Rifle Scopes PA GLx 4-16x50 or something else?

[Biscuits]

Hi everyone, my first post.

Looking for a new scope in the price range of the Primary Arms GLx 4-16x50, or maybe slightly higher price but not much higher. There aren't may reviews of the Primary Arms and there doesn't seem to be much history on them, OTOH the reviews which are out there seem good.

Scope needs to have:
Mrad reticle, mrad turrets
not higher than 4x on the wide end and not less than 14x on the high end (so 4-14 would be ok)
30mm tube
Preferably 50mm objective
Parallax/focus down to 20 yards or less
Good tracking and return to zero.

Actually the PA GLx 4-16x50 ticks all the boxes and is the right price, I'd like to just buy that unless there is a reason not to buy it.

Will be used for anything from a 22LR at <25 yards to a .308 up to 1,200 yards.

 

[Dave-ECIA]

Following...... JUST ordered the same scope, for the same reasons. Supposed to be delivered this week.

In my mind, I'm always looking for the best bang for the buck, and lots of reviewers give PA scopes high marks for value. Went with the GLx line for better glass and some other features. I bought PA prism scope for a carbine length AR about a month ago, and the build quality and optical clarity made me want to give one of their rifle scopes a try.

 

[supercorndogs]

XTRII on sale at Natchez. Its 34mm, but whats a 100 dollar set of rings when you can get better quality for less money.

 

[marsh1]

That GLx scope is made in the Philippines in one of the top OEM factories in the world. It has our Patent Pending Steel on Steel turrets and high quality coating. If you buy it from our .com we give you 90 days no questions asked return policy. We are new in this price point so had to give more for less. OP If you need a one piece mount I will include one of our new Made In the USA GLx mounts at no charge.

 

[Biscuits]

XTRII on sale at Natchez. Its 34mm, but whats a 100 dollar set of rings when you can get better quality for less money.

Yea, I looked at that scope before, nice scope and right price. But AFAIK the parallax adjustment only goes down to 50 yards. Needs to do a bit of 25 yard work on a .22

 

[Biscuits]

That GLx scope is made in the Philippines in one of the top OEM factories in the world. It has our Patent Pending Steel on Steel turrets and high quality coating. If you buy it from our .com we give you 90 days no questions asked return policy. We are new in this price point so had to give more for less. OP If you need a one piece mount I will include one of our new Made In the USA GLx mounts at no charge.

On the steel turrets, my first thought when I read about them is that they could rust. What's been done about that? Are the internals in other scopes made of brass, stainless or something else?

 

[marsh1]

On the steel turrets, my first thought when I read about them is that they could rust. What's been done about that? Are the internals in other scopes made of brass, stainless or something else?

Yes brass is often used for the click ring even at the high end. Has good feel but the click pin is usually steel or has a steel ball on the end. Steel on steel is going to keep it's solid feel where brass, with a lot of use. will start feeling less precise.

From our head of engineering.

The hardened steel (click ring and click pin) is all internal (lubed/sealed) so it will not rust. The exposed steel (the main shaft it is the silver uncoated center shaft, is only exposed with the cap off) is 300 series stainless. Hardened steel parts are 9310 steel and case hardened to 55-60 hrc.

 

[Biscuits]

Yes brass is often used for the click ring even at the high end. Has good feel but the click pin is usually steel or has a steel ball on the end. Steel on steel is going to keep it's solid feel where brass, with a lot of use. will start feeling less precise.

From our head of engineering.

The hardened steel (click ring and click pin) is all internal (lubed/sealed) so it will not rust. The exposed steel (the main shaft it is the silver uncoated center shaft, is only exposed with the cap off) is 300 series stainless. Hardened steel parts are 9310 steel and case hardened to 55-60 hrc.

Thanks for the reply. I’m in Europe otherwise I’d probably think about it less and just take you up on the offer of a mount with scope purchase.

For the internal 9310 steel, is there any contact at all to the stainless used elsewhere in the scope? Asking from point of view of dissimilar metal corrosion.

 

[marsh1]

Thanks for the reply. I’m in Europe otherwise I’d probably think about it less and just take you up on the offer of a mount with scope purchase.

For the internal 9310 steel, is there any contact at all to the stainless used elsewhere in the scope? Asking from point of view of dissimilar metal corrosion.

The 9310 click pin rides in the 300 series stainless main shaft. That area is sealed. No dissimilar corrosion. It is these kind of things that you can't do with without experienced in house engineering. This is also why we patented the design.

 

[Foxtrot2November]

Mines good to go. It's on my #2 SPR rifle build

 

[Biscuits]

The 9310 click pin rides in the 300 series stainless main shaft. That area is sealed. No dissimilar corrosion. It is these kind of things that you can't do with without experienced in house engineering. This is also why we patented the design.

Okey, I'm happy enough with the mechanicals.

I think the minimum parallax/focus distance for this scope is 15 yards - is that right?

 

[marsh1]

Okey, I'm happy enough with the mechanicals.

I think the minimum parallax/focus distance for this scope is 15 yards - is that right?

I just pulled one to test. I get a crystal clear image down to 15 FEET. I can go closer but it gets a little fuzzy

 

[Dave-ECIA]

I just pulled one to test. I get a crystal clear image down to 15 FEET. I can go closer but it get a little fuzzy

At 15 feet, I'd just throw a rock and save a round....

 

[Biscuits]

Well I just ordered this PA scope (in Europe or I really would have taken the offer of the scope mount) and it will arrive next week.

I might post up a review with some tracking tests once I get to know the scope

 

[mikeyvizzle]

I have the GLx 6-24x50. It pales in comparison to my 34mil tub Platinum scopes but not by much at all. Are my PA platinums better? Sure. Double the price better? That’s a hard sell. If I wasn’t a snob for Japanese glass, and if I woke up and all my scopes were replaced with PA gold’s and the difference in cash was in my pocket, I won’t think I’d be doing much complaining.

 

[acudaowner]

could be worth your time looking at arken optics ours is a lot better so far than what I thought it would be . Which ever scope you get good luck finding the scope you want at a price you want to pay .

 

[Dave-ECIA]

Mine just showed up late yesterday. Optics planet shipping was slower than expected, but its here now. First impression out of the box is the glass quality exceeds the price point for clarity and lack of distortion around the edges. Seems to be a well built scope and what I really like is the turrets are a little lower profile than my other scopes. Impressed so far, but will reserve final judgment until its mounted and I do some shooting with it.

 

[Biscuits]

Thread update. I'e had the PA GLx 4-16x50 FFP for a couple of months now. Very happy with it; quality seems above it's price point.

 

[SRPowah]

Bumping this up rather than create a new similar post. I am in the same situation as the OP trying to find an optic for a family friend, but his added criteria is no tree reticles. This seems like one of the best fits I have found.

Anyone else have any feedback now that these have been out for awhile?

 

[mikeyvizzle]

Bumping this up rather than create a new similar post. I am in the same situation as the OP trying to find an optic for a family friend, but his added criteria is no tree reticles. This seems like one of the best fits I have found.

Anyone else have any feedback now that these have been out for awhile?

I’ve been running the 6-24x it on a DMR chambered in 5.56 and it is a great scope. As someone has said before I’m a huge Japanese glass fan girl but being of Filipino descent, I’m very proud of something my brethren put together for Primary Arms. It’s one of those scopes that after having bought and used Nightforce and Primary Arms Platinums scopes in the past, you reluctantly admit that the GLx are all the scope you’ll likely ever need - which then gets you upset about having spent $1500 plus for glass when you could’ve spent half the money. But you learn and you learn. I’m still going to buy Japanese glass for my high-end pieces, but this definitely makes the market interesting for the value you get at the price point you’re paying for it. Best of luck and kudos to Marshall for dropping a line or two. I love seeing you get involved in these conversations - been a big supporter of you guys for years - check my account .

 

[sboone]

Ive got the 6-24 GLx on my tikka 6.5CM and a buddy has the 2.5-10 on an 18" DD AR15. We've been very happy with both. The only reason I didnt get the 4-16 is because it doesn't come in a tree reticle. I dont do BDCs and I didnt want the mildot thing, I was hoping for the athena BTR like I have now. I expect these scopes will take some use and abuse in the coming months as we plan on doing mammoth 2022 if we can get in and have been working towards that goal rucking stuff around to make sure it will handle the beating

 

[Gunnie88]

Hi everyone, my first post.

Looking for a new scope in the price range of the Primary Arms GLx 4-16x50, or maybe slightly higher price but not much higher. There aren't may reviews of the Primary Arms and there doesn't seem to be much history on them, OTOH the reviews which are out there seem good.

Scope needs to have:
Mrad reticle, mrad turrets
not higher than 4x on the wide end and not less than 14x on the high end (so 4-14 would be ok)
30mm tube
Preferably 50mm objective
Parallax/focus down to 20 yards or less
Good tracking and return to zero.

Actually the PA GLx 4-16x50 ticks all the boxes and is the right price, I'd like to just buy that unless there is a reason not to buy it.

Will be used for anything from a 22LR at <25 yards to a .308 up to 1,200 yards.

I bought the 4-16x for my 12 year olds son’s 6.5 creed. What a great scope. Clear glass, solid turrets and returns to zero every time. He’s rung steel out to a mile (with Hold overs) Like you, there wasn’t much out there as far as reviews. I gambled and happy that I did.

 

[CrooksNbigBeaver]

Ive got the 6-24 GLx on my tikka 6.5CM and a buddy has the 2.5-10 on an 18" DD AR15. We've been very happy with both. The only reason I didnt get the 4-16 is because it doesn't come in a tree reticle. I dont do BDCs and I didnt want the mildot thing, I was hoping for the athena BTR like I have now. I expect these scopes will take some use and abuse in the coming months as we plan on doing mammoth 2022 if we can get in and have been working towards that goal rucking stuff around to make sure it will handle the beating

That was my biggest complaint with the 4-16 as well. However they have since announced that they will be offering the Athena.

Im honestly surprised it is even economically worthwhile to offer a classic mil dot anymore....

 

[sboone]

That was my biggest complaint with the 4-16 as well. However they have since announced that they will be offering the Athena.

Im honestly surprised it is even economically worthwhile to offer a classic mil dot anymore....

I'm happy to say the 6-24 GLx has been a pretty awesome scope for the money over a year later. Used it in the Twin Peaks Box Canyon shootout and it was every bit as good as I needed it to be. The limiting factor in performance was not the scope by long shot. It only seems like a cheap scope when it's sitting next to TT, ZCO, and Razors that are 3-6x as much. I need to clean it up still, there's alot of fine red dirt that can be felt in the parallax adjustment

 

[CrooksNbigBeaver]

I'm happy to say the 6-24 GLx has been a pretty awesome scope for the money over a year later. Used it in the Twin Peaks Box Canyon shootout and it was every bit as good as I needed it to be. The limiting factor in performance was not the scope by long shot. It only seems like a cheap scope when it's sitting next to TT, ZCO, and Razors that are 3-6x as much. I need to clean it up still, there's alot of fine red dirt that can be felt in the parallax adjustment

Ive been happy with my 24x that i run on my rimfire rig. I do think that the optics are probably better suited to the <16x mag range, but i cant say that it has actually held me back. Can see the 1/4in KYL targets and match sticks, follow the round etc plenty clearly, so id say its enough for the job. It may not be as pleasing to use as my high end stuff, but its solid value everything considered.

Edit: RIP just realized this thread was a year old, not a month old. mb

 

[PappyM3]

This is probably as good a place as any for this.

I picked up a 4-16 GLx with a 308 HUD/DMR reticle for my 16” 6.5 CM carbine, because…

This is how well the BDC lines up with 143gr ELD-X @2550 chronoed with a +0.1mil 100 yard zero. It was so perfect, I had to share.

The wind dots are ~6 & 12 mph.

….

Edit: RIP just realized this thread was a year old, not a month old. mb

Don’t worry, I’ll keep it going.

 

[liv4spd]

That's impressive Pappy!