Adam Scepaniak 05.10.25
One of the most exciting announcements to come from Vortex Optics this year has been the Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot. The name is a mouthful, but it’s completely worth it. This red dot changes the landscape of turkey red dots, and reshapes the way we should be thinking about mounting. I was more than impressed when I was introduced to it, and could not wait for Minnesota’s turkey season to start so I could get out in the field with one. Today, we will walk through all of my experiences using the Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot for the past several months. Everything from unboxing, mounting, and a pivotal moment in the field that could have lead to the failure or success of my hunt. Let’s dive in!
Vortex Optics Coverage on AllOutdoor
Specifications – Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot
The Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot has an MSRP of $499.99 for its “Multi Reticle” version, which is the one we are reviewing here today. Built robustly and creatively designed, these are all of the technical specs that you can come to expect with this red dot that is new to the market:
- SKU: VPR-SGMRD3-MR-E
- Mounting Footprint: Integrated for Drilled and Tapped Shotguns
- Dot Color: Bright Red
- Battery Type: CR2032
- Battery Run Time: 50,000 Hours
- Magnification: 1x
- Reticle: Multi-Reticle
- Eye Relief: Unlimited
- Adjustment Graduation: 1 MOA
- Max Elevation Adjustment: 100 MOA
- Max Windage Adjustment: 100 MOA
- Parallax Setting: Parallax Free
- Length: 4.86″
- Weight: 2.14 oz.
While we are looking specifically at the Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot (Multi-Reticle) today, Vortex Optics does have 2 options within the Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot series. Again, for clarity, we are playing with the Multi-Reticle (SKU: VPR-SGMRD3-MR-E). Your two potential offerings are listed below:
The Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot is waterproof, fogproof, and shockproof to endure everything that Mother Nature (and you) can throw at it. Additionally, you have beneficial features like a side loading battery, an auto-shutoff, and multiple reticles to choose from. All of the features you can enjoy from this red dot are listed below as presented by Vortex:
- Enclosed Aluminum Housing – Durable 6061 aluminum enclosed housing protects against debris and moisture.
- Large Viewing Window – For fast target acquisition and large field of view.
- Multi-Reticle – Quickly adapts to diverse shooting situations.
- Aspherical Lens – For distortion-free sight picture and truer colors.
- Motion Activation with 10 Minute Auto-Shutoff – Automatically activates with motion while 10 minute auto-shutoff saves battery life.
- Top Buttons – For quick adjustments.
- Parallax Free – All red dot and holographic sights will exhibit some small amount of parallax. Matching current industry practices, this small amount would be considered “parallax free” and will make a negligible difference in performance.
- Unlimited Eye Relief – Non-critical eye relief for rapid target acquisition.
- Side Load Battery – Easy battery changes without having to re-zero your optic.
- Waterproof – Designed to withstand harsh weather conditions.
- Fogproof – Designed to withstand a wide range of temperatures.
- Shockproof – Designed to withstand the highest levels of recoil and impact.
Vortex VIP Warranty – Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot
In the rare event that your red dot should ever require service, warranty, or replacement of any kind, Vortex Optics has set the bar for customer service. The Vortex VIP Warranty that covers all of their optics also covers your Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot as an unlimited lifetime warranty that is fully transferable to future owners of products and no receipt is needed. So, whether you gift something to a friend or pass it down to a family member, the next owner in line is still covered. Whether this red dot takes a tumble out of a treestand, or down the side of a mountain trail.
A Word from Vortex Optics on the NEW Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot
While I can regale you with all of my thoughts on this red dot for days, sometimes it is best to get it straight from the horse’s mouth. So, this is what Vortex Optics has to say about their new Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot:
Purpose-built for the fast pace of turkey hunting and wingshooting, the Viper® Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot delivers an ultra-low-profile design and wide field of view for intuitive shooting and superior recoil control. It’s enclosed design and integrated universal mount ensures seamless operation and maximum protection against the elements.
Multi-Reticle
The beauty of this red dot is that it is purpose-built for the fast pace of turkey hunting by offering 7 reticle options and 12 brightness settings. This should allow nearly any hunter to quickly adapt to varying sunlight and shooting situations. A more thorough explanation of the multi-reticle can be seen below as presented by Vortex:
3 MOA Dot
- Precise point of aim suited for stationary or slow targets.
32 MOA Circle
- Designed to roughly match the pattern of a full choke. Suited for targets at distance.
65 MOA Circle
- Designed to roughly match the pattern of a modified choke. Suited for targets at a closer range.
What’s in the Box? Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot
One of the most common and recurring questions I receive reviewing firearms and their related products is, “what’s in the box?” Meaning, what do you all get with your purchase. This is important because what you do and do not get will dictate what type of accessories you need to additionally buy depending on what you want your end-product or hunting setup to look like. All this being said, this is everything that you will receive:
Included in the Box:
- Rubber Cover
- Custom Tool
- CR2032 Battery
- Lens cloth
- Most Common Mounting Screw Sets
Mounting – Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot
When it comes to mounting the Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot, it is so simplistic and intuitive, it begs the question of “why hasn’t someone thought of this before?” This red dot – with its unique mounting system – is compatible with dozens of the most popular shotguns and platforms on the market today. A complete list of this red dot’s compatibility can be read HERE.
To get started, you need to choose a shotgun that is compatible or have a gunsmith drill-and-tap your shotgun to a common thread pattern/footprint. For this review and my ensuing turkey hunt, I grabbed an ol’ bread ‘n butter Mossberg 500 with a camouflage coloration. First, you need to remove the receiver screws that come from the factory. Then, you can simply set the red dot on top of the receiver ensuring that it is lined up to the 2 rear-most holes.
Within the packaging, you get a bevy of screws. By scanning a QR Code on each screw’s package, you can identify what screws you need. For my Mossberg 500, I needed 8-40 screws.
Make sure to heed Vortex’s advice inscribed on the red dot of only torqueing the screws down to 12 Inch-Lbs (that’s NOT Foot-Lbs, by the way). The last thing you want is to snap off a screw and wreck the red dot, your shotgun, or both. No extra Ugga-Dugga is needed.
Once you are appropriately torqued down, you are good to go. It’s that easy to mount. So, next in our journey was to head to the range to sight this red dot in for some turkey hunt adventures.
Sighting the Red Dot In
When I went to the gun range to get this red dot sighted in for hunting, I brought along some Fiocchi Golden Turkey Shells that were graciously provided to us by Fiocchi for this review and hunt. So, an enormous thank you is in order to them for supporting us and making reviewing products like this financially easier. Give them a look if you happen to need any turkey shells – or other ammunition – throughout the year.
These functioned flawlessly at the range when it came to feeding, ejecting, and they patterned well (as you’ll soon see). So, thank you, once again, Fiocchi!
I had laser boresighted the red dot before I headed to the gun range. So, sighting in this red dot was incredibly easy. I patterned it at 25 yards and within 3 shots I had the red dot exactly where I needed it to be to go turkey hunting. The adjustments on the red dot were easy to make, and the red dot was more than bright enough to be seen on the range.
Field Use – Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot
Finally, the last test for this red dot was to see if I could bag an elusive Minnesota turkey with it. I set an alarm clock for 4AM one morning, and ventured out into the darkness of a forest. I mentally already knew what tree I wanted to be leaning against. I just needed some turkeys to appear before me once daylight broke.
I brought with me a couple turkey decoys – one hen and one Tom – along with a turkey call, my trusty shotgun, and all of my best camo from Sitka. As the forest started to come alive with sunlight peeking through the trees, I saw several obese raccoons crawl by, a few whitetail does walked by within 10 yards, and even a couple hens wandered through. I was making hen “clucks” and “purrs” on my call every 10 – 15 minutes with no response. I could hear Toms gobbling and bellowing away, but it sounded like it was 300 to maybe even 400 yards away; much too far for them to hear me.
Eventually, one of my early morning hens returned. It pensively circled, examined my hen decoy, and eventually pecked at it. Resigning herself to likely believing my decoy “wasn’t a threat,” she began cleaning and fluffing herself. This went on for over an hour as she accompanied me in the woods roughly 10 yards away as I sat on the ground with my back against a tree facing her.
Knowing the superb eye sight of turkeys, I didn’t move for an hour. She was too close. No scrolling social media on my phone, no eating snacks, no head movements to look around me for rogue raccoons. Just me and this plump hen hanging out. Eventually, she wandered behind a tree while playing with her feathers. I quickly grabbed my slate call and gave out some strong “purrs” as some Toms had moved into my location maybe ~200 yards away; definitely within hearing distance.
purr… Purr… PUrr… PURR
My forest companion hen snapped its head out from behind a tree after I had called; staring daggers into my decoy (thinking this fake bird came to life). Then, in my 30 years of turkey hunting I witnessed something I had never seen before… this wild hen was jealous! She had been mute all morning, and now she went to town clucking and purring and making all kinds of high-pitched, “come and find me boys” noise for the Toms that were nearby.
When she wasn’t looking I set my call down and gently grabbed my shotgun. This boisterous girl was going to do all the work for me by calling in some Toms. Within 5 minutes, I could see a Tom over my right shoulder in a blind spot coming straight for her. A large, but slightly less attractive (honestly more beat up) Tom followed. Once the lead man saw my decoys, his attitude changed. Instead of ignorantly wanting to jump the britches of this wild hen, he was spooked. This plump bird didn’t get big by being a dumby. He began quickly trotting in front of me diagonally – not sprinting – but his jostled movements were going to make for a hard shot. Once he got out to 40 yards he finally wasn’t looking in my direction. I raised my shotgun, had a ‘circle dot’ reticle pre-selected, covered the Tom’s head and in a split second…
BANG!
Tom down. The Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot did everything I needed it to. Clear glass, crisp ‘circle dot’ to cover a fast moving turkey’s head, and its zero was true. My patience, absence of movement, and artfully playing my wild hen also played a big role in my success, but equipment failures are always the most painful. No such incident would happen today because I got my bird.
Final Thoughts
So, what are my final thoughts on the Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot?… This was my most anticipated product to come from Vortex in recent memory. It lived up to the hype. Clear glass, easy to mount, easy to zero, and it performs. The versatility that it could be at home on my turkey shotgun ’til the end of time, or proudly land on my home defense shotgun makes it incredibly valuable to me. I foresee a lot of companies stealing this idea. This is a wonderful red dot for shotguns.
In closing, I want to say thank you to Vortex Optics for allowing AllOutdoor and myself the opportunity to try out their new Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot. That is greatly appreciated. Also, we would like to know what all of you guys and gals think? Do you believe that the Vortex Optics Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot is something worth spending your money on? Would you deploy one on your next turkey hunt like I did? Use one for a league or competition? Potentially add it to your home defense shotgun? As always, let us know all of your thoughts about Vortex Optics and the new Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Red Dot in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.
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