Vortex Venom First Focal Plane: Reviewed By A Utah Deer Hunter

To me, the Venom is the perfect hunting scope, mainly because it offers Vortex's high-end features at a price the average hunter can afford.

FYI, prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.

This scope is the ultimate shooter's optic. For a quarter of the price of a Nightforce scope, the Vortex Venom offers the same level of performance. I may not have enough space to gush over this scope in this article. I should also add that I'm a weird hunter, so I hunt big game with a first focal plane scope. For deer hunting, I don't care whether it's a second-focal or first-focal.

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Vortex Venom - FFP Riflescope

HIGHLIGHT:

Huge objective lens and high magnification.

ERGONOMICS:

The eye relief is perfect for me on the 7mm Mag rifle, and the eye box (where your eye can see a full sight picture) makes this scope really easy to use. The magnification ring comes with the throwing arm and makes adjusting smooth. It can be adjusted in very small increments. Unlike many scopes I've used, the Venom lets me fine-tune the magnification in very small increments. I can actually stop at 6.2× instead of jumping straight from 6× to 7×. The diopter on the eyepiece will adjust so it is easier for me to look through the optic with my glasses, and whatever my astigmatism is, this diopter makes everything look perfect.

CONTROLS:

In my opinion, the turrets are the best on the market. They click into place with an audible and tactile feel. The elevation and windage are in the standard places, and on the other side of the scope is the side-mounted focus knob. The focus knob is a fantastic thing to use, and once I used one, I never wanted to go back. Not all scopes have the focus knob, and that is OK; I always like the side focus knob.

GLASS:

Vortex's glass is the cleanest or one of the cleanest sight pictures I have ever used. The glass features every coating Vortex offers. It helps make good glass even better or near perfect.

RETICLE:

The first focal plane reticle is impressive, especially when long-range or target shooting.

WARRANTY:

Vortex was the first manufacturer to offer a no-questions-asked warranty. They will probably replace a scope even if it was burned in a fire. A few years ago, the glass in one of my older Vortex scopes got completely scratched. I sent it to the address on their website, and a few weeks later I got a new one in the mail.

VALUE:

This rifle scope is built like the over-thousand-dollar scopes, and the differences are not readily noticeable unless you can line up the whole lot and spend hours looking through them all at different targets, times of day, distances, etc.

Get it from Amazon now: $499.00 & FREE Returns