450Bushmaster.net

Quick update on my optics quest for my Ruger Ranch. After toying with the idea of an LPVO like the Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6x24, I settled on a more conventional hunting scope—the Crossfire II in 3-9x50. After some good initial impressions and results, everything went to Poo. I must’ve shot 40 rounds one day chasing a zero that I never seemed to catch. Nothing was working. I thought that maybe I had caught a bad case of the flinches or something. Then I figured it out. I was turning the windage knob and the shot groups weren’t budging. I don’t know if the recoil knocked the scope out, or whether when I first attached it to the rifle using the Allen wrench that came with my rings I over-tightened it by hand. I used a torque wrench for the final adjustments before zeroing, but I admit I was quite shocked by how light 18 inch/lbs actually is.

Rather than try out Vortex’s legendary warranty, I decided to test the theory and exchange the Crossfire II for a Viper HS in 2.5-10x44. Shorter, lighter, and heavier duty, it cost as much as my rifle. But on paper it seemed perfect for the job. The dead hold BDC reticle has subtensions very close to the ones calibrated for straight wall cartridges like ours. At 2.5x, it provides much more field of view than 3x in close than I would’ve expected. And the 44mm bell looks a bit more natural on this compact truck gun than the 50mm did.

At the range, things immediately improved. Twists of the turret had corresponding effects on POI, and by the end of the zeroing session I was plinking 4 inch steel at 200 yards.

I’m not sure if removing the brake did the Crossfire II in, or whether I just got a bad copy. But I must say I was glad to have an excuse to talk myself into the Viper. I was really impressed with the optical quality of the Crossfire II, but the Viper does seem to have better low-light capability even though its objective is smaller. If you’re looking for something between a $200 scope and a $700 scope, I think it’s a good fit for the Bushmaster.

The middle picture looks like you were experimenting with varying degrees of grip force. I tried that years ago, going from loose artillery hold to the greatest death grip I could muster and hold. Kinda like that silent picture scene where Harold Lloyd is hanging from the minutes hand on the face of the clock tower. Anyway, the resultant group had vertical stringing that followed the intensity of my grip. The tighter I pulled it in, the higher it shot and that was with a Ross brake. It even had that slight left to right drift.

Ah memories...

Hoot

Ha. That’s a good one.

That middle one was my zero effort with the new Viper HS. But I have been wondering how the barrel bedding on these Ruger Americans respond to grip and rest pressure. Thus far all my shots have been through a Caldwell Tack Driver shooting rest. But it’s time to start practicing my hunting zero. I have a cheap V bracket for tripod arriving today. Plan to find a quiet day at the range to get into more natural hunting postures and see how it affects my zero.

In the interest of accurate comparison, I don't own a bolt action. I was an early adopter (2010) of the AR platform, as that was all that was available back then. Its met my needs all along, so I never felt compelled to also buy a bolt action. There's enough difference between the all metal AR front end and a nylon or whatever, bolt action front end, that my observations may not be germane to your experience. Heaven knows, there are plenty of bolt action 450b enthusiasts lurking about. I'll let some of them wade in.

FWIW, I always do load testing using a full blown BR setup off of a concrete shooting table. Don't need any additional variables to influence the outcome of different load recipes that I test. Don't be surprised if those long shot groups open up a little shooting off hand or from a simple hunting rest. Might surprise you when they shoot better with less control exerted over them. This caliber is incredibly forgiving.

Hoot

their crossfire line is the bargain basement budget line for vortex.

jumping up into the viper HS you just skipped like 3 or 4 classes of optic upward on the quality scale.

its incredible what a few hundred $ gets you these days in optics quality isnt it?

Yeah it sure is. Looking back on it, it’s kinda embarrassing. I think you spend $500 on a rifle, you assume that its accessories should cost less than the rifle itself. After shooting through $100 of ammo chasing what turned out to be a bad scope, I recognized the fallacy of my ways.

That’s not to say that you have to spend $500 on a scope to put meat in the freezer. Plenty of guys on here are doing more with less. But you sure do “see” where the money goes if you do.

Escape Pod wrote:Yeah it sure is. Looking back on it, it’s kinda embarrassing. I think you spend $500 on a rifle, you assume that its accessories should cost less than the rifle itself. After shooting through $100 of ammo chasing what turned out to be a bad scope, I recognized the fallacy of my ways.

That’s not to say that you have to spend $500 on a scope to put meat in the freezer. Plenty of guys on here are doing more with less. But you sure do “see” where the money goes if you do.

i'll tell you from expierence - you'll notice it in low light conditions in the field thts for dang sure.

head into the backyard one of these evenings right around dusk, lets say that last 15 mins of legal shooting time, take a look around.. it'll blow your mind what you'll be able to see with that viper HS.