I got this scope in last week on 8-30-15 and could not wait to open up the box and take a look at it. I noticed that the glass was extremely clear all the way out to the edges with no distortion or dark spots. The illumination was good visible even on a bright sunny day. The turrets had positive clicks and I like the fact that they are fairly low profile and are locking. I do wish there was a zero stop capability but that is not a deal breaker by any means.
I wanted this scope for my AR10 lightweight semi auto precision rifle build. See the attached picture for more details on this build. Basically with this rifle I wanted it to be as light as feasible while still having 1 MOA accuracy. With the loads it likes the best this rifle is a ¾ moa gun. With FMJ cheaper plinking rounds it’s typically a 2 moa rifle.
I thought a 1-8 scope would be ideal for this platform. I had a 2.5-10 mounted on it to start with. The 2.5-10 Vortex is one of my favorite scopes but it lacked the speed up close I wanted because the reticle was too small to be useful on 2.5 x. It was a nice scope and I have one on my .223 precision semi auto build but on this rifle I wanted something a bit better up close.
Then tried a 1.5-8 Burris XTR 2 and I was not happy. The glass quality was not there, the adjustments were a bit mushy and the dual focal plane reticle it had did not line up. (2nd focal plane to the first focal plane) I ended up selling the scope. To be honest I was very disappointed in the Burris and its retail is in the same range as the Primary Arms at 1200 to 1439. The glass on the Vortex PST 2.5-10 was better and it’s a $800 scope.
Then I put a 1-6 Vortex Razor 2 on it and I love that scope its super clear with great illumination. The Razor 2 was a great scope but it lacked the qualities I wanted in a long range scope like such as exposed turrets and mil markings ( I have the JM reticle). A great scope but I put it back on one of my three gun rifles.
So the search was on for the perfect scope that could be fast up close and still be used as a precision medium range optic (out to 600 yards or so). Before the Primary Arms 1-8 I had considered a Leupold 1-8 but 3k is out of my price range. The Primary Arms is an answer to my quest for the perfect optic to match the mission I had in mind for this rifle.
I mounted the optic in a ADM Delta mount leveled it and then took it to the range on 8-31-15 for the first time. It was a very windy day and I ended up only sighting in the rifle at 100 yards. My best group of the day with my best load for this gun was .65. (168 grain Sierra Match King 44 grains of Varget CCI Bench Rest Primer, Lapua Brass) On that day my 3 shot group average of 8 3 shot groups was 1.0 moa. I blame some of that on the wind.
I liked the way the turrets are simple to operate. You just lift them up to turn them and then push them back down into the locked position to lock them in place. Once your zeroed you unscrew the turrets and lift them off being careful not to lose the rubber o ring and then set them back down in the proper place. Fairly simple to do but be careful not to lose the oring I almost did. Like I said earlier the clicks were very positive with no mush.
On 9-7-15 I took the rifle out again. It was a great day with almost no wind and it was sunny with no overcast. I was in a hurry to get some ammo loaded up for testing and I did not want to use up a lot of my 168 grain load in tracking testing so I loaded up some cheaper rounds. That load is described below.
The load I loaded up somewhat in a hurry to get this report done was Federal cases trimmed on a Dillon 1200 trimmer. I did not deburr the cases inside and out like I usually do. I used standard CCI primers instead of bench rest and I loaded Hornady seconds bullets (178 BTHP) This load average 1.48 MOA for 18 groups fired 1 of the groups was a 4 shot group 4 of them were 5 shot and the rest were 3 shot groups.
For the tracking test I dialied 2 mills up then down then left then right all shooting 3 shot groups at each adjustment. The final group was shot back in the middle. The tracking was as it should be.
I also noticed that my Level bubble which mounts on the rail was slightly touching the scope mount. I moved it back on the rail and the last three groups were a bit better 1.26 moa. Not sure if it mattered or not because the change was less than .25 moa.
I fired 5 3 shot groups at 174 yards which is as far as I can go on the city range we have. I dialed up 3 clicks (3 tenths of a mil) which is what my Shooter App said was needed after I entered the loads data into it and it was spot on. The group size at this range averaged 2.34 inches or 1.35 moa.
I tried to find flaws in the class but found none. Even at the outer edge I could see the bullet holes on target at 100 yards just as clear as in the center of the class.
This is a true 1x scope. See the pics below and notice how the grass in the back ground stays the same side in the scope as out of it.
I plan on taking this rifle out to the 400 yard range at the prison next week with my shooting buddy. We will test the scope at 200, 300 and 400 yards. I also plan on doing some close in speed drills with it as well comparing the speed of the scope on 1x to the off set red dot.
Been really short of funds lately from getting laid off 2 months ago so I’ve been debating on whittling my AR’s down to only 1primary all purpose gun that I can use for 3gun, classes and everything. This glass may just have to get purchased using funds from guns I’ve gotten rid of as I think it will fill that roll perfectly on my 14.5 EMW BCM gun that I plan on using for that all purpose gun.
I have the Vortex HD2 1-6 JM1 and the Bushnell 1-6.5 FFP BTR-2. The Vortex is clearly the better scope of the two.
The Bushnell 1-6.5 is very good on my 16" 300BLK rifle. I zero my supersonic load at 100 yards, and then use the Bushnell’s reticle with holdovers at 3MIL for 100 yards and 7MIL for 200 yards for my subsonic load. My only complaint of the Bushnell is the reticle focus - in focus at 6.5x is out of focus at 1x for me. But it’s not a big problem when using the illumination on 1x - it still works fine even though the reticle is not perfectly sharp.
I like the combination of a red dot and crosshairs with BDC on the Vortex much better than the illuminated reticle on the Bushnell. I’d love to try out a Leupold with the SPR firedot reticle - it seems like the best of both worlds.
I should have clarified that the version of the Bushnell that I have is daylight visible. I have read that this was changed at some point as users complained of this on the early production models.
Thank you for your excellent review and I look forward to part 2.
Product Review Primary Arms 1-8 Platinum Series Mil Scope part 2.
Date 9-14-15
Long range testing:
This part of the test was pretty simple. I confirmed zero at 100 yards and then dialed .5 mil for 200 yards and 1.5 mils for 300 and 2.5 for 400 and everything hit like it should. I was shooting at steel targets.
Short range CQB testing.
Myself and my shooting buddy Greg took part in these drills. 3 USPSA targets were used at a range of 12 yards and they were spaced about 4 yards apart. Scoring was a IDPA time plus system. .5 seconds were given for a C zone hit and 1.5 seconds for a D zone hit. Neither of us missed. Scope magnification was set to 1x.
Drill 1.
Shooter starts at low ready at the sound of the buzzer he shoots target 1 one with one round center mass. Time is recorded and then drill is repeated on target 2 and then on target 3. This drill was done twice. Once with the illumination on the scope off and the next set was done with the illumination on. The point of this drill was to see how fast a shooter could acquire the target and scope reticle and fire.
Results
Time
Greg Illumination off average time for all 3 targets was 1.26 seconds.
Greg Illumination on average 1.11
Pat Illumination off average time for all 3 targets was 1.16 seconds.
Pat Illumination on average 1.12
I tallied up the accuracy at the end of all the drills looking back I should have done it as I went. Read ahead. Greg shot a bit more accurately than me and as a result I had to buy him lunch.
Drill 2.
Shooter starts at the low ready and at the sound of the buzzer he engages targets 1-3 with one round each. The drill was repeated 3 times. Illumination was left on for both shooters on the scope.
Greg’s Average 2.87
Pat’s Average 3.02
Drill 3
Shooter performs a failure to stop drill from the low ready on target 2. We just did this once.
Greg’s time 2.40
Pat’s time 2.66
Drill 4.
Shooter starts in Low ready and performs 1 head shot on target one. Time is recorded and then shooter repeats on target 3. (that gave us each 20 rounds total fired)
Greg’s average 1.45
Pat’s average 1.50
Accuracy
Greg had 17 A hits and 3 C hits
Pat had 13 A hits and 7 C hits. ( I know sloppy)
Gregs total score was 22.46 seconds once penalties were added in and mine was 24.99. Loser had to buy lunch.
I shot Drill’s 1 and 2 again with my rifles off set red dot sight to give a comparison. My hits were worse with me scoring 6 C hits and 1 D hit.
Times are as follows.
Drill one Average 1.05 Compared to 1.12 with the scope set on 1x with the illumination on.
Drill 2 Average was 2.67 Compared to the scope at 3.02. The dot was faster on raw time but the scope won over all due to the penalties from poor hits. I shot sloppier with the dot.
CONCLUSION:
This scope was very easy to use up close. The eye relief was never a problem and the reticle was easy to find even with the illumination off. I will keep giving my impressions of the scope as time goes on but as of now I am a satisfied customer.
Thank you for this review. I know some people love and some people don’t care for PA, but this looks like a good value(bang for the buck) optic for this type of application. I’m interested to see how it does as you expose it to harsh winter environments and more use but I don’t expect to see you throw it off a cliff to see how it holds zero. Not everyone can afford high end optics and not all people need them, but this looks like a good setup and I’m glad PA is able to continue developing new products like this.
Alaska can you give us an idea of what the eyebox is like and how the illumination responds to motion? It looked like the eyebox was fairly forgiving in the YouTube video PA posted, but I’m not sure if they mounted the scope in front of the camera or were just holding it there.
And is the illumination steady as you traverse the eyebox? I hate how the Mark 6 line from Leupold flickers if you’re not perfectly still, it kind of defeats the purpose of using it similar to a red dot at 1x if it flickers while you advance.
I’ve been hunting a 1-6x like this for years, and while I was really hoping to avoid the extra 8 ounces the 2 extra power brings, I might not be able to resist this one.
Thanks for the review. I have a similar set up and am running a PA 1-6 and a Weaver 3-10 both on ADM QD mounts. Been thinking about streamlining to a 1-8.
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