fenring Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Vortex Optics are pretty new on the Aussie market – but they have an impressive range of scopes ranging from bigger varmints style scopes, to medium game scopes, big game and brush busting scopes, handgun scopes and even a red dot sight. That’s on top of their binoculars and spotting scope ranges as well. The Crossfire is made in China, and there’s no attempt to hide this as there’s a sticker on the scope that declares it. This is unlike some other makers who are a bit more coy about the country of origin for their lower priced lines. Vortex’s rifle scopes are spread across the Viper, Diamondback and Crossfire range, at different price points. The scope Anthony of Vortex Australia sent me to check out is a 2-7X32 Crossfire. I requested this scope as it’d be what I’d use on my pigging gun, a Ruger 96/44, and I could also test it out on my Ruger 77/22 at higher power. Here are the specs of the 2-7X32 Crossfire from Vortex’s site: Magnification 2-7x Objective Lens Diameter 32mm Linear FOV at 100 Yards 17.5-60.0 feet Eye Relief 3.2-4.5 inches Tube Size 1 inch Reticle Styles V Plex Turret Style Low profile Adjustment Graduation 1/4 MOA Max Internal Elevation Adjustment 25 MOA Max Internal Windage Adjustment 25 MOA Parallax Setting 100 yards Length 11.5 inches Waterproof Yes Fog Proof Nitrogen Gas Color Black Finish Matte Weight 14.0 ounces The scope was very well boxed in an oversized box and supported in foam blocks and in a plastic bag. It has transparent lens caps – the front cap being yellow and the rear one clear. Also in the box is a small lens cloth, large chamois style cleaning cloth and Vortex’s VIP lifetime warranty. You get a 15 page, all English instruction booklet too. The scope is finished in a matt black with a smoother finish and it looks good. The size is comparable to similar scopes – it’s the same length as my 2-7 X32 Bushnell Elite 3200 and about an inch longer than my 1.75 –4X32 Trophy. The 14 ounce weight gives some indication of a fairly solid build. An initial look through the scope shows it to be quite clear and bright, and I couldn’t notice any blurring out at the edge of the FOV. There’s no pronounced “black ring” when looking through the scope, even with it’s long eye relief. The V Plex reticle is a dual X style with a moderately fine thickness. The turret caps are alloy with rubber O rings on the turrets to seal them when the caps are on. Underneath there are 1/4” at 100 yard fingertip turrets. The fingertip adjusters are higher than others I’ve seen and you can get a decent hold of them. The clicks are positive and audible. There’s no doubt when you have clicked and no mushiness. The power ring is knurled alloy, power goes up as the ring is turned anti clockwise from the shooter’s point of view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenring Posted September 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 I decided to mount the Crossfire on my Ruger 77/22 first off. The rifle has low mounts fitted and the 32mm scope should have fit no problems at all. The ocular lens on the Crossfire was about 5mm fatter than the scope I took off – making the low mounts a tight squeeze for bolt handle clearance. This may or may not affect other rifles. With the low mounts there was a good 7mm between the objective lens and the heavy barrel of my Ruger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenring Posted September 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 I headed off to my little testing ground and set up a few targets at 50 yards and loaded up with Highland subsonics. The rifle shoots these reasonably well and my .22 is sighted for subsonics now since I got the HMR. As fitted the scope wasn’t all that far off – a few offhand shots at small rocks got me close and then a few groups on paper had it sorted out. I plinked off another couple of boxes of ammo without incident then set up my target to test the scope’s tracking. My first shot landed close to POA, and I clicked 16 clicks up which should have put me 2” higher. That seemed to go OK and another 16 clicks to the right put me another 2” across. Then 16 down, then another 16 to the left had my next shot land beside my first. I then reversed what I’d just done and my final shot ended up back beside my first baseline shot once again. So, three shots touching after the adjustments had been moved 128 clicks in total – not too shabby I reckon. I then transferred the scope over to my 96/44, using the same mounts. The scope looked good on the little lever action and mounted low I could throw it up and be looking down the middle. Not knowing where the first shot could go I shot at a fist sized rock and was happy to see it was only 6” off to the left and OK for height. A few shots at a bunny target had it dead on at 50 yards and I commenced to smash some steel plates with it. I was shooting some hardcast 240gr SWC’s over 25gr of 2208 which is a healthy but not maximum load. In the light, butt plated Ruger recoil feels similar to a single barrel 12g. 30 rounds of that and I shot a few more at paper and it hadn’t moved. The long, non critical eye relief is handy on a scrub gun as it helps peripheral vision and of course keeps the ocular lens comfortably away from your eyebrow , even if you mount the gun a bit haphazardly for a snap shot. I was fairly impressed with the Crossfire, bearing in mind that this model is from Vortex’s budget range of scopes. This particular scope would suit a lever action, pump action or fast handling bolt action rifle in my opinion, but there are numerous others in the Vortex line as I said earlier. The warranty Vortex offers is impressive, especially for a budget scope and as far as I know there’s no other scope in this price range that is covered by such a warranty. Anthony of Vortex Australia tells me that the scope I tested will retail for around $160 – which makes it very attractive to those on a budget – especially given the warranty it comes with and how it seems to perform. The Crossfire range have yet to be added to the Aussie site, but can be seen on the US site. http://vortexoptics.com.au/ http://www.vortexoptics.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyted Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 They look a nice scope, i like the Viper 3.5-10x50 Dead Hold BDC. Even for AU buyers its still affordable & have lifetime warrantys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenring Posted September 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 Yeah, for $160 with a lifetime warranty you can't go wrong - beats the a$$ off some of the cheaper Tascos, Bushnells and Nikkos IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outlaw Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 (edited) Excellent review fenring. For that price and back-up you cannot go wrong! It looks right at home on your 44 too mate, may have to buy it hey..... Edited September 28, 2008 by outlaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SODRAT Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 (edited) nice review fen, u make me want to go and buy one! would it be suited to my marlin 17 hmr varmint? P.S. i am cackhanded using a right-handed bolt. Edited September 28, 2008 by SODRAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenring Posted September 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 No, you'd be better off with a 3-9 at least, though a 4-12 is really good on the HMR. Vortex make scopes in a whole different range, and have bigger scopes that would suit the HMR.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SODRAT Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 (edited) No, you'd be better off with a 3-9 at least, though a 4-12 is really good on the HMR. Vortex make scopes in a whole different range, and have bigger scopes that would suit the HMR.. i also like that "mil dot" thingy, i suppose that makes them dearer, of course? 40 or 40 AO Edited September 28, 2008 by SODRAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightstalker Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 First class review Fenring. Are you sure you don't moonlight as a writer for a magazine?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenring Posted September 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 First class review Fenring. Are you sure you don't moonlight as a writer for a magazine?? No - but I used to dream of working for Hustler...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenring Posted October 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 Righto - I took another shooter's ideas on board, and stuck up a newspaper page on the fence tonight. It was perfectly clear night and I sat out and scanned the newspaper page and the bush behind my joint until dark. I also scanned some clothes pegs on a clothes line some 120m away - picking up the different coloured pegs. I got out my three 32mm scopes and compared - the Vortex, a Bushnell Trophy 1.75-4X32 and Elite 3200 2-7X32 Firefly. The 3200 was fairly obviously ahead of the other two - picking up text and colours on the page and detail later than the other two, but then this is a $350+ scope and seemed as bright as my Trophy 4-12X40 at 4X at the same light. I couldn't pick much if any difference between the Trophy and the Crossifire - which is pretty good considering the Trophy goes for about $330 in the LGS and the Crossfire around $160 from Vortex. All of this was with the scopes set at 4X and a bit of the play with the Elite 3200 and Crossfire at 7X - the Trophy only goes to 4X. I can only conclude ( in absence of another $160 variable scope to compare) that the Vortex seemed to perform very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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