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Nope, the Vortex guy didn't blink an eye about racking the slide using the RDS, but I think it did vector him in to looking a little closer at the front of the sight whence he realized the glass had shifted just a little bit.

Racking the slide against the holster, belt, or something else sturdy enough to not give is pretty standard with one-handed pistol manipulations. Prior to RDS' being a thing, the technique taught was to catch the rear sight against something, but now that RDS' are becoming common the technique includes racking the slide using the optic.

The Defender-CCW was designed with a bit more bulk & a texturized/rubberized rim on the front intentionally for racking this way

Of course, you'll have to gauge if your equipment is resilient enough for that technique, hence my reluctance to use the ones Rafe pointed out (and the earlier RDS' from Vortex now that I've had this issue).

Putting together an instructional video on one handed techniques for my YouTube channel is on my to-do list, but I'm thinking it's going to be a month or so before I get to it. It'll be in conjunction with the couple thousand round stress test of the Defender-CCW so I can knock both out together.

I'm pretty sure all of Vortex's products are covered by their unconditional lifetime warranty, even their laser rangefinders. When my old Leupold range finder finally gave up the ghost I went with one of Vortex's for that reason; no other manufacturers seemed to warranty their LRFs beyond a year or two, especially the LED displays.

Well, it turns out that the glass had actually shifted a little bit within the housing of the Viper RDS, which in turn pushed the red dot askew resulting in the drastic shift in POI. I'm glad the Vortex Rep who called me actually took the time to look it over while we were on the phone, because the guys in the shop thought it was just zeroed way off.

I had been doing alot of one-handed shooting in the 6 months prior to the zero shift, racking the slide (by using the optic) against the holster, belt, pocket, jeans, etc, so I'm thinking that's what did it in.

Good news is that I asked them to replace it with the Defender-CCW, their newest RDS, & they did. Both RDS' are listed at the same MSRP, but supposedly the Defender-CCW is built more solid (and, the battery is top-loading so no need to remove the RDS to change batteries).

Thanks for the feedback!

The G-19 is the only pistol I currently have that the Viper RDS fits on so I didn't swap it out, but I'm confident it was the optic & not the gun. I could look at the dot through the optic, and then refocus on the front sight & see how far off it was from the point of aim. After removing it & reverting back to iron sights the gun was dead on.

Vortex didn't say much when I contacted them, other than to send it in for repair & they emailed me a prepaid label for the return. The rep did offer to fill out the service request form for me, but I had already downloaded & filled it out. I did ask them to replace it with their new Defender-EDC as it's listed at the same MSRP, but we'll see. Regardless of what goes on it next, I'll be running it hard for a bit before I have full confidence it it.

It went in the mail yesterday, so I'll let you know when I get what I get back & how it runs.

I decided to get a RDS for my Glock 19 a couple years ago, but didn't really put many rounds through it since it wasn't my every day carry gun. Other than using it for the DPS' First Responders Course, it was basically just used to familiarize myself with RDS'.

Last October I began training with it in earnest to prep for one-handed shooting in anticipation of support-side shoulder surgery in January, as I'd be in a sling for 6 weeks and a bit gimpy while doing physical therapy for the next couple months.

One of the downsides of the design of the Vortex Viper RDS is that you have to remove the sight to change batteries, but that critique isn't unique to this one, as the Trijicon RMR has the same design. I had anticipated a slight zero shift when remounting to the gun, but the three or four times I changed the battery the zero was still on the mark.

I assisted another instructor at his range in April, & we were doing a little shooting before his students arrived. His steel targets are set up at 25 yds, & I was missing by a wide margin low & right. The Viper RDS was zeroed at 36 yds, & I was accustomed to knocking down 6" plates at that distance. After I looked intently thru the sight, I could tell that the red dot was nowhere near aligned with the iron sights, so the RDS came off, & I've gone back to iron sights till it's replaced by something other than a Viper RDS.

That was in April, & I put off returning it to Vortex till now. I did a quick video last week to document how far off the zero had shifted, so I could clearly articulate the issue when filling out the return form. At 36 yds, the rounds weren't hitting the target backer; at 25 yds I was able to measure the shift from Point of Aim to Point of Impact as 16" to the 4 o'clock. That's a shift of a little over 61 MOA, and was a bit eye opening. According to a couple gun forums, mine isn't the only Vortex Viper RDS to lose its zero, but the other didn't specify how much theirs had drifted.

I'm quite certain Vortex will make good on it, but just a fair warning to anyone using ia Viper RDS as part of their EDC. It would be catastrophic to have to use it for self defense, and if beyond contact distance potentially miss your threat & put an innocent third party at risk.