SWFA SS HD 5-20x50 FFP mil/mil illuminated
It was decided to not bother printing the review.
"nuff said...
Jerry
So what's that supposed to mean? It looks ugly on the outside, is it also bad on the inside?
How about we change gears and take a look at what I think is the new Vortex PST; the SWFA SS HD 5-20x50 FFP. I havent had time to do a photo shoot with mine so some google images will have to suffice:
Full Power:
I had a Vortex PST 6-24x50 FFP, as well as a Falcon 5.5-25x56. The Falcon is good for the money, but I've got more money to spend and it's not offering anything the Vortex or SWFA offers other than the 56mm objective. The Falcon is one BIG scope though! The Vortex and SWFA are about the same size.
The Vortex was great, but I found the turrets were not a nice as my Sightron SIII and after doing some basic tests, I started to lose interest in Vortex all together. The turret internals on the Vortex are advertised as 19x19 mils but you can't track a square, just a plus sign (if that makes any sense).
Unsatisfied, I sold the PST and found the SWFA. Of course, no dealer in Canada has been able to stock these yet so I had to pay a premium for mine. All together, I payed ~$1450 shipped to my door for this scope.
First of all, the differences versus the Vortex:
- 30x30 mils versus Vortex's 19x19
- 10 mils / revolution versus Vortex's 5 (10/rev is closer to the S&B and Premiere of 14/rev)
- 20x magnification versus Vortex's 24x
- Different Reticle
- Reticle illumination knob and magnification ring in different locations
- Turret external cosmetics
- Made in Japan (like the Sightron SIII & NF) versus Vortex in the Philippines.
- Occular locking ring versus Vortex's 'soft' occular focus
Turrets:
Cutting to the good part, I'll tell you why I think the SWFA kicks the PST's ass even after taking into consideration the price difference. Sure the PST has nicer turret aesthetics but the SWFA has an advertised internal adjustment range that matches the big ticket scopes. Testing out my SWFA shows an external adjustment range of about 32 mils elevation and 21 mils (rounded to +/-10) for windage. Right away this
exceeds what both the
Premier Reticle and
Schmidt & Bender advertise (which are priced at an insufferable $3500 before taxes).
So that's what the externals would do but I didn't think the internals would match the external movement (similar to the Vortex). To my supprise, after testing out all 4 corners of the box (more specifically, the rectangle), there was reticle movement all the way until the turret bottomed out. I have not measured the true click value yet, but I am VERY impressed by this. Those Japanese know how to make good internals!
Turrets aside, the PST has the SWFA beat on some aspects. I love both reticles and give a slight edge to the PST. The reticle thicknes is almost identicle, the PST being 0.040 MRAD and the SWFA at 0.050 MRAD. To compare that to the S&B P4 Fine, it's only 0.015 MRAD and almost invisible at lower mag, especially in low lighting. The diamonds in the SWFA measure 0.3x0.2 MRAD which is great for correcting for shots that miss by 0.1-0.4 MRAD. Just put the diamond between the hole and the aim point and you should be able to decide exactly how far off you were. No guessing between 0.5 MRAD hashmarks. The PST has the 0.2 MRAD hashmarks near the outter of the reticle.
The PST has an edge over the SWFA's mag ring and illumination; everything on the SWFA is flush and hard to grip. When adjusting the paralax, it's easy to flip the switch on the illumination but no big deal for me. You can always buy a cat tail for either scope mag ring if it bothers you.
The major downfall of my SWFA is the illumination; mine is clear in the centre and fuzzy everwhere else. I believe they put the illuminatied centre dot in SFP and the illuminated reticle in FFP. Not a big deal considering I wont really need it but I'll have to look into getting it fixed.
Anyway, I think I've said my peice. I really, really hope a Canadian distributor gets a line on these optics; I will never go back to the PST as long as the SWFA is around. They are more comparable to the real high priced scopes than the PST due to the exceptional turrets but still have a few flaws that justify the low price.
