Aztec fundamental turret flaw? and quality issues

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Martinman

Martinman

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Mar 24, 2018
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TN
Just purchased a new Aztec Emerald 3x18-50 and I'm pretty disappointed. I like so many things about the scope, but some problems can't be overlooked. First quality issue is that the slot on the top turret is buggered up like someone put a metal screw driver in it. Not extreme, but this is suppose to be brand new. Second quality issue it the top turret only clicks in one direction. I can feel the bump going the other way but no click. And I have not over rotated the turrets. I use FX no limits rings to adjust as much elevation when I'm zeroing. It only took about 6 clicks to fine tune it. 

Now the possible design flaw. I've watched every review on this scope that I could find and no one mentions this. How everyone missed it is beyond me. Maybe Im doing something wrong, but I don't think so. It advertises as resettable turrets. Meaning after you zero your gun the turret can be lifted off and reseated at 0 where the dot indicator is on the scope tube. This cannot happen. There are 60 click marks on the turret. There are only 20 teeth on the cog that meshes back to the turret when you reseat it. Meaning that the turret will only reset on every 3rd click mark. So unless you are extremely lucky and landed on 1 of the every 3rd mark, its not going to reset you back to 0. The closest I can get is 1 mark to the left of zero on 1 side and 2 past 0 on the other side. Some may say, I can look over it, but it should work as advertised. 

It is possible that the turret cogs were suppose to line up with 0. Then no matter where you found yourself it would be able to reset to 0. If thats the case then mine has 3 quality issues.

I have a video of this but I'm not sure how to post it

Has anyone else experienced this problem?
 
I have several. All click as expected (but I use holdover and rarely touch the turrets after zeroing). The resettable turrets are as you describe but I fall in the category of those that accept this. Don't know that I've had a scope where I can drop the cap back on pefectly when resetting. The damage to cap screw is prob the seller demonstrating the scope to someone. I won't call the retailer out, but I've received scopes 2x with the same damage you describe.
 
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I just can't settle when I pay $435 for something. I bought a cheap $89 UTG a year ago. I knew that it was a budget scope and didn't have the best glass and the mils would be off and the reticle is thick and so on. But it did work as advertised and didn't have a blemish on it. Im still waiting on the call, but I feel like the retailer will make it right.
 
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You are completely right about this issue. Before I settle on an Aztec, reviews on this scope does not mention anything about this flaw when resetting the turrets back to zero. This goes for both the elevation and windage turrets. I currently have a 5.5-25x50 FFP, and also did have the opportunity to own a 5.5-25x50 SFP. I can attest that both the scopes I own do have the zeroing turret problem you mentioned above. I do like my scope, and overtime, I have learned to deal with it. In retrospect, I may have gone with a different brand of scope if I had known this.
 
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I have 2 also … both are 5.5-25x50 … one SFP and the other FFP … they both have the problem stated above … but like almost everyone above, I have also learned to live with the problem. Yes, all these scopes are expensive and we should be able to get what we pay for … but there seems to be a trade off for most people … if they are able to get 95% of what they pay for these days, they are happy. The guy who built my house, did I get everything I wanted, when I wanted it, the way I wanted it … no … but it is a fine house never the less and I love it … in fact I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. The last car I bought, did I find faults with it after purchase or things that did not work exactly the way it was advertised … yes I did … but I love the car. The truth is that things are seldom as great as they appear in advertisements. I drove a gasoline tanker for over 30 years and had a DOT inspection guy tell me once that he could easily put " Out Of Service " any truck ever made, right off the show room floor … ya know what? I believe him!
 
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I have a couple of the Aztec 5.5-25×50 scopes as well, one FFP and one SFP. I love them both but each has the same problem you describe. It's annoying but would I have gone with a different scope had I known this? Not sure but I can tell you the third scope I bought was a not an Aztec, I went with a Viper PST Gen II 5-25x50 instead. No problems with resetting the turret but then again, it's a much different scope.
 
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I’m afraid that if we keep settling for substandard quality, then it will not get better. 

I think it’s our responsibility as the consumer to send a message that it’s not acceptable. I want to see this industry continue to grow. That will be a challenge when people are constantly facing issues with their purchases. 

Interesting consumer fact: a consumer who fusses or calls is more likely to stay cause they want to be helped. The consumer who walks away typically says nothing. 

I love this hobby and the industry. But I do think it suffers from quality issues. The strange thing that I’ve noticed is the higher up I go the more issues I’ve had. 3 times the amount when I jumped from springers to pcp.
 
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I have had 2 Aztec 5.5-25×50 SFP scopes because 1 went south and was warrantied and still have one. They BOTH suffered from not being able to get the turrets set on zero, when zeroed, I just delt with it for awhile. I guess that it was designed by air gunners for air gunners, I guess air gunners don't care about zero being zero on turrets. Its a OK scope but being able to set it to zero when zeroed would seem to be a fairly normal thing for a scope costing 400+ dollars. There was NEVER a review that mentioned this fact, or I would have never purchased it. Lots of similar priced scopes out there, with comparable glass that HAVE resettable to zero turrets, if that matters to the shooter. It now sits in its box...waiting for someone who doesn't care if its 2 or 3 click off at zero.
 
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Got to say I love my Aztec and since it was on the rifle that won the Extreme Benchrest Competition in 2017 I would say that it is still good enough for me. When I zeroed mine the last time I ended up with the zero mark exactly on zero so I did not know what you were talking about. So, I zeroed it for another distance and found I was one click off the mark this time. So, I think you be right it is a design flaw. By looking at the way the scope is designed and most others as well I would guess that there are very few scopes that would not suffer from the same sort of problem. One click on these MOA scopes is 1/4 inch at 100 yards. I am shooting sub MOA groups with my Impact at that range. Still 1/4 inch one way or the other with the wind changing constantly probly will not be noticed. But knowing that it is this way will allow me to easily compensate by clicking one click to the left from zero for my true zero. So really not a deal breaker for the quality this scope offers me.
 
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...By looking at the way the scope is designed and most others as well I would guess that there are very few scopes that would not suffer from the same sort of problem. ...
Click to expand...

None of my scopes (including UTG, Monstrum, Athlon) have that sort of problem.
Click to expand...

Any scope that has resettable dials will have the same problem unless the splines have the same number of teeth as the dials have marks. 
 
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...By looking at the way the scope is designed and most others as well I would guess that there are very few scopes that would not suffer from the same sort of problem. ...
Click to expand...

None of my scopes (including UTG, Monstrum, Athlon) have that sort of problem.
Click to expand...

Any scope that has resettable dials will have the same problem unless the splines have the same number of teeth as the dials have marks.
Click to expand...

On all of my scopes, the number of splines match the dial marks. That is how they should be designed. Otherwise, what's the point in making them "resettable"?
 
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Scotchmo, Many scopes have the same number of spines and I would agree with you that those that do not should or they should be spinless as some of mine are and as RichieG states. But there are those that do not for some reason or another. I am surprised that all of the three scopes you have have the same number of splines. Looks like there may possibly be more than a few out there then.
 
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