SWFA SS 10x42mm Mil-Quad Reticle and Primary Arms 30mm low rings

My 700P’s been without glass for a while but as I have a few other precision rigs, the 700P wasn’t a huge priority.  I wanted to keep my 700P as plain as possible, and though I didn’t need a huge magnification range for long distance, I wanted to get something that I was used to, something will a mil reticle and mil adjustments. 

My buddy Alex recommended I try the SWFA SS 10x42mm with the Mil-Quad reticle.  Apart from my Elcan C79 3.4x, I’d never had a fixed power scope and I wasn’t sure I’d be comfortable with using one.  But I’d heard good things about it so I decided to give it a try.

The scope was sold by Primary Arms, the same company that sells scopes of the same brand. 

http://93zj.blogspot.ca/2017/08/pa-scope.html 

The entry level Primary Arms scopes are just that, entry level.  Made in China, mushy controls and a very ugly overall appearance.  They might even be clones of the made in China Falcon line of scopes.  It is however first focal plane and the glass is of decent quality.  The reticle is crisp and fine, with a bullet drop built in.

Anyway, the “Super Sniper” 10x42mm has a bit of history, originally designed and sold by Tasco, apparently built for military applications, though I've seen very few pictures of these on military rifles "in the wild".  I found this image, but I'm not even sure it's legit:

Apparently the QC on these went downhill for a few years, along with Tasco’s other offerings, until it was sort of resurrected by SWFA who purchased the super sniper distribution rights and got QC back up to a decent standard.

The scope came in a plain cardboard box, nothing fancy (not expecting much for $299 USD), with the scope wrapped in bubble wrap.  

The scope appears to be decent quality.  According to Primary Arms, these are manufactured in Japan, though I could not find a manufacture stamp anywhere on the scope.  The finish is a matt black and it appears robust enough.  

The turrets aren’t bad.  The clicks are audible and positive, and the knobs are of a decent size and marked clearly.  After you find your zero, you unscrew the three set screws, lift the cap off and drop it back down to zero and tighten up the set screws again.  

The focus ring is where the magnification ring would normally be.  There is a side focus model for an extra $100, but I just got this one.  

I also ordered a set of Primary Arms 30mm low rings, which appear to be the same design as Millet, Vortex and Burris tactical rings.

The rings are of decent quality for what you pay for.  I would say these are better than the weaver tactical rings.  

Anyway, being in the land of perpetual rain and overcast skies, I didn’t get a chance to get some quality pics of the glass, but there’s a shot of the reticle at least.  I’ll update this when I figure out how to take a decent picture of the glass and see if I can capture the clarity I can see with my eyes.

As far as the scope being fixed a fixed 10x, it wasn’t all that hard to get used to.  It was very pointable, and finding the object/target was fairly quick.  The focus ring was also easy to use and I’m looking forward to trying this scope out when the weather gets better.

Some specs from the factory:

Matte Finish

Patented Mil-Quad Reticle

30mm Tube

Rear Focus

OK for .50 cal

.10 Mrad Turrets

Exit Pupil:  4.2mm

Field of View @ 100m:  3.9m

Rear Parallax Adjustment (m):   10m-Infinity

Eye Relief (in): 3.9

Diopter Compensation:  -2 ~ +1 dpr

Click Adjustment Value:  0.1 MRAD

Adjustment Per Revoultion:  5 Mils

Total Elevation Adjustment:   Mils

Total Windage Adjustment  

 Mils

Type of Reticle:  Mil-Quad

Coating:  Fully Multi Coated

Waterproof:  Yes

Fogproof:  Yes

Shockproof:  Yes

Weight (oz):  18.7

Objective Bell Diamater (A):  49.5mm / 1.949"

Bell Length (B):  119mm / 4.685"

(C):  69mm / 2.716"

Tube Length (D):  148mm / 5.827"

Overall Length (E):  357mm / 14.05"

(F):  49mm / 1.929"

Eyepiece length (G):  90mm / 3.543"

Eyepiece Diameter (H):  46mm / 1.811"

(I):  31.9mm / 1.255"

 Tube Diameter (J):  30mm / 1.181"