Rifle Scopes March 5-42 Gen 2 PRS Edition

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He WILL find you, and he WILL sell you a ZCO.
 
“Actually, some people do cry about Richard, they just do so behind closed doors... :sneaky:
I guess I’m a little dense. What does this mean?
It was a joke that could have multiple meanings depending on how you look at it, because I know Richard I thought he would find it amusing... :LOL:
 
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Or one can just spend their $4k on a scope from a manufacturer that’ll have it turned around in a week if there’s a problem lol…

Seriously, I hate to keep kicking a dead horse here, but after-purchase-support is a big deal, and not everyone wants to (or can afford to) choose between buying another $4k scope for “just in case” or else having to wait weeks/months to straighten out an issue.

I really like this new March (and am considering getting one), but until there’s an option for service besides sending it back to Japan, I’m going to be holding off for now. JMHO/YMMV
I wish I could have replied to this sooner but the information was internal until until this morning, March will have a statewide repair facility and the scopes will be sent there for any repair work to be completed. Expected timeline is first quarter for 2026.
 
Wow, this thread has taken some twists and turns. A few comments after reading through some...


Actually, some people do cry about Richard, they just do so behind closed doors... :sneaky:


I know there have been some responses to this already but speaking from personal experience, the Gen 1 had some optical distortion from about 60-70% out from center to the edge of the periphery. My eyes are very sensitive to distorted or blurry periphery in any scope design (one of the worst I had seen was the NF NX8 2.5-20 when it was first released; however, to Nightforce's credit they resolved that in later manufacture and now the "newer" NX8 2.5-20's are very impressive optically). I was thrilled with the March 5-42x56 Gen 2 version as it corrected this optical distortion from Gen 1 quite well, meaning the image sharpness is very clean from edge to edge. I have only had a pre-production version of the Gen 2 5-42 but based on my experience I am not surprised that so many are really liking this scope as I think for PRS style of shooting (where 98% of the time you are between 12x - 20x magnification) this scope is absolutely stunning, in fact, in this mag range I liked it better than all my other alpha scopes I was testing at the time including the TT 7-35 and I was very hard pressed to find any distinct advantage the TT provided (again within this mag range, where the TT excelled was above 25x).

It's interesting, Kahles kind of shook things up with their new K540i with ultra wide FOV; however, March had already been doing this for a number of years and I've been trying to enlighten the community on how advantageous wider FOV can be. Once Swaro's patent ends, presumably around spring/summer next year, I think we will begin to see more manufacturers take advantage of using wider FOV eyepieces in their designs.
Wait so you mean March did wide angle lenses first? ;)
 
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Wait so you mean March did wide angle lenses first? ;)

How does the new March compare with a K540i with FOV?
 

How does the new March compare with a K540i with FOV?
The overall FOV on the kahles 540 is more than the March. The March is 26 degrees and the kahles is 29.8 degrees.

@25x mag

Kahles = 10mil each way (20mil total)
March = 8.6 mil each way (17.2mil total)

The relationship between FOV and eyebox is directly linked. The more ocular angle the tighter the eyebox, March opted for 26 degrees as a compromise versus eyebox and relief.

Other optics in the market at 25x range from 14-15.8 mil total. The wide angle designs in the 540 and March 5-42 really shine in FOV
 
The overall FOV on the kahles 540 is more than the March. The March is 26 degrees and the kahles is 29.8 degrees.

@25x mag

Kahles = 10mil each way (20mil total)
March = 8.6 mil each way (17.2mil total)

The relationship between FOV and eyebox is directly linked. The more ocular angle the tighter the eyebox, March opted for 26 degrees as a compromise versus eyebox and relief.

Other optics in the market at 25x range from 14-15.8 mil total. The wide angle designs in the 540 and March 5-42 really shine in FOV
I can concur. The eyebox on my 4.5-28 is incredibly tight and has caused buyers remorse.
The glass is very good, but so hard to get behind it is practically useless above 20x