bobwhitebarry from United States, UT Public Profile

I purchased this barrel 3 months ago. It seemed like a good alternative to a Proof barrel. In theory, the company might have a unique product, but the quality control and customer service are SOOOO bad, that it is not worth the risk. It has been at my gunmith for 3 months. It says "Tikka pre-fit" but it needs a nut like a Savage 110 to install the barrel. It also says it requires a thread protector but didn't come with one. It took 3 months to get a response and all they said is they are available on the website. This barrel is for 223 Wylde, yet the thread pattern is for 5/8"x24 instead of 1/2"x28. Strange that they would do something so wonky and not provide it when they say it is required. BTW, I can't find it on their site. It appears that they fixed the wonky barrel nut threading to 1/2"x28 and that is available, but nothing for the barrel I bought.
BTW, they have a link that says "Dealers." Turns out Optics Planet is the ONLY dealer... So now my Tikka is torn apart and I can't get the barrel nut to finish putting it back together and no response from the manufacturer. What a joke!

With brass so hard to find, I decided to try this Winchester brass since I would not spend as much time on it as long range and hunting ammo. It isn't as pretty (polished) as other brands, but the thing that I really didn't like is how inconsistent the primer pockets are. Some were really tight to prime, but others were really loose and sloppy. I am not talking about a few here and there, they were all over the place. The case mouths needed to be deburred.
In all fairness, I usually use Lapua brass for everything I can. I didn't expect that quality, but I didn't expect the inconsistency and lack of finishing. For a bit more you can get much better.

The scope is clear and bright, but the ocular lens (rear eyepiece) is way too big for a little rimfire scope. It makes it tough to mount as low as I prefer.

The finish looks nice, but it scratches way too easy. I mounted this scope and a Leupold Freedom rimfire scope on different rifles on the same day. I used Warne steel rimfire rings. The rings are excellent, but really tight and kind of snap around the scope tube. The Vortex scope finish easily scratched. The Leupold was fine. I do like the turrets on the scope. The markings are small and hard to read for my old, tired eyes. The new Leupold Freedom turrets are super easy to read and can be easily adjusted without using a penny for the turret slot.

I think the biggest disappointment was how unforgiving the eye relief is. On low power (2-3) it isn't bad and fairly easy to get on sight quickly. On higher power (5-7) the focus "box" is so small it was really "winky" and hard to keep the sight picture. That might be fine if you are only shooting at targets in either a sitting or prone position, but I mounted it on the new Tikka rimfire and I intend to use it for hunting...

I may have to put it on a different rifle and purchase another Leupold to use instead. The Vortex warranty is as good as it gets. The glass is clear and the scope is generally well made, but not what I expected from Vortex based on the other Vortex scopes I have purchased. They are Viper and Razor models, so probably different manufacturers altogether. I w