I have this optic high on my list of choices now but would really like to check it out before dumping $2K on one. Using a Leupold VXR Patrol now and love the weight but the reticle and mag range leave a little to be desired.
If anyone close by has one I would be very appreciative for the opportunity to check it out.
I’ve read all of the good, bad, and ugly with this scope and many of USO’s other offerings in the past year. $2200 is a ton of coin to lay down on an optic that is (hopefully) not going to see any combat use. Hence why I wanted to put my hands on it and get a good view through the scope at several ranges, and also get a feel for it’s weight and what seems to be overall cumbersome size.
It’s funny that you mention the Mark 6 because it is also at the top of my list, along with the VCOG. I’m torn on reticles as I have had concerns about BDC reticles, though I have had great experiences with TA31 ACOGs using different grades of ammo with acceptable results within 400 yards. I like the CMR-W reticle in the Mark 6 and the fact that it is calibrated for M855. I ran some numbers through a ballistics calc last night and seems that I can get 69gr pushing speeds close enough to the M855 speeds that the BDC would only be off by about 4" at 500 yards, which would be close to the max distance that I have to reach out to here in my AO. I’ve had two Leupold scopes and currently running a VX-R Patrol, and the reticle is very lacking, but I have a great appreciation for Leupold’s designs and their ability in recent years to pack a lot of scope into a lightweight package.
What reticle are you running? If it is the CMR-W, what’s been your real-world experience in shooting anything other than M855?
I ended up replacing the SR-8 with a March-F 1-8x24 with FMC-2 reticle, so no BDC for me. I also have both the Mark 6 and March-F mounted on .308 ARs so unfortunately no comparison with M855.
mine is nice glass. bright and clear at both 1x and 8x. At 8x there isn’t any noticeable distortion. At 1x, if your head is in the center, it looks fine, but if you move your head side to side or up and down, you can see the crosshairs bend quite a bit on the edges relative to the image (not like the pics above). I had a NF 1-4x which was much worse at 1x. Still it’s annoying, but for the range of 1-8x i think it’s worth it.
As far as service, it can be pretty frustrating. I’ve sent USO scopes back 4 or 5 times and it is always a multi-month wait for repair for something that shouldn’t have been broken in the first place. In the case of this scope, I had it camo dipped and it filled up with water. Maybe it was the fault of the dipper somehow, but it’s still annoying that it took so long. But they did eventually make it right.
Despite the initial issues, I tend to cut USO a lot of slack because they are the only scope mfg on the planet that does truly custom work. Ask Leupold or S&B, etc to put your windage knob on the left and your parallax knob on the right, or let you pick from 30, 34 or 35mm tubes, or adjust the diopter range, or choose from red, blue or green illum, or put a larger font on the turret, or use a custom reticle that you provide. I’ve done all but one of those with USO scopes over the years, and they have a mile long list of other options.
Plus they have innovative features like the internal bubble level, and the illum controls, etc.
So I’m still a USO fan. Their QC issues are annoying, especially for the money, but that just means you need to personally do a thorough inspection when you get it and have a lot of patience. Once they get sorted out, I’ve had great luck with them. They track and are extremely durable. But i totally understand some people expect perfection from the factor at that price.