I have played with a couple of Russian scopes but not this one in particular.
What I liked. Very nice glass. Surprisingly sharp and clear but coatings were old tech and were quite dull. That may have changed by now.
Love the reticle. For a tactical reticle, so far ahead of a mildot reticle it is funny. Ranging is simple and effective. The Chevrons give very precise aiming points without cluttering up the view. The hash marks on the sides give you excellent hold off points for windage or for lead.
The marks are supposed to be spaced to represent common speeds like a man walking or a vehicle traveling at normal road speeds. I never played much with that and since I don't read Cyrillic, can't figure out the instructions. You learn to use them for windage which is very nice.
The middle chevron is the one that is used until 1000m with a 7.62X54R sniper load (pretty close to the 168gr 308 by the way). The elevation turrent is a BDC so you range WITH the reticle, dial up and shoot.
The bottom two chevrons are for 1100 and 1200m or for a quick aim at some moderate distance (I never tested to find out where that would be).
This describes the Draganov reticle and is the most common reticle encountered in Russian Tact products. The Etched glass is usually very clear and sharp.
Scope body and finish felt durable but certainly not well finished. Typical Russian style - functional not necessarily pretty. Very business like.
What I don't like. The knobs move backwards to NA convention. usually very mushy - no clicks but then none needed. All the turrents are assuming Russian ammo so BDC will not work for most cartridges (same with any BDC actually). Mounting lengths may be goofy for Pic bases and mounts may not be able to be moved to account for different length actions.
Most stuff is designed to fit on Russian arms so mounting onto NA rifles can be a royal pain. however, the Russian mounting system is really neat and work very well. If not massively overbuilt and heavy.
Yellowish tint and low light transmission (that could have all changed by now).
Overall, they are a very interesting product. They seem to hold zero and the BDC does move repeatably (at least within the accuracy of the rifles I was using it on). Not target grade repeatable but certainly min of enemy.
They have their quirks and who knows if you get a good one or lemon. Where is warranty? Russia? USA?
Kalinka Optics is one of the largest importer of this stuff and my dealings with them have been superb. The first scope I got was a lemon and was "quickly" exchanged. Took a while to go back to the US then a new one shipped from Petersburg. Yep, came direct from Mother Russia with Cyrilic instructions and all.
No worse then buying an Ebay Hong Kong special but at least the Russian Tech actually works very well. The HK stuff is just a rip off of NA tech.
For those who doubt the benefits of Russian reticles designed 60yrs ago, just look at all the new reticles from Leupold, IOR (well I doubt they ever changed), D&L, Horus etc. Mil dots are cumbersome, complicated, extremely slow and require math skills under the stress of combat.
Yes, with practise, it becomes second nature but then anything can work given enough practise. Even compensating for 308 wind drift. The Horus system is even worse for required techno crap support.
The choke style range finding, side windage/lead hash marks, and BDC systems matched to the right ammo is so simple and quick anyone can use it within a minute of picking up the rifle. No batteries, calculators, charts, PALM pilots w/ weather telemetry, Trigonometry/math skills,etc.
Good thing as it seems during battle that would be as long as a Russian soldier would have before 'passing' on to the next guy.
Jerry
... this looks like a good deal.
