March FX Tactical-5-42x56 FML-TR1 Reticle

[Marine24]

Always been a fan of March scopes and came across this scope

https://www.eurooptic.com/March-FX-...neItemId=2068aa7d-b8ed-4cf0-8e7e-c5d2dc5f35ec

It has their top end High Master glass and wondering how it compares to the Zero Compromise 5-27x56. Magnification range difference aside, curious on how the two scopes compare.

Ilya has a short "through the scope" review on the March in Jan 2020 and Jim's review on the ZC420 were helpful but wondering how they stack up side by side optically and mechanically.

 

[Glassaholic]

Rifle Scopes - New March FFP 5-42x56 High Master FML-TR1 preliminary review

UPDATE 07/17/2020: Full review available here - http://opticsthoughts.com/?p=2829 I call this a "preliminary" review because this scope is not yet available to the general market (slated to come out this April). First introduced at the 2019 SHOT Show it piqued my interest some because I had...

www.snipershide.com

ZCO is going to have better edge to edge sharpness, better DOF. March 5-42 has better FOV and better turrets. ILya designed the FML-TR1 and I have to say it has become my favorite reticle. Keep in mind the March 5-42 wasn't designed to compete with the likes of the 5-25 scopes, it is a very niche design that offers extremely high magnification, a more fair comparison would be to the Schmidt 5-45. The new 4.5-28x52 is almost out, the 5-42 has better turrets but the 4.5-28 I think will be a better scope optically due to the lower magnification erector. We have to wait and see how the final production version looks, but the 4.5-28 would be a more "fair" comparison to the ZCO and other 5-25 style scopes.

 

[Marine24]

Thank you. My search skills are obviously lacking since I missed your earlier review.

I'll read through your review and may have other comments/questions. My goal was to build a rifle to justify/rationalize purchasing the ZCO. F Class, Benchrest, rimfire and occasional ELR shoots was the use case. I noticed a number of shooters running Nightforce or Leupold 7-35X even in the rimfire matches, which led me to the March 5-42. Don't need that much magnification but always nice to have it.

 

[Marine24]

Opted to go forward with the purchase. Long Range Supply has a Shot Show special for $3291 from 8 Jan to 24 Jan. They don't have them on hand so you need to wait the 45-60 days for them to arrive. Payment option are either USPS MO or wire transfer, which is a little different but will give it a shot.

 

[T-TurtleWang]

Opted to go forward with the purchase. Long Range Supply has a Shot Show special for $3291 from 8 Jan to 24 Jan. They don't have them on hand so you need to wait the 45-60 days for them to arrive. Payment option are either USPS MO or wire transfer, which is a little different but will give it a shot.

Is Long Range Supply https://www.longrangesupply.com Legit? Id rather pay with my card. Sending a money order for this amount of cash is a little strange.

 

[DellaDog]

Is Long Range Supply https://www.longrangesupply.com Legit? Id rather pay with my card. Sending a money order for this amount of cash is a little strange.

100% legit.

 

[T-TurtleWang]

100% legit.

Roger that. I really like the looks of the 5-42 and the turrets look much nicer then the 4.5-28. I cant decided which model to try. It doesn't look like the 4.5-28 has the locking turrets. Idk which one to pick lol

 

[Glassaholic]

Roger that. I really like the looks of the 5-42 and the turrets look much nicer then the 4.5-28. I cant decided which model to try. It doesn't look like the 4.5-28 has the locking turrets. Idk which one to pick lol

The 5-42 has better turrets for sure, in fact, they are some of the best I've tried (yes I do have a TT) and yes they are locking with a lever that allows the user to decide to leave them locked or unlocked vs. the lift mechanisms of ZCO, AMG and Tract which require you to always have to unlock (lift) to adjust, the only other turret locking mechanism I like as much is the new Schmidt DT II+ turrets. The 4.5-28 does not have locking turrets yet (possibly next year) but it does have really nice turrets, better than the turrets I had on my two previous 3-24's. The 5-42 has superb center resolution but does have more edge distortion than the 4.5-28. March says my production version should be here by mid February as long as shipping from Japan to USA goes okay. I am very excited about the 4.5-28x52 HM and think it serves a much wider range of shooters than the 5-42x56 which I see more of a niche scope that does very well for what it does but is limited in application. My personal thoughts on the 5-42 is that it is excellent for ELR and rimfire precision work, but the 4.5-28 is a better design for PRS and crossover applications.

 

[BuLLet]

Just received my 4.5-28x52 from EuroOptic today.

Looks good, my first March scope.

 

[Glassaholic]

Just received my 4.5-28x52 from EuroOptic today.

Looks good, my first March scope.

Send a pic of the turrets I’d like to see their new larger turret with bigger numbers

 

[BuLLet]

Here ya go... with the optional larger turret installed.

Send a pic of the turrets I’d like to see their new larger turret with bigger numbers

 

[Slides]

I think I will be heading down the 5-42 path, I have 3 rifles which I eventually want quality ELR scopes on, seems like these, S&B and TT are probably best suited if you want a bit more magnification than ZCO and better glass than NF?

 

[T-TurtleWang]

Got my 5-42 in last Friday.

 

[Glassaholic]

Here ya go... with the optional larger turret installed.

View attachment 7549872

View attachment 7549873

View attachment 7549874

View attachment 7549875

View attachment 7549876

My old(ish) eyes will sure appreciate those big numbers! TT has larger turrets and tiny numbers, my only gripe about their turrets.