REVIEW: Primary Arms SLx 5x36mm Gen III Prism Scope – ACSS Aurora Reticle, by GuerrillaLogistician

“Holy shit they are all moving into the field”, I said not even whispering to Von Steuben.

Von Steuben led OPFOR for this evolution, maneuvering a small team through the woods of Appalachistan. Looking at me, his AK in hand he maneuvered his torso back towards the action, and brought up his red dot trying to get a bead on the enemy again. My rifle was pointed right at the enemy with the brand new Primary Arms SLx 5x36mm Gen III Prism Scope – ACSS Aurora Reticle on top. No one in the field was safe from my sight and it felt like I was cheating. He shifted and looked through his red dot then shifted again to get a better view. I was picking out weapons in hand and could see clearly what antennas were on the radios telling me if they were going for range or trying to hide their signal. A little knowledge for later operations was taught to us in the RTO course. Not only that, I also knew the range because of the optic, and I knew that each one of them would be dead if I was released to shoot. A simple 300 yard shot through the trees, not a big deal. “Tell me where they go next”, Von Steuben said.

Let us step back for a second. I was OPFOR for the SCOUT class NC Scout put on in North Carolina. This was my second time in this type of class and first time running an AR-15 in any kind of training since I got out of the military. Before you think, no I was not some elite super soldier and even though I know and own AR’s I really love the AK, even if both are very capable. Down where I live magnified optics, and Prism scopes seem like overkill even if you are hunting. If you see past 100 yards it’s because you are hunting some farmland, or someone cleared trees for sale. Scopes of any notable magnification are rare, and of that the ACOG is the most common. That might be because I live near the marines, and it is a pretty decent optic, even though the price makes it a hard pill to swallow. A simple properly sighted red dot will work just fine for 90 percent of work down there. Which means I obviously own several aimpoints, and even an EOTECH, these red dots are of good quality and a large price tag. Patriotman offered the use of either the Prism Scope or red dot, so I chose the one I knew the least about. I figured learning something new would be interesting even if I would never buy it myself.

PATRIOTMAN NOTE: The gun was a NEVER BEFORE FIRED PSA PA-15 Classic Rifle.

The first part of SCOUT is a sight in of your rifle, and of course like all scopes a bit of adjustment was necessary. I had very good groups but they were way off initially. It took a bit of adjusting but the sights lined up just fine and I was shooting nice tight groups rolling out all the way to 100 meters. The glass was clear, looked great, and even though the sight looked cluttered initially, the chevron which was illuminated red stood out. The optics illuminated reticle made the fixed blurry front sight, and etched hashmarks fade into the background. The hashmarks were clear but not cluttery like the Dragunov scopes tend to be. I just put the arrow on target, pull the trigger, repeat. The real test was next, where students would shoot more rounds out to 450 meters. This isn’t hard normally with practice, but SCOUT paints the targets to either be extremely visible or to fade into the tree line. Everyone was having a hard time finding the 450 target including myself. Then someone said he found it with his binoculars. Realizing I was holding a scope and not a red dot I lifted my rifle and scanned, and saw the target with zero issue. It was clear as day to me and I lowered and raised the rifle a few times. My rifle (empty at the time) was handed to students so they could identify the target because people were having a hard time finding and even hitting the target.

My turn to shoot came up, and there I was easily banging 2/3 IPSIC targets with east, 100, 200, 300 meters away. Then the words every shooter hates rang out “Miss left”. I cursed and put the little 450 hash mark on target again knowing I was sighted in properly. “Miss left” the spotter said again. That was when I realized I was an idiot and shifted over to the wind hold dot. “Hit” “Hit” “Hit” the spotter called, as puffs of exploding lead could be seen until I was out of ammo. Several people including my buddy, ended up running the rifle just to try out the optic, and many had only gotten a hit or two at 450 and were now reliably making the plate ring over and over. I heard one guy say it was like cheating compared to the red dot they were using. Which was true the magnification really helps, but the reality is the sights distance hash marks and wind correction helps. Add to that the optic had holds for things at a walk to leading at 40 mph. This would make you think the scope was very busy, but in reality it really isn’t, which I found out over the course of 6 days.

The scope had become very intriguing to myself and many others. Throughout the next few days I was handing my rifle to various people either to show off the scope or to help spot enemies more easily. It really drove home the abilities of any magnified optics in wooded and hilly terrain such as you find in many of the mountainous regions of the US. I do travel for work and while I still keep and love my red dots I understand that there are many regions like North Dakota, and the Rocky Mountains that scopes really allow someone to reach out and touch their intended target. The problem for anyone is figuring out what is most useful to you and is it reliable.

Honestly, there were a few real tests that most combat optics should pass. First was the night. Red dots are easily operated during nighttime hours but as many people know that scopes are little harder due to light collection. Pair that with night vision and things become more complicated. At the time I did not have a night vision scope that I could mount to the rifle so I ran my night vision on my nondominant eye allowing me access to the scope. Red dots can easily be paired this way because of how our eyes work, although there are other ways that are probably better. To my shock not only did the 5X not really reduce my visibility and light due to the size of the optic, but the green illumination really made things pop during the night. It almost felt like a videogame with a green triangle overlaid vision through my night vision. Mind you most the hashmarks on the rifle become exceedingly difficult to see unless you have some light at the target, which does reduce some of the effectiveness. With that said operating at night generally comes with the reduction of distance regardless.

When you are sitting in the dark at night scanning down a hill with a little over 50% moon illumination you would think that these optic’s hashmarks really wouldn’t be visible. There I was though, spotting another target and using my sight to measure a 500-meter shot. Even though there was no artificial illumination my target stood out along with his compatriots. Again, I did not fire because the training evolution wouldn’t have been helped by long-range shots. As I sat there watching the targets move, Von Steuben had the sniper team rock the hapless students with a FAL and blanks. You could hear the rifle barking as blank after blank was fired scattering the students for cover. The students moved correctly from the sniper fire but had gotten even more obvious to me as they moved closer. Even if you are not shooting real rounds and only blanks it is awesome to operate this scope and know that you can do the job.

I won’t go into much detail about how much abuse this rifle and optic actually took. Patriotman made specifically clear that the optic and rifle should be treated as a tool. He said he wanted to write up something about both the rifle and the optic. He also wanted my experience as he could only stay part of the weekend and not the full six days. That rifle was beaten up along with the optic the whole course. It didn’t have a sling attached so it was dragged, dropped, tossed, and generally abused. Even under night vision I took a few falls and slid down into some ravines the rifle bouncing along the way. The AR came out with a few dings and scratches, and there’s a mark or two on the optics housing but everything stayed true. Midway through the exercise we switched over to the recce course which I was involved with as a student. In between we got to go back to the range and fire more weapons and I tried out my loaner AR again to verify that the optic hadn’t drifted. Again, the shots were right on target, nice and tight.

I really hate to compare optics to another because each optic has its own uses and capabilities. One of the high standards of the market is obviously the trijicon ACOG. While the 4X magnification of the ACOG isn’t the 5X of this optic I still think that they are a comparable asset. Both run a very similar system for identifying range and bullet drop. With that said I feel like the larger tube diameter helps with the clear image. Realistically I can’t tell you which one is more durable but I honestly don’t feel like the ACOG outclasses primary arms in this respect. Obviously running it more would tell us more and may be patriot man can come back and address this at a later time after many more classes.

With all that said I’m going to conclude my decision on this optic. I jokingly told Patriotman I would steal the optic from him and leave the rifle, but the reality is the cost of this optic isn’t outlandish for the value. Rocking out at 330 dollars at the time of this post is four times cheaper than in ACOG. Not that I’m made of money and will have to wait to purchase this optic for a little while after burning a good chunk of the class and travel expenses. I believe this optic suits the purpose of not only hunting but would be a great replacement for many of the military optics that have a high price tag. The value skyrockets as you get into terrain with less dense vegetation, but I even think a small red dot on top would make this a valuable addition to places like Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana to name a few sub tropic areas. If you are in the market for an optic this is one I would do a once over before making any decisions. It defiantly sells itself if you get some time to use it.