My scope arrived today. I ordered it direct from Pride Fowler (rapidreticle.com) because Kennyohiohunter got me all excited on these scopes and I wanted a nice scope for my 10/22 project. I was originally going to go with a Leupold, but after reading about these I decided to give it a try. I e-mailed Pride-Fowler with some questions on Friday John Pride replied withing an hour.

One of my questions was where the scope was made. I did not want a scope made in China, but I didn't say that. Most companies might tell you what company or try to beat around the bush or whatever, but John came straight out and told me they are made in Japan by Kenko Optics. I did some research and found out that Kenko is a top flight company, really top quality.

He answered my questions, and I placed a call to his company after 1pm eastern time. The woman I spoke to on the phone could not have been nicer and was very professional. I gave my order and she said it would be shipped out that same day and I would get it early next week.

Well, the mail arrived this morning, and lo and behold, my scope was in it. Unbelievable! When she said early next week she wasn't kidding. This company has great customer service, from the boss on down.

I unpacked my scope and weighed it on the postal scale. It weighs in at 13.3 ounces. The length is a shade ove 11.5 inches. The scope is a 3-9 x32, with a fast focus eyepiece. It comes advertised as multicoated optics, waterproof, fogproof and shockproof. The matte finish is even all throughout the scope. The turret screws are nice and low profile. The tube appears to be a one peice tube, 1" diameter. So far, this scope is nice!


The ocular adjustment has a nice positive grip-deep grooves as well as a handle for easy adjustment. The adjustment is smooth, with no roughness or graininess. Eye relief is generous. The fast focus is smooth, but is not likely to move once it is adjusted. I like that a lot.



The turrets are outstanding. I love target turrets. No coin is needed to adjuts them. The are well marked and easy to read. The adjustment markings are clear and precise. Adjustments are solid and each click is positive. The turrets can be adjusted to set to zero, and the scope comes with an Allen wrench to fit the turrets. These are exceedingly nice. In these photos you can see the adjustments and how they are labeled.



The number one feature of these scopes, however, and what sets them apart from all others is the reticles. The reticle is a first focal plane reticle, which means that as magnification is increased, the size of the reticle increases, and as magnification is decreased, the sixe of the reticle is decreased. This means the cross hairs always cover the same proportion of the target, no matter what the magnification.

These scopes are each designed for a specific cartridge and the reticles are marked to show impact at different ranges. There are also markings for windage. Once you know your target distance, you simply put the appropriate crosshair on the target and fire. It's a very cool system I can't take a photo of the reticle, but here is the .22 reticle:


This post has been edited by Gmountain: October 27th 2008 7:35 PM

One thing the photo doesn't show is how small the reticle actually is at minimum magnification. It's small, but certainly visible, not at all in the way. As you increase magnification, the reticle itself gets bigger. It is neat the way that happens, so if you were shooting at something 200 yards away, the 200 yard cross hair is easily visible. It can take a little getting used to, not using the main cross hair, but it is neat. The crosshair is a dublex, with a fine cross hair. Very visible. The reticle allso has windage hash marks for each distance.

This is a revolutionary system, I believe. Zeiss is now using the Rapid Reticle system and calling it the Rapid -Z system. BTW, when you go to the Kenko Optics site, even though it is in Japanese, you can see that they make glass for Zeiss. It all comes together when you understand they make the Pride-Fowler Rapid Reticle and the Zeiss Rapid-Z in the same factory. This is top quality glass.

The view through the scope is very bright and clear. I havent's mounted it yet because I'm waiting on some Talley rings, but I will be shooting this weekend.

One last thing-the scope came with these lens covers-a nice change from the solid covers and even though not expensive, a nice little surprise


I am excited about getting out on the range with this scope.

This post has been edited by Gmountain: October 27th 2008 10:39 PM

that looks nice. i'm gonna have to pick up one for the AR-10 i don't own yet soon.

it is great to hear from another happy customer.

Wow, thanks for the Post Gmountain, though somewhat far off in the future, i have been looking at what i would replace my leupold on my AR 10 with. I was leanin hard towards the Ziess Rapid Z1000 but the Pride Fowler 800 seems to be just as attractive, the 30mm Tube is a nice feature that i really like...Lookin forward to the rest of your experience!

I can't say that I am sorry Gmountain.
I think you have made a wise choice in optics and can't wait until you shoot your rifle and see for yourself the quality of the optic that you have purchased. I will be buying the same scope you did for my daughters .22 build scheduled soon.
I would highly recommend anyone interested in a high quality scope that does not have the higher price tag along with it to check out the Pride Fowler company.
Congratulations G.

There is no doubt in my mind that you would be happy with the RR800 series of scopes.
RR800-1 is 3x9x42 variable.
RR800-2 is 10x42 fixed position.

I bought the RR800-1 because I wanted lower magnification and closer range shots. When shooting past 100 yards I cranked it up and left it there.Perfect.