Primary Arms Warranty a big Disappointment. Update

[Offensive]

My experience with primary arms is this:

They make a great cheap rds. I would take theirs over vortex and hold them equal to holosun. That being said, i had 1 die on me. The warranty experience was good. I had another that always seemed too dim compared to my others. I sent it in and they told me it was in spec and they were going to send it back. I complained and they sent me a new one, which oddly enough seems too dim but its just for a plinker so i don't care.

I have not been happy with any of their magnified optics however. I have used there 2.5x,3x, and 5x prism scopes. There 1-6x&1-8x silver line scopes. There 4-14 and there 3-18x scopes, and their 1-8x platinum. Out of all of those, the platinum is the only one i would recommend, and for the price I think there are better options. I had one of their 1-6x go tits up on me.

I think Athlon makes a better budget freindly scope. I prefer to not go below a vortex pst quality level though. Anything below that level seems to end in headache.

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Athlon makes a decent optic. Their customer service is on point like no other. They are based out of Kansas. I had one of their optics give me some problems. The illumination quit working. I contacted them, their outside sales rep personally delivered me another optic and picked up the defective unit the same day I called it in. Helps I reside less than an hour away from their headquarters. But nonetheless, that was awesome customer service

[Five_Point_Five_Six]

Athlon makes a decent optic. Their customer service is on point like no other. They are based out of Kansas. I had one of their optics give me some problems. The illumination quit working. I contacted them, their outside sales rep personally delivered me another optic and picked up the defective unit the same day I called it in. Helps I reside less than an hour away from their headquarters. But nonetheless, that was awesome customer service

Your example of their "customer service is on point like no other" is irrelevant to 99.9% of the population who don't live within an hour drive from their headquarters in Kansas. You're still out the time and ammo spent on the first optic, only to have to turn around and do it again. Did you really save any money once you factor in your time?

[Arik]

All comes down to what you want out of that rifle. Like everything else, figure out what you want from it and buy accordingly.

If you hunt a lot and do tons of long range shooting nightforce may make financial sense. However, going hunting once a year or less why bother with a $1500 optic?

I'm in the latter camp. I don't do long range shooting. Partially because there isn't anywhere near by. You're lucky if you can shoot 100 yards within a 50 mile radius!! And partially because I hunt very little and the places to hunt you don't really need an optic. Not going to be many places where hunting is allowed and visibility is more than 50-70 yards. for this type of shooting I have a Ruger M77 in 3006 with an old ass Redfield scope. Works great! Have owned it for close to 10 years and one day I may actually reach 100 rounds through it!!!! With work and life last time it saw any shooting was 2014ish

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[SomeOtherGuy]

If you hunt a lot and do tons of long range shooting nightforce may make financial sense. However, going hunting once a year or less why bother with a $1500 optic?

Cheap junk is a bad idea no matter how little you use it. I used Nightforce as an example, but they are especially expensive. There are less expensive brands (for their better lines) that I can also recommend. It's better to give up features you don't need, or magnification, than to give up reliability. Many companies make 3-9x40 scopes that are basic as a Ford Taurus but do work. But you ultimately need something that is likely to work and hold up, and while a $500 Burris, Vortex or Leupold may be an option, a $100 anything is a bad idea.

[Offensive]

Your example of their "customer service is on point like no other" is irrelevant to 99.9% of the population who don't live within an hour drive from their headquarters in Kansas. You're still out the time and ammo spent on the first optic, only to have to turn around and do it again. Did you really save any money once you factor in your time?

The illumination quit. It did not have a lens fail and shift. It would still work just no illumination. I’ve had other customer service experiences, Sig for example. Had a new P226 front night sight died within a month of ownership. Had a one week turnaround time and that was handled.

[Arik]

Cheap junk is a bad idea no matter how little you use it. I used Nightforce as an example, but they are especially expensive. There are less expensive brands (for their better lines) that I can also recommend. It's better to give up features you don't need, or magnification, than to give up reliability. Many companies make 3-9x40 scopes that are basic as a Ford Taurus but do work. But you ultimately need something that is likely to work and hold up, and while a $500 Burris, Vortex or Leupold may be an option, a $100 anything is a bad idea.

Honestly I don't know how much that Redfield scope is. It came with the rifle. Being that I owned it for about 10 years and shot less than a box of ammo (avg 1 round per year). Even $500 scope would be money better spent elsewhere, even if it's a case of beer. Maybe $200ish.

This is not to say that all products should be bought based on price. Evaluate what it's for and how it's planned to be used. I'd never suggest this for a self defense rifle or even a impractical fun rifle that's shot a lot

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[5shank]

So after reading 3 pages of opinion (And I have my own) I have no clue what low power optic that doesn't come with payments and is still up to protecting the home front? For what it's worth I have a number of both Very high end and a few mid to low end scopes and in 30 odd years of killing PD's in the West I've had every brand go tits up at some point. Like my buddy used to say about the Jaguar dealer across the street from his "Every New Jag they sell comes back on a hook" Price tags only tell a small part of the story.

[ubet]

Vortex pst is a really good budget scope. Their is no sense in buying anything less than that. It just creates headaches and wastes time and money. I have two pst. One 5.5-22 and a 2-10. Both have been through the ringer and keep on ticking. The 5.5-22 is sn 8 I bought it brand new the day they were released and haven’t regretted it one bit.


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[5shank]

The one thing we all agree on is "Junk is Junk" the one thing that is not so clear is at what price point can you get a reasonable product that will stand up to abuse and hard living. Case in point is a Bushnell 3200 Elite that I bought 8 or 9 years ago, its been on a .338/06, a 12 ga, a .357 Max and a varmint rifle that gets dropped way too much and has been treated like a cheating husband! All for $250.00 +- and I still trust it and not much more to say? Now I don't want to have you boy's to think I'm cheap cause all that pretty Green paint in the barn still makes my bankers heart monitor go off but I like Value per $$$$$

[SomeOtherGuy]

So after reading 3 pages of opinion (And I have my own) I have no clue what low power optic that doesn't come with payments and is still up to protecting the home front? For what it's worth I have a number of both Very high end and a few mid to low end scopes and in 30 odd years of killing PD's in the West I've had every brand go tits up at some point.

The one thing we all agree on is "Junk is Junk" the one thing that is not so clear is at what price point can you get a reasonable product that will stand up to abuse and hard living. Case in point is a Bushnell 3200 Elite that I bought 8 or 9 years ago, its been on a .338/06, a 12 ga, a .357 Max and a varmint rifle that gets dropped way too much and has been treated like a cheating husband! All for $250.00 +- and I still trust it and not much more to say? Now I don't want to have you boy's to think I'm cheap cause all that pretty Green paint in the barn still makes my bankers heart monitor go off but I like Value per $$$$$

A 3-9x40, fixed parallax, second focal plane hunting-style scope is a best bet on a low budget. Many companies make OK ones including Leupold, Burris, Nikon (now discontinued), Redfield (a Leupold brand), Vortex, etc. That is the #1 hunting scope in the USA so volume is high, and the optical and mechanical design are simple, so quality can be decent at a moderate price. With any of several brands/models you can expect it to hold zero and not fail in field use.

If you start wanting more magnification or features (illumination, adjustable parallax, exposed turrets for dialing, FFP) then you have to choose between Chinese junk or higher prices.

Some brands have relatively better quality and features at the low end than at the high end - Leupold and Nikon (yes, discontinued) stand out for offering very decent scopes in the $200-300 range, while their higher-end options can be overpriced for what you get. Other companies, like Vortex, I would buy their premium product (Razor) but not their low-end scopes. YMMV.