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Joined: Aug 2006
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Just ordered their SALT kit along with the above scope and was wondering if anyone else is running one on the AR15? I wanted something I could use for plinking, self defense and also do some predator hunting and after many months of deliberating on which scope to buy I pulled the trigger on this one. Got a good deal on SWFA so I couldn't pass it up.


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I picked up a 1-6 when they came out, but I couldn't warm up to the foggy edges or critical eye relief so I unloaded it. I would assume those 2 items would even worse on the 1-8, but I don't have experience with that one.

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have a fairly recent 1-6, no foggy or critical eye relief. This scope is one of the more popular used scopes in 3 gun competitions, and Im sure if it were a big problem they wouldn't be using them.

Outstanding warranty from Vortex

Looked through the 1-8 only strange thing was a reversal of reticle tree.

In the 1-6 the dia. of the circle is about 18 inch at 100 yds and radius, ht from 1st bar to top of circle is 9 inc at 6x
200 yards is width of first bar.
etc.

in the 1-8 the width of the bars is windage hold off.

both of these reticles were used by IOR 20 years ago, but thats ok.

some users don't like the circle reticle as they feel it blocks there view

I found it more useful to find the distances of the inside circle on the 1x power setting. do to mounting ht. of the scope

The reticles are designed around 55gr 223 around 3200 fps.. The AR has "matured" to the 16" and 18" guns which means you will have to experiment a bit with load velocity decrease due to shorter barrels.

The scope works well for techniques that use a very forward head position and collapsible stocks not fully extended, or if your techniques places the butt of the stock more on the chest than the pit of the shoulder


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Thanks for the info so far. When I looked through the scope at Cabelas I didn't have any kind of blurriness or fogged edges and the glass was clear and sharp. I really like this reticle and am looking forward to shooting it hopefully this weekend. According to the Vortex website, it says the illuminated, glass-etched BDC reticle subtends with popular .556 cartridges, which is what I'm shooting.


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yes it will subtend with any bullet that has the same BC and shot at the same velocity

but that doesn't help much

if your barrel is shorter than standard 556 velocities your hold will be off

out of a 16 inch with 55 gr. at 2800 they will be off as much as 30 yds.


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If you're only getting 2800 fps out of a 16" barrel, you've got more troubles than a scope will fix.

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Can't tell you what the velocities are because I don't own a chrony and I shoot factory loads and my barrel is 16". We'll know soon enough how she shoots but so far with open sights I've been pretty happy with the rifle.


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It'll work fine, and if it doesn't, then you'll know enough on your own, and decide to use and adapt or swap out.

finding a reticle that matches your best load can be tough IMHO. Especially since so much of the 556 is for 55/62s and I doubt I've shot more than a few hundred of those combined...

Try finding a scope marked for 90 jlks... LOL.


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I just got one yesterday. I have sworn that I would not get into 3-Gun because my job keeps me busy as hell and I already shoot DMR, 2-gun, and PRS matches. I did it anyhow and chose the Strike Eagle 1-8x version. I mounted it yesterday after work and ran to the range around 7pm to zero it and test the BDC.

By that time a thunderstorm was rolling in so it was abnormally dark (more like the level of illum I normally have around 9:15pm). Even at 100yds the target is not super crisp even though the reticle is and during low light I can see where acuity diminishes over 6x. I didn't evaluate parallax too much but that may have something to do with that but I cannot say for certain. What I can say is that in the rain and low light, I could tell the image has a little hazier look above 6x. Today, in full daylight it looks pretty good all around. That said, in the rain I was able to shoot a 5-shot group at 200yds that was around 1.5" (where center dot is supposed to be zeroed) and I shot a few at 300yds to see where the BDC hit compared to predicted drop. For comparison, I shot the 24hrCampFire Challenge with this gun and a Bushnell LRHS and averaged .8 MoA for 2 x 10-shot groups. My 75gn Hornady OTM at a touch over 2700fps in my 18" gun hit pretty much where they should at 300yds. Out of 10-shots, 3 hit my truing line, 4 were about 1" low and 3 were about 1" high. I'll do some more shooting on Saturday when the weather is better and I have more time.

The reticle subtensions are pretty heavy but very workable even for pretty precise shooting. Ballistic reticles are inferior to straight MRAD/MoA reticles in my opinion but this one is a pretty no frills reticle that makes sense. The reticle is actually what sold me on this optic compared to others. I wouldn't use it for DMR matches to 700yds but for the carbine in a team match or a 3-Gun rifle I think it's pretty awesome. The only other optic I would have chose is the Minox 1-8x or the Mk6 with CMR-W reticle; both are way too expensive and I'm not a huge Leupold fan.

I do not find the eye-relief to be all that critical but I cannot run BUIS with the 2" cantilever mount from Vortex. I'm not sure why a person would put a buttstock on their chest vice their shoulder pocket so I find that argument void of merit. Using a standard 13.5" LOP I can mount the scope where I normally would and have full sight picture. As to the reticle being reversed it is not, it's exactly as described: a christmas tree that allows for hold over and hold off with more hold off the more elevation you hold.

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yes the reticle is reversed from the 1x6

different purpose in the 1x6 and 1x8 , while both are BDC reticles the horizontal bars in the 1x8 are for windage, and the 1x6 for distance approximations

yes there are a lot of shooters that believe the collapsible stock must be extended to work correctly. lack of knowledge of its many uses is void of merit.

Last edited by Etoh; 07/20/17.

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I like hearing that the reticle is a bit thick, as I have a nice NF I don't want to hunt with due to the .25MOA subtension. I have resisted vortex for sometime now however your report is very encouraging. The 1.5-8x32 is my primary interest however.


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Got mine yesterday as well and got it mounted on my rifle. Will be taking it out for a test run this weekend to see how she shoots. Nice report KP, appreciate the feedback.


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Originally Posted by Etoh
yes the reticle is reversed from the 1x6

different purpose in the 1x6 and 1x8 , while both are BDC reticles the horizontal bars in the 1x8 are for windage, and the 1x6 for distance approximations
,
yes there are a lot of shooters that believe the collapsible stock must be extended to work correctly. lack of knowledge of its many uses is void of merit.


Yes, the reticle is opposite of the 1-6x because, as you said, that one is a BDC and range-estimation reticle. I've never really understood why you would want to estimate range and not have a way to hold wind unless you intend to engage with an indirect fire weapon and just need to know about how far something is. I've already figured out how to range estimate with the 1-8x reticle though so I've gained the advantage of a "Christmas Tree" style reticle and still have a range estimating capability.

I understand lots of guys use collapsible stocks for any number of purposes; doesn't mean they are correct or even good ideas I collapse them for cased transport, when I jump a rifle from an aircraft, if I have to fix a gross malfunction and need to slam the butt on the ground, and I collapse them a touch when I'm shooting in armor but only enough to allow for a small correction in LOP that keeps all things the same (i.e. relation of scope position to LOP for proper eye-relief) when accounting for the thickness of my armor. The only time I have ever put the stock on my chest that I can think of is when putting the muzzle against the ground and buttstock in my chest so that I could get two hands on the charging handle in order to clear a malfunction. That said, collapse them for whatever you may feel you need it collapsed for and I'll keep shooting the way I know to be right.

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not saying I "enjoyed" their set up, just saying it was upside down christmas tree in the 1x6

for their type of shooting the trajectory is usually flat enough to 200 yd, not to be a big worry in either range estimation or windage hold off.

on 1x between 6 and 20 yds the 3rd horizontal line "corrects" for the high and works great for head shots.

whether the stock is collapsed or short, as in AK 47 , some shooters like to move the gun more center line with the body and extending the left arm further down the barrel use a "pointing" technique much like shooting skeet. this technique helps with movers and aid control, especially if the shooter doesn't have "big shoulders."

some shooters collapse the stocks more to move their scope mount cantilever far enough forward to put their BUIS on and still retain the eye box

but you do what you know is right, that said

All opinions are on a bell curve----- somewhere.


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I been shooting my rifles incorrectly off my right shoulder my whole life.


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It was disgustingly warm, humid,and foggy this morning but I've been trying to figure out how to true up my drops to match up with the AR-BDC 2 reticle in my Strike Eagle 1-8x24mm using Hornady 75gn HPBT bullets moving just under 2700fps. The instructions said 50/200yds zero but in the rain the other night that had me hitting a touch low at longer ranges. After running it through Applied Ballistics LLC I moved my zero out a little further and shot 300yds and 400yds and things match the BDC now. At 10yds the 300yds hold is dead on and the center dot is good for a 4" plate from 30yds to 245yds.

In the wet air the lenses would fog slightly but so did the Bushnell HDMR on my PRS rifle and it has the Rain Guard coating so I think it was inevitable this morning that it would have condensation. As the fog began to burn off the image quality returned to normal and I can say that I am completely happy with the scope's image all the way to 8x but I will say in lower light it diminishes above 6x.

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Shot my rifle on Saturday and got it dialed in at what I figured was 50 yards, took it out to about 225-250 and I was hitting a couple inches high. I forgot my range finder in camp so all my yardages were guesses, which admittedly I am not that great at judging when it comes to shooting at targets. I was shooting the American Eagle 5.56 55gr FMJ, first time I've fired 5.56 through this rifle and it seemed to like the ammo but man was it loud without hearing protection. Rifle is a bit on the heavy side so I need to get a sling for it. Will post more when I get a chance to dial it in better.


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Originally Posted by tarheelpwr
I picked up a 1-6 when they came out, but I couldn't warm up to the foggy edges or critical eye relief so I unloaded it. I would assume those 2 items would even worse on the 1-8, but I don't have experience with that one.


Wow, mine is clean as can be. Should have sent that one back


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