If you have a rifle or two you’d like to equip with a telescopic sight, but can’t justify several hundred dollars for most of the offerings currently out there, Primary Arms has a good deal at the moment. It’s for their Classic Series 3-9×44 Rifle Scope, currently priced at just $94.99.
It has a 30mm scope tube, which transmits more light, more efficiently than the typical 1-inch tube used on most lower-cost commercial scopes. That means using 30mm. mounts and/or rings, of course, which are a bit more expensive, but not too much so. You’ll have the opportunity to buy discounted scope covers and mounts if purchased with the sight, which is useful. It uses a standard duplex reticle, with no bullet drop compensation or range-finding ability, but for its target market that’s probably not a problem. I intend it for use at up to 300 yards, and out to that range I can compensate for bullet drop and windage by eye. Any competent rifleman should be able to do so, if he knows his firearm and ammunition.
I’ve been trying one out, and I’m pretty impressed by it. It works just fine for cartridges from rimfire to .308 Winchester, and I presume it’ll probably suffice for more powerful ones too, despite their heavier recoil.
At its price point it’s probably unbeatable value right now. I own several Nikon ProStaff scopes, which were (sadly) discontinued a few years ago, and always found them to be very good value for money.
Well, this Primary Arms scope is at least as good as them in terms of optics, gathers more light, and costs a lot less than they did. I don’t know how Primary Arms managed to hold this price point, but I’m not complaining! I just bought a couple more to put on rifles that don’t yet have scopes, because with my eyes getting as old as the rest of my body, iron sights are really not an option for me any more.
(No, Primary Arms isn’t compensating me in any way to boost their products – they don’t even know I’m writing this article. I just like what I bought, and I like to tell my readers and friends about good deals when I find them.)
Recommended.
Peter