Vortex 15-60x52mm Golden Eagle Shines in First Field Test
Our British friend Vince Bottomley has field-tested the brand new Vortex 15-60x52mm “Golden Eagle” riflescope. We first viewed this scope at SHOT Show and were impressed. Now Vince, in a Target Shooter Magazine review, has confirmed that that the scope works great in the real world. It has good glass, excellent tracking, and the image stays sharp even at full magnification. Vince says this 15-60X Vortex will give other high-magnification scopes a run for their money. In fact the Vortex Golden Eagle may be the new Performance-for-Price leader in the category. Price in the USA will be $1500.00.
READ Vortex 15-60X Scope Review by Vince Bottomley
Vince writes: “The Vortex deserves to line up alongside the competition – namely the March 10-60, the Nightforce 15-55 and the Leupold 7-42. The price is remarkable at [$1500.00 in the USA, under £1500 in the UK]. If you are contemplating the purchase of a scope in this magnification range, the Vortex must be on your shopping list.” This new Vortex features ED glass, and weighs 29 ounces, just one ounce more than the 15-55X Nightforce Comp. Two reticles are available — a Fine Cross-Hair (FCH), and the Vortex ECR-1 reticle with MOA-based windage and elevation hold lines. Turrets have 1/8 MOA clicks.
Precision of Clicks: Does one MOA (i.e. eight 1/8 MOA clicks) on the Golden Eagle’s turret translate to one MOA on the target? Vince fired one shot on target then wound on 20 MOA of elevation and fired another. Vince reports: “The shot-holes should be 20.94″ (20 x 1.047″) inches apart. They actually measured 21.5 inches — an excellent result. I don’t think I’ve ever had a scope better this.”
Elevation Travel: F-TR shooters using the .308 Win will need about 30 MOA to get from a 100-yard zero to 1000 yards. Vince maxed out the Golden Eagle with roughly 22 MOA of “up” elevation. He concluded that “a +20 MOA scope-rail is a ‘must’ if you’re intending to shoot out to 1000 yards. These days, almost everyone uses a 20 MOA scope rail anyway.”
Tracking Test: Vince did a “box test” running the Vortex to the limits of elevation and windage and then back again to verify that the scope returned to the starting zero. Vince observed that the scope tracked great, “with the first and last shots over-lapping. No problem there.”
Glass Sharpness and Clarity: Vince put the the Golden Eagle alongside a 10-60 March, with both scopes mounted on F-TR rifles. Vince was impressed by the optics quality of the Vortex — it held its own vs. the “superb” March: “Firstly, we viewed the target on 40 power, the magnification which seems most popular with F-Class shooters. Both scopes registered bright, crisp images — no difference between the two. I know the March will stay sharp at maximum magnification but will the Golden Eagle? Yes! No loss of crispness in the image at 60X.”
READ FULL REVIEW of Vortex 15-60x52mm Golden Eagle Scope
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Tags: F-Class, F-TR, Golden Eagle, March Scope, Vortex, Vortex 15-60X
If she used lower scope rings she wouldnt need the cheek piece.
Guy,
The Savage FTR rifle already had a 20MOA rail but we wanted to use it with a no-taper rail, so we used a Tier One Unimount with a 20MOA taper – THE WRONG WAY ROUND to ‘neutralise’ the 20MOA Savage rail.
This was so we could check the amount of elevation available when the scope was zeroed at 100 yds.
Plus, we thought you’d like to look at Yvonne shooting – rather than my ugly mug!
I’m thinking that at the price it’s not made in Japan, correct?
I handled and evaluated this optic at the Berger SWN and found it to be very impressive. Even at max magnification it was clear and bright, edge to edge. It may be time for me to replace the 32x NXS currently on my F-tr rifle.
I believe they are made in Japan!
Editor: Yes, according to Vince, they are made in Japan.
I see Vince, thanks for the info! Yes on the mug
I think it is a bit of a stretch to compare this with a March after only a day’s testing.
What is the red stock on the left? Is it a barrel mount stock?
The rifle on the left is my barrel mount stock with my march 10-60 scope, and to be honest if the Vortex had been out when I purchased my march, I would have gone for the Vortex.
wow for the moneyits a go…obviously at 60x its very hard to use but I like it at 35x for some of those long shots and still nice and clear
This scope is the real deal. Just sold my March, in the same magnification and feature set the only discernable difference is how much lighter your wallet is with March.
I bet you’d have fewer elevation problems if your Spuhr mount wasn’t on backwards