sfp Archives

Preface

If you haven’t noticed, it seems there is a large trend of red dots and low power variable optics LPVO’s going on. And despite my defiance to trends I have stepped right into the deepest part of this one. Today I am excited to share with you another fantastic LPVO, this one came from out of left field for me. The Primary Arms PLxC 1-8 S FP riflescope is the subject of our scrutiny today, a compact model from the good folks at Primary Arms. Since I already have a variety of great similar optics, I was curious if this one had what it takes to become my favorite.

primary arms, plx, plxc, lpvo, 1-8x24, low power variable optic, compact, riflescope, scope, quattro-15, desert tech, — my Quattro-15 made a fun host for the PA PLxC

I am no stranger to Primary Arms, and I’ve had the good fortune to use several of their products you can read about here. So as I opened up the box for this PLxC, my curiosity was high.

Unboxing the PLxC 1-8

Presentation has come a long way, and Primary Arms does a fine job. The PLxC came in a magnetically sealed box, with a variety of accessories you can see below. A factory added throw-lever is nice, as was the rubber bikini lens cover. I wasn’t expecting a sun shade on this scope so that was an added bonus. For some reason I haven’t figured out yet, the windage turret was uncapped and the cap fit in a pocket in the box foam. Of course there was also the typical lens cloth, owner manual and warranty information.

primary arms, plx, plxc, lpvo, 1-8x24, low power variable optic, compact, riflescope, scope,

The Primary Arms cantilever mount you see in my pictures is a perfect fit for this scope. And though I included it in the pictures it is not included with the scope. It is available separately in either a 30 or 34 millimeter option with either zero or twenty MOA cant built into it.

As I said, it is a very nice quality presentation. But as I lifted the scope from the box my interest grew even more. The PLxC is quite compact, more so than I had expected. It wasn’t what I would call heavy, but it does have that quality thick feel to it. I was particularly impressed when I put the scope up to my eye, the image was outstanding. The optical performance of this scope and its compact size are likely what demands its asking price of $1499. After some additional inspection, it was time to get this scope mounted.

Features

Primary Arms Compact PLxC 1-8X24 SFP Rifle Scope Features
Battery	CR2032
Click Value	.1 MRAD per click
Color	Black
Exit Pupil Diameter	Low: 8mm / High: 3mm
Eye Relief	Low: 3.2 in / High: 3.7 in
Field of view @100 yards	Low: 121 ft / High: 15 ft
Focal Plane	Second
Reticle / Illumination	ACSS NOVA-556 / Red
Length	9.2 Inches
Magnification	1X – 8X
Tube Diameter	30MM
Objective Diameter	24mm
Reticle	ACSS NOVA 5.56 BDC
Total Elevation Adjustment	100 MOA
Total Windage Adjustment	100 MOA
Turret Type	Capped Turrets, Low Profile, Tool Adjustable
Weight	16.8 Ounces
Warranty	Lifetime

With the PLxC mounted to a rifle, it was much easier to evaluate its features. The throw lever is a nice touch, particularly for these kind of optics. The turrets are easily adjusted by hand, and you can cap them to protect them from moving while shooting. Though to be fair, they are very lo profile and have good resistance so they are unlikely to be inadvertently moved. Even the turret caps are nice, with a rubber gasket to keep them from rattling loose and coming off.

The illumination is also very high quality. Its extremely bright red center of the reticle can be used as a red dot, and made visible even in bright daylight. This feature is bolstered by Primary’s AutoLive® battery cap, which has an auto-shutoff after a specified time of inactivity. To my surprise, the AutoLive® cap can also be used on scopes manufactured by other optics companies as well.

The bright glass, sharp reticle, tough turrets, clean illumination and the whole finish of this scope gave a great impression of quality. I hadn’t even fired a shot yet, and I was already excited about it.

Steyr, AUG, AUG A3 M2, AUG A3 M2 NATO, bullpup, steyr aug, primary arms, PLXC, LPVO — the **Steyr AUG A3 M2** with the **Anechoic Anechox 35 suppressor** was a great host for the PLxC

On the Range

A proper range outing was in order to see how the PLx stood up to other optics I’ve used. Among the many LPVO’s I’ve used I figured I would bring along one of my favorites for comparison. An obvious difference was how much more compact the PLx was compared to my Eotech Vudu 1-8. Once the scope shade was added to the PLx it was more comparable to the size of most other LPVO’s, but obviously that is optional. I like sunshades for keeping the sun out of the scope, but almost equally as much for keeping fingers away from the lenses.

the PA PLxC next to a **Eotech Vudu 1-8**, note how much smaller the PLx is

Shooting on the range out to two-hundred yards seemed like a great way to test out the capabilities and virtues of the PLx. With targets set at 50, 75, 100 and 200 yards, I’d be able to take full advantage the PLx features.

I would shoot with the PLx on two different rifles, first was my Desert Tech Quattro 15 AR. It is one of my favorite AR’s, it shoots well and it’s predictable accuracy is ideal for comparing scope performance. The other rifle was a brand new to me Steyr AUG A3 M2, which also turned out to be very handy and fun to shoot using the Primary Arms PLx.

Optical Performance

My very first impressions of the PLx were how fantastic the image is, bright and sharp. I love it when scopes seem to disappear in front of your eye, almost like the image is a bubble floating above your rifle. Instead of a thick black ring with an image within it. Surely this is due to the extra low-dispersion lenses.

iphone camera does no justice to how good this scope looks

The illuminated center dot of the reticle is particularly bright and intense. On all but the lowest of power settings, the dot is very easy to see and use as an aimpoint. In fact at lower magnification settings, it feels more like a red dot than a scope.

The NOVA 556 reticle is also crisp and particularly easy to position over targets, the parallax is fixed apparently at 100 yards based on my experience. Shooting groups at 100 yards was much easier than I’ve experienced in the past with low powered optics like this, I was even able to pick out 5.56 holes in the paper.

athlon Rangecraft velocity pro chronograph, Garmin Xero C1 chronograph, chronograph, comparison, review, garmin, athlon, steyr AUG A3 M2, primary arms PLXC, — testing velocity with the Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph

I’m not a huge fan of BDC reticles, but the NOVA reticle seemed simple enough. And the hold points were close enough to my ammunition that I had no problem hitting 1 MOA targets within the range of reasonable engagement with 5.56 ammunition.

Control Features

The turrets were very nice, and made zeroing the scope to each rifle quite easy. I don’t usually use LPVO’s for long range shooting so I wasn’t going to dial many corrections with these turrets. Adjusting the brightness of the center dot is simple using the Autolive turret, there are off settings between each brightness setting. In today’s market I think that should be a requirement.

I always appreciate throw levers on scopes, and this one is quite handy. And the 180 degree rotation gave full spectrum of the PLx magnification. Its big enough to get a hold of, without being obtrusive.

Accuracy

Turret values were accurate, allowing for exact adjustments when zeroing the scope. The steel on steel internals of the scope are likely responsible for the sharp tracking.

Pros and Cons

The only thing I could find with this optic that I didn’t like was the price. And that’s not to say it isn’t worth it, just that $1500 isn’t a small pill. However, when compared to others like the Nightforce NX8 its a more affordable option. And much cheaper than something like the Trijicon VCOG 1-8, and a better choice in my opinion. The PLx is definitely a significantly better option than the sub $1200 LPVO’s I’ve used.

On the positive side, this is a beautiful little scope to behold. Everything from the machine textured surfaces to the image all feel extremely high quality. The resistance on the controls and the feel of the clicks are all what I expect for a scope at this price point.

The day visible dot is fantastic for rapid target engagement, and the bright optics are fantastic for looking into shadowy interiors from the bright and sunny outside. A perfect option for a short or medium-range carbine in my opinion.

Conclusion

I guess you’ve figured out by this point that I really like the Primary Arms PLxC. Don’t be surprised, I am a bit of an optics nerd. I’ve played with quite a few of them, and this one was an impressive unit I plan to keep close on one of my favorite rifles. If you ever see me on the street, hit me up and I’ll let you have a peak through it.

-CBM

Check out more LPVO reviews here

Introduction

I may certainly be biased in my thinking, but I think that first focal plane riflescopes are perhaps the best development of the last couple decades. Sure they existed before then, but they have only become prevalent to the general shooting public over the last ten or fifteen years. Before we get too deep into the subject, lets make sure we both understand what this subject is about. So we are on the same plane so to speak.

This is the **US Optics TS8X**, a front focal plane LPVO

Focal Planes

No, I’m not talking about an aluminum lifting body flying through the atmosphere, I’m talking about a point of focus used in your shooting. When you look through a scope and see the magnified image of the target, you are looking through several lenses inside the scope. A first focal plane scope (often called a front focal plane) has the reticle placed effectively before the magnification.

A second focal plane riflescope as you might imagine has the reticle placed after the magnification feature of the scope. These two different construction techniques allow for two differing functions. Most of us have likely used the more traditional second focal plane scope. When the magnification ring is turned and the scope zooms in or out, the reticle remains unchanged. For most of the past, with simple duplex or crosshair reticles, this wasn’t a big deal as the only relevant point on the reticle was the tiny intersecting point at the middle.

The view from a **Crimson Trace FFP scope**

As reticle technology has grown over the years, additional points (subtensions) of hold have been added to our reticles. These additional reticle markings are for measuring hits and misses as well as holding wind corrections and holdovers. This is only relevant to the discussion in that the values of these additional points can change when used in a second focal plane optic. In a first focal plane scope, the reticle is magnified with the image. As the scope zooms in, both the target and the reticle increase in perceived size. The advantage to this lens configuration is that the reticle values stay the same regardless of what magnification the scope is set to. Second focal plane reticles typically register full value when they are at their maximum magnification.

Which is Better for long-range?

Despite a revolutionary change towards front focal plane scopes, one is not necessarily better than the other. Its simply based on the user’s preference or purpose. Both types of riflescopes have their pros and cons, so better is not the way to look at it. For example, if you are shooting extreme long range (ELR) competitions then you likely would prefer the finer size of a second focal plane reticle on a target that is three-thousand yards away. And on the other hand, if you are shooting a PRS Match where you have to quickly call your own shots and make corrections at varying ranges it helps to have your subtensions uniform regardless of magnification setting. So while some folks will try to convince you that one is better, keep in mind what you plan to do with the scope.

Some folks favor SFP scopes for their **hunting rifle scope**

Pros and Cons

To help you better make a choice between these two scope configurations, I’ll discuss a few of the pros and cons of either selection. First focal plane scopes as I mentioned keep the reticle values intact regardless of what magnification setting you use, this comes at an additional expense. Many manufacturers offer near identical scopes in both FFP and SFP, with the latter being the more affordable option. If reticle usage isn’t part of your routine then this may not be a justified expense. Whereas if you use reticles frequently, it is well worth the added cost.

As I mentioned above, reticle thickness can be a downside to FFP scopes depending on the reticle design. As the reticle increases in size with magnification it can obscure the target or aiming point. Second focal plane scopes don’t have this issue as the reticle is always the same size. They also don’t become so fine as to become illegible at lower power. If you have poor eyesight or other issues related to reticle size, you may be better off with a SFP scope.

A traditional Winchester model 70 with an **FFP scope** and **Warne Rings**

If you are looking for a very high magnification optic like a 5-50X, you will find that nearly all of them are SFP, their reticles would otherwise disappear at low power, or cover up a truck at maximum power.
If you do use your reticle for measuring hits, misses, and range features with a second focal plane reticle, you may need to refresh your math skills. Using a SFP reticle to measure things at any magnification besides its calibrated setting will require you to calculate the actual value based off the magnification setting and the measurement with the reticle. Some people like math but they should not be trusted.

Shop all riflescopes at Euro Optic

Conclusion

There is no wrong or right answer when it comes to focal planes, there is only an evaluation of their applications. Things such as engagement distances and moving targets should surely be considered when deciding which way to go. I have fully embraced the FFP revolution that has occurred these past years, and I think the huge increase in FFP market share tells that I am not alone. The rapid expansion of long-range shooting and related competition has likely driven the trend.

Whether you are a competitive shooter, a military or law enforcement sniper, or just a redneck hunter with serious intentions, the FFP scopes of today can give you an edge that shooters of the past would lust after. But that’s not to say SFP scopes are inferior, as the brilliant shooters of the past have shown us.

-CBM