Bought a new scope today with the intention of doing a bit of trickle-down upgrading across a few rifles.
Currently my PA-10 in .308 has a Vortex Strike Eagle 3-18x44 with an EBR-4 reticle. A great scope, but an absolute beast too. Given I built this thing with a 20" stainless barrel, a full length handguard, PRS lite (still nothing “lite” about them,) stock, and a bipod for distance, I was fine with the weight of the scope, but the thing I wasn’t content was with the next rifle…
My PA-15. This is a .223 Wylde with a stainless 18" barrel and again a bipod. The LPVO I’ve been running on it is a Vortex Crossfire II 1-4x, which honestly has been very good, but I wanted something a bit more advanced given I very rarely shoot this rifle at less than 100m and often try touching out to 500 which that little LPVO and it’s basic reticle really isn’t up to the task for. This rifle isn’t nearly as heavy as the PA-10 and is much more wieldable but since I use it primarily for precision at 100m or ringing steel beyond that, I don’t particularly care about adding weight.
My current < 100m AR is a S&W M&P Sport II with a MFT Battlelink stock and a Romeo 7. This one’s light and is what I use for running around, shooting standing, spraying and praying, etc. I believe the tacticool kids would call this a “fighting rifle” (you know, if it cost way more.)
So I decided today to drop a little coin and pick up an upgrade for the PA-10 in the form of a Primary Arms SLx 3-18x50 FFP with an ACSS Apollo .308 reticle. It’s similar to the Strike Eagle I currently run in magnification and glass but with a bigger view, more detailed reticle, and FFP over SFP in the Vortex.
The Strike Eagle will move down to the PA-15 build which should increase its capability past 200 big time once I get it dialed in. I’ll probably never use past 10x, but it doesn’t hurt to have the extra should I ever want it. The extra weight will probably relegate it to a bench rig like the PA-10.
I’m not sure if I should slap the Crossfire II on the Smith. It’ll be a slight weight increase over the Romeo 7 and I don’t need the magnification on it. However, an etched reticle vs a dot would be a lot easier with my eyes and I have no problems shooting both eyes open with it at 1-2x.
I currently run an old Bushnell Banner 1.5-4x on my bull barreled 10/22 target build, so I may upgrade that to the Crossfire II if I leave the Smith alone. Not sure. Opinions?
I do plan on upgrading the Sport II to a 14.5" Sabre soon, and when I do that, the plan is to run a 2 or 3x prism (leaning toward the 2x since I doubt it would ever see a shot past 200.) My astigmatism doesn’t always play well with dot sights and it’s only getting worse the older I get. I think having a small bit magnification wouldn’t hurt, and more importantly an adjustable diopter, but still in a compact dot size without variable zoom.
Excited for the PA to come in regardless. Hooray new toys!