Not sure what else to call it.  I have a 16" fixed front sight flat top.  With eye relief set correctly I am seeing a beveled edge effect.  The inner 80% of FOV is perfect.  On the outer edge I see an angled reflection effect.  Imagine looking at a round mirror with a beveled, mirrored outer edge.  It looks like that except of course i see downrange.  It's seems to come and go as I try to focus on a reticle in every scope I have tried.

I have astigmatism and am nearsighted.  I do wear corrective glasses and did for this test.  I am an experienced shooter and my bolt guns do not seem to bave this problem with typical 'deer' rifle scopes.  The optics tested on my ar all had objectives in the 20mm range - I am not sure this is a factor (% obstruction from front sight).  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

is this on one particular scope, or with several?

1x like eotech / Aimpoint don't show it only magnified optics.  Being counter demos they may be damaged scopes for all I know..

What scope is it that is doing this? Could be just a cheap scope or may need to be sent back to the manfg depends on what the actual scope is. Cheap scopes will not be as clear from edge to edge as better ones.

This isn't a clarity issue exactly.  It may be drastically problematic spherical aberration.  I have just never seen it so bad and didn't even recognize it.  I'm betting these 'try me' scopes are broken.  Put a $1200 Z brand on there and it was fine.  Also tried a $130 B brand - also fine.  They were both new in box examples.

Theres no way a "try me" scope would have glass problems from being on display, that would be a manufactures defect, not a user induced defect. Thats why I was asking what scope is it, not how much it costs.

Initially I reported seeing this in every scope I'd tried.  I ended up going to another LGS and tried some of the same models.  Bingo - issue resolved.  Simply put they worked fine.  I wouldn't expect 'try me' scopes to have an issue.  TBH I'm still not sure what was wrong.  No one scope stood out - the problem was clear in several.  Maybe the issue was me - who knows.