U.S. Optics - SN3 3.2-17x44 TPAL

[orkan]

http://www.primalrights.com/forum/review.php?a=4871

Finished up the review last night. Have a look if U.S. Optics rocks your boat. If not, have a look anyway.

[RD62]

Very nice review.

Thank you for posting it.

[Pappabear]

Good write up Hoss. What does Tpal stanf for. Have you ever looked through the straight 10x.

[orkan]

T-Pal stands for turret parallax.

I've spent a bit of time behind fixed 10x. Not enough to draw any conclusions... but I know their MST-100 is fantastically rugged.

[shootist~]

Great review. Are there any issues with the eye box at the higher powers?

[orkan]

Not that I've experienced.

[Cesiumsponge]

T-PAL is a nice option because it's a modular turret housing. You can generally get your windage, parallax, and reticle knobs on whatever side you want. If you wanted to be a cool dude and run a left-handed windage knob so you can keep your firing hand from breaking grip and do windage with your left hand, you can do it with the USO.

Not a direct comparison, but I have their 1.8-10x37mm T-PAL. It was mounted on a LaRue riser mount. The rifle fell over and landed on the objective. It broke the LaRue.

[recon8541]

Can't wait to get mine, there sure are a lot of options....it kind of makes you 2nd guess if you will end up wanting a slightly different configuration. I went with the H37 reticle, so a lot of the options were less of an issue for me. Mine should be done soon, I will post some pic's and details when I get some time on the range with it this summer.

[Dirk Williams]

Orkan, have you done a review of the S&B PMII scopes. I'd be interested in reading it if you already did one.

I like the scope you just did, but Im stuck on the S&B's and would like your oppinion on the PMII's p4f reticles if you wouldn't mind sharing your view on that one.

In the next 6 months I'll be purchasing 2 high end scopes for 2 projects. I have the 5x25x56 on 3 rifles now, and would like to stay there but Im open to another brand if it's as good or better. " Does that make sense.?

Thanks in advance.

DW

[taliv]

admittedly, i am a bit biased because USO sponsored me to shoot in Mammoth Sniper Challenge, and USO sponsors my PMG matches, and the guys at USO are really great to deal with, but i have been using both the SN3 3-17 TPAL with mil-scale MPR reticle and the S&B PMII with P4F for several years.

It's somewhat apples-oranges to compare them because of the 17x 44mm objective and the 25x 56mm objective, obviously, the S&B will let in a lot more light which will make most novices say the larger objective is better glass. However, USO makes a 5-25x 58mm mini-Hubble version, which is as amazing as it is heavy.

notwithstanding, imho "old" USO glass (incl mine) isn't quite as good as the S&B glass, but "new" USO glass is.

USO has much better reticle choices, and for quite a bit, you can even have them custom make one for you. S&B P4F leaves a lot to be desired. They recently started offering a few new reticles that are much improved, but still not quite as good.

The EREK knob and the S&B knob are both great, double turn. EREK however is lower profile, the clicks are wider (S&B clicks are very close together and the knob markings rarely line up perfectly with the detents throughout the entire range). i'm definitely not a fan of the MTC knobs.

the illumination... ugh. the S&B P4F reticle only illuminates the center crosshair which makes it useless in a practical setting because you can't hold elevation or wind in the dark, which is exactly where you'd want to do that since you can't see your knobs unless you put lume tape on them. USO has the whole reticle light up, which is awesome but the lowest setting is still a little bright which makes it difficult to see the target.

S&B only comes in red illumination. USO you can get red, green or blue illum. USO also has a very cool push-button control too. way better than any dial.

USO also can be purchased with a built-in bubble level inside the ocular housing that lets you level while watching the target. They have lots of other nifty features.

both suffer quite a bit from tunneling. (unlike the *cough* $1200 bushnell HDMR)

i am a bit disappointed in S&B's parallax knob, as mine broke and i had to send it back and it's still not fixed properly.

and the USO is customizable, meaning, you can put the windage or parallax or illum knobs in any position you want. you can have a 30mm, 34mm or 35mm tube. you can have the diopter range on the occular something other than the standard, etc.

all things considered, i'd lean to the USO 5-25x and i'd get it with a right-hand parallax knob, the mil-scale MPR reticle, internal bubble, blue illum.