Problem With The Latest Primary Arms?

AR Sponsor:

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Problem With The Latest Primary Arms?

Posted: 10/17/2014 11:28:22 PM EDT

Finally hauled off and got another PA red dot from AIM Surplus.

It's the latest, greatest model with the +/- activation buttons.

Unless I'm doing it wrong, to turn it on and get the dot to a visible level, one has to press the danged button five or six times.

Seems like the dial version would be quicker and more intuitive.

What say you?

http://www.primaryarms.com/v/vspfiles/photos/MD-ADS-2.jpg

Posted: 10/18/2014 12:56:28 AM EDT

[#1]

You are scrolling through the NV settings. Older MD06 models didn't have these. Aimpoints are the same way.

Posted: 10/18/2014 1:29:41 AM EDT

[#2]

Correct you are scrolling through the NV settings, but I agree I am not a button person.

Posted: 10/18/2014 2:08:00 AM EDT

[#3]

"scrolling through" meaning it's necessary to begin from "off" and make 5 or 6 button clicks to "visible in daylight"?

thnx

Posted: 10/18/2014 4:33:55 AM EDT

[#4]

Can you leave it on? Seems like they have a pretty long battery life.

Posted: 10/18/2014 8:30:24 AM EDT

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:
Can you leave it on? Seems like they have a pretty long battery life.

View Quote

Yea, the battery last 50k hours

Posted: 10/18/2014 10:00:25 AM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
"scrolling through" meaning it's necessary to begin from "off" and make 5 or 6 button clicks to "visible in daylight"?

thnx

View Quote

Yep. Leave it on the setting you like. It'll last 5 years on one battery.

You have to do the same thing with the Aimpoints. From off you have to go 5 clicks until it's lightly visible. I leave mine on setting 6. EOTechs are a little different in that when you turn them on, they default to a middle setting then you can scroll up or down depending on your needs. Then again, their battery life is only about 1k hours constantly on instead of 50k.

Posted: 10/18/2014 11:00:09 AM EDT

[#7]

Does it have an automatic shutoff?

If so, once it shuts off it's back to square one with the same problem of having to multi-click it to visible, right?

thnx

Posted: 10/18/2014 11:03:51 AM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
Does it have an automatic shutoff?

If so, once it shuts off it's back to square one with the same problem of having to multi-click it to visible, right?

thnx

View Quote

Primary Arms version does not have auto shut off. After the Holosun micro was released, that was the customers number one concern for PA so they made theirs without auto shut off and increased the water proofing.

Holosun does.

Posted: 10/18/2014 11:16:40 AM EDT

[#9]

I have it boxed and prepared to return to AIM to exchange it for the removable base model with the clickable dial.

The consensus here is just leave it on permanently?

Not sure why, but I'm reluctant to do that.

While I may not shoot it often, it's a home/perimeter defense SBR and needs to be ready to use quickly.

Thanks for all the info.

Posted: 10/18/2014 11:22:49 AM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
I have it boxed and prepared to return to AIM to exchange it for the removable base model with the clickable dial.

The consensus here is just leave it on permanently?

Not sure why, but I'm reluctant to do that.

While I may not shoot it often, it's a home/perimeter defense SBR and needs to be ready to use quickly.

Thanks for all the info.

View Quote

Leave it on permanently, change the battery every year. That way if you need to grab your rifle in a hurry, you don't have to fiddle with things like optics. In that type of situation you're fine motor skills degrade, so anything like optics are best set and forget.

Posted: 10/18/2014 11:29:01 AM EDT

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:
I have it boxed and prepared to return to AIM to exchange it for the removable base model with the clickable dial.

The consensus here is just leave it on permanently?

Not sure why, but I'm reluctant to do that.

While I may not shoot it often, it's a home/perimeter defense SBR and needs to be ready to use quickly.

Thanks for all the info.

View Quote

So you WANT to leave it on - otherwise you have to worry about getting the dot on to a usable brightness when you need it the most.

That's what it's made for. If anything goes wrong, you still have the 3 year warranty from PA. Plus, your battery should last way longer than that.

The PA version with the dial is the older generation and the battery life is only ~1k hours on medium settings. It's a great dot - but IMO not comparable to the new advanced red dot.

Posted: 10/18/2014 11:36:58 AM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:

So you WANT to leave it on - otherwise you have to worry about getting the dot on to a usable brightness when you need it the most.

That's what it's made for. If anything goes wrong, you still have the 3 year warranty from PA. Plus, your battery should last way longer than that.

The PA version with the dial is the older generation and the battery life is only ~1k hours on medium settings. It's a great dot - but IMO not comparable to the new advanced red dot.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
I have it boxed and prepared to return to AIM to exchange it for the removable base model with the clickable dial.

The consensus here is just leave it on permanently?

Not sure why, but I'm reluctant to do that.

While I may not shoot it often, it's a home/perimeter defense SBR and needs to be ready to use quickly.

Thanks for all the info.

So you WANT to leave it on - otherwise you have to worry about getting the dot on to a usable brightness when you need it the most.

That's what it's made for. If anything goes wrong, you still have the 3 year warranty from PA. Plus, your battery should last way longer than that.

The PA version with the dial is the older generation and the battery life is only ~1k hours on medium settings. It's a great dot - but IMO not comparable to the new advanced red dot.

Thanks, that settles it.

I'll keep it.

I am, however, going to exchange the Primary Arms riser because the quality is marginal.

Which of the four do you recommend: American Defense, Samson, Fortis or Bobro?

thnx

Posted: 10/18/2014 11:43:12 AM EDT

[#13]

I had American Defense mounts on my old MD06s, however I'm sure all would be fine. Samson makes excellent rails, so I would love to try their mounts out.

Which PA riser did you get? I ordered the lower 1/3rd mount (non QD) so I'm interested to see why it's marginal quality.

Posted: 10/18/2014 12:25:40 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
I had American Defense mounts on my old MD06s, however I'm sure all would be fine. Samson makes excellent rails, so I would love to try their mounts out.

Which PA riser did you get? I ordered the lower 1/3rd mount (non QD) so I'm interested to see why it's marginal quality.

View Quote

I got the lower 1/3 cowitness and it aligned well.

However there were a couple of things that weren't up to snuff:

1. the small springs used to keep tension on one side of the clamp were thin and weak
2. the roll-type pin wasn't seated deeply all the way through the side lever, so it didn't keep full tension on the tension knob/ball. Under recoil the lever would begin to creep up from full lock down.

I wrestled with it for 20 minutes and went through about 40 rounds of ammo re-adjusting it and re-sighting it in.

I'll spend more money to mount and forget it.

Posted: 10/19/2014 10:08:12 PM EDT

[#15]

Ahh - good to hear. I didn't get the QD mount, just their plain riser. I don't need the QD capability so I'm good to go.

Posted: 10/20/2014 1:00:57 PM EDT

[#16]

Got this operation explanation from PA:

"When you activate the MD-ADS, it automatically defaults to the last brightness setting used. If you're pressing the 'down' button and putting it to the nightvision mode instead of pressing both buttons at the same time to turn it off, it will automatically default to the NV compatible settings (1 and 2), forcing you to cycle through to probably setting 5 or 6 for an easily visible dot."

Posted: 10/20/2014 1:05:53 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
Got this operation explanation from PA:

"When you activate the MD-ADS, it automatically defaults to the last brightness setting used. If you're pressing the 'down' button and putting it to the nightvision mode instead of pressing both buttons at the same time to turn it off, it will automatically default to the NV compatible settings (1 and 2), forcing you to cycle through to probably setting 5 or 6 for an easily visible dot."

View Quote

That's actually a very nice feature. I wish EOTech would implement that into their sights. My 512 and EXPS 2-0 would just default to a middle of the road brightness which was WAY too bright for indoor use.

Posted: 10/21/2014 3:49:46 PM EDT

[#18]

simple solution

absolute co-witness

push both buttons to turn off and last brightness setting is saved

win

Posted: 10/21/2014 5:37:16 PM EDT

[#19]

I may have to try one of these....

Posted: 10/21/2014 6:46:51 PM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
simple solution

absolute co-witness

push both buttons to turn off and last brightness setting is saved

win

View Quote

Which mount is that particular one?

And for sighting in did you happen to bore sight it first?

Posted: 11/3/2014 7:29:00 PM EDT

[#21]

Quote History

Quoted:

Which mount is that particular one?

And for sighting in did you happen to bore sight it first?

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
simple solution

absolute co-witness

push both buttons to turn off and last brightness setting is saved

win

Which mount is that particular one?

And for sighting in did you happen to bore sight it first?

It's the factory, PA base on a small piece of rail.

Didn't have to bore sight it. Started at 25 and shot it at 100 today.

Posted: 11/3/2014 7:48:30 PM EDT

[#22]

Here's mine on an absolute cowitness American Defense mount. I love it.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Problem With The Latest Primary Arms?

AR-15 » Optics, Mounts, and Sights

AR Sponsor:

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us