Nikon M 308 or Vortex Viper HS??

[cory nigra]

im looking at both of these scopes. they both come in 4-16 power and external dials and good warranties. help me decide there going on a AR10

 

[42769vette]

im looking at both of these scopes. they both come in 4-16 power and external dials and good warranties. help me decide there going on a AR10

i have 2 complaints with the nikon. 1 is out of all the nikons ive shot with none of them track. ive have 4 buckmasters, and 1 monarch and none of them tracked. external knobs do you no good if everytime you touch them you unsight your rifle.

and the other is i have no clue why anyone would want to aim with circles. i like to aim at a specific point, not a area. when shooting longer ranges the circles cover a entire area.

nikons do have very good glass. id say the glass quality is equal on each scope your looking at

the vortex will have a better warrenty. the vortex warrenty actually covers stupid. if you run your scope over with a dump truck and it breaks vortex will replace it no questions ask. nikon's warrenty covers any factory defect.

i dont nessessarly think the nikon is a bad choice, i just think when you compare it to a viper there is no comparision.

wich specific m308 and viperhs are you looking at? most of the viper hs scopes have capped finger turrets. you do have to be carful with some of the viper hs lr scopes because some of them come with 1/2moa click wich i personally do not like

 

[bman940]

Nikon's Warranty does cover any problem's you encounter for the lifetime of the scope. Agreed, it doesn't cover getting run over by a dump truck.....go figure.
While I do do some work for NIkon, I have been using their scopes for almost 20 years now by choice. I can't say I have ever had one that didn't track, strange.
The new M-308 will be out in about a month, mid Sept. Thus far from what my buddies who have put 1000's of rounds under this scope tell me, this scope is the real deal and should be very big for Nikon. Some guys were using one at a shoot in Utah last month and I am happy to report that the misses at 500 yards were few and far between.
If you need a scope now I can understand not waiting, but if you can hold off, I think you will be very pleased with what this M-308 scope offers you.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd363/bman940/m-3081.jpg

 

[42769vette]

Nikon's Warranty does cover any problem's you encounter for the lifetime of the scope. Agreed, it doesn't cover getting run over by a dump truck.....go figure.
While I do do some work for NIkon, I have been using their scopes for almost 20 years now by choice. I can't say I have ever had one that didn't track, strange.
The new M-308 will be out in about a month, mid Sept. Thus far from what my buddies who have put 1000's of rounds under this scope tell me, this scope is the real deal and should be very big for Nikon. Some guys were using one at a shoot in Utah last month and I am happy to report that the misses at 500 yards were few and far between.
If you need a scope now I can understand not waiting, but if you can hold off, I think you will be very pleased with what this M-308 scope offers you.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd363/bman940/m-3081.jpg

I have no doubt that the m-308 will be huge for nikon. By saying its for a 308 they have tricked the consumer into thinking "I dont have to actually see what my rifle does, i can just trust the drop chart is correct and go shoot at 500 yards. The problem with this type of blanket statement is that there are far to many varibles in long range shooting for a company to predict with any degree of accuracy what your rifle, with your ammo, in your conditions will do at x range. It is a wonderful marketing gimic that works like a charm. For instance the nikon will work with any 168gr bullet per the nikon site. So they are saying if you loaded a 168gr bullet @ 1800 fps it would have the same drop chart at a 168 gr bullet at 2300 fps? What about altitude? The list goes on and on. Nomatter how hard a company advertises that they have made long range shooting idiot proff the bottom line it only range time will tell you what your load, gun etc do in the real world

Atleast you argee that nikons warrenty is subpar to vortex's. Thats one of the things that sets Vortex appart from companies like Nikon. Nikon's warrenty specifically state the product is warrantied to any defects in material, or workmanship.

Vortex looks at every customer as a walking talking advertisment. They specifically state "if its broke it doesnt matter whos fault it is they will make it right no quesitons ask" personally i like a company that goes that far out of their way to make 100% certain i am a happy repeat customer.

I'm not sure why none of the Nikons ive owned did not track, but from reading forums its not a uncomon issue. Depending on your shooting style tracking may or may not matter to you.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying nikon makes a bad product. I dont like their marketing gimics (thats became par in the industry), and I hate hate hate aiming with circles. For specifc uses there scopes make sense, but comparing them to the Viper hs is just not fair to Nikon

 

[mammynun]

I have 2 Nikon's (Prostaff 2-7x32 and Buckmaster 3-9x40) and 2 Vortex (PST 1-4x24 and PST FFP 6-24x50). It's kind of apples and oranges since my Nikons are on the lower end of their product line, and the Vortex's are on the upper end, but here are my observations.

Vortex PST's have much better glass, but they cost more so that's not really a surprise. My Nikons have enclosed turrets but they have stayed zeroed for years... I have no idea how they track, but why would it matter if it takes a coin to adjust them after you take the cover off? FWIW, the Vortex 1-4x is capped too, but the turrets are finger adjustable once you remove the caps... which is nice when zeroing or moving between rifles but it doesn't sound like that would be much a benefit to the OP. I don't think exposed turrets without a MilDot reticle (or some reticle with a known scale) are of any real benefit to a hunter... you're only going to get one shot.

Reticle(s). I'm a complete MilDot fanboi, and I basically agree with Alan about drop compensating (BDC) reticles... they're not much good for 1st shot hits. I will say that when plinking with .30-06 it helps me stay on target after I've found my POA, but that doesn't help a hunter much.

I'll avoid the whole FFP vs SFP issue by saying that I'd prefer FFP with a MilDot reticle every time, but if you're good with math (and I'm not) and spend some time and ammo to find the true 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 power of a SFP scope, you can work a MilDot.

Either way, I'd go with a MilDot. OP, have you considered a fixed power scope?