The MD-25 from Primary Arms has made its way into my lap. I spoke with Marsh after MRW made his awesome post comparing the 2X PA optic to the ACOG and traditional red dot sights and wanted to write about the MD25. I have reviewed optics from PA before, and I have no financial relationship with PA.

Description:



The PA SLX MD25 is a 25MM optic which straddles the line between a microdot and a full size 30 mm red dot. Its footprint is Aimpoint micro, but its overall size is more MRO. The initial impression is good. The optic feels robust and overall the optic is raising no alarm bells from me. The glass is clear with an almost imperceptible blue tint. The Interior of the optic is clean, without excessive adhesive nor dust present. The emitter is at 9 o'clock and is a low profile. Overall the interior and exterior of the optic looks professional and clean. The rheostat feels slightly rubbery with a slightly mushy definition from setting to setting, but there were no dead spots or issues related to the rheostat and it did not affect the red dot's performance. The rheostat sticks out further than competitors, but this did not affect performance. The MD-25 ships factory configured for absolute co-witness but includes two risers and hardware to raise the optic to a lower third (or higher). It also includes a low mount for mounting the MD25 to other platforms.




The mount is robust and confidence-inspiring. It is a welcome surprise on an entry-level optic. Comparing the MD25 mount to the Holosun factory mount, there is simply no contest. The hardware is more robust, features a recoil lug, and the clamp runs the length of the mount and is secured by two bolts which thread into steel inserts. The holosun's riser appears anemic by comparison, with a smaller steel foot and much thinner hardware.



Today marked my first range session with the MD-25 and it performed adequately. I am still writing down all my thoughts, but it never lost zero and no water appeared to infiltrate the optic after drop testing. I repeatedly hit the optic on the ground and re-checked zero. No movement, no zero loss.





Those are small gifs from a much longer video review which I will be editing to release in the future.



It performed as a red dot should, it simply functioned without drama. So far, it appears to be a solid entry-level red dot with a better mount than competitors. I think it offers a more complete package than red dots which often come with anemic factory mounting options.


The above photo isn't the best at capturing the dot. I had it at setting 11 and had no issues seeing the dot under any lighting condition.

I am aware of the China sentiment here, and the MD-25 is indeed made in China. My only thoughts on that subject are that If an optic makes its way into my hands, I am going to review it, regardless of origin. Thanks to Marsh for letting me evaluate the MD25. He did not preface our communication with any rules or requests for this review.

More to come.

Thanks for your efforts, and good job with the photography and video.

I look forward to your updates--and I appreciate that Primary Arms offers good-quality, reliable, and affordable products at prices that work for me.

All the best.

Appreciate the review and efforts on this one!

Without going back to look I think they are like $169. They are available to pre-order now.

thank you OP and Primary Arms.  Any plans for some parallax testing? Maybe similar to testing done by Sinistral & Karl for inrange?

No problem. I will do that next time at the range. It may be a week or more for my next outing. I spent allot of time being attacked by ants and hitting the optic on the ground this first outing.

Nice sight, they just need to find a new manufacturing facility. I personally will not buy anything from China moving forward, whenever possible.

How about Taiwan?  (The good China)

Good luck not buying anything from China.

Unfortunately moving to another country would likely result in more expensive products of lesser quality (at first anyways).

Look at that Freedom RDS from Leupold, it’s USA made and a flaming pile of $300 shit.

I'm thinking of putting one of these in a low-mount on a 10/22.

Will it get as low as the Micros will in their low-mount?
Thanks.


** --- Meh. I'll continue to buy Holosun and Primary Arms because the value is insane compared to anything on the market. Hell, American flags are made in China, as are so many of the Donald Trump hats, etc. Sure they lied about the virus, but we got daily lies about it ourselves--and China wasn't the one in charge of our policies and screw-ups.

Would love to see the PA horseshoe reticle in green. Love every other aspect though but my 45 yr old eyes are making it harder and harder to see dots.

This thread is worthless without parallax testing.

Not a dig by any means, love what you guys do. Just bitter from MRO experiences.

If the GLx 2x is LE rated where does that leave the SLx MD-25?

The truth is 99.999% of us don’t need things that are LE or .mil rated. The PA micros/holosun etc are great now. It isn’t like it was back in the ABC and R days.

Or red? All that extra extra size/glass and only a dot?

They have a ACSS model coming.

I hope the black obscuring ring of the body is less pronounced in real life than it is in those pics and that internal reflections are not bad. Thats what I really didnt dig about the rotary knob T1 sized PA RDS. The other odds and ends are livable and its a robust little sight but the amount of body obscuring the view made me relegate mine to spotting scope use. Would really like a RDS I could reccomend to officers that is better than a MRO and cheaper too.

OST

Just came back from the range a few hours ago. Moved the dot between 3,6,9, and 12 o'clock for parallax testing.

No issues noted. Easily rang the 8 inch steel at 100 yards from all positions.



I had left the optic on since the last range session, nothing new to report. Remained on and had no issues.

Looks similar to a Bushnell TRS 26. Perhaps It’s made in the same factory with upgraded parts. I like it and will get one in the future. Since I am Right handed i would prefer the rheostat on the Right side. I am also waitingTo  see the one with the ACSS reticle.

Alright guys here is the video review. I will have an article up with this video and additional pictures here on wed.



So do you want me to do anything else to the MD25? Im not going to blow it up with tannerite, but if there is any testing component I missed let me know. I can take more photos and it's been on in my safe since I got it. It's still running on setting 9 no issues.

One of the unsung heroes of the video is the Palmetto State Armory 10.5 inch kit. It hasn't been lubed since I purchased it and it's going on at least 1k rounds with no issues. I'm just going to keep shooting this gun until it chokes. The MD-25 and the PSA kit are like two peas in a pod. They just go together.

Im also surprised at how well the mount held up. You'd think it would bend due to how it's designed from drops/impact.

A good budget mount right out of the box? I wish PA would sell these separately.
Attached File

Support that Chicom economy....

PA keeps diversifying country of origin. They even have US made mounts coming out this year.

I understand your feeling, but dang man they're innovative, offering customers affordable options and outstanding service.

And if you want a non chicom optic and can afford it, they have it.

I see you went from harassing people in the vendor new product thread to other threads. I’m not seeing you harassing folks in Swampfox and Vortex threads. I’m starting to feel like you’re trolling Primary Arms.

Primary Arms SLx Review at my Blog.

Here is the final link to my review but its literally word for word as the video almost so you can get the whole just from the video.

I will update the thread as I shoot the MDS25 for a longer term review and link back to ARF from the article. Lets see where it goes.

I could be wrong but I don't think he was talking about the emitter but the body of the optic itself.  I have to agree with him about the rotary PA dot I bought a few of them when they came out and they're great little dots but the way the body is made when you have both eyes open the body and knobs don't disappear as well as with your Holosun dots.  The glare on them can also be slightly annoying with the sun behind you but it's not that bad and I like how much stronger the optic feels over the Holosun models.  By looking at the pictures I can tell the elevation knobs / rhetostat sticks out pretty far on this optic so with both eyes open I'm sure they are going to be in the way.  I really wish you guys as well as other companies would make low profile knobs for this reason.  It's not a deal breaker and I will likely pick up a couple with the ACSS reticle when they come out.  

What's this auto live thing you mentioned with the ACSS?  Do you mean shake awake?  

One last thing, those mounts do look great compared to all others that come stock but I always upgrade them to QD mounts anyways and would love to see you guys come out with a budget QD mount that actually held zero.  Adding a QD mount adds $50-60 or more to the optic after purchase - although I guess it's not necessary, I feel the need to have it just in case.  I guess the good news is I can resell the stock mounts from these to others who like solid mounts.  They certainly look every bit as good as the top name brand ones out there.

Auto live is a great function if battery life is 20,000 hrs or so. I think if the ACSS model really has only a 12,000 hr life It’s less appealing and is better to not have this feature.  I have a holosun clone that turns on with every bump or vibration. It is essentially on all the time. A 12,000 battery will need to be replaced every 1.5 yrs or so if it’s on all the time.

I look forward to seeing your guys QD mount in the future, especially if it's engineered half as good as this solid mount.  On the mount itself I'd either make it a hollow base on the inside like the ADMs so you can store a spare battery inside of it or make it like your guys Advanced rotary mount that has the solid sides but is hollow in the middle when looking from front to back.  I like that mount I just wish it was a QD.  I have a couple/few of the earlier blems that had the mount drilled in the wrong location and have been meaning to modify some ADM mounts for them.  I did it on a cheapo mount before to make sure it was doable, all that needed done was filing a little bit off the square recoil pad of the mount so the sight can be moved further forward / or backwards I can't remember which.  The square recoil pad won't be touching on both sides but I imagine the 4 screws would be plenty to hold the sight in place, but perhaps I will put a little epoxy where the gap is on the mount.

Also on the shake awake, I love that feature on the push button dots but kind of like the idea of not having it with the rotary 25mm dot.  I wouldn't be upset either way.  The only bad thing about having it on one with a rotary dial is you couldn't turn the auto live feature off or on if it had issues in the distant future?  While 50k hours of battery life is nice, 12k is good enough for me to give them a shot since I love the ACSS reticle and changing the battery once a year isn't that big of a deal.  It would be nice to be able to turn the horseshoe off around the chevron like with the Holosun model but I am guessing that isn't doable.  

And lastly, as far as your eyes adjusting to look around the optic that is true to a certain extent.  I figure some peoples eyes adjust better then others.  It doesn't really bother me when there's more material in the way but whenever I look through the Holosun models like your ACSS dot it just has the perfect sight picture and the tube basically disappears entirely.  I'd love it if all red dots had that sleek profile.

Any way you can do a cold test?  IDK if putting in a freezer overnight & seeing how it functions would be an accurate enough test or not.  Where I live it's not uncommon for it go get to -40 & lots of things don't do so good at those temps, me becoming one of them in the last few years.  I have one on order, but it will probably be a few months before it's that kind of cold, plus it would be interesting to see how one that's already been knocked around functions in the cold.

Sure I can keep it in the freezer for a while. Lets see what happens.

I'm not really that worried about it anymore OP.  I don't think I'll be getting mine anytime soon.  I noticed that the ~$160 that had been taken off my card when I ordered it was now not listed, so I'm guessing they won't be shipping mine any time soon if at all.

Nothing really to report. Dot is still on. The rheostat had to be firmly turned as it was difficult to go to the next setting, but once it was loosened it was easier to turn to subsequent settings.

Its been about 5 days in the freezer. Got busy and forgot to put it in the fridge.