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  1. #1
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    Primary Arms Gen2 1-6x ACSS Scope

    Finally got my hands on one of these after months of waiting for it. They came back in stock late last week and have since sold out again until God knows when.

    Specs, as provided by PA are as follows:

    • Tube Diameter: 30mm
    • Magnification: 1-6X
    • Exit Pupil: 10mm at 1X, 4mm at 6x
    • Eye Relief: 4.5 in. at 1X, 4 in. at 6x
    • Field of View:
    • 115 feet @ 100 yards at 1X
    • 19.2 feet @ 100 yards at 6X
    • Click Value: .5 MOA
    • Length: 10.75 inches
    • Net Weight: 17.4 oz.
    • Red Partial Illumination
    • Fast Focus Eyepiece
    • Second Focal Plane
    • Front and rear flip caps included
    • Waterproof
    • Nitrogen purged
    • Fog resistant
    • Fully Multi-Coated


    First thing first, this is a $269 scope, I don't expect NightForce quality out of it.That being said, this unit seems to be really well put together for the pricepoint.

    What comes in the box is the scope, reticle instructions, cleaning cloth, and one battery. The packaging for this thing was much better than I expected. The box was nice and sturdy, and Inside the scope was packed with about 4" of foam on either end, and more foam on the sides. When in the box, this thing isnt going to be jarring around.

    This is a true 1x optic. When you hold it up to a door jam, for example, you can follow the lines of the door jam the whole way from above the scope, down through the glass, and out the bottom, and notice no magnification. At 1x all the way through 6x, the glass is exceptionally clear for being a lower priced optic. Ive only been able to test it indoors as it was dark when I received it, but there does not appear to be much, if any haziness around the edges. Tomorrow I will take it outside and see if this holds true.

    The scope seems really well put together. Nothing loose on the scope.The finish is a very even, nice, flat black with a sort of texture to it. I like it more than some of the other optics Ive seen with smoother, more reflective finishes. This particular scope includes a set of PA's (not sure who makes them) flip caps. The flip caps seem really nice for being included. They are very snug on the optic and do not rotate easily. The rear flip up has grooves inside of it that slide into the grooves on the focus ring, keeping it nice and snug. Both caps close very positively and take a good amount of effort to open up; they wont just open on their own. The turret caps tighten down very nicely. On the left side of the scope there is an illumination turret with 11 settings. This thing is bright when set up on the higher settings. The illumination turret has a good resistance and very positive clicks, as to avoid any movement in the field. The adjustment turrets again have a good level of resistance and positive clicks that are audible. Ive heard the first generation of these scopes had spongy feeling turrets; Ive never felt them, but it seems like it was fixed with this model.

    On to the reticle. ACSS in the name stands for Advanced Combined Sighting System. Basically what you're getting is a red dot with a horseshoe for CQB, with a vertical crosshair and horizontal ticks beneath it. The reticle is supposed to be calibrated for 5.56/.223 rounds for BDC out to 600+ yards, with each tick mark on the vertical crosshair representing 400, 600, and 800yds. The width of each horizontal tick is supposed to represent a target 18" wide at that yardage, the average torso size of a person. Centered of to either side of the horseshoe are 2 dots, which are said to be leads for a target moving at 8.5mph. To the sides of each tick mark on the vertical crosshair are more dots, this time representing holdovers for a 5mph breeze at a given yardage. To the right side of the main reticle is another scale that is used for sizing a target. It is labeled with yardages and is able to size a target with a height of 5'10" and tell you how far away they are. This ranging portion of the reticle is non-illuminated. Originally I thought the reticle may be a bit cluttered, but upon looking down the tube, you really only focus on what you need to focus on.

    My Aero Precision Ultralight extended scope mount comes on Thursday, so hopefully this weekend I'll get to slap it on my gun and finally go shoot it, or at the very least, take images of the gun with optics on it finally!

    Now for some pictures. Sorry for the crude images.

    The packaging





    The scope









    The illuminated part of the reticle, as best I could given the circumstances. Ill get some outside later this week.


  2. #2
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    Cool...I thought about picking one up..but didnt for some reason...

    Looks like a decent budget oriented optic, id like to hear how you think the glass and reticle looks , when looking thru it in the daytime..Also seemed like the pics on the site showed a much more cluttered reticle....Or is just some of the stuff light up?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by mustangfreek View Post
    Cool...I thought about picking one up..but didnt for some reason...

    Looks like a decent budget oriented optic, id like to hear how you think the glass and reticle looks , when looking thru it in the daytime..Also seemed like the pics on the site showed a much more cluttered reticle....Or is just some of the stuff light up?
    The only parts illuminated are what you see in my bottom pic. The ranging scale on the right side is always black, and the 8.5mph leads to the left and right of the horseshoe are black. It seems a bit cluttered in theory, but you really don't notice it when you focus on what you need to focus on.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for posting. Please post when you get the ultralight, that seems like a pretty cool setup id like to try. Also when you do some shooting post up on your impressions.

  5. #5
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    I missed out on it, waffled too long as I didn't really need more optics. Like voodoo, I'm curious to see what your impressions are after shooting. Thanks for posting.

  6. #6
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    I really hope I get out to shoot this weekend. It's starting to get cold and crappy out here for the year. Been a monsoon this morning with about 40mph gusts, supposed to be like this til saturday.

    I've got to say, this thing is put together much better than what I expected. For the price it seems solid. I hope it performs well in the field. PA also has a 4-14x FFP scope coming out soon with a similar reticle.

  7. #7
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    Do you have another 1-6x? Or any variable optic you can compare it to?

    I have a build that may work well with one. I also have heard that PA is going to be releasing a FFP 1-4x, which may be ideal if with mils.

  8. #8
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    Only other comparable optic I have is a nikon 3-9. I've shot a vortex 1-4 but it's not mine. I may be able to make some comparisons but may miss on the details.

  9. #9
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    So some of the things to look at, when the optic is at full Magnification, does the eye relief become shallow or the sight box become difficult to find or focus on?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by voodoo_man View Post
    So some of the things to look at, when the optic is at full Magnification, does the eye relief become shallow or the sight box become difficult to find or focus on?
    By all means, offer me things to look for. I'm doing this for the benefit of anyone else who may want one of these. What else should I look for? Never really reviewed an optic. Always been more of a hold the gun up and shoot it kinda person. My only real long term experience in the variable power range is a regular duplex reticle on my bolt gun.

  11. #11
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    @river rat - There are plenty of "defensive" shooting possibilities at all and distance, it depends on the situation and a person is injected into it with a shot out to 600y. Also, the point of a 1-X variable magnified optic is discrimination, not to make hits out to long distances. If I am engaging someone at 100 or 200 yards, I want to be able to see everything I need to in order to make the logical/reasonable decision to fire. If I am engaging someone out to 600y I would want something like a 25x in order to do the same.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ride4frnt View Post
    By all means, offer me things to look for. I'm doing this for the benefit of anyone else who may want one of these. What else should I look for? Never really reviewed an optic. Always been more of a hold the gun up and shoot it kinda person. My only real long term experience in the variable power range is a regular duplex reticle on my bolt gun.

    Off the top of my head for variable optics:

    optical blur/fuzz at various magnification levels
    size of eye box at 6x compared to 1x
    reticle use at 1x as compared to 6x = how useful is it at various magnifications?
    does it hold zero? even while adjusting on the fly?
    quality of materials, after some use do the turrets still work like new? brightness of reticle same after use? battery life?
    quality of glass itself, easily fogs? scrapes?
    usefulness of reticle design?
    distance for optimal eye relief?

  12. #12
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    I really like what PA brings to the party in terms of value, service and honesty. I've bought from these guys and will again. And love the idea of 1-6x scopes and this one seems a good value in the 1-6x market. But I can't get my head around the reticle.

    Maybe I'm too simple-minded, but first and foremost I don't buy into the design intent. I don't mind it being "combat-oriented" - but I question the need for this use at 800 yards (in the domestic consumer market.) I can envision ZERO defensive situations in which ranging and firing at 600-800 yards has merit.

    On the flip side, if I bought into the need for longer ranging and targeting, I'm personally uncomfortable with terminal ballistics of any 5.56 load at those ranges. Sure, the round CAN be effective with a lucky hit, but I don't consider it reliable, nor does it play to the strengths of 5.56 in general (if you buy into the "round count/force multiplier" intent of the caliber).

    So I hope it's reasonable glass and you enjoy it - I just don't think this one's on my buy list.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by RiverRat View Post
    I really like what PA brings to the party in terms of value, service and honesty. I've bought from these guys and will again. And love the idea of 1-6x scopes and this one seems a good value in the 1-6x market. But I can't get my head around the reticle.

    Maybe I'm too simple-minded, but first and foremost I don't buy into the design intent. I don't mind it being "combat-oriented" - but I question the need for this use at 800 yards (in the domestic consumer market.) I can envision ZERO defensive situations in which ranging and firing at 600-800 yards has merit.

    On the flip side, if I bought into the need for longer ranging and targeting, I'm personally uncomfortable with terminal ballistics of any 5.56 load at those ranges. Sure, the round CAN be effective with a lucky hit, but I don't consider it reliable, nor does it play to the strengths of 5.56 in general (if you buy into the "round count/force multiplier" intent of the caliber).

    So I hope it's reasonable glass and you enjoy it - I just don't think this one's on my buy list.

    There is a thread on another forum where a guy built a .223 bolt gun on a savage action at a decent price ( sub $1200) minus the optic. 24" barrel and had consistent hits out to 1450 yards. He also scored hits out to 1 mile. I see guys ring targets accurately out to a 1000 yards with the .223.
    Just a regular guy.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Computalotapus View Post
    There is a thread on another forum where a guy built a .223 bolt gun on a savage action at a decent price ( sub $1200) minus the optic. 24" barrel and had consistent hits out to 1450 yards. He also scored hits out to 1 mile. I see guys ring targets accurately out to a 1000 yards with the .223.
    Comp, did you miss the "terminal ballsitics part? 5.56 isnt the right cartridge for 1000 yards, unless all you want to drill a .22 caliber hole in meat. If you want to ring steel at that range, fine - but this reticle clearly isn't designed for the paper-punching crowd.

    Voodoo......I'm fine with 1-4 or 1-6 optics.....in fact it's they are my favorite scopes for the AR. And I agree about discrimination. But the PA reticle is specifically designed for ranging (based on a human sized/shaped object) and BDC out to 800 yards - I just don't see justification for me (as a civilian) to ever pull the trigger on a human at that range. If you have different needs, maybe this scope as designed would be great for you - its just not, as I say, on MY buy list.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by RiverRat View Post
    Comp, did you miss the "terminal ballsitics part? 5.56 isnt the right cartridge for 1000 yards, unless all you want to drill a .22 caliber hole in meat. If you want to ring steel at that range, fine - but this reticle clearly isn't designed for the paper-punching crowd.

    Voodoo......I'm fine with 1-4 or 1-6 optics.....in fact it's they are my favorite scopes for the AR. And I agree about discrimination. But the PA reticle is specifically designed for ranging (based on a human sized/shaped object) and BDC out to 800 yards - I just don't see justification for me (as a civilian) to ever pull the trigger on a human at that range. If you have different needs, maybe this scope as designed would be great for you - its just not, as I say, on MY buy list.
    I get where you're coming from, but who's to say you're not going to pull the trigger on a steel plate that's roughly 18" wide at an unknown yardage. Granted most targets are at a known yardage I think this reticle can apply to more than just human targets. I'm not saying there aren't better options out there, but at this price I don't think it's a bad option. Everyone has their ideas of what works for them and what doesn't, I honestly thought this was a bit cluttered when I saw digitally rendered illustrations of it, but looking down the tube I think it will serve well, especially in the 100-400 yard range, where I'll be using it.

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