Crimson Trace CTL-3420

[Shankin]

Anyone have any experience with these scopes? I’ve been looking around all day trying to find ANYTHING on these scopes regarding reviews, and haven’t been able to find anything useful.

Thanks in advance.

 

[USMC 308]

Crimson Trace 3-Series Tactical Rifle Scope 34mm Tube 5-25x 56mm

Somebody posted the Midway USA link that had these on clearance for $499. Looked too good to pass up for a Japanese built scope...love my LOW built Cronus's.....Croni (plural)....which I have 2. Hopefully JOL would make an equally impressive scope. Took my Cronus BTR 4.5-29x in Geissele 20 moa...

www.snipershide.com

 

[Neurotic]

I have the 3525 as well, and want to like the 3420... But cannot get over that reticle. Maybe the center aiming point is better (more distinguishable) in person.

 

[USMC 308]

I did not like the reticle 4-20 either. The only CT reticle I like is the center dot one I have.

 

[Shankin]

Thanks for pointing me toward your review. Have you had a chance to run any other tests on it since your first range trip, and if so, how’d it do?

I’m thinking about going ahead and snatching up the 3420. The little bit of info that I found on these scopes (outside of what you’ve posted) is that they track well, and they have good glass. The reticle is a little different in that there aren’t any real cross hairs, but I’m intrigued by the hash marks bracketing where the floating dot should be. I’ll prolly think on it for a day or two and see what’s up.

 

[USMC 308]

No, Snowmageddon ruined my range plans last week

 

[Shankin]

You too huh? Lol. Never thought I’d see the day it hit 9 degrees in Katy.

 

[srt-4_uk]

I had that same reticle in a 5 Series 3-24. For me, it was aweful. There is a center aiming dot. It's the upper most dot. The upper tips of all the dashes that go cross the horizontal is your zero line. The bottom of the hash is .2 down. Also, in the 3-24 at least, at minimum magnification, the tree didn't extend nearly as far as the pictures show. Not my shitty picture but this is what it looks like at 3x to give you an idea of size of reticle.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRw9fu00Yn79YNbzI3GJlOizvYETipipou-QA&usqp=CAU

all the other little things I could have lived with. That reticle tho.

 

[Shankin]

I think I’ve been talked out of it.
Back to the internal debate over a 5-25 Midas TAC or an Ares BTR of some flavor.

 

[Vossman5]

I had that same reticle in a 5 Series 3-24. For me, it was aweful. There is a center aiming dot. It's the upper most dot. The upper tips of all the dashes that go cross the horizontal is your zero line. The bottom of the hash is .2 down. Also, in the 3-24 at least, at minimum magnification, the tree didn't extend nearly as far as the pictures show. Not my shitty picture but this is what it looks like at 3x to give you an idea of size of reticle.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRw9fu00Yn79YNbzI3GJlOizvYETipipou-QA&usqp=CAU

all the other little things I could have lived with. That reticle tho.

I was debating getting one with the lr1 "tree" reticle, but not if it looks like that, it needed to be resized

 

[Vodak]

I bought one and immediately sent it back. I felt that the reticle sizing and mag range were not scaled to one another. The only way that it was easy to pick out the “dots” was with the magnification at the top of its range. Other wise it was all just sort of a blob, and the lack of lines didn’t give you anything to draw your eye to center.
My second gripe was with the parallax/focal distances. It’s advertised as having something like 15 yards minimum. The scope I received simply wouldn’t focus that close. I have a 15 yard open space in my house where I set up a target dot and do dry fire practice. With that scope I couldn’t focus at high magnification, and couldn’t “see” the reticle at lower magnification.
Glass and build quality were both good for the clearance sale price. But I don’t feel the image quality could be justified anywhere close to their msrp.