to be a pretty good value for the money.

Vortex Diamondback Tactical 4-16×44 - The Armory Life

When I’m putting together a new long-range rifle, choosing the rifle and caliber is the easy part — choosing an optic can be the confusing experience.

www.thearmorylife.com

Nice review. That optic is toward the top of my list for my 10/22.