Rifle Scopes Vortex PST 1-4x24 Reticle Shifted.

BattleRifle

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Minuteman
Jul 28, 2013
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Well, bad news. I have the scope on an Aug and have put several hundred rounds through it. I do a lot of dialing in elevation dope because I shoot plates at 100, 200, 300 and 400 yds. Up til now, I loved the scope. It tracked well and allowed effortless hits on 6" plates out to 400. After my last set of shots, I noticed that the reticle was all of a sudden canted/rotated clockwise several degrees. Needless to say, I'm very very upset. I also purchased a 2.5-10x32 ffp and put it on an M1A. Up until now I was very pleased with the scopes and have heard pretty good things about them on this forum. However, now I'm wondering whether I should have just saved up and got Nightforce scopes. Can I ever depend upon these relatively inexpensive scopes now??? I'm the type of guy that can deal with minor issues, but a rifle that won't go bang every time or a scope that takes a dump on me after relatively little use really is unacceptable. What is the concensus of the group concerning these scopes? I'm wondering whether the great warranty and good customer service raves are needed all too often because of an inferior product?
 
Well, bad news. I have the scope on an Aug and have put several hundred rounds through it. I do a lot of dialing in elevation dope because I shoot plates at 100, 200, 300 and 400 yds. Up til now, I loved the scope. It tracked well and allowed effortless hits on 6" plates out to 400. After my last set of shots, I noticed that the reticle was all of a sudden canted/rotated clockwise several degrees. Needless to say, I'm very very upset. I also purchased a 2.5-10x32 ffp and put it on an M1A. Up until now I was very pleased with the scopes and have heard pretty good things about them on this forum. However, now I'm wondering whether I should have just saved up and got Nightforce scopes. Can I ever depend upon these relatively inexpensive scopes now??? I'm the type of guy that can deal with minor issues, but a rifle that won't go bang every time or a scope that takes a dump on me after relatively little use really is unacceptable. What is the concensus of the group concerning these scopes? I'm wondering whether the great warranty and good customer service raves are needed all too often because of an inferior product?

I recently had the exact same problem with the same scope (shortly after I bought it). When it first happened, I thought I had mounted it incorrectly. I remounted and rezero'd it. Then, I looked through the scope the night before a match and saw that it had rotated again. I realized it wasn't me and was pretty angry. I didn't have time to rezero it before the match.

So I decided to shoot the match anyway. I actually had good hits on everything including the farthest targets in the match (steel targets at about 190 yards if I remember correctly). I couldn't believe it, and people I was shooting with were surprised too. I wasn't expecting to hit any of the far targets. But least the center of the reticle was still the center even though the amount of reticle rotation was significant.

I contacted Vortex and they knew what the problem was. There wasn't enough glue or something like that. I sent the scope in, they repaired it, and had it back to me fairly quickly. I am pretty sure I could have gotten a new one if I asked for it. But the way they explained (sold) it to me was if they repaired it, it would be better than they normally are when the leave the factory.

I'm not one of those guys that has a range in their back yard, and all of the ammo and time in the world. For me to take time off and go to the range to zero an optic, takes a lot of time and effort. So I'm still a little annoyed about this experience.

I have had other experiences with Vortex products that makes me feel like they make decent quality products, but definitely not great quality products. Their service is very good. But eventually more and more others in the industry will offer great service, and people will move away from buying Vortex products.

Joe Mamma
 
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Thanks for all of the replies. Even though I have a range in my backyard, you are correct, it takes time and money to re-zero an optic. Not to mention the psychologic effect of now shaking your trust in the optic. I guess it's the age old dilema.... Buy once, cry once or try to save some money and get mediocracy and hope it is OK. For my next optic, I may very well buy another Nightforce or similiar, I just don't know... All I know is that my confidence level in the scope is now low and my frustration level is high. That's going to take time and money shooting to re-establish and I just don't know if it's worth it...... However, as one of the earlier poster's said, even the premium scopes sometimes take a dump.
 
This happened to me! thankfully they have the lifetime warranty and i just swapped it over! the new one has been faultless! i have a 4-16x50 FFP on my HMR and thats been faultless aswell! :D
 
Well, I must concur that the customer service is good and quick. They received my scope mid-day a week ago Friday and it was back in my hands Wednesday. The post by Sierra770 makes my stomach turn. I hope my scope does not take a second dump. I'm willing to put up with one malf., but if it does the exact same thing again, then it's history and I'm calling design flaw. I would have been happier if Vortex customer service would have included something in the box that would have kind of made up for my shipping costs, it just would have impressed the heck out of me. I'll get it sighted in today, then we'll see.
 
sort of makes you wonder why they don't leave the factory in that condition, doesn't it?

Just like with electronics.

It is cheaper to just make them and sell them and fix the few that break, versus doing extensive QC on every one they make.

I am sure they have done the analysis, and the problem scopes are fairly low in number.

Remember, online you mainly hear about problems, not people who have no problems.
 
Well, I must concur that the customer service is good and quick. They received my scope mid-day a week ago Friday and it was back in my hands Wednesday. The post by Sierra770 makes my stomach turn. I hope my scope does not take a second dump. I'm willing to put up with one malf., but if it does the exact same thing again, then it's history and I'm calling design flaw. I would have been happier if Vortex customer service would have included something in the box that would have kind of made up for my shipping costs, it just would have impressed the heck out of me. I'll get it sighted in today, then we'll see.

I hope it worked out. I ran mine today pretty extensively and it is still holding up well. This is perhaps the third or fourth hard session since it was repaired the second time and it tracks as it should and the reticle is holding firm. Best of luck to you.
 
sort of makes you wonder why they don't leave the factory in that condition, doesn't it?

Some do they're the Razor line. Razor HD 1-4x24

Well I don't know if they do that upgrade exactly, but they're better made and seem to have better QC, at a significantly higher price. If you want a better scope with less chance of a problem you're welcome to pay for it.

The PSTs are great scopes at a relatively low cost for what you're getting. The reason they're able to do this has been explained in the quote below. Every time you improve QC you increase the cost and it's normally not a linear scale.

Just like with electronics.

It is cheaper to just make them and sell them and fix the few that break, versus doing extensive QC on every one they make.

I am sure they have done the analysis, and the problem scopes are fairly low in number.

Remember, online you mainly hear about problems, not people who have no problems.

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