Primary Arms, SLx, Microprism scope/sight

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MikeVV

MikeVV

Member
Jan 10, 2019
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SoCal, United States
I know this has been mentioned before, but being that I just received mine and spent some time with it...

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1023393829?pid=896674

I'm liking the Prism sights more and more. They are a great deal if you have an astigmatism (eye problems). My Holosun's and Trigicon's have done a fine bit of work for me, but the prisim sights are also a very good bet.

I seem to have gotten the last one from MidwayUSA for a few weeks (more supposed to be coming the end of March). Spend a couple of minutes adjusting the diopter to match "your" eyes, adjust it to your gun, and go shooting. The pricing is very fair.

As normal with a prism sight, the starting reticle is etched black. They have both red and green sights to light the reticle. The glass is very clear, once adjusted to your eyes, the reticle is also very crisp and sharp. The reticle is a little busy at first, but it's easy to get used to as you are mostly looking at the chevron centered in the circle. The reticle has lines for various holdovers for distance. The sight is small and light. It has spacers that come with it that allow 5 different heights, straight up and cantilevered. About anything anyone could want. It says that the eye relief/spacing is 2" to 7". I held it out at arms length like it would be mounted to a pistol, and I still had a very good view. And yeah, my arms are of normal adult length ! It's small enough to...be mounted to a pistol. The reticles circle seems a little fat, especially considering the rest of the marks are pretty fine lines. Not sure how that would relate to a pigeons body size...but...

I bought it not sure what gun I was going to put it on. I put it on my Uragan Compact. It was very close to bore sighted. Windage was a coupla clicks away and the elevation was a couple more clicks off. Took five shots to get it centered in my short range. My targets are 1/2" black circles on white paper. The black dot filled about 1/4 or 1/3 of the main circle of the reticle.

Overall, it appears very well built, solid. The risers are very solid without weighing a lot. There are three screws to be used for the straight up riser, and six short screws for the cantilevered risers. The screws already have blue Loctite patches on them. It's all solid enough to carry the gun by the sight ! Though not sure I'd want to carry a WWII M14 all day that way !

While it did come with a battery, it was in place and dead. It was on setting 5, no clue how long it was on. The light wheel is...a bit tough to turn, and the indicators are pretty small, so you have to pay attention when using the lit reticle. It's very well controlled. Low enough for indoor or low light shooting, and lights up well for a sunny afternoons day.

The one that I got is red. I may get a green one when they are back on the market.

Well that's about it. If you are in the market for a small, well built, prism sight/scope, do yourself a favor and check the Primary Arms SLx. Microprism scope.

Mike
 
Interesting you could hold it at arms length. 

Curious though if you found a most comfortable eye relief position when you actually installed it on your Uragun? If so, do you have an approximation of that distance? Or would anywhere on your rail have worked?

Would love to see a picture installed well.
Click to expand...

First, I know that many folks in the YouTube realm, like to see "red dot" sights way out forward on the rail, personally, I like them a bit closer to my eyes. I've tried them both close up and farther out. All of mine are closer to me. All of mine are at the most rearward area on the rail. All of my guns have either a red/green dot or a prism sight because of my eyes.

As for the "Prism" sights, they are designed with a specific eye reliefs, just depends on the brand. The Vortex prism sights have different distances. They have a couple of nice sights too. I have a Steiner T-Sight, it's got a VERY close up eye relief (about 1"). I really like most everything about that sight, but for the eye relief. It's made for firearms, not so much for air guns, but I don't know how someone would use that sight on anything over a .223 cal., for fear of receiving the "eyebrow" scar on the forehead from the recoil !

This new Primary Arms Microprism is interesting. Like I said in my original post, they recommend, 2" to 7", so that's very accommodating over most other prisms . Yeah, I just tried the relief in my hand. Starting about 3" out, then just straightened my elbow slowly. The "details" of the reticle sort of go away, but the main circle is still plenty open and clear with my arm out straight.

The way that it's mounted on my Uragan right now, I have about 3"+ eye relief. I'll take a picture later today or tomorrow and post it.

Primary Arms has a Gen III, compact prism sight (3x and 5x) that I'd like to try but it's made for longer distances than I shoot. That's another thing you need to watch when buying a prism sight, is the "minimum focusing distance". The SLx Microprism will focus 10feet out, to as far as you can see the target detail, the Gen III needs much more room to focus, so that leaves me out on that version.

Mike
 
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Mike good point about focus distance. I wonder if the 1x with a 3x magnifier would work better at close distances than a 3x prismatic by itself? I may have to email them & ask.

My concern with eye relief is because this would be on a Classic Leshiy so there is little room to get it close to your eye. I have a See All Open Site on it now & I think a 1x prismatic would allow for faster target acquisition & a more dialed in zero.

Like you I have an astigmatism that makes red dots problematic. 


 
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Mike good point about focus distance. I wonder if the 1x with a 3x magnifier would work better at close distances than a 3x prismatic by itself? I may have to email them & ask.

My concern with eye relief is because this would be on a Classic Leshiy so there is little room to get it close to your eye. I have a See All Open Site on it now & I think a 1x prismatic would allow for faster target acquisition & a more dialed in zero.

Like you I have an astigmatism that makes red dots problematic. 

Click to expand...

SOME, or read that...cheap red / green dot sights are problematic for us with an astigmatism. Unfortunately, it seems that you / we get what we pay for with these things.

I've had excellent luck with, in no particular order -

1. Holosun, most all of their sights. I have (both red and green) a couple that the dot is not perfectly round, but with the dot illumination turned down, the dot is almost perfect.

2. Trijicon MRO. I have both red and green. The green seems to be a little better.  I'd imagine that the RMR version is also good. See above about the dot shape

3. Leupold, Delta Point Pro, is very good. These are a bit on the pricy side for what they are, but the dot is very good. Very well shaped dot.

4. Meprolight M21. This sight runs on the ambient light. It's got tritium in it so its dot lights up in most any light. It is very well shaped

5. Steiner DRS 1x. This is also a bit higher on the price list, but has a very nice crisp "T" reticle, with a hold-over dot.



One thing to try with ALL red / green dot sights, is turn the brightness "down". turn it down so that it doesn't take over the sight picture. You should "just" be able to make out the reticle when looking at your target. Brightness causes blooming, a star shape, (points to appear), and just general unusability.

I've even found on the "holographic" sights like the EOTech, if you understand their design and HOW the holographic emitter works, it's also...a very usable sight. The "dot / ring" is NOT...supposed to be a solid color. These ALSO, keep the brightness level turned down like my above note. And if you pay attention to the target, NOT the reticle, even these become very usable with folks with eye problems. So much that I now have two of them !



Mike


 
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Thanks Mike. I tried the Holosun 510c green in a store and the dot was still pretty bad, although I didn't know to ask the salesman to turn down the brightness.

I don't wear glasses per se. I do have a pair of glasses for driving at night and watching movies. I thought I might take them in and try again. However, I'm not likely to carry them with me when I'm hiking so they'd have to really help a lot for me to consider that.


 
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Mike, thanks for your review of the SLx, and your general comments about how to use these and similar products. I share your problem with astigmatism. I've been disappointed in trying to use several of these sights, but reading your comments makes me aware that I may not have been using them properly. I may give these another try, and particularly the SLx. I appreciate this helpful thread. 
 
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Mike, thanks for your review of the SLx, and your general comments about how to use these and similar products. I share your problem with astigmatism. I've been disappointed in trying to use several of these sights, but reading your comments makes me aware that I may not have been using them properly. I may give these another try, and particularly the SLx. I appreciate this helpful thread.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Yeah, it's taken me a lot of experimentation on how to use these things. It's not always as straight forward as most may think.

Like the EOTech, holographic site. I bought my first 512 years ago, and was sorely disappointed, at 1, I bought it in the first place, and 2, I spent so much money on it. Almost every Youtube video had comments in them about they are terrible for people with bad eyes, and or astigmatism in their eyes. Then a couple of weeks ago, I found a video that "fully" explained HOW the holographic sights work, and HOW to use them. So I got out my Lelya 2 with the EOTech 512 mounted on it and went about trying the things that the guy in the video mentioned.

1. The color (dot and ring), will NOT be a solid color. The holographic emitter isn't built that way. He had a picture on a white board, and yeah, it looked exactly like what I saw while looking through the screen on my 512.

2. DON'T, as in DO NOT...focus on the reticle. Look at, focus on the target, and then let the reticle float onto/over the target, pull the trigger.

Hmm, I thought. I was sorta doing #2 when using the 512 initially, but didn't understand comment #1 at all. I'd never seen or heard of that at all. So, I went about "relearning" how to use the EOTech red dot holographic site. After figuring out what the video was telling me, and then putting those thoughts into practice... I put a bunch of pellets through my Lelya 2 that day. Finding that I was hitting my small 1/2" round dot, target more and more often. I then went and bought a second, green dot EOTech and put it on my Veteran Compact. Using my newly realized information, I was hitting the target pretty easy now.

VERY funny thing... I bought the green, EXPS2, EVEN...after watching a video from a fairly respected firearm sight tester, making comments about the "green" dot may not be any good for...people with astigmatism !! Well...with the "ammo" from that video that I watch a few weeks back, And remembering it, I started my aiming and found...NO problems acquiring my target and being comfortable with being able to stabilize on it...comfortably. Yeah...hitting my target pretty regularly.

I shoot free (off-) hand, so all this really woke me up, being able to acquire a good point of aim, then being able to hit that target.

As for the LED red/green dot sights, The biggest problem I think that most have, is, they have the reticle intensity is turned up, way too bright. Similar to the Holographic reticle, KEEP THE POWER TURNED DOWN LOW. DO NOT make it the main item in your sighting. You should JUST barely be able to see it, for the best sight picture and the clearest reticle.

Mike
 
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Pretty unobtrusive, but there it is.

Yeah, I like it.

AGT Uragan, .22.1646764050.JPG


Mike
 
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I've got Spitfire also.

I have no problems with the Primary Arms SLx.

The battery cover...gotta go somewhere...right ? As long as it not in the line of sight, it is what it is..! You may need stronger glasses ! This sights reticle is just fine to about 35 or 40 yrds. It's really not...a long distance sight. It's a close combat sight !

Works well for me..!

Hard to take much for fact from someone that didn't do well in his English classes !

Mike
 
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I've got Spitfire also.

I have no problems with the Primary Arms SLx.

The battery cover...gotta go somewhere...right ? As long as it not in the line of sight, it is what it is..! You may need stronger glasses ! This sights reticle is just fine to about 35 or 40 yrds. It's really not...a long distance sight. It's a close combat sight !

Works well for me..!

Hard to take much for fact from someone that didn't do well in his English classes !

Mike
Click to expand...

the gen 2 reticle is great (which is the version i believe you have). the larger gen 1 had a really tiny chevron, that was really hard to pick up without illumination.

and yeah it does have to go somewhere, and that thing is already pretty tiny. hmm… i may have to give the gen 2 cyclops another try after reading through this thread!
 
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I have great hope for these sights. I have a Immersive optics 5x30 prism in transit.



My eyesight is terrible, my shooting eye has been removed and my vision is 180/200 in a nickle sized spot in my perifical vision. I can’t see a full profile semi truck head on at 150 feet.



So I am looking for scopes that most prescission shooters avoid due to thick reticles. Lighted reticles help, but until I get that Immersive 5x30 in hand, I wonder if I will be able to see the reticle.



So far a Hawke 17410, 3x12 Bugbuster, Hawke 2x7 and Bushnell AR 1x4 still work for me, but even those scopes fuzz out if I do not push the send button in a timely matter. I recently sold a Meopta as the lighted dot was too small for me to see outside.

I also have had great luck with a laser mounted halfway down the rib of my Bulldog 357 and magnified 3 times by a Primary Arms 3x magnifier. Works well for shooting groups as you can see through the laser dot. I generally don’t advise folks to rely on cheap lasers as a primary sight as they are unreliable. However I use them when I can to rezero my scopes when I am playing musical scopes.

Regards, 

Roachcreek
 
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Roach -

On one hand, you will like the Immersive sight. BUT, it requires a very close eye relief. Almost uncomfortably close. But the reticle is very clear and crisp. Easy to attain the sight picture. I have mine on my FX Impact Mk 3.

The Primary Arms, Microprism is MUCH more forgiving as far as the eye relief. And also as good with sharpness of the reticle. The Immersive reticle is overall, a little nicer to me, but the Primary Arms is still very usable.

One thing that many don't seem to get. Spend time getting the reticle set to your eye(s) (ALL prism sights). I use a light bulb to get the reticle set so that there is NO ghosting. DO NOT stare at it while adjusting. Look for a couple of seconds, and look away. Wait a minute or so, then look into the sight and adjust the reticle again. Go back and forth a couple of times to attain a crisp, sharp edged reticle. Just staring through the sight for minutes while adjusting it WILL mess with your eye(s) and mess up the whole adjustment, and you'll think that it's the sight that's off ! It's not. Just go slowly.

I think in general, with a varying degree of "bad eyes", the prism design is the best way to go. Most don't understand the red dot, even as simple as they are. If you turn down the reticle brightness so that its just BARLY visible, all of the blooming and ghosting, and stars...go away. BUT, cheap red dots...are cheap red dot sights. Nothing will "fix" a cheap red dot sight.

Good luck with your new sights.

Mike


 
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