Like Scott, I also agreed to do a review on this scope for Doug at Cameraland. Having never done anything like this, all I knew to do was to put the scope to use in a way that I'd think the average customer who bought it would. I will also say this upfront..........this Firefield Rapidstrike is made in China, and I know that there are those who will not purchase anything that is made there. Personally, I do not care to buy optics that are Chinese made. However, there is a market for such optics, as there are those who either aren't going to pay the extra money for optics made elsewhere, or else they cannot afford the more expensive made ones.
I was somewhat impressed with this scope as soon as I opened the box and took my first look at it. It appeared to be well made, and after handling it and looking through it, the glass is nicer than I'd expected it to be.I put it on an AR I had recently put together, and had only installed open sights on. I wanted to leave the rear sight on, so I mounted the scope just in front of it. Eye relief is perfect that way, and I really like the cantilever mount setup. I boresighted it and the reticle seemed to be close, so off to the range I went.
The manual says the reticle is calibrated for the 55 FMJ bullet, so that's what I used. It only took two shots at the 25 yard target to get a zero there, and I moved on out to the 100 yard target. The turret adjustment was precise, and very easy to zero the scope. No mushy feeling clicks like I have seen on some scopes, as these were very precise. No problems whatsoever, and I continued to be impressed with what I was seeing so far.
My session at the range was in two parts, and I fired about 100 rounds each time, wanting to test the rifle as well as the scope. The ammo was military surplus, mixed headstamps. The first session was mainly to get the rifle zeroed, and that part was easy, although accuracy left something to be desired, a combination I think of a fairly inexpensive rifle and the ammo. I shot at both the 100 and the 200 yard targets, with the 200 yard being 8 inch steel. While I'm not a huge fan of reticles like this, I was able to regularly hit the 200 yard steel. One must bear in mind that this is a reticle designed for quick target acquisition, and that it does rather well.
Session two was to try out the IR and hopefully shoot at the 300 yard steel. But, a problem arose when I tried the IR.....it would not come on. I changed the battery, and it still would not work. Finally, I determined that when the cap that holds the battery in was tightened down all the way, the IR would not come on, If I loosened the cap up, then the IR worked. I fired about another 100 rounds at this session, and was somewhat disappointed in the lack of accuracy, either on my part or the rifle and ammo. My hits on the 200 yard steel were few and far between, and I got no hits at 300. The battery cover cap also had to be loosened a few times in order to keep the IR working.
Okay, final thoughts..........if you're looking for a scope to do some precise shooting with, I don't believe this is it. But, then again, it's not meant to be in my book. The reticle is not designed for that. It is designed to allow the shooter to take a quick shot at a fairly close range target, and in that respect it works as advertised. I found it extremely easy to acquire the target in situations where I was trying to shoot as rapidly as possible. The glass is good, and I have no complaints about that. I did find the situation with the IR turret to be annoying, and I'm hoping that mine is an isolated case. The IR looked and worked very nicely, and in a low light situation worked very well. However, I would not want to rely on the IR in a real life situation where my life depended on it, as that battery cover cap needs to be where it can be tightened down, and not left loose. I do like the compactness, and the way the scope allows a rapid target acquisition, and I give it high marks in that department. I'm going to try it on another rifle, one that has been proven to be very accurate. I believe that in spite of the problem with the IR turret, this scope is good for what it is designed for. For the price, it's worth the money.
