Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics New March thoughts and questions

Sorry, I'm not familiar with this person. Who?

Dark lord of Optics - on FB

I avoid FB like the plague!

He has his own website

I have a bad feeling that you will jump through all the hoops and end up not being satisfied with the results. If I was in your shoes I would send it back to Optics Planet for a refund and try a different brand of scope. Just my 2 cents.

It would not surprise me if March made a new ocular for him and used the new design going forward. They are small enough to do that.

This is almost what is happening. The scope is probably flying over the Pacific Ocean as we speak.

Keep us posted!
It's good to know that someone there confirmed the problem so when he fixes it for himself, it'll probably be fixed for you too.

Yes please keep us posted. The rifle I want to put a March scope on is at the gunsmiths. I am interested in your customer service experience.

So far it's been excellent. Very responsive via email. Sympathetic, thorough, detailed and specific responses. No language barrier issues. I have a feeling this will all work out just fine.

Any updates?

Well I have the scope back in hand and their customization to get me more ocular adjustment worked! The reticle is nice and sharp now. It’s fantastic glass. The folks at March were great to deal with. Easy and prompt communication via email, in English. They did offer very detailed pictures and instructions for me to attempt the repair myself, but ultimately I wasn’t comfortable with doing so and opted to ship it back. They got to it quickly and shipped it back promptly with a letter confirming it had passed all their tests. Of course the customs procedure takes a little while so it does require some patience. Overall, I’m a happy customer.

Thanks for posting your experiences.

I'm looking to pick up a March with the FFP, FML-TR1H reticle, so glad to hear that they're going to take care of any issues a guy might encounter.

One question for you on the March scope in reference, do you find the image quality to be equal throughout the X range? Specifically, how's it look on low X? I know you have to give up some things optically in a high x range, shorter scope, but I'm just curious about your thoughts on it with this model.

Provided the parallax is adjusted properly, I do not notice any material degradation in image quality throughout the power range. I don't see any "give up" in image at all. If anything it's the eyebox which gets a bit tighter at high mag, but that's to be expected with a scope of this design. It's still very usable. And the low range image is excellent.

Personally, I don't need the 10X zoom range. I don't understand that need in the field (I'm not a benchrest or competition target shooter) and it can create other issues (which March definitely seems to deal with well I must say) with tunneling and eyebox constraints. I bought this scope because of it's build quality, simple reticle, outstanding turret design, and light weight. It just so happened to have a 10X zoom. Frankly, I'd be even more thrilled with it if it were a more typical hunting scope in the 4-6X zoom range. Pack this build quality into a lightweight hunting marketed scope that was 4-16X, 4/5-20X or 3-18X, and it would own the category.

SD:

Thanks for the report.

I'm in full agreement with you on the 10x zoom. I do like a big game hunting scope to go down to a low power such as 2-3X, but I personally don't need anything near 20+ X for big game hunting or the long range shooting I do. I've put 6x and 2-10X variables to good work at targets 6-800 + yds away.

I'm interested in a March for the same reasons you stated, and because they offer a couple of well thoughtout reticle designs that I like. I agree that if they offered a 3-12, 4-16, 3-15, etc with some of their reticle and turret options, they'd own the lightish weight, high end, long range hunting scope market. I think the same of NF: a few tweaks to their reticles to make them a little more hunter centric, and they'd appeal to even more folks.

I agree completely Starbuck.

I like Nightforce, and own several too, but what you are buying is pretty much durability (which is certainly worth it) alone. As a hunter, there isn't much else to love. Their reticles are just OK for hunting. Their glass is nothing special (with the exception of the ATACR, but the 34 mil tube is unnecessary), their turrets are obtrusive, and they weigh too damn much!

With this newfound consumer awareness of the importance of durability and zero retention, March has an opportunity here. There are really only 3-4 well known players in the rugged and reliable hunting scope market right now, and they each have issues. Schmidt and Bender = huge expense and heavy. SWFA = impossible to get and mediocre glass. Bushnell LRHS = discontinued and, Nightforce = heavy, just OK glass and reticles.

If March could emerge and show themselves as a player in the hunting scope market that is: 1. dead nuts reliable and can handle impacts (they do impact testing), 2. light weight, 3. good, usable reticles, and 4. great glass, they will have eliminated just about all tradeoffs and would own the market.

If NF just made the NXS 2-10x42 with the 4a reticle they would also grab more market share.

Yep! Same with the 3-10 SHV too.