For a Target shooter, First Focal Plane and superior glass are highly compelling. Even at £930, the Vortex Viper PST is exceptional value when you compare it against other big name brands - plus all Vortex scopes come with an unconditional lifetime guarantee. That's bloody AMAZING!
For the record, the PST has a side focus as well as the illuminated reticle, and the option to have front focal plane, and a better reticle selection, well worth the higher retail as it's flexible enough for target shooting and hunting
@@extraextra4380 - Parallax is the "problem" that the side focus wheel is used to overcome. It manifests as an apparent movement of the target and the reticle in relation to one another as the shooter moves their head / eye. It happens because the reticle and target are not in the same focal plane - hence the parallax wheel. This brings them both into the same focal plane, making them both sharp and eliminating the parallax error.
I'm fairly new to the shooting world, but despite that, I'd rather spend a bit more if it means higher quality. This was a fabulous summary of the Vortex Viper variations. Thanks for taking the time to provide this useful info!
If you can afford it go with PST. I've got one on my Ruger Precision Rifle and that thing is darn amazing. Well worth the price in my opinion. It's always good to have extra features when you don't need them and not have them we you need them.
I have a PST Gen 2 on my r700 police .308, fantastic scope for a grand, definitely an upgrade from the HST I previously had mounted on her - moved that over to the .17 WSM 😁
I went with the Vortex Optics Strike Eagle 5-25x56 First Focal Plane Riflescope EBR-7c (MILRAD). It's not only cheaper, but allows more light to go through the rectical because of the bigger circumference and 34mm tube higher travel adjustments. Not only that, the Strike Eagle is almost 300 dollars US cheaper in price for what you are getting.
@@stephenrussell1221 Further up the line the glass gets even better with more clarity, but you get what you pay for and you are guaranteed to get it fixed if it has a problem regardless. It's a win win regardless!
When you asked if I kept up... Well no, but I will review several times. Incredibly thorough video. Well done! Did you ever find any information on the glass? I am assuming all viper glass comes from the Phillipines. If their is a china or Japanes reticule assembler in the various models that would be critical information.
I have the PST Gen 2 on my Tikka and a Vortex Diamondback Tactical on my 17HMR and for the money the DBT is also very good. The only downside on the PST for me is when you get up to max power it's milky around the edges of the reticle.. Apart from that it's great value.
I will just buy the Razor HD gen II 3-18x50 for my big one... And the Strike eagle 5-25x56 for my rimfire... And the Viper pst gen II 2-10x32 for my hunting rifle... And maybe a Diamonback tactical 4-16x44 for my wife's rifle! That's the plan. Nice explanation man, I will take look at some of your videos later.
@@pearlrival3124 pst and hslr with slightly inferior glass. I didnt bought the strike eagle, I changed my mind for an athlon midas tac. Review for the strike eagle are 50/50 and the 34mm tube turned me off. 34mm rings are rare and expensive here!
@@northman77 I agree with you about the rings. I think they said they ship a set with it.(only hope) where you from? Tennessee U.S. Alot of complaints about warranty claims with vortex. I am so new to a scope above $50 I would not know if mine is broken. I am not sure I understand your respone "pst and hslr with slightly inferior glass." Are you saying the glass on these models are inferior to the new strike eagle? My concern from what I have learned so far: the pst gen ii is manufactured in the phillipines. this leaves me to assume all viper models are manufactured there. that said, you would think the glass would be more optimal considering the new strike eagle is still manufactured in china. Apparently the glass etching machinery is ranked in each country: germany, japan, phillipines, china.
@@northman77 Love your country! I am considering moving there. Any recommendations? I saw what you wrote to cyclops the rings will increase the cost 30% Cyclops has me on the arken ep4 now. Japanes glass at half the cost of the midas and vortex with massive turrets. Not sure what the gimmick is yet.
Your also forgetting about the zero stop, the higher range of adjustment, the tighter tolerances on adjustments... The viper PST Gen ii is the baby brother of the Razor Gen I with some razor Gen ii features... Much of the same design however it's got a smaller tube on the viper and smaller front glass... The Viper line does not have HD glass... The glass is extremely good glass for not being HD but all the same not HD glass Honestly the viper, HS, HSLR, and HST are completely different scopes from the PST... Especially when you're talking about Gen II PST... The HS models are obsolete compared to the Strike Eagle gen ii and the diamondback gen ii models... if you got an HS model there good scopes... If your in the market check out the diamondback and Strike Eagle first unless you go straight to the PST or razor
Thanks for sharing your video.Which scope would you recommend for Rabbit shooting up to 100 yards for my Anschutz 1761 .17HRM my budget is £600- £850 I will be hand holding the rifle walking over fields.
I have a question on the firearms licence for shotguns. I understand the restrictions on shotguns when you have a shotgun only licence but if you have a firearms licence can you have a shot gun with less than a 24” barrel?
Hi...my knowledge on this topic is not too big and I'm just wondering, if you (or someone who is also knowledgeable) could explain to me why would someone need to adjust their turrets, instead of just using the holdovers in the recticle before taking a shot? I mean isn't that the whole point of the windage/elevation/drop hash marks? In my mind, the turrets should be used for the initial sighting...but after that?
So I’m definitely not a super experienced precision shooter by any means but I am an experience hunter. So to keep it simple you really don’t need to adjust turrets if you don’t plan on shooting out far but it’s actually really helpful and makes shooting farther a lot easier when you get the hang of it. Plus, as a hunter you want to make sure you’re sending the most accurate shot you can so you can deliver the cleanest kill. I’ve used multiple vortex scopes with the bdc reticle and shot out to 450 fairly easily using holdovers. However, you run into a couple issues. On a Second Focal Plane scope, there is only one magnification where the holdovers will be accurate. On my viper 4-16x that magnification is 16x. The 6-24x I think that mag is 18x. So at any other mag your holdovers won’t be accurate. Even if they are accurate you only have three hashes on the scope with particular ranges for each. Vortex has a handy ballistics calculator that will tell you very closely what those distances are. Zeroed at 100 yards, for example, my 6.5cm shoots the first hash at ~190, the second at ~320 and the third at ~430. Which is great as long as the target is at that exact distance. Now if your target is at say 360 yards where exactly do you holdover at? This is where the turrets come in handy. I have the viper hslr 4-16x50 so it has the exposed turret on top. After using the ballistics calculator I have every distance between 0-1000 yards in 10 yard increments and the correlating moa drop for my bullet spec. So after a quick click of the range finder I see that my target is at 360 yards and all I have to do is know the moa drop, which I do thanks the the cheat sheet. So at 360 yards, the vortex chart tells me my bullet will drop 5.8 moa which means if I adjust my elevation turret up 5.8 moa (closest number on the turret would be 6) I can now put my crosshairs right on the target and I don’t have to worry about the holdover. And since the crosshairs themselves are accurate at any magnification on a SFP scope I don’t have to worry about that either. Thanks to the zero stop on the elevation turret I then just crank it back to zero and the gun is back to being sighted in at 100 yards at the hairs. I keep a little cheat sheet on the inside of my flip up scope caps so when I get the distance I just need another 5 seconds to look at the moa numbers and adjust the turret and shoot. In my experience, if I’m shooting at an animal that is over 300 yards away I have plenty of time to make these adjustments instead of trying to guess a holdover. Last deer season I shot a deer at about 250 and held my second hash at the top of his shoulder. Hit him square in the shoulder/heart. No need to make an adjustment there but I still could have adjusted up 3 moa on the turret and put the crosshairs square on the shoulder instead. I felt comfortable with the shot but still left myself with more room for error than needed.
@@Austin-oj9jq Thank you for the excellent explanation...what you said makes a lot of sense and this is exactly the type of reply I was hoping for. There is nothing more frustrating, than seenig something that makes no sense on surface and be unable to get to the bottom of it...now I get why there are 2 different ways...the turret dialing is simply the more accurate option out of the two. Thank you again for taking time to explain this one and have yourself a great day!
tahnidopicizide of course! Glad I could help a bit. I could have definitely used a better explanation when I was first getting into all of it and trying to understand it. It’s super cool when you use it correctly but there’s definitely a barrier to understand why you would. In a faster paced hunting situation where the target is closer than 300 I will almost always gravitate towards the holdover just because I don’t want to have to think about too much and you can miss a little bit bigger. Once you reach out to 400+ you’ll start to notice how much more accurate adjusting the turret will be. Thats why I chose the hslr because it gives me the best of both worlds on a hunting rifle. Best of luck if you try to get into using it!
@@EnglishShooting Yes, Sir. Excellent choice, it’s one of the best in their current catalog. Enjoy! And thanks for posting this video, it answered some questions I had. 👍🏻
My God, listening to you trying to speak was painful, you seem to have had a lot of problems getting the words out. Maybe it's a British thing. And the prices you mention in pounds, you guys pay WAY too much compared to the same item here. You need better import laws. Hell, you need better gun laws in the first place.
For a Target shooter, First Focal Plane and superior glass are highly compelling. Even at £930, the Vortex Viper PST is exceptional value when you compare it against other big name brands - plus all Vortex scopes come with an unconditional lifetime guarantee. That's bloody AMAZING!
You don’t lose the side focus on the PST, the side focus houses both the parallax adjustment and the illuminated reticle.
That would be on a Gen 2 PST the Gen 1 has the illuminated control on the rear.
I'm glad I waited to buy the Viper PST Gen 1. It was 1k dollars when it came out in the U.S. When the Gen 2 came out it dropped to 450.00. Love it!!!
You must’ve got the second focal plane
Just addressing this issue is appreciated. Vortex and most other makers do a poor job in deliniating features between models.
For the record, the PST has a side focus as well as the illuminated reticle, and the option to have front focal plane, and a better reticle selection, well worth the higher retail as it's flexible enough for target shooting and hunting
If that's a focus knob what is paralax
Extra Extra by side focus I meant the parallax adjustment. Eye relief focus is adjusted from the rear of the scope
@@extraextra4380 - Parallax is the "problem" that the side focus wheel is used to overcome. It manifests as an apparent movement of the target and the reticle in relation to one another as the shooter moves their head / eye. It happens because the reticle and target are not in the same focal plane - hence the parallax wheel. This brings them both into the same focal plane, making them both sharp and eliminating the parallax error.
The PST 2 I used at work has the side focus and illuminated reticle.
I'm fairly new to the shooting world, but despite that, I'd rather spend a bit more if it means higher quality. This was a fabulous summary of the Vortex Viper variations. Thanks for taking the time to provide this useful info!
for being english```````probably the best video i have watched on vortex scopes,, AWESOME JOB
Splendid explanation 👌. Now time to get a new scope.
If you can afford it go with PST. I've got one on my Ruger Precision Rifle and that thing is darn amazing. Well worth the price in my opinion. It's always good to have extra features when you don't need them and not have them we you need them.
Completely agree!
I'm running a PST gen2 on my M1A. Very pleased.
I have a PST Gen 2 on my r700 police .308, fantastic scope for a grand, definitely an upgrade from the HST I previously had mounted on her - moved that over to the .17 WSM 😁
What a waste
Extra Extra how so? 😂
Good explanations for me. You gave me very good information. Thank you for your time.
I love my PST 6x24x50 second focal plain 12 to 13-50 meters bang on
With the sportsman kestrel un stoppable
I went with the Vortex Optics Strike Eagle 5-25x56 First Focal Plane Riflescope EBR-7c (MILRAD). It's not only cheaper, but allows more light to go through the rectical because of the bigger circumference and 34mm tube higher travel adjustments. Not only that, the Strike Eagle is almost 300 dollars US cheaper in price for what you are getting.
You saved money, but is it better than the Vipers?
@@stephenrussell1221 Further up the line the glass gets even better with more clarity, but you get what you pay for and you are guaranteed to get it fixed if it has a problem regardless. It's a win win regardless!
Great job explaining the scope range
When you asked if I kept up... Well no, but I will review several times. Incredibly thorough video. Well done! Did you ever find any information on the glass? I am assuming all viper glass comes from the Phillipines. If their is a china or Japanes reticule assembler in the various models that would be critical information.
I have the PST Gen 2 on my Tikka and a Vortex Diamondback Tactical on my 17HMR and for the money the DBT is also very good. The only downside on the PST for me is when you get up to max power it's milky around the edges of the reticle.. Apart from that it's great value.
You can shoot centre fire now? Hope to see some more centre stuff in the future!
Thank You
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
My fx impact mk2 likes its new dimond back vortex scope.
thank you for sharing your knowledge. would you recommend a viper pst gen 2 2.5-10x32 ffp for a 22lr for target shooting
I sure would! That's a great piece of glass.
Consider an Arken. I own 2. Bushnell forge too. Are ya keepin up ?? Vortex aint all that young lad😉. Keep up boy
I will just buy the Razor HD gen II 3-18x50 for my big one... And the Strike eagle 5-25x56 for my rimfire... And the Viper pst gen II 2-10x32 for my hunting rifle... And maybe a Diamonback tactical 4-16x44 for my wife's rifle! That's the plan. Nice explanation man, I will take look at some of your videos later.
where do you think the new strike eagle compares to the hs hslr pst hst?
@@pearlrival3124 pst and hslr with slightly inferior glass. I didnt bought the strike eagle, I changed my mind for an athlon midas tac. Review for the strike eagle are 50/50 and the 34mm tube turned me off. 34mm rings are rare and expensive here!
@@northman77 I agree with you about the rings. I think they said they ship a set with it.(only hope) where you from? Tennessee U.S. Alot of complaints about warranty claims with vortex. I am so new to a scope above $50 I would not know if mine is broken. I am not sure I understand your respone "pst and hslr with slightly inferior glass." Are you saying the glass on these models are inferior to the new strike eagle? My concern from what I have learned so far: the pst gen ii is manufactured in the phillipines. this leaves me to assume all viper models are manufactured there. that said, you would think the glass would be more optimal considering the new strike eagle is still manufactured in china. Apparently the glass etching machinery is ranked in each country: germany, japan, phillipines, china.
@@pearlrival3124 the strike eagle have inferior glass. I am from Canada. I dont think they ship rings with the scope though.
@@northman77 Love your country! I am considering moving there. Any recommendations? I saw what you wrote to cyclops the rings will increase the cost 30% Cyclops has me on the arken ep4 now. Japanes glass at half the cost of the midas and vortex with massive turrets. Not sure what the gimmick is yet.
First
edit: blimey buggery frick look at the size of that scope.
It's helped by the sun shade, it's not all scope.
Thank you so much
You're most welcome!
Your also forgetting about the zero stop, the higher range of adjustment, the tighter tolerances on adjustments...
The viper PST Gen ii is the baby brother of the Razor Gen I with some razor Gen ii features... Much of the same design however it's got a smaller tube on the viper and smaller front glass... The Viper line does not have HD glass... The glass is extremely good glass for not being HD but all the same not HD glass
Honestly the viper, HS, HSLR, and HST are completely different scopes from the PST... Especially when you're talking about Gen II PST...
The HS models are obsolete compared to the Strike Eagle gen ii and the diamondback gen ii models...
if you got an HS model there good scopes... If your in the market check out the diamondback and Strike Eagle first unless you go straight to the PST or razor
I hate any scope that it's reticle looks like the world map. Which one has the fine duplex reticle?
Thanks for sharing your video.Which scope would you recommend for Rabbit shooting up to 100 yards for my Anschutz 1761 .17HRM my budget is £600- £850 I will be hand holding the rifle walking over fields.
Got it... clear as mud. 👍
where do you think the new strike eagle compares to the hs hslr pst hst? Glass specifically?
great video.
Thanks!
How does the new strike eagle compare to these?
Thanks 👍
Haven't been hands on with the new Strike Eagle yet but I'll do a video as soon as I can with it.
What caliber rifle is shown here?
Nvm, saw the box. .308
I have a question on the firearms licence for shotguns. I understand the restrictions on shotguns when you have a shotgun only licence but if you have a firearms licence can you have a shot gun with less than a 24” barrel?
Those are some stupid rules thank God I'm American for now
Hi...my knowledge on this topic is not too big and I'm just wondering, if you (or someone who is also knowledgeable) could explain to me why would someone need to adjust their turrets, instead of just using the holdovers in the recticle before taking a shot?
I mean isn't that the whole point of the windage/elevation/drop hash marks?
In my mind, the turrets should be used for the initial sighting...but after that?
So I’m definitely not a super experienced precision shooter by any means but I am an experience hunter. So to keep it simple you really don’t need to adjust turrets if you don’t plan on shooting out far but it’s actually really helpful and makes shooting farther a lot easier when you get the hang of it. Plus, as a hunter you want to make sure you’re sending the most accurate shot you can so you can deliver the cleanest kill. I’ve used multiple vortex scopes with the bdc reticle and shot out to 450 fairly easily using holdovers. However, you run into a couple issues. On a Second Focal Plane scope, there is only one magnification where the holdovers will be accurate. On my viper 4-16x that magnification is 16x. The 6-24x I think that mag is 18x. So at any other mag your holdovers won’t be accurate. Even if they are accurate you only have three hashes on the scope with particular ranges for each. Vortex has a handy ballistics calculator that will tell you very closely what those distances are. Zeroed at 100 yards, for example, my 6.5cm shoots the first hash at ~190, the second at ~320 and the third at ~430. Which is great as long as the target is at that exact distance. Now if your target is at say 360 yards where exactly do you holdover at? This is where the turrets come in handy. I have the viper hslr 4-16x50 so it has the exposed turret on top. After using the ballistics calculator I have every distance between 0-1000 yards in 10 yard increments and the correlating moa drop for my bullet spec. So after a quick click of the range finder I see that my target is at 360 yards and all I have to do is know the moa drop, which I do thanks the the cheat sheet. So at 360 yards, the vortex chart tells me my bullet will drop 5.8 moa which means if I adjust my elevation turret up 5.8 moa (closest number on the turret would be 6) I can now put my crosshairs right on the target and I don’t have to worry about the holdover. And since the crosshairs themselves are accurate at any magnification on a SFP scope I don’t have to worry about that either. Thanks to the zero stop on the elevation turret I then just crank it back to zero and the gun is back to being sighted in at 100 yards at the hairs. I keep a little cheat sheet on the inside of my flip up scope caps so when I get the distance I just need another 5 seconds to look at the moa numbers and adjust the turret and shoot. In my experience, if I’m shooting at an animal that is over 300 yards away I have plenty of time to make these adjustments instead of trying to guess a holdover. Last deer season I shot a deer at about 250 and held my second hash at the top of his shoulder. Hit him square in the shoulder/heart. No need to make an adjustment there but I still could have adjusted up 3 moa on the turret and put the crosshairs square on the shoulder instead. I felt comfortable with the shot but still left myself with more room for error than needed.
@@Austin-oj9jq
Thank you for the excellent explanation...what you said makes a lot of sense and this is exactly the type of reply I was hoping for.
There is nothing more frustrating, than seenig something that makes no sense on surface and be unable to get to the bottom of it...now I get why there are 2 different ways...the turret dialing is simply the more accurate option out of the two.
Thank you again for taking time to explain this one and have yourself a great day!
tahnidopicizide of course! Glad I could help a bit. I could have definitely used a better explanation when I was first getting into all of it and trying to understand it. It’s super cool when you use it correctly but there’s definitely a barrier to understand why you would. In a faster paced hunting situation where the target is closer than 300 I will almost always gravitate towards the holdover just because I don’t want to have to think about too much and you can miss a little bit bigger. Once you reach out to 400+ you’ll start to notice how much more accurate adjusting the turret will be. Thats why I chose the hslr because it gives me the best of both worlds on a hunting rifle. Best of luck if you try to get into using it!
What stock is that? I really like the look of it
It's from Form Rifle Stock their Crusader TAC
Thanks very much
My brain was fucked hearing HST and balalalal so much. 😂
Is that a Milgauss?
It is, into your watches?
@@EnglishShooting Yes, Sir. Excellent choice, it’s one of the best in their current catalog. Enjoy! And thanks for posting this video, it answered some questions I had. 👍🏻
You should do a collaboration with Colin noir
I would love to!
EnglishShooting I would to no more .
22 rim fire in the uk yay
Side focus is misleading explain paralax
The one that’s not made in China.
THAT RIFLE IS A POS, AND YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT
Thank you for your constructive feedback, please give the iPad back to mummy and go to bed, it’s far past your bedtime
@@EnglishShooting know what you are talking about before looking like a dumb ass
My God, listening to you trying to speak was painful, you seem to have had a lot of problems getting the words out. Maybe it's a British thing.
And the prices you mention in pounds, you guys pay WAY too much compared to the same item here.
You need better import laws.
Hell, you need better gun laws in the first place.