Want to use it like a red dot or at a distance. I have no

experience with first focal plane. Thanks for the input.

Question:
Here are the ones I'm looking at,which one would be the best to get. 1 first focal plane and 3 second focal plane.

Choices:
Primary Arms 1-8 x 24 acss reticle sfp
Primary Arms 1-6 x 24 acss reticle sfp
Bushnell 1-4 x 24 illuminated reticle ffp
Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6 x 24 sfp

 

I voted the PA 1-8x, probably about to order one for a new 16" build next week. Reason being is I put their 4-14 ACSS HUD scope on a PTR 91 recently and came away impressed not only with the scope itself but also the features included for the price.

The Primary Arms 1-6 has the entire reticle lit on my scope. In my opinion, it is a better value than most optics on the market. The 1-8 costs more and only lights the horseshoe and dot. The added power does very little except shrink the exit pupil size from 4mm to 3mm.

Bill

Bushnell First Focal Plane.
Show me another FFP BTR Illuminated reticle at that price range.
At 1x the reticle can be used indoors as a red dot.
I love this scope, if you couldn't tell.

Well I looked at the results and 3 out of the 4 are tied. Thats not making it easy for me. I've heard good things about all of them, that's why I thought a little help with some experienced people might make it easier for me. I'll wait a little longer and see if one gets more votes. Thanks

Honestly, the are all in the 'budget' category but if I were you, I'd do the Bushnell or the Vortex - I think that long term those companies have a longer reputation than Primary Arms.

And with the 1-8x specifically, that magnification range is harder to pull off successfully, so I think it's likely to be more "meh".

Good luck.

I'd look at Burris too. Same price point.

this is interesting, just from my research i did on first focal plane scopes, the bushnell being a first focal plane scope I would have bet it would have been the popular one. but since i have never used one before thats why ive asked for assistance. i was wondering if everyone knew the bushnell was a first focal plane scope. the only thing i was questioning on the bushnell was the turret adjustments dont have caps,not sure if thats a big deal or not.

It's not a big deal for me as they can be reset to zero once you've zeroed the Optic.
So the turrets will read zero once it's zeroed.
The included "cat tail" is also a nice feature.

The Primary Arms 1-6X ACSS reticle scope all the way. The reticle is easy to use, the glass is clear. It's true 1X and with the new Gen III version it is shorter, lighter and now has a lifetime warranty.

I'm very happy with my Gen II Primary Arms 1-6X ACSS reticle scope, except for the weight, it's alittle chubby.

I'll be buying another one for a different build. I have been impressed with it from the first time I took it out of the box.


The 1-6X power is good enough for general purpose use, unless you are going to do long range precision shooting, I don't see much use for anything over 8X power anyway.

ARman

I'm with you, I hate exposed caps on a 1-4/6/8x optic.

This is not on your list, but I would go with the SWFA SS 1-4. Very good glass, and super heavy duty. Currently on sale for $300, which is $100 off.
https://swfa.com/swfa-ss-1-4x2...30mm-riflescope.html

I have two of their scopes and they are very high quality. The SWfA SS scopes are not budget scopes. I have the 1-6, and it is an $850 scope. The 1-4 is less than half that price and almost as good.

If you are not ranging targets with the reticle, go with SFP. Vortex would be my choice in this price range.

Take a look at the Steiner P4Xi as well.


Tremendous value for the $.

quote:

Originally posted by canrunin:
just from my research i did on first focal plane scopes...

Research is different from experience.

In higher powered scopes, SFP works very well with fixed distance targets, with limited movement among targets, on square ranges. FFP works better for targets of varying distances, and movement among targets. The reticle becomes very important in FFP scopes, because it must be functional for the shooter over zoom ranges of 4x, 5x, even 6x. Not all reticles do this very well.

FFP reticles allow elevation and windage holds without dialing, and at all magnifications. SFP scopes reticles are only accurate at one magnification setting -- often the maximum power. FFP are used to range distances about once in 2 gazillion blue moons -- we have laser range finders for that function.

IMO, FFP just doesn't seem to work all that well on a 1-4x/6x carbine. If the aimpoint is big enough to be useful at 1x, it gets a bit big at full power. Likewise, a reticle that's useful for windage and holdovers at full power often becomes really tiny at 1x.

I have one of these on a rifle and like it so far,
not enough range time on it yet to say it is the bestest,,

http://www.cabelas.com/product...earch%3Dcabelas%2Bar


it is illuminated if you want it to be,


I also have a non illuminated version of this,
again, not enough range time to swear by it, but it is popular with the high power shooters, (and why I bought it, for a match rifle)
http://www.cabelas.com/product...earch%3Dleupold%2Bar

Why is IOR/Valdada not more popular today? I have an older 1.1-4 x 24 mounted on a 556 that I like a lot.

Primary arms are very good scopes for the money.
You do NOT want exposed turrets for this application. FFP and exposed turrets are excellent for range estimation using MIL reticle on a dedicated long distance rifle.
The Primary arms ACSS reticle has a range estimator built into the reticle and it works very well in this application.