Vortex 4-16×50 MRAD ffp Scope Report
Rifle: Remington 700 SPS Tactical ACC-SD, 308 with the 20” heavy barrel
Equipped with a 20 MOA base
Scope: Vortex 4-16×50 MRAD with FFP
Ammo: Hornady 168 gr A-MAX
The ammo was kept at a 60 degree temp, +/- versus sitting out in the frigid temps all morning
Temperature — 0 degrees to 5 above
With the new rifle ready to hit the range and an opportunity to shoot a 600 yard cold-bore event in a week, my son and I were chomping at the bit to get this new build up and running.
We have been shooting a Barrett 98B 338 Lapua with Vortex’s 5-20×50 Razor MRAD-EBR3 for about a year now and have been 100% satisfied with the Razor, It’s built like a tank and can take the riggers of being used and abused in the field with the dependability of holding it’s marks. It’s a valid point having a rifle and scope capable of being used and depended on, not pampered yet being spot on down range and serving well and easy to run with.
The new build
Yesterday we made a road trip to a range capable of 50 – 600 yards.
The weather was calm to light winds
Temperature was running right at 0 to 5 degrees above zero when we were done
We set up the chronograph and got everything ready. With that we were ready to start sending a few 168s down range. It took 3 rounds to get a zero with a few follow ups to confirm it. Prior to the trip while home I bore sighted the scope to get it close. The method I commonly use is to pull the bolt and sight through the barrel at an target or bright object at roughly 100 yards while seeing the object in the barrel somewhat centered I then dial the crosshairs to the same target, glance through back and forth scope –versus- barrel to confirm it’s very close and then it’s ready for hitting the real thing at the range and for the most part it can surprisingly close.
Getting your zero at a 100 is fast. For the folks not in the know this is almost as simple. If you have a gun vise holding the gun solid you can do it yourself, otherwise if you have a partner along and you are shooting prone or over a shooting bench, aim your scope at the original aiming point be it a spot or cross hairs on paper typical of a scope target, hold it there and have your partner dial the turrets so that while the gun is rock solid on the original X your cross hairs will move to where the bullet hit on the target. Now send one off and you should be darn close to your aiming point, if not repeat the process to fine tune your zero. Then shoot a couple to confirm.
After we confirmed our zero, we proceeded to adjust the turret cap “zero stops”, here’s where simple becomes a high priority. Remember we are at an outdoor range and it is 3 degrees above zero for a temp, my dang glasses needed for seeing where fogging up some everything gets very stiff and your fingers in time working bare handed get a little less cooperative. With that we loosened the three allen set screws on the caps with the wrench provided by vortex, I lifted the elevation cap straight up and off – you do not have to take the screws all the way out, just run them out a ways and try lifting straight out. At this time with the PST, I started to add the shims provided adding one opposite of the other while stacking them until I filled the narrow gap, when I had the gap filled I may have been able to get one more in, but it was fairly tight and left it out. Vortex has a great video on their web sight explaining in detail on how to add the zero stop shims if anyone is uneasy about the easy process. At this point I slid the turret cap back on going straight down avoiding turning it, also at this point you are able to have the zero hash mark exactly where you need it, then snug down the three set screws using the short side of the allen wrench to hang on to so you do not over torque the set screws. The vertical is done, they will tell you in the video that you should be able to run past the new zero a bit before you will feel the bottom due to the shimming and then watch your red fiber indicator on top of the turret or your zero hash and dial her back to where you need it, mine ended up being a mil under zero, very solid and easy to run.
The windage zero turret cap also has three set screws to loosen, and then you are able to pull it out some and find the zero hash mark which is located between the marks heading right versus the marks heading left, line up your zero hash, push it in straight and tighten the screws in the same manner as before.
Shoot a few to confirm your still set and run your charts and you should be ready to send them off down range.
We ran our dope and we were able to use the 500 yard backstop. Our verticals were a little hot so we played with the FPS on the speed and got our charts spot on.
The weather was dam cold and we had batteries dumping on the radios and on the chronograph, I told my son later that we were having a great day for being 0 degrees out and I will say for being that cold the report on the clicks on the turrets for the PST were still sharp maybe not as snappy and crisp as what you get in a little warmer environment but dang good for that temp we had,they still had a sharp report a good thing. Also running the turret up and down on the verticals a bunch as we both did some shooting, the scope functioned very well and repetitive.
Next week we are off to a 600 yard cold bore event
After that in a few weeks my son and I will be heading off to Thunder Valley Precision in OH. to see what the limits and what the repeatability may be for the 308 as well as the 338 Lapua. Note from the dope we should be close to 1400 with the 308, after everything was set we had 16 mils of useable vertical lift in the turret and 9 mils of hash marks in the scope thus 25 mils of vertical past zero.
So far the PST proves to be just like the Razor in performance just in a smaller package and defiantly a smaller bill.
A lot of good information in it! 
