Today I picked up (from the post office) a Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 FFP MRAD that I ordered from SFRC. I just unboxed it and was getting familiar with it, and I was checking out the magnification, and seeing just how large the reticle became as I zoom in, and when I hit the max, I heard a soft hissing sound coming from the rear of the scope somewhere. It sounded like gas escaping, so I turned it back the other way slightly and it stopped, then I turned it back to max again to double check that's what I was hearing and it hissed again but then stopped on it's own... Anybody know wtf just happened? I've never heard of that before.. I understand Vortex has a pretty killer warranty so I'm not too worried, but I thought I'd inquire with you fine folks before I contact Vortex about it.
Did my scope just break?
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That is what it sounds like to me as well.....time to give Vortex a call...
Is it possible it is just gas being pressurized by the moving internal elements and being displaced to another location INSIDE the tube... and not actually being expelled from the scope? After all it has to go somewhere IF you are actually exerting pressure on the gas (air?)
^^^^^^^^^this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IFyou are immersing it in a sink ... make sure you use warm water not cold...the cold will cause the air inside to contract and suck moisture in ... the warm (briefly) will expand the air and push gas out ...
edit to add .. probably most scopes over 5-10 years old no longer have nitrogen in them ... and it is probably over rated.. several "Jena" Zeiss scopes I have are (and were) not nitrogen purged...never had a problem with them though.
I try to avoid taking a rifle from outside cold to inside warm quickly - if it has to come in to a much warmer location I wrap the works in a blanket and let the rifle/scope warm up slowly. Having moisture condense on the cold steel of your rifle, bore, trigger group etc is no "happier" than having a scope fog up .. my 2 cents
(ps - I dont like to use a gun case for this though as any moisture that finds its way into a soft case seems to hang around long enough to eventually cause rust for some reason)
edit to add .. probably most scopes over 5-10 years old no longer have nitrogen in them ... and it is probably over rated.. several "Jena" Zeiss scopes I have are (and were) not nitrogen purged...never had a problem with them though.
I try to avoid taking a rifle from outside cold to inside warm quickly - if it has to come in to a much warmer location I wrap the works in a blanket and let the rifle/scope warm up slowly. Having moisture condense on the cold steel of your rifle, bore, trigger group etc is no "happier" than having a scope fog up .. my 2 cents
(ps - I dont like to use a gun case for this though as any moisture that finds its way into a soft case seems to hang around long enough to eventually cause rust for some reason)
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Yup....these things NEVER happen with other products.
There are endless threads about failing Vortex products on this forum and many others, I don't see the same from better known brands do you?? OP spends $1000 on a scope and its sh*t right out of the box. I guess the QC from their low end to their "high" end is the same, non existent. Now the OP gets to wait a few weeks for his replacement and he hasn't even mounted the optic yet. That's a sound investment, really instils confidence in the product..
TDC
Vortex out sells every other brand we carry, in store and online, by over 10 times so you're going to see more recorded failures. I only know of 6 or 7 scopes that we've sold this year breaking and in one case the person fell on their rifle and one the person over tightened the rings and dented the tube. If we had the OP's scope in stock still we would have just switched it out for him.
Ryan
