Ordinarlily, I would raise an eyebrow at putting a $300 scope on a rifle. I'm a firm believer that a good rifle DESERVES a good scope. MidwayUSA was offering this scope at $299, with an MSRP of $399. It had the main features I was looking for - Mildot reticle with MRAD adjustment, exposed turrets, and the magnification was in line with what the rifle could do and my planned usage of it. And at $299, if I didn't like the scope I could always sell it.
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The scope is made by Weaver, which made me a little leery. Weaver has been bought and sold so many times over the last 10-15 years it's made their products spotty, IMO. IIRC, ATK now owns the brand. The scope is made in Japan with Japanese glass and weighs in at 16.6 oz. Lenses are fully multi-coated in a one piece, argon purged aluminium tube.
Magnification is 3-10x, which is about right for a .308 rifle with a 16" barrel. The mag ring is very firm but moves smoothly from setting to setting. Clarity is very good, though brightness/light gathering is hampered somewhat by the 1" tube. Eye relief is a pretty much standard 3 1/2".
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The exposed turrets are hand adjustable with 1/10th mil adjustments. The clicks are firm, crisp and audible. Having a mil-dot reticle with MRAD adjustments makes sight corrections a breeze, since there's no need to convert between mils and MOA. One feature I really like about the scope is the re-settable turrets. After zeroing, the turrets can be removed and returned to zero. This means that all following adjustments are made from the shooter's zero, which really simplifies adjustments for wind, bullet drop, and slope.
As with any mil dot reticle, estimation of target size is key and this is the biggest failing of the scope. The reticle is in the second focal plane, which means the reticle enlarges (or shrinks) with the chosen magnification. According to Weaver's instructions, the reticle is only valid at the 10x setting. IOT estimate range at lower magnifications, ya gotta do a little math - at 5x, multiply the dot reading by 2, at 3x, multiply by 3.3. It's not complex and really amounts to a minor PIA, but it's something you don't have to worry about with a first focal plance reticle.
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THE MOUNT: The mount is an American Defense Recon-X one piece QD mount. I've used mounts like this in the past from LaRue, so there were no unpleasant surprises here. The mount is well constructed from 6061 Aluminium. One feature that I found very helpful was the adjustable tension QD locks, which allows you to dial in the right amount of tension for your rail or personal preference. The mount comes with an allen wrench and red thread locker; installing and levelling the scope was a snap.
I finally got out to zero the scope yesterday.
Wx - 85 degrees F, 50% RH, Wind - SSW 15mph gusting to 25mph, BP - 28.85hg, mix of sun and clouds
Load Data - 150 gr Hornady FMJBT w/cannelure, 43 gr IMR 4895, LC M118LR cases, Win LR primers. COL: 2.78"
Zero range: 200m (verified by GPS)
The only challenge was the wind, which I eliminated from the equation (mostly) by orienting my direction of fire to NNE, which reduced the wind to no value.
The result:
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4 shots, total group size 1 1/2" @ 200m. I think the only way to shrink this group is to switch to an OTM-type bullet.
All in all, I'm very pleased with the scope. The construction of the scope is solid and shows a good attention to detail. The glass is very clear, easily on a par with Bushnell, Sightron and Vortex. The major minuses are a 1" tube and SFP reticle. For all that you get, this mil/mil scope at $299 is a steal.
