Almost fantastic - Primary Arms SLx 4-14x44mm Rifle Scopes, 30mm Tube, First Focal Plane (FFP)

PA brought FFP scopes to the masses and I am grateful. Creative ETCHED reticles show a constant effort at innovation and improvement. This model has the ACSS Christmas tree with ILLUMINATED HORSESHOE and is what I'm reviewing. With illumination turned on the Horseshoe becomes a Red Dot bright enough to see at midday. You can be quick on close targets and pick up the fine FFP reticle at dusk, in dark woods, or at close range. It's a brilliant solution. Utilizing its mil-scale Christmas tree + windage dots, your hunting rifle or AR can regularly ping steel a thousand yards away. BUT!!! There's one glaring flaw: On this model, the vertical crosshair ends 1 mil down from the Chevron center, leaving a full mil of empty space. This is problematic. It means no reference points from 200m to 300m for most cartridges. IF ONLY the lower vertical crosshair had come up to 1/2 mil, this might have been the perfect reticle. Some argue the horseshoe occludes the target. The horseshoe serves its purpose well without being too distracting at high magnification. In my opinion, the upper vertical crosshair blocks more useful field of view, and could be deleted, but there is something about the traditional crosshair that draws one's eye to the center. On to the TURRETS. They're unnecessarily large and do not lock, lending themselves to accidentally turning on the move, especially slung. CLICKS ARE MUSHY and quiet, tactile and audibly. This might be why it sometimes seems to wander off zero. No zero stop. That's an easy fix. A stack of thin washers of the correct size under the elevation dial and you can create your own zero stop. UNLOCKED UNCAPPED TURRETS are by no means unique to Primary Arms. I tape mine in place when hunting. This scope has such a well-designed mil scale, I rarely find myself dialing anymore, preferring holdovers at long range. Eventually the current trend of massive "tactical" turrets will fade out and we'll enjoy more streamlined practical optics. It may sound like I'm picking this apart but don't get me wrong this is a fine scope. It offers revolutionary features at this price point. It's not too heavy, the glass is pretty good, The parallax knob and illumination are well thought out. It's just that with very minor improvements this could have been the ultimate do it all optic.