For me, I had a Venom. I liked that you can change the battery and not have to eff up your zero, however I dropped the gun once and the sight got totally broke. The housing was bent, the zero was gone and it was totally unrepairable.
To their credit, Vortex sent me a new one free of charge, but I'd be hesitant to carry one.
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Yes! Dropping your weapon is a bitch, isn't it. Sorry to hear that happened, but glad that Vortex honored the warranty.Originally Posted by 45dotACP
Jim
Hi UberVic,
I received my Venom today. I purchased the 6 MOA. I now have an email into my armorer to let me know when he can fit me in to swap out my rear for my venom.
To note: The battery slot was interesting. I see where others have had difficulty. It isn't the threads. It's the rubber seal on the back of the cover that presses on the battery. At first I had some issues till I figured out what the problem is.
My solution: take a drop of gun oil and put it on a cleaning patch... Just a drop and only on the patch. Lube the rubber seal on the battery cover with the patch and then lube the threads on the cover with the patch. REMEMBER: ONLY ONE DROP on the patch to do all of that. Then press with the drive tool provided and a little effort and the cover just nicely goes on. The reason for the touch of oil is so that there is no binding on the threads and so that the rubber doesn't grab. It worked for me...
I checked out the auto intensity on the venom. as far as I can tell it works fine. manual adj also seems to work fine. Left it on for 1 hour, no issues. Turns off ok. I can really see that 6 MOA dot well at any intensity... Finding it is not a problem at all.
Next update is when I get it installed on my EDC.
Jim
Hi UberVic,
Had it for about 2 weeks now. I love the Venom. Armorer failed to locktite it in so I had to make a second trip to the range to sight it in. Locked it in off of my bench rest at 15 yds. Practiced presenting and shooting about 130 rounds today.
Present and acquire the center of the target with the dot is currently same speed as with IRON sights. Subsequent shots are at least 2x faster with the venom, maybe faster with better accuracy. Today only worked on one target at 15 yds and also tried some quick draw and firing at 10 yds. Once sighted in it is very accurate and I think it will only get better. Still working on using both eyes. It's difficult to unlearn something but I am getting there.
I could be much faster with presenting if I work on my double grip better. That is where I am slowing down. I can practice that at home where my wife can look at me and shake her head.
Overall I am very excited. This thing seems to be very strong. I have a holster from crossbreed that is made for this venom. It fits perfectly and protected very well.
Jim
After locktite my venom does not come loose and also maintains accuracy. With the crossbreed it is comfortable and doesn't hit anything when I move. Unless I drop my weapon or go full Rambo, I seriously doubt I will break it, but with a lifetime warranty, and with a backup I am not concerned. The auto-intensity is perfect. The auto off after about 13 hours is great for setting and then holstering my EDC and it stays on for the full day and will turn off if I forget to manually turn it off. Long battery life, and I have plenty of batteries. I will do a battery change every 6 months just to be safe, but it would probably last 2 years the way I use it. No issues with presentation or acquiring the dot and putting it on target. I have no regrets at all. With 2 eyes open I can see everything around now.
Jim
This is my setup:
Last week I sighted in the gun on the 15 yd lane. No issues with sighting and repeatable shots.
Today, went to 25yd lane. I didn't have to adjust the sights. Used bench rest to verify sights were on target. Then shot free hand. I seem to shoot better free hand than using a bench rest. Go figure.
This is where my burp happened with the vortex venom: Around round 90, on one of my shots I was hit in the face with what I thought was a spent round. Then I realized I lost DOT. How strange! I looked at the venom and no battery in it. I looked down on the ground and the battery, O'Ring and Cap were on the ground. I then shot fine and hit the target at 25 yards with no Dot. That felt good. That was my last round in the mag. I picked up the battery and cap and cleaned them off and put it back on. Wow, it went on much easier this time.
Reflecting on what happened. There is an O'Ring and I figured it became very compressed and became loose. When I put the battery back in I was able to tighten the cap much further down which is the reason I figured that the o'ring compressed.
I finished off about another 60 rounds and no issues at that time.
I will keep the battery tightness in mind every hundred rounds. On the bright side, I can still hit the target without the dot at 25 yds. Just centered the target in my sight and there you go.
Jim
I knew there was an issue of the battery losing connection on some of the venoms and it did act up on me after the cap blew off. I was able to correct it each time with no issues, but I wanted it fixed. I called vortex and they offered to replace the whole device, but I asked if there was something less drastic. They said they could send me a new cap which fixed some problems like this. I said please send the cap... No charge, nor were they going to charge a complete replacement. I knew some of the venoms would do this but I also knew I could get it replaced and use my backup EDC till I get it fixed. So far the fix I made at home seems to be holding, but I do want the upgraded cap.
See not everything is pretty flowers. Touch a rose and you might get Thorned. I still love the sight and heck, I may already have it fixed. I will keep everyone updated.
Jim
First chance to hit the range in about 3 weeks. That was a long stretch for me. New battery cap and new formulated reloads and what a difference. the DOT held... shot at the 25 yd lane. I wanted to try my new powder and COL adjustments. I also compared to Walmart White Box ammo. Used a good bench rest. With my venom I can hit so consistent that now I can try new powders and make other adjustments to see if they had any effect, thanks to the red dot accuracy on the 25 yard lane.
White Box should only be used on the 10 yard lane. It was so far off, it was not even good for anything other than using the brass for reloads. my early loads were using CFE Pistol. It was much better than the white box ammo, but not what I was happy with. I heard good things about titegroup, so I tried it. I am never going back to anything after the titegroup. I tried a just below medium load of titegroup powder and lowered my COL a little. OH FREAKING GOODNESS! The kick was very noticeably lighter. It felt like half the recoil/kick. It felt really good. I tried both FMJ round nose and JHP loads with the appropriate COL and wow. Using the bench rest to steady my red dot at 25 yds, I could group about 2 inch groups. Now keep in mind I am not that great of a shot but for me it was great. The hollow points were not as accurate as the RN's. Today I shot at 2 seperate targets mounted about 15 feet apart from each other and I was 25 yds from each of them. Alternating between the 2 targets, one shot each yielded a good hit on each target. That red dot is awesome.
I doubt I will ever use my gun at all, and if I had to use it, I would not be shooting 25 yds. At that distance I am sure I could get away. But knowing that my VENOM DOT could cut a person in half at that distance makes me feel very secure if the worse ever happened.
Today I brought a friend that I am trying to get him into shooting. This is the first time he shot with a DOT. Of course he loved my Venom. He could barely hit the at 25 yards but he hit 50%. Not bad for a first time. I had him doing 10 yds and he did very well. The big take away is that he picked up the DOT very easy and was shooting better with it than with my backup using iron sights. I spent most of the day teaching him how to hold the gun, hand position and tensions/pressures, trigger finger placement and how to squeeze. The DOT really helped him see how he was anticipating the shot and recoil and was able to adjust to a better technique to overcome his issues.
Jim
I never had terrific accuracy with white box either. For bulk factory ammo that I buy for my 9mm's to practice or compete, I tend to prefer Federal or Speer.
But for my .45s it's probably gonna be handloaded. I've actually got some CFE hanging around. Gonna have to try it.
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Hi Mr 45.ACP,
The CFE for me was not as good as the titegroup powder I reloaded with this time for my 45. My EDC is the Colt Combat Commander 4.25" barrel. Formula for my Best load today: Everglades 230 gn FMJ round nose, 4.2 gn of TiteGroup, COL of 1.248, Primers Fed or Win large (both worked ok, but I prefer the Federal). I saw no difference in the various brass that I had. I did a slow load on my Dillon Press to verify everything (powder and seatings of primer and bullet and tolerances) on EACH AND EVERY round. This was so good for my specific EDC, I doubt I will change my formula.
Difference in CFE and Titegroup Powder was about 2" for titegroup vs 6" for CFE groupings at 25 yds. My previous FMJ round nose was seated at 1.265 and used CFE of various volumes of between 6.0gn to 6.8gn and I could never achieve even close to what my current formula gives. Also the reduction in kick is very noticeable, (as President Trump says: Bigley). Tonight I get the the fun job of cleaning my EDC. No joke, I really enjoy cleaning, go figure. I just bought 1000 FMJ RN from Everglades. I have about 200 JHP's to reload.
I have never been so happy with a reload formula before. Not so much as accuracy is concerned, but that I can see such a dramatic change.
I use the white box mostly for plinking at 10 yds, and then I have some good brass to reload. I really do love the Winchester brass plus I get the chance to plink.
I love 9mm but I sold mine to pick up my Shield and my Commander, both 45's. Since I love to reload and the cost to me to reload 9mm could not be justified since the cost of good commercial ammo was cheap enough. I also wanted a little more bang. I am not sorry at all for that decision, even though I really love shooting 9mm's more than the 45's. I just love bigger bullets.
Jim
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