Rifle Scopes March 3-24x42 Owners - Long-Term Reports?

[XOR]

I have used the search, I have read the reviews, now it's time for some long-term follow-ups from March 3-24x42 users.

I am thinking of getting this scope for the lighter weight and smaller profile. This will be for a long range rifle for competition and general use out to 1000+ yards and closer in.

I understand that a 3-24 mag range has limits. Truth be told, in LR shooting I rarely run over 15X, and in most matches I'm at 8-10X most of the time. So for me the 20-24X range of this scope is not very important except in some corner cases where conditions may warrant it. With that in mind, what I want to know is:

1) How do you find the low-mid range of this optic (4-16X)?
2) Do you like the optics quality? Reticle size? Illumination? Etc.
3) Do you find the knobs are good for competition use in terms of speed and ergonomics?
4) How does it compare to your other scopes set at the same magnification range?
5) Any warranty issues?
6) Anything else long-term you want to add?

I have done a lot of research into March scopes and I think they have a good thing going in terms of optics engineering. I'd like to find what people using them in non-benchrest field conditions think.

Thanks…

 

[jonthomps]

Hope some users answer this. I'd like to know too.

 

[RTH1800]

I have one but only use it on a lw hunting rifle. All in all, it is fine for my use, but just do not get range time with it. Sighted, hunted and put up. Good scope, at least.

 

[Bounce]

I've only had my March 3-24x42 for about 6 months, but it's about a year old as I bought from a guy who wanted a more combat style scope. I have mine on a Bobro mount on top of a SCARs .308 for ranch range play and plan on also using it on a Rem 700 .264 WinMag for LR hunting. I doubt that one year qualifies as long term use, but I have had absolutely no issues with this scope. I rarely dial it out past 16x as that mag works well for me out to 800 yards. Below that, I range between 4x-6x when sighting in between 100-200 yards. What's really sweet is it's capability to focus well even at extremely short distances, e.g., 20 yards and less. It is excellent at low to mid range. Beyond 18x, the eye box get's tighter, but it does't bother me and it's pretty quick to adjust to. I'll sometimes use the 24x as a spotting scope. The parallax adjustment works great.
The optic quality is superb. Markedly better than my Leupold VX6 1-6 when using comparable mag range. At longer ranges I find the image quite bright, despite its 42mm objective, and very clear and precise. I have the low illumination version, which is only really useful in low light situations and pretty much useless in bright sunlight conditions. I have the FML retcle as I find the others too busy and distracting for my needs, although I can see their usefulness in bench rest competition.
The turrets are low profile and very easy to dial and return to zero. I think they're the best on the market. I can't speak to warranty issues as I haven't had any. The scope comes with leather lens covers but I'm really looking forward to the arrival of the March flip covers early in 2014. I've had no durability or POI shift issues despite it being mounted on a semi-auto, but I've only been behind it for a few hundred rounds to date. There's really nothing else out there of comparable quality in a scope of this size and weight. You won't regret your choice.
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[XOR]

Thanks for the input. That's very useful. I like the direction they have gone with light weight, low profile for long range precision rifle use.

 

[ZombieSlayer]

Don't own one myself but my mate has one that was replaced under insurance from a home fire.

He's got it on loan from the Australian distributor while they wait for his to come in. Externally it's charred. The story goes it was sent back to the factory. Checked internally, regassed and given the green light, no repairs were needed everything was still to spec. They keep it as a demo now, I guess marketing. If the story is true says good things about them.

Used a couple 5-40 and the glass is insane good as is this one. Their all well beyond my budget but if I had the coin my experience with them so far I don't think I'd consider anything else.

 

[kristian55]

Don't own one myself but my mate has one that was replaced under insurance from a home fire.

He's got it on loan from the Australian distributor while they wait for his to come in. Externally it's charred. The story goes it was sent back to the factory. Checked internally, regassed and given the green light, no repairs were needed everything was still to spec. They keep it as a demo now, I guess marketing. If the story is true says good things about them.

Used a couple 5-40 and the glass is insane good as is this one. Their all well beyond my budget but if I had the coin my experience with them so far I don't think I'd consider anything else.

 

[sib1948]

I've had both March 3-24 & 5-40 scopes for over a year and love them both. They both have the FML-1 reticle and mil turrets and are non illuminated. The 3-24 42mm was used on my custom 308 bolt gun and used only for target and F/open 60 round prone matches at 500 yds. No issues after 1500 or more rounds. The 5-40X 56mm adorns my Barrett MRAD 338 LM and no issues after 1500 rounds. Great glass and no tracking issues. Like the knobs, reticles and novel zero stop. The only thing I don't like are the 0.05 mil adjustments on the 5-40, since all my other scopes, including the 3-24 have 0.1 mil gradations. It can get confused dialing the 0.05 turrets, if I don't pay attention when switching rifles.

Have a Nightforce BEAST on order and this looks very promising in 5-25, shorter than S&B 5-25 and review and pictures from Lowlight look great! March scopes will be light and shorter and seem perfect for most hunters. Good Luck

 

[XOR]

Ugly stuff!

Happy to hear the scope worked. I have been told March Scopes use no plastic components inside the scope so perhaps that helped it to survive. But it is a good piece of marketing by March to have that story...

Re: 5-40

Thanks for the input on the 0.05mils. Definitely good for target use, but probably less so for precision rifle matches. However I've shot F-Class with 0.1mils and do wish I had a finer adjustment at times than 0.1mils. So the 5-40 is an interesting option if I want to bridge disciplines with one scope.

 

[Pleistarchus]

I am not 100% sure but if I'm not mistaken Jim Kelbly(The only March distributor in the US) will not only warranty these scopes past the 5 year Warranty but claims if you are not satisfied with your purchase simply return it, again this was told to me when I was buying my 5-40 and I'm not sure if it is a standard sales procedure. Not sure about the 3-24 but my 5-40's sharpness.....to me and IMO.....is second to none and I was able to compare to PMII and Steiner 5-25. So far out to 500yards did not need to go past 20x. The FML-1 floating dot reticle is for me most comfortable to use. Remember there are no 2 sets of eyes alike so what you or anyone else might see through a scope my not be what I see, and vice versa.


To add I chose the MOA version in which the reticle was 1/4 moa but I had the option to choose 1/8 MOA turrets. Some don't like that, stating it takes too much to dial but I don't see it like that. Turrets are loud, crisp and very easy to read and dial with a very simple operating zero stop. This scope can be easily used for military and comp.

 

[Dsparil]

I have been reading up a bit on them lately. I currently run a Nightforce F1 in MOA. I'm a HUGE fan of IOR's floating dot reticle but IOR's shady CS and questionable quality has kept me away from their 3-18x FFP with mp8. March seems to be the only other company running an MOA floating dot reticle and I've been considering it. the March 3-24x FFP seems to really be first rate. It's too bad it hasn't had use in a more harsh environment than a shooting bench.

 

[MrSwede]

Harsh enough enviroment for ya?

Url: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.440203566077864.1073741837.341922682572620&type=1

" I have been shooting with the 3-24x42 for quite some time now and I am impressed. It is currently mounted on a Barrett M82A1. I am get 27Mils of elevation out of the turret (500m zero), which is getting me out to 1875m. I was able to achieve a 10 rnd group at 2000m, something I have been unable to do on the (other scope). On the ( other scope) the magnification is reduced to x6 to achieve the required hold for 2000m. I was able to maintain x24 with only a 3mil hold over at 2000m range. So far it has managed to hold its zero with the .50Cal, an issue some scopes have with this calibre."

 

[Dsparil]

I want.

 

[JSF]

I highly recommend getting behind one before you buy it. I like the idea behind it. However, for me the eye box was way too tight and the reticle was way too big. The size and glass are great though.

 

[Flyingbullseye]

I would love to check out a march 3-24. Kind of wish they'd offer a model with a 50mm objective and replace the FML reticle (kind of redundant with the FML-1) with a gen2 mil-dot or their mil line reticle and you'd probably have a nearly perfect scope. MrSwede, is that your scope on the .50 or one you found on facebook?

 

[MrSwede]

That is not my scope, it belongs to an Aussie. Found it on March's facebookpage.

 

[Pleistarchus]

JSF is pretty much right about getting behind one. My experience is only with the 5-40 and the eye box that JSF seems to see as too tight on the 3-24 is not the same eye box on the 5-40. As a matter of fact my first high end scope was the PMII 5-25 that I loved(Especially the P4Fine ret) but the eye box was way too tight and very distracting.....switched to Steiner Military 5-25 and that was also a great scope with a much more forgiving eye box than the PMII but the reticle was way too thick especially after using the PMII's P4Fine. The March took care of both issues for me, at least the 5-40 did. Same eye box flexibility than the Steiner and that fine floating dot which I prefer now even over the P4Fine. Again, everyone is different and should always judge for themselves if something works as stated by anyone. As for reliability, even though March has been around a while they have not been around the battlefield as long as Schmidt and Bender or USO so for that aspect only time will tell.

 

[Flyingbullseye]

How's the sight picture through them? Not asking how's the glass quality as everyone that has looked through them says they are equal with the rest of the big boys but the edge to edge clarity. All the pictures I've had a look at seem to show they have a bit of a fish eye view. I don't know if that's the actual view or if it is the camera causing that.

 

[scudzuki]

At lower magnifications (up to 12x or so) nothing has better glass than my 3-24x42.
Great turrets.
Feather light.
The reticle is an okay compromise, a little thick at 24x, but it has to be or it would be invisible at 3x.
I rarely run it above 18x.

Joe

 

[Cuckler]

I was able to look at several march scopes out to 725 and i was impressed.
1. I liked the tactile and audible clicks on the elevation and windage knobs. They were very crisp with no play. Also the knurled portion of the turrets were easy to grab.
2. The glass was very very good japanese glass.
3. Some have stated that they didnt like the size of their mil hash reticle specifically the size of the corresponding numbers in the reticle. For me the numbers were the perfect size for common competition mag power ranges from 12x to 16x. Basically you wont have to over mag the optic during a stress shoot using holdovers. ...

The only complaint i had was that the eye box was just a little smaller than what i was used to.
Otherwise i thought they were great.

 

[steve123]

I was able to look at several march scopes out to 725 and i was impressed.
1. I liked the tactile and audible clicks on the elevation and windage knobs. They were very crisp with no play. Also the knurled portion of the turrets were easy to grab.
2. The glass was very very good japanese glass.
3. Some have stated that they didnt like the size of their mil hash reticle specifically the size of the corresponding numbers in the reticle. For me the numbers were the perfect size for common competition mag power ranges from 12x to 16x. Basically you wont have to over mag the optic during a stress shoot using holdovers. ...

The only complaint i had was that the eye box was just a little smaller than what i was used to.
Otherwise i thought they were great.

For me it's not so much the size of the numbers, although I'd like them to be a little smaller, it's the placement of the numbers. To me a number starting at .75 mil directly to the side of the vertical crosshair is a bad idea. Why, because it's right in the way of where I'll be holding for a common left to right wind at the longer distances while holding over. Take a guess which direction the wind usually comes from where I shoot most??? Yes L to R. Granted I holdover more than most guys so the issue is not a concern if dialing and holding off for wind but March should have done/should do a christmas tree type reticle which has the numbers farther out off the main crosshair so they won't obscure what is being aimed at. GAP's G2 is a great example of a well thought out reticle.

I bought my 3-24 to be used at medium to high magnification so 3x will never be used, because it's FFP, for it's size and weight, that it has 10Y parallax so I can use it on the air rifles if I want, the 10 mil knobs with 28 mils elevation travel and because it's a higher grade scope.

I'd like to see March come out with a 50mm objective version to make it brighter on higher power and a christmas tree type reticle. Other than that it's a winner compared to most of the scopes I had considered at the time of purchase.

I'm still dizzy with disappointment that they put 5 mil knobs/ .05 clicks on their 5-40???? While I'm bitching I wish S&B had a double turn .1 mil click 12.5-50 PMII.

 

[MrSwede]

Mine focuses perfectly at 6 yards. Makes it real easy to practive dryfire in the livingroom at scaled down targets.