Yeah if they made it a 3-14 instead of 3-24The March F 3-24x42 is actually pretty close to perfect I believe
I have experienced good zero retention (tested) in several years of hard field use (my scope has remained on the same zero on the same rifle for several years now. I have not had to reset the turrets. This has been used for recreational and professional hunting, thousands of rounds. I check zero regularly and it simply does not shift).
Features are about right
Adjustments are accurate and repeatable
Light and very compact
30mm tube, not 34 or 35
Low pro adjustments
Excellent zero stop design
FML1 reticle is good - simple, clear, precise yet functional at lower magnification. Thick outer bars are only 6MRAD from centre on windage and above centre and very visible in low light at low power, 0.1MRAD centre dot is very precise and the "floating dot" is uncluttered.
What stops it being perfect?
March insist on making everything an 8x or 10x zoom ratio. I understand that this compromises some aspects of the optical design - the eyebox etc are more finicky than would be necessary were it a 3-18x. This is only a problem in comparison - you get used to it and it doesn't hold you back.
It is rarely usable over 18x anyway.
Windage is not capped
Elevation is not locking (although mine has never shifted)
Parallax is a little finicky (probably due optical compromises)
Thin inner portion of the reticle could be 0.1mrad rather than 0.07 which would increase visibility in low light
Japan-based company with a poor quality importer in NZ means service is less accessible if required
Cost
What's wrong with the customer support?Yeah if they made it a 3-14 instead of 3-24
And capped the windage
And had better customer support....
Then it would be great but thats a whole new scope we are talking about now
Where did NF say they were phasing them out?I voted no. However, I am very happy with the NF NXS 2.5-10x scope. I have them on my four "serious" lightweight hunting rifles. The size and weight is good and it fits neatly on both my two Barrett Fieldcrafts and my wife's Kimber Montanas. FFP would be nice but any distance shooting would be at 10x so it really does not matter. It is a shame that NF is phasing them out. I did just order a NF NX8 4-32x F1 mil-c scope for a long range rifle in 6.5 PRC. It will be my first experience with a higher end FFP mil scope and it will interesting to see how it plays out.