Yeah, I re-read entire thread and see that I was mistaken about rotation. Guess I gotta get some Flip covers. Here's mine;


-Another question. Just finished torquing LT-104. Pushed scope a hair more forward in rings after this picture and seems close enough for
proper eye relief. Any harm in that rear ring riding so close to magnification ring as long as ring turns freely?

-Any users guide included with anybodies? Wondering how and where for turret reset?

-YES, cattail WILL be a MUST.

-Glad to hear someone else had to back ocular WAY out for focus. I started to think there was a problem.

No issue with the mag ring being close.  So long as there is no contact with the ring and you're comfortable - it's good to go.  I'll second the cat tail.  I went shooting the other day and forgot a cardinal rule of cold weather shooting - adjusting ANYTHING when you're cold and wet is a chore!  I stand corrected.  Wearing gloves quickly highlighted the case for a cat tail.  I won't edit my original post but rather make the statement here - I think everyone will appreciate one.  It's notso much a SS thing, it's a variable scope thing.

Regarding the occular, the distance from the objective to the ocular in factory condition is 10.4"  That might prove helpful in the event you get too far removed messing around with the ocular adjustment.



Not sure about the turret zero - but a boresighter would probably help.

Was actually referring to how to reset exposed turret dials after zeroing. Was there supposed to be any instructional paperwork with these scopes?  

Another observation; as to 1x "fishbowling" it's slight at 10ft and under. Gone by 20ft.

I agree with this.

Use an allen wrench to take the turret off then return to zero and retighten after you sight in your rifle.

No, they dont come with instructions. It be nice if they did though. But this would probably lead to more overhead costs.

Anybody else got any "floaters" in the Ret.? Just looking at white wall on 1x I noticed I have a crisp black fleck at about 4-5 o'clock. It's irregular in shape, about as thick as the thin post outside above donut and about as long as the mid thickness post outside donut is wide. As the magnification goes up it moves off frame by about 1 1/8 mag. In my poor attempt at ret. photography you can basically see its size and position. 4ish 0'clock near outer edge. Spot is actually just as crisp,clear and defined as the rest of reticle when looking at it and when viewed real time it doesn't look anywhere near so small as my photo.

Just pulled the trigger on one of these off the samplelist. I'll be interested to see how it works on my recce; may need a new mount though. I've got an LT-104 SPR-1.5 here I was going to mount it in, but I'm thinking the eye relief may require an extended mount.

As has been covered and I can confirm, the 104 will work. Let's put it this way, it's what I had on hand. If I had an extended I'd have used it, but I think I'm just keeping the 104. It's that close to correct.

I agree with this.

ETA: Just to show where the scope ended up on my rifle using an LT-104...

Nice stick! Thanks

Just returned from a brief go at the range this afternoon.  Conditions: 34F, cloudy, and windy.

Observations:
 - the magnification ring, which is sluggish under normal circumstances, was downright stiff in the cold.  In my opinion, a cattail would be mandatory under these conditions.

 - used the brightest illumination setting, and against a medium brown dirt berm the red seemed a bit subdued.  Still visible, but definitely not bright.  Don't know if this was a function of the temperature affecting either the battery or the illumination itself.

Call SWFA, mine is crystal clear.

Also, I adjusted my SS this afternoon in the BOBRO mount.  Moved it all the way forward and it made a huge difference.  In doing so it allows for a NTCH head position with 3/8"-1/2" off the tip of your shnozzer.  Just right.

As for the fishbowl comments, are you sure you have the ocular adjusted right? Mine doesn't do that at all. It's perfect.  At arm's length or so - the magnification like all 1X scopes appears larger than your ambient FOV.  Past that the sight picture is 1X.  Search for Molon's thread on this in the optics forum.  Explains the concept in much greater detail.  

Please post pic of where it sits now. I may go extended after all.


I modify my earlier comment to agree that it's less "fishbowl" more "larger than ambient FOV" and smooths out to true 1x by no more than 20ft.

Kind of on the same subject, I'm having more focus trouble with this optic than with any in a long time. I've settled on the ocular being turned out farther than seems correct to me (3/16-1/4" out from clockwise tight) but.... if I get ret. sharp target is a little off and if I get target sharp ret. is a little off and then seems very head position sensitive for ret. focus. Also noticed outer edges of FOV are a bit sharper than center at all ocular settings.

Sorry for the indoor pic.  40 degrees and raining over 2 feet of snow pack.  This position with the BOBRO gets you a NTCH position save a <1/2" space, which I prefer.  I would suggest that if you had the opportunity to order a new mount - just as I suggested in my OP, I'd recommend you go with the extended mount be it Larue or BOBRO.  For no other real reason than the fashionable symmetry of centering the turrets between the rings.  If you already have a regular mount - use it.  Cause it does the job just fine and function always trumps form.  Except in the GD forum.

Roger that. You're pretty much where mine ended up pushed forward in Larue LT-104. If an extended falls in my lap great, if not OK too. Seems I have a couple more pressing problems to deal with anyway ie;

• Focus and edge to edge clarity

• Illum. flicker

• Ret. "floater"

Gonna mess around a little more. Sooner than later Brady from SWFA is sure to come along and offer help.

I needed the LT-139 to shoot NTCH without mounting it onto my rail.

Brady, understand SWFA working on Battery Cap fix. All good on that account. Understand explanation you provide on true 1x and I think the scope works fine in that regard. Was referring to this as to focus and clarity issues;



What's the accepted procedure on this?

Lastly, may all be moot point as I have a ret. floater that may mean we have to replace unit???

Please direct and advise. Loving the scope just have to work out the issues.

Thanks for jumping in Brady and providing that explanation.  Went out this weekend in the rain for a few mags.  Can't get enough of this scope.  I'm going to look for see through flip caps for the SS.  They'll make a huge difference on those wet / snowy days.

Great review and an informative thread.  I just ordered one myself with the CQC donut reticle and covered turrets.

My order showed up at the end of last week, and I'm impressed with it thus far.  Admittedly, I haven't shot it yet.  

 

wow,
LOVE the reticle

I just ordered one and can't wait to receive it.



Is there an estimate on when a cat tail will be available?

Here

 

Glad to hear it, thanks!

Never used one of those before.  Is there a reason it is so tall?

For good leverage and ease of use when handling it.

BTW, great job SWFA, these look good!

Nice, gives me some time to save for it!  Just preordered one.

Got mine on Friday and had a chance to get a good look at it yesterday.  Initial observations;

1. Extremely nice build quality - there is nothing cheap feeling or looking about it.
2. Clear, bright optics, sharp reticle
3. On my covered turret model, the elevation/windage adjustments are crisp and feel precise.
4. Not mentioned yet but worth noting, the objective lens is set about 5/8" in from front edge of tube.  This will help protect the lens and better shade it.
5. On the 1X setting with both eyes open, the merge of view between both eyes is seemless.  In other words, a straight line through the field of vision matches up perfectly with no offset, distortion or difference in size.
6. My 57 year-old eyesight hasn't been great for a mighty long time, but I was able to get both the reticle and target in good focus.  I erred on the side of a sharp reticle.
7. I mounted it in a Larue SPR-S LT-158 and found I had to push the scope forward as far as it would go.  With the CRT stock, the first position out from fully collapsed was a bit too close, the second position just about perfect.  I think I will go with the LT-139 and mount the scope with the turrets  centered between the rings, which will move the scope another 1/2" or so forward.
8. IMO, reticle illumination is perfect.  On all but bright backgrounds, the illumination is fully visible.  For example, today is bright-overcast and viewing normal mid-tone scenes (foliage, IDPA targets, etc.), the illumination is vivid and pulls the eye right in. Placing the reticle on snow or toward the sky, the reticle turns black. At all times, the reticle remains very sharp and easy to see.
9. The one and only downside thus far - like one of the other users in this thread, my sample developed a big reticle floater after mounting (wasn't there when I took it out of the box).  I will be contacting SWFA customer service tomorrow to request a replacement.

The donut reticle is IMO very well thought-out as well.  Using the conversion factor of 1 millirad = 3.6 inches at 100 yards on the diagram below, the 20 millirad scale in the center of the circle covers exactly 6 feet top-to-bottom or side-to-side, the distance between light crosshair sections covers exactly 12 feet. I think this reticle design is very useful for scaling known-size objects for determining range.

I plan on getting some range time with this scope soon and will share my further impressions. Other than the reticle floater, I very much like what I see so far.  If this scope proves to be durable and trouble-free, SWFA will have a winner with this one, setting a new standard for this price range.

Great to see others are finding this scope as slick as I do.  Nice point too regarding the objective lens' inset distance from the frame.

Just spoke with SWFA customer service - I have to send the scope back on my dime and they'll ship a replacement when they receive it.

Looks like I'm out another two weeks before I get any range time with it.

That right there is why SWFA is GTG.



 

Email received!  New scope on the way with pre-paid return box to ship old one back.

My sincere thanks for taking care of this!

PS - I have been buying from SWFA for many years and will certainly continue to do so!

Nicely done SWFA.

That is why I don't hesitate to buy or recommend any SWFA products. If and when they come out with SS midrange magnification scope I will order it sight unseen.

Update on mine. I received my replacement from Brady(SWFA). Top marks on customer service. Sent new scope with Prepaid return label in package. Main reason for swap was black spec "floater" in ret.

This one is clear thus far

New one has flickering illum. (guessing they haven't finished redesign yet. Gonna try o-ring) See ETA below

Still have slight focus issues. (when ret is focused, target out slightly and vise versa) Don't have same problem with Leup. MK4 I'm using as control. Don't think there's a fix for this. It just is what it is

Didn't like the way LT-104 set up. Picked up Bobro Ext. from another member Much better position. Now I understand the ring torquing access issue with the Bobro. Didn't get any instructions with the mount. The "loctite" that came with is for ring stud nuts? Are we doing that? Do you torque these strange "ring bolts" to same spec as normal rings? I actually moved the mount back one notch toward CH for perfect centering and Eye relief. Anybody using the Bobro Ext. got a pic. of where yours ended up.? I'll post mine ASAP. Well...now I guess I better get to range and actually shoot the thing.


ETA; I shot scope this morning. 75g PRVI. Nice tight 1" and < 6 shot groups at 100yds. More importantly, I stopped at HW store for #30 washers to try Illum. fix but never got the chance to install.....After shooting 60rds the Illum. no longer flickers when charging weapon. I DID NOTHING!

Has anyone noticed that only the highest setting (11) works when the battery is going low? I noticed that only my 11th setting was working and thought I was having more problms with the illumination until I put the spare battery and now all the settings work. They still have the same problem of only coming on when going from high to low, but they work. The battery ran out pretty fast, but at least ill always have a spare on hand.

ETA: Does SWFA have any idea when the new battery caps will be ready? 1 month? 2 months? 4 months? 6 months?

I noticed a big jump in brightness from setting 10 to 11.  I'd call setting 11 "nuclear" as it is really bright.  That said, I'm not a fan of using illumination in daylight when there is a perfectly good reticle to put to use.

My new scope arrives tomorrow and my Larue LT-139 arrives on Monday.  Will post some pics of my stick next week.

I agree. 11 is disproportionately bright but i don't call that a bad thing.

I would go so far to say that 11 is the daylight setting and the rest belong between dusk and dawn.  In the event the 11 setting isn't bright enough the reticle's black circle and posts keep your attention right where it should be.

Y'all keep talking about setting 11 and I keep hearing the line from 'Spinal Tap'.



 

I agree with that assessment!  I'm looking forward to using the new scope for the AR barricade session at the NEShooters 2011 Summit in a few weeks.

My Larue LT-139 mount showed up today and I assembled the scope & mount to the rifle.  With the turrets centered in the rings and the mount placed all the way forward on the receiver, the scope position is IMO perfect. I set my UBR stock 1 notch out and for my eyes, the relief is just right.  

I hope to get some range time this weekend.

I had some time to sight in the scope today and tried it at a variety of engagement distances.

Some observations;

1. The glass is very nice! Bright, sharp and clear to the edges, at 4X I could see all the fine detail on the target.

2. Once the ocular was adjusted for my vision, the reticle is very sharp.

3. Set at 4X, the hatched crosshair reticle inside the circle is excellent for precision shooting.  The inside of the circle covers 8 feet at 100 yards, so it dosen't even "register" in the view when aiming at a small target.

4. Set at 1X, I tried some off hand shooting at an IPSC target from 25 yards.  At this setting, the circle works like a large dot and is quick to get on target.  It was an overcast day so the illumination was very bright at setting 11 (I still prefer leaving it off).

5. Cat tail is needed.  It was about 40 degrees and the zoom ring took some effort to turn.

I am very pleased with this scope.  As I stated in my previous post, the scope is very well made and feels like it can take some abuse.  The glass is excellent and the reticle design works very well.  IMO, it's a keeper!

Photo below of the scope mounted.  Note that the rear Butler Creek cover is too small and is just caught on the edge of the eyepiece, making the scope look longer than it really is.

Well, it didn't take long to drop my scope.

I was at the range today with a friend and I wanted to test the repeatability of my LaRue mount. I shot a couple shots, took the scope off and shot some open sighted shots. When I was going to remounting my scope I accidentally dropped it from the top of my AR onto the concrete bench. I was pretty surprised that the objective dented and stayed slighty flat where it first made contact with the bench, especially since the fall was only slighty more than 12 inches. I dont care about the scratch but could this negatively affect the scope?

Crappy iPhone pics.



Hard to see the dent from these pictures, but its there.