Looking for any first-hand feedback on the primary arms GLX 2.5–10 scope. Interested in feedback on the quality of the glass for its price point, and specifically feedback on the MIL reticle. Is the reticle too busy?  Does it obscure the target too much?

Thanks

I'm assuming you already did a youtube search?

I have one.  I think it's an absolutely excellent scope.  Get the Griffen reticle and the 2.5x FFP matches the 2.5x CQB scopes reticle.  Then go up to 10x and a nice precision Christmas tree becomes visible.  It has a nice big objective lense to let in lots of precious light for low-light dusk/dawn usage.  

My only real complaint is its a bit heavy, at 22 oz.  

I like it so much, now I have 2.

Had a griffin mil reticle first release one.

Pros:
Nice glass. Christmas tree was nice. Turrets were good. Weight was good.

Cons:
Horrible eye relief. Illumination was non existent (only the center chevron illuminates and at best it's a slight red hue if you really hunter for it ignoring everything else) outside of pitch black environments. Chevron (i could make it work, but i'm not a fan). Horseshoe disappears too easily at 2.5x thanks to the sides being the ranging stadia (stadia for measuring average male height at distance if they are standing up straight skylining themselves...) which was a no go for me as the point of the scope, for me, was 2.5x use first and foremost with 10x max mag for when necessary or able to use.

Returned it.

Just wanted to update this post.

I ended up purchasing the scope with the Raptor BDC reticle.  The reason I got the Raptor reticle Vs. the Mil reticle was actually based on getting the chance to look at two other reticles/optics, and deciding they weren't for me.  I got the chance to spend some time at the range with a Nightforce ATACR 1-8, and, surprisingly enough, I found that I really didn't like it.  The glass was awesome, but the reticle was way too busy for me, and for my use.  I found that at distance, there was so much going on in the reticle, that I found myself really struggling to see the target through all of the hash marks and wind holds.  Maybe if I were some kind of door-kicking professional, and I was doing DMR-things, all of the stuff in the reticle would be helpful.  But this scope project was done specifically for run and gun matches where the targets were out to 600 yards (mostly known distance)--just playing a game, and the Nightforce was just too busy for me.  That led me to believe that the Mil reticle option in the PA 2.5-10 would be similarly too busy, so I elected to get the Raptor BDC reticle, as it is far less busy.

I'm no optics expert, but my uneducated review on the PA is as follows:  Glass is better than I expected.  It's nice and light, for its size.  Illumination is awful--I'm not even sure why they include it.  I'd prefer they saved a few dollars and ounces by leaving it off.  Controls are all excellent.  The BDC seems to favor a faster bullet, i.e. the BDC didn't work out well for my slower .223 62 and 75 grain loads, but worked out well with 55 grain 5.56 loads--out to 500 yards.  Past 500 I had to fudge the BDC a little, but we all know that the BDC will almost never truly line up with what it says it will, and you have to find out where to hold with your gun/load combo.  Most of the targets in 3-gun/run and gun are generous enough in size that the BDC doesn't have to perfect--just good enough, and I was looking for fast/easy.  I'm also in the camp of I don't really like the chevron.  I'd prefer a simple dot with the horseshoe.  But it works just fine for my purposes.  

I'm shooting Legion run and gun this weekend, so it's going to get drug through the mud, banged off of obstacles, and shot out to 600 yards, so I'll be able to come back here next week with a good synopsis of the scope.

Thank you for responding!

Yup, I saw the information in the manual.  Unfortunately, even zeroing about 1.5" high at 100, I was still coming up about 2 feet low at 600 with both of my .223 loads.  The 2, 3, 4 and 500 yards were all right on the money, but between 5 and 6 it just fell apart.  Even 5.56 was low at 600 yards--but not as much as the slower .223 loads.  The 600 yard mark was actually really close at 550--POI was just an inch or two high at 550 using the 600 yard mark, so that works out just fine.  And at 600, I'm solid if I hold the 600 yard mark at the top of the target (target is 18", so I'd be roughly 9-10" low at 600, using the 600 yard mark and not holding high).  This is with a 16" barrel.  I may try and throw it on an 18" barreled upper, but then I'm starting to defeat the original goal of light and short for running a foot race with.  Don't get me wrong, PA--I'm not unhappy with the BDC results--I've tried other scopes with BDCs that fared far worse.  There's just no way to cover everything out there load-wise and rifle-wise--it's all a compromise when talking about a BDC.  But this one gets me close enough.

I know you personally have no say in this, but as long as you are here and listening I'll say it again--the illumination is terrible--I'd be perfectly happy if you left it off for less weight/complexity/cost.  Also, the reticle I'd love to see, and what would get me to buy another scope, is the same reticle that's in my OG PA Platinum 1-8 that I bought years ago--horseshoe with a dot (no chevron) and a simple vertical MIL stadia line, marked with numbers in even-numbered increments, with half-Mils marked with a shorter line.  Very simple and clean.

Ah, I see you are running a 16" BBL.   I don't care for BDC scopes a whole lot, because they tend to be best-case performance under ideal conditions where they are particular to one bullet profile at one weather condition with zero wind blowing.   They are almost always more optimistic than real-world drop.  In this case, I would assume the BDC is calibrated for the velocity of 20" BBL velocity, not 16"  In general, you won't really see that much difference between those two barrel lengths in drop, until you start hitting around 500 yards or so.  Do you know your MV?

I'll have to look back in my data book to see my MVs with the loads I'm using--but they will all be less than advertised, as, like you noticed, I'm using a 16" barrel instead of 20" or 24" that are often used for testing.

It's all good though--this BDC reticle gets me close enough for what I'm using it for.  I didn't anticipate it being perfect, and the end result is perfectly useable.

Have fun, you gonna run Operator class so you can bring a shotgun instead of a pistol?

Nah—I’m doing non-SF/wuss/light fighter class.

My 2 Cents: PSA GLx 2.5-10x44mm

Pro's: Great locking turrets, excellent glass, side focus, good weight for a FFP MVPO (22.5 oz), attractively priced under $800. And it's 44mm Objective is best in class of MVPO's

Con's: Weak illumination, but that's what found in most MVPO's.  They are not daylight bright, and I'm not sure how important that is for primary MVPO use.  

A poor reticle for most LR shooting can be explained by this scope not having any wind holds along the baseline.  This means you cannot dial for elevation and hold for wind.  Yes, you can use the Xmas Tree part of the reticle, but that's not always convenient or practical.

As far as the side focus is concerned, I feel it's a two edged sword.  Side focus means this scope has a bit more precision to offer at all ranges, than say the Trijicon 2-10x36mm.  Yet this reticle is curiously not well designed for "precision" shooting.

Another con, is a very short eye relief (2.8" compared to 3.4" or more), and narrow field of view as compared to it's 2-10x competition .  (36ft @100 yds compared to 50 ft @ 100yds)  

None of these con's are major show stoppers, as this is a very useful scope.  PA has better reticles in it's stable that they could use in future iterations.

There is very little that needs to be changed/enhanced to make this the best in class MVPO.

Which one.  They offer I think 3.

They only offer two different reticles in GLx 2.5-10x series right now. Neither the ACSS RAPTOR M2 Reticle nor the ACSS Griffin MIL Reticle have wind holds along the base line.

Base means bottom.

You mean the X-axis of what would be a crosshair.

Base in this case is the midpoint between hold under's and hold overs.

When you're running through the creek and thorny brush, I think you'll be glad you ran lightfighter.

Griffin does.  Or at least, moving target leads.  The Christmas tree has very fine wind dots.  Not necessarily on baseline, but eh, good enough IMHO for SWAG'ing a hold over; considering my wind call is always a SWAG anyway.

For what it is worth I love mine (griffin Mil reticle) for my use which is rapid minute of man shooting at 400-800 yards using 5.56.  My only functional complaint is the illumination sucks though I don't really care or need it.  

Light transmission is good and I shoot out to several hundred yards at night with NV looking through it at around 6x.