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Rifle Scopes Thoughts on the Brownells MPO

lilhank

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 27, 2008
298
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Anyone have any experience and if so what are your thoughts on the Brownells MPO 5-25x56? My daughter has been saving her money to buy a new scope for her 6mm, which will be primarily used for PRS.
Thanks
 
I absolutely love mine. The ONLY downside to me is the elevation travel, but it's on par with the pst2 and some of those others I believe. I really like the reticle. Tracking has been perfect.
 
Does anyone know how similar the MPO is to the Crimson Trace CTL-3525?

They both appear to be from JOL, with the same housing but different reticles and perhaps different glass.
 
I’ve been watching these and interested in trying one out. Will be curious to see if they run a sale on them for Black Friday.
 
I wander if anyone has compared it directly with the PST Viper GenII EBR7C?
Because I really like the 7C reticle.
 
I can’t decide if I want the 5-25 or 3-18. Any recommendations? Either going on a 6.5 grendel bolt gun or a tikka TX1.
 
Went ahead and picked one up at the $899 price
Pretty good deal

I also ordered one this morning. Most things I've read have been favorable and they are made at LOW in Japan. I took the Iowa rifle course in August( thanks Wolfhunter) and Frank said it is a great value, which is what I look for. This will be my first year in this game and I think this will be enough scope for quite a while.
 
I also ordered one this morning. Most things I've read have been favorable and they are made at LOW in Japan. I took the Iowa rifle course in August( thanks Wolfhunter) and Frank said it is a great value, which is what I look for. This will be my first year in this game and I think this will be enough scope for quite a while.

Did you go 5-25 or 3-18? I’m leaning 3-18 for my applications.
 
I don't know how they can't get more travel out of a 34mm tube (on the 5-25). But if you're only shooting out to 1200 yards or so, you should be fine. I believe the 3-18 has a nice adjustment range.
 
If you're okay with using a cashback site, don't forget to go through Active Junky for 7% cashback (currently) @ Brownells.
 
Ebr-7c reticle is definitely better. This is the scopes downfall.
 
Reticle preference is highly subjective. I personally really like the milquad reticle in the SWFA scopes. I did not buy the mpo (5-25) just because of the reticle but I've really grown to appreciate how versatile it is. It's just right for me between 16-20x but still works very well throughout the rest of the magnification range. So the big question is, do you crank up the magnification to the highest available power and leave it there or adjust it based off of your shooting conditions?
 
Thoughts on this for dual purpose LR / Hunting application?

Currently using the swfa 3-9 for hunting but always prefer a little more magnification.
 
Did you go 5-25 or 3-18? I’m leaning 3-18 for my applications.

I went with the 5-25. I was back and forth a little bit, mainly because of the travel and in the class I never went above 16X. I did pop up to 25 to see hits and find targets though. I think either way would be fine.

On a related note I also ordered a mount, now that I know which scope I'm going with. Joel on PRN featured a company from my backyard in Wisconsin. They are F3 Machine and they build a GREAT one piece scope mount for the money! I'm a tool and die maker and I watched the short video on their website and these guys are building a solid mount for a tad under 200$. They also have a great range of different tube sizes, 30-34-35-36mm, AR mounts also. Check them out!
 
I went with the 5-25. I was back and forth a little bit, mainly because of the travel and in the class I never went above 16X. I did pop up to 25 to see hits and find targets though. I think either way would be fine.

On a related note I also ordered a mount, now that I know which scope I'm going with. Joel on PRN featured a company from my backyard in Wisconsin. They are F3 Machine and they build a GREAT one piece scope mount for the money! I'm a tool and die maker and I watched the short video on their website and these guys are building a solid mount for a tad under 200$. They also have a great range of different tube sizes, 30-34-35-36mm, AR mounts also. Check them out!

Looks like a solid mount.
 
I can’t decide if I want the 5-25 or 3-18. Any recommendations? Either going on a 6.5 grendel bolt gun or a tikka TX1.

I ordered the 5-25 for my T1x because I was thinking the 5-25 would be more useful by switching it around to other rifles in the future if needed.
 
I don't know how they can't get more travel out of a 34mm tube (on the 5-25). But if you're only shooting out to 1200 yards or so, you should be fine. I believe the 3-18 has a nice adjustment range.

Both models have basically 2 turn turrets. So the turrets stop you before the second rev (19.3 MILs basically). The 3-18x has like 40 MIL internal adjustment so even with a 0 MOA base you should have full turret adjustments of 19.3 MILS. The 5-25x has only about 20 MIL total. On my 6mm Creedmoor with a 20 MOA base I had about 13 MILs once zeroed and I never saw a target past that in NRL/PRS shooting. It's geared for the beginner so you give up somethings in order to gain zero stop, resettable turrets, low price point, etc. Having spent a lot of time behind both models, I'm a big fan of the 3-18x. I think it has a better image, more adjustment is more better, and the parallax goes below the advertised 25 yards so it works great on my rimfire as well (or if I use low power I can dry fire in my basement at 15 feet, enough for winter practice).
 
My 5-25 has 24mils internal adjustment. If I could get my hands on a spare turret cap I would machine .015" off of the stop mechanism so the second revolution wouldn't catch on it this allowing for use of more of the travel. You could take a little of the stop pin under the turret but I don't like modifying stuff like that.... It's not worth it. Get a rail with more elevation if it's that big of a deal. This scope gets me well into the subsonic range with my .260
 
The 5-25 I ordered unexpectedly came in today, nice surprise.Haven’t mounted it yet on my daughters rifle but it feels well built, the turrets are crisp and the glass looks to be really nice.I think it will be a great scope for her to start off with.
 
The 5-25 I ordered unexpectedly came in today, nice surprise.Haven’t mounted it yet on my daughters rifle but it feels well built, the turrets are crisp and the glass looks to be really nice.I think it will be a great scope for her to start off with.

Thats nice.
Most people will never see a scope that nice their entire life.
 
My shooting buddy has two. One was sent back because the parallax knob wouldn’t turn enough to get it parallax free at 1K. It worked fine at 600 and in. Brownells is going to issue him a store credit to buy another one but they’re dragging their feet, it’s been weeks. i think you only get a refund if you’re inside of 45 days or some short window.
 
My shooting buddy has two. One was sent back because the parallax knob wouldn’t turn enough to get it parallax free at 1K. It worked fine at 600 and in. Brownells is going to issue him a store credit to buy another one but they’re dragging their feet, it’s been weeks. i think you only get a refund if you’re inside of 45 days or some short window.
I think I read a similar complaint (cannot focus/parallax at long distance) with a Crimson Trace scope in another thread. Could be a common design or manufacturing issue with JOL scopes; perhaps a trade off for their super low minimum parallax.
 
A friend bought one recently and I was pleasantly surprised by the turret feel. And personally enjoy the reticle. If I got one it would be a 3-18 for rimfire use.
 
I got a 3x18 I'll sale if anyone is interested. Except shape
 
Any real reason not to try one of the 3-18s? I see they are still on sale through Midway, and I'd *really* like to mount one on a Tikka T3 .223.

How do hey compare with an IOR 4-14?
 
I grabbed the one Jabot had up for sale (thanks!) and am happy with it so far. Glass is very good for the price (maybe not quite as good as my Cronus but close enough), turrets are fine (feel is subjective, but they're clicky and definite), illumination works well, and I actually really like the reticle's functionality a lot even if it is not the most aesthetically pleasing design. The mag and parallax rings are pretty stiff, but hopefully they will smooth out a bit with use.
 
I also ordered one this morning. Most things I've read have been favorable and they are made at LOW in Japan. I took the Iowa rifle course in August( thanks Wolfhunter) and Frank said it is a great value, which is what I look for. This will be my first year in this game and I think this will be enough scope for quite a while.
Are these made by LOW or JOL? I was told LOW by a guy at Brownells SHOT 2018 booth, but have since read JOL is in fact the manufacturer.
 
Anyone have any experience and if so what are your thoughts on the Brownells MPO 5-25x56? My daughter has been saving her money to buy a new scope for her 6mm, which will be primarily used for PRS.
Thanks

I have one.

Cons
A bit heavy
Turrets are stiff (setting the LED level is way too difficult IMHO)

Pretty much everything else is a pro though at this price point. I know the tests of it show it tracks very well and the optics are quite clear and bright.