I finally got my TR24 in this week. That may not sound like much of an accomplishment to some, but I’ve been trying to snag one of these since SHOT show. If you’re interested in these optics, you probably know that already, because I’ve been yammering about them on the forum ever since then (I dare you to find an accupoint thread I haven’t posted in…and if you do, I’ll go post just for good measure). I think it is only fair that I follow up with some pics and thoughts. This is long-winded, I apologize in advance.
Please keep in mind that I’m about as high-speed as a snail; the tactical equivalent of an Amish buggy at a NASCAR race. My interactions with smelly bearded men typically involve awarding them construction contracts, never shooting them in the face. A second disclaimer: my photography skills are about on par with my shooting skills, so remember that and then factor in the differences in our monitor settings, and understand that none of my pics are perfect representations of the reticle as viewed by the naked eye. Also, before anyone mentions it, I took most of the pics with the scope in one hand and camera in the other, and I was not covering the whole neighborhood with my muzzle. That also accounts for some of the goofy alignment issues you see. With that in mind, if you haven’t gotten bored and left yet, let it begin:
Last year, I purchased a TR21R for my carbine. I really wanted to try something with the variable power, and a S&B was just not an option. My intentions were to make my midlength well suited to a suburban/rural environment where a longer shot was plausible. I consider it my general purpose “field” carbine, for lack of a better description. I thought the low-mag variable would give me a good compromise between speed and some longer range capability. After weighing the pros and cons discussed in various threads, I picked one up, in a Larue SPR-E (LT139) mount:
Now, I liked it a lot, but it did have a few drawbacks:
- Too much eye relief – even in the extended mount, I wished I could have pushed it forward another 1/2" to 1". Eye relief also varied throughout the magnification range.
- “1.25x” is not “1x”. It was workable, but it was a bit…fisheyed (?) especially at close range.
- Weak illumination under certain circumstances. Generally speaking the trouble spots are when shooting from a dark area into bright, or in the dark using a white light for target illumination.
So when I heard about the new model coming, I got excited. It was supposed to be true 1x and have better eye relief. After handling a few of the new variants briefly at SHOT show, I knew it was worth the upgrade, and I sold off my TR21 and mount in anticipation of picking up a TR24. Fast forward to August, and I finally found one:
Reticle choice: The hot new ticket with the TR24 is the green illumination. I was pleased with the red in my 21, but was interested in trying out the green. I didn’t get to handle the green triangle model at SHOT, but did handle some others with the green and while it was very bright I didn’t think it contrasted as well for me. I know that flies in the face of all the science, but oh well. I was still willing to give the green a try, but wasn’t going to pass up a red triangle if it came along first. Unfortunately they’ve all been a little slow trickling out into the market, and many of the ones making it into peoples hands seem to be the German #4 reticle (crosshair with dot), which wasn’t what I wanted. The dot is a little too small for me to pick up quickly. After much hunting I finally tracked down a TR24R (red triangle) recently and snatched it up. Here are some pics under various conditions:
1x, standing in the shade of my house, looking out into a sunny area:
4x, same conditions:
1x, standing in the sun (had to change “targets” because some people were out and about down the other way and I didn’t want to be posting pics of them viewed through a scope):
4x, standing in the sun – the pic with the glare is a little more representative of the reticle at full brightness, but the glare is distracting so I included the other as well:
1x, standing in my kitchen and looking out through the window:
4x, from the kitchen:
1x, with the front sight flipped up:
4x, with front sight (the picture is badly over exposed, so ignore the reticle and just notice that the front site is barely a blur):
I am working on getting some indoor/low-light pictures but haven’t outsmarted the camera to get any pictures worth sharing. I know that is an area of concern for most people interested in one of these so I’ll update this post if I can get any to turn out.
The 24 goes a long way to solve most of my beefs with the 21. The eye relief is much, much better. I’ve got it in the standard Larue SPR mount (LT104) and it works fine. It also doesn’t seem to the noticeable change in eye relief as you move through the magnification range. The 1x is a big improvement as well. You can see in the pics above that at very close range, there is still a tiny bit of magnification. That FSP is at the end of a 12" rail but looks closer. But you can tell that by a few yards out, any difference is negligible. As for the illumination issues, the system is the same as the 21 so the same limitations exist. You can see that from the shade or indoors, the reticle loses a lot of brightness. For my purposes it is a negative, but not a deal breaker. I can appreciate that for others’ uses it could be a non-starter – it’s never going to compete with an Aimpoint or Eotech indoors in the dark. I do think that the green reticle will be better in the dark than the red.
I haven’t had a chance to shoot with it at longer ranges yet, but I did get to do a quick zero and some close range drills on Friday. Shooting both eyes open is no problem and it felt just as fast and natural as my Aimpoint, which is good because my TR21 never felt quite as quick. I was slightly edging out my buddy with his T1 on the 2x2x2 drill but it’s not really accurate to compare between two different shooters with different guns. Next time out I’ll time some of the same drills back to back with the 24 and the ML2 and see how the times shake out.
All in all I am pleased with the TR24R and find it to be well-suited to my carbine and its uses. I definitely recommend one but only if you understand the compromise you’re making – simply buying one because it’s a cool new item probably won’t work out as well.
That’s usually how it works!
