Primary Arms PLx Compact 1-8x24
The tradeshow I was at is finally over. I am wiped out and my brain needs to switch to something not related to my dayjob in order to relax. What better topic than a new riflescope? I could write something about politics, but that just gets my already caffeine fueled blood pressure to go even higher. Optics it is, then.
This scope appears to be on the verge of becoming available and I will have a video review ready soon enough. I have been spending quite a bit of time with it and have been getting a good amount of questions about it. Given the scope's imminently approaching availability, I think I should flat out state what I think of it so far.
Honestly, between the prismatics and this LPVO, Primary Arms has been absolutely on a roll lately. There will be more details in the video, but to be blunt, the scope kicks ass and is an absolute shot across the bow for Vortex, Nightforce and others.
It is essentially the size of NX8 1-8x24 (half inch longer and half ounce lighter) without any of the NX8's optical compromises. Optically, it is competitive with the ATACR 1-8x24 and Razor Gen3 1-10x24. I expect it to be competitive mechanically as well given which OEM makes it and how PA does QC.
The design of this scope appears to be unique and I am not aware of any other scope with which it shares an optical system, at least from the standpoint of what I can see without opening it up.
The reticle in the one I have is the metric BDC version, which is a little different from the imperial BDC reticle listed on their website. There are supposed to be three reticles eventually: two BDC ones and a new version of Griffin MIL. Personally, I would probably prefer the non-BDC mrad reticle in it. However, of the three reticles, the one I have has the largest horseshoe which likely gives it the most visibility on 1x. I am not big on BDC designs, as most of you know, but this one is pretty workable. Since it is conventional etch-and-fill illumination, having a large horseshoe is pretty important for reticle visibility. As is, the scope is a really flexible cross platform design that is somewhat limited by the BDC reticle. To be fair, it will make ACSS groupies happy and it is a really good option for the majority of what a typical user will do with this reticle. Most will go onto 5.56 AR-15s and, if I were to guess, about 60% of people who will buy this scope will never do anything beyond bench shooting inside of 200 yards and the rest are unlikely to ever look at a target beyond 500 yards. From an optomechanical standpoint, the AR I would like to put it on regularly sees distances beyond 800 yards, partially because I am a weird freak who likes to shoot far and partially because I live at an altitude that allows for this kind of stuff. Since the BDC reticle in mine is in meters, I can adapt it easily enough to the distances I shoot at.
Nightforce and Vortex use diffractive reticles in their high end LPVOs, so the reticle illumination is brighter, but the new PLxC is no slouch and the eyepiece is really nicely done. It is easy to get behind. FOV is wide.
Distortion is really minimal. Black ring around the image is barely there.
To re-iterate: aside from the diffractive reticle, it is a scope the size of NX8 that competes with ATACR and Razor Gen3. It clocks in at $1500, so we are talking significantly less money than its competitors. That's sort of a big deal in the LPVO world.
I've got it in PA's new single piece PLx mount that weighs just under 6 ounces. Together, scope and mount are just under 23 ounces. It is easily one of the lighter high quality options out there.
Now, onto the potential pitfalls:
1) the scope is new, so the durability will only be determined as more of these get out there
2) reticle illumination is quite good, but not nuclear bright like diffractive reticles are
3) depth of field is pretty good given how compact the design is, but is still a bit on the shallow side. The only time where you can kinda see it is when looking far away. It is better at distance than the NX8, but not as good as the ATACR. We are talking beyond 600 yards, so it is a limited use case.
PLxC 1-8x24 scope: https://bit.ly/3rc92gZ
Cantilever 30mm PLx mount: https://bit.ly/3jnmTwx
Note: through the scope pictures I attached are only there to show you what the reticle looks like. They are taken handheld with a cellphone and are no intended for demonstrating image quality the scope is capable of.