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Unless you've had your head under a rock for the last 30 years, you have probably heard of U.S. Optics. They built some of the first truly military-grade rifle scopes on the market. Back in the days when all you could top a good long range rifle with was a variable power with few options, U.S. Optics was a breath of fresh air. Their current models are a far cry from their first units in 1992, but the company itself still maintains the spirit that made them great. Today we'll take a look at the 3.2-17x44 TPAL and its various features. This is without a doubt the most popular model in USO's lineup. The expectations are high for an optic of this price. Lets see if it can live up to it's outstanding reputation!
After SHOT show this year, I visited the USO factory and spent some time going over the details behind USO and their products. I published an interview I did with John Williams III shortly after that trip. As soon as I finished publishing the interview, I called up U.S. Optics to place an order for a 3.2-17. After talking with John for a while, I decided on the features I wanted.
- 3.2-17x44 w/ Custom Magnification
- 34mm Tube
- USO Flip-Open Covers
- Anti-Reflective Device
- Matte Black Type III Hard Anodizing
- Lo-Profile Rapid Focus Eyepiece
- FFP GAP Mil Reticle
- Green Illumination w/Digital Push-Button Rheostat
- EREK Milestone Elevation Knob in 1/10 Mil
- US#3 Windage Knob in 1/10 Mil
About 6 weeks went by, and a box showed up from Brea, CA. Consequently, it showed up on my birthday! In any event, I was pleased to receive it. As for delivery time, it can be as quick as a couple weeks, or as slow as a couple months. It all really depends on how your optic is configured. U.S. Optics now has a full production line that is in the final stages of ramping up as you read this.
No worry about the FedEx or UPS man here. The packing job they do is first rate. The exterior box is your typical brown nondescript box filled with packing peanuts and taped well. This keeps things low profile and adds more protection. Under the packing peanuts is a white U.S. Optics box that is taped shut and a full-size manila envelope. On the end of the white box is a sticker upon which the spec's of your scope are printed. This is a nice touch for those of us that like to keep our boxes, and I'm sure helps them keep inventory straight at their shipping facility. Inside the envelope is all the manuals and documentation for your optic, as well as some advertising from various 3rd-party companies. Inside the white box, lie a 3.2-17x44 surrounded by a generous helping of bubble wrap and a tightly-fitted thick plastic bag. Overall, the box that shows up on your door could be dropped out of an airplane, and probably not damage the scope.
My main concern with a rifle scope is whether or not it will track properly, which will allow me to put my bullet where I want it to go. All other concerns are secondary. If it doesn't track, it is worthless. The first thing I do with a new optic upon receiving it is to put it on a rimfire. You read correctly. The only way you can determine a rifle scope's ability to function, is to use it. Even shooting a lowly 308win, you can get fatigued after about 200rnds. You get tired of getting punched in the shoulder, and you stop shooting. On a rimfire, I can put 500rnds down range with no ill effect. During the course of this review I fired over 150rnds of Wolf Match Target rimfire ammo. Obviously this will not abuse the optic as a centerfire will, so for recoil and ruggedness testing you'll need to get it mounted on a different rifle. For this review I chose a Remington 40XB 22LR with a Manners MCS-TA stock and Harris 6-9" bipod. This rifle has proven routinely capable of groups under .3" at 50yds.
Pictured above is the result of the tracking test I performed on this optic. The aiming point was the brown square at the bottom of the board. I came up 1 mil, fired a group, and then repeated for 20 mils of adjustment. Then I dialed right 2 mils, and fired a group. I then came down 20 mils, and fired a group. I then came left 4 mils, and fired a group, then up 20 mils and fired another group. All through the testing, I maintained my original aiming point. As you can plainly see, the center of the groups lined up quite nicely with the reticle. I verified that the reticle subtends correctly using a marked tape measure at the same distance. I then used a tape measure to check the groups, and the centers line up as good as they could, given any shooting error.
Not being satisfied, I setup another target, and this time I came up 20 mils right from the start. Then I came down 0.3 mil, and fired a group. Then came down 1 mil, and fired a group. Then came down 5 mils, and fired a group. It is common for scopes to track correctly on the way up, but when coming down in small increments, they routinely fail to adjust with the movement of the knob. This has to do with the spring tension on the erector tube. I've seen virtually every optic in creation exhibit that problem. It is for this reason it is a good practice to run your knob down to zero, and then back up if you are making an adjustment downward. I fired a total of sixteen 3-shot groups while moving the reticle randomly through it's range of adjustment in an attempt to get it to falter. The scope tracked exactly as I adjusted it each time, no matter the direction or amount of adjustment.
Below is a close up shot of the GAP mil reticle. This is one of the most popular reticles on the market, and for good reason. It is one of the fastest reticles you can use. The big bold numbers are easy to reference, and the 0.5 mil stadia only being marked on one side of the center line's make it very easy to call corrections. It's an outstanding reticle.
Above is the ocular end of the 3.2-17 T-Pal. As you can see, my custom magnification results in a 5-17x. I dislike optics that tunnel on low magnification simply because the image gains no higher field of view (FOV), and the image itself gets "pushed away" from the user. So while the magnification goes lower for the purposes of bragging rights of having wide adjustment, the lower powers where the tunneling occurs are useless. In my opinion the entire point of having lower powers is to gain more FOV for ease of target acquisition. The fact that I can get this optic made specially for me, with a custom etched magnification ring, is fine testament to the pedigree of U.S. Optics. I can have it my way, and that's very important to me when I'm choosing an optic for one of my rifles.
You'll notice the magnification ring is quite large. This is not an optical illusion. U.S. Optics scopes have the largest magnification rings of any that I've encountered. This is a very welcome feature. The ring is knurled and raised above the main tube and ocular housing. It is also very long in comparison to other manufacturers power rings. Mot manufacturers have a power ring that is small, and difficult to grasp when laying prone behind the rifle. Not the USO power ring. It can be moved very simply, from nearly any position. This is one of my favorite features on this optic. This ease of use is unparalleled in the industry.
Beneath the flip-up cover is a European-style diopter adjustment. This quick-adjustment feature is pointless in my opinion, but has become somewhat of an industry standard. It doesn't bother me much, as the adjustment is hidden under the scope cap and if it accidentally gets turned, it is pretty easy to see, as the scope cap will turn with it.
Moving forward, we find the windage and elevation turrets, as well as the digital push-button rheostat for reticle illumination. We'll start with the elevation knob, as it is most interesting and truly unique to U.S. Optics.
The EREK knob is as identifiable in the shooting world as a Coke-a-Cola or Pepsi logo is to average people. You can see it from a distance and know immediately that you are looking at a USO scope. Pictured above is a "milestone" EREK knob with 1/10th mil clicks. The milestone feature provides a more positive click on the full mil marks. It can be felt, and heard. This is more clearly demonstrated in the video. U.S. Optics was the inventor of this technology, and were granted the patent which has been subsequently licensed to Premier Reticles, Schmidt & Bender, and other manufacturers. It is a feature that I like very much, as it makes dialing adjustments much faster. You can count mils without even looking at the turret, which takes much less effort and attention.
The wide knob puts the 1/10th mil clicks a fair distance apart. The clicks on the EREK are positive, yet easy to work with. In my experience, you don't want the clicks to be too positive. If the click holds on too tight, you can "bounce" out of it and over-shoot your intended adjustment. I would describe the clicks on this USO to be near perfect. I say near, because I would like just a bit more positive click on the normal 1/10th mil marks. The full mil increments are very nice, as that is the where the milestone is set.
Aesthetically, the knob itself is quite low profile. The short stature of the knob keeps it from getting snagged on things. It's very streamlined in relation to the rest of the optic. The a notched cap allows equally easy operation with bare hands or gloves. I'm glad they went with the larger notches here instead of the common knurling. The top of the cap has two hex screws that keep the top cover in place.
The EREK does have a zero stop. This was a big misconception I had about USO scopes, as I had always heard they didn't have a zero stop. This is likely due to the zero stop functioning entirely different than most scopes. From the factory, the scope has the EREK knob completely bottomed out on the "0" setting. You cannot turn the knob down any farther. The erector inside however, is set independently for mechanical zero when using a 20 MOA sloped base. After mounting the optic on a rifle, you'll need to zero it. Obviously you cannot use the knob to adjust downward, as it's already bottomed out. So to zero the optic, you take the supplied hex key, place it through the hole in the top of the knob, and move the erector independently of the knob. While making the adjustment, you will hold the EREK knob in place, and turn the hex key independently. Additionally, it is always a good idea to give yourself some room beneath your zero in case you have to come down at some point. To do this, you will simply dial your EREK up one mil, and re-zero using the method above. Once your zero is set, the EREK will now be on +1.0 mils. Obviously you will want your knob to read "0" when zero is set. To fix this, you remove the two hex screws in the top of the knob, lift the cap off, then move the knob to the zero position. Then you put the cap back on, then replace and tighten the two hex screws. This will put your zero on the "0" marking, and give you a full mil of adjustment beneath your zero. If you want more adjustment below your zero, you use the same method but simply change how much you come up before resetting the zero.
The total adjustment available on this scope is 22 mils. This number will vary depending on what size tube you go with. At first I wasn't sure how much I'd like it, but I'm growing quite fond of the EREK knob.
Just forward of the windage knob is the digital push-button rheostat. This is what controls the reticle illumination. The location of the control is very good. Unlike many optics where the illumination control is in the way, U.S. Optics put it where it was easily accessible, but completely out of the way. It takes a standard CR2032 battery which will power the illumination on its highest setting for 100 hours. There are 12 illumination intensities to choose from using the up and down arrows. The brightest setting is not quite daytime visible, but I'm not sure why you'd want it to be when the black reticle will do just fine. At night, it is very easy to find a setting that works. The lowest settings will accommodate use with night vision. It has an auto-shut-off feature that will automatically turn the illumination off after 1 hour of inactivity, which saves battery life. The rheostat also has a memory, so whatever intensity you set when the unit is turned off, it will resume at that same intensity when turned back on. You can choose between red, green, or blue illumination when you order the scope. I went with green on this one, as I feel it to be the most versatile and doesn't wash out the target too badly in low light.
The US#3 windage knob on this scope is pretty straight forward. Dial clockwise to move bullet impact left. Dial counter-clockwise to move bullet impact right. This is indicated by the "L" and "R" letters behind the numbered adjustments on the knob. To zero the knob, you simply make your adjustments as necessary to make your POA match your POI, then loosen the hex screw on the cap. Then you set the "0" marking to center line, and tighten the hex screw. This knob can be spun around several times in either direction, effectively getting you lost in the turret if you aren't careful. USO offers a windage stop US#3 turret which I would highly recommend. The clicks on this knob are a bit close together for my taste. The clicks are positive and tactile, but they are close enough together that when you are laying down behind the rifle, it takes a bit of effort to ensure you are in the right 1/10th mil mark. It hasn't caused me an issue yet, but I'd hate to do it under time pressure. Providing just a bit larger knob would alleviate this problem. I would also like to see the addition of a milestone feature in this knob.
On the left side is the parallax adjustment. Not much to say here. The knob is low profile with a knurled ring on the outer portion. It is clearly marked, and you turn the top toward you to increase the distance. It can be adjusted from 50yds to infinity. The entire adjustment range can be reached within one turn of the knob. You'll notice there is a cap just to the right of the parallax knob above. This speaks to the customizable nature of USO scopes. You can get them with the windage knob, illumination, and parallax on either side of the optic. Now I'm not sure why you'd ever want one setup differently than the configuration this scope is in, but U.S. Optics is there to serve on the chance that you do!
Moving forward we come to the objective end of the scope. All U.S. Optics parts are anodized using a mil-spec type-III hard anodizing process. This isn't just something to make them look pretty. It is extremely tough. Tougher than the finish on most optics actually. Most scratches can be buffed out easily with a scotch-brite pad. The markings are all laser-etched at USO and are very precise and nice looking. They even have the phone number right on the side of their scopes, so in case you have a problem you don't have to dig for it. Nice touch.
There is a look at the objective end of the optic. Look at the thickness of that tube! That's as beefy as I've ever seen. Very thick, which has to lead to it being strong. Definitely built to take a beating. This reduces some lens diameter a bit, but I can't tell when looking through it. I've had it out several times in low light, and it still works quite well.
Above you'll find pictures taken with the optic on 5x, 10x, then 17x magnification. At the time I was taking them, the conditions were terrible. Overcast skies with severe humidity (90%) and haze hanging in the air. Visibility was low. This actually showcases the optics capability just a bit. I set a full size IPSC target at exactly 1000yds and took some photo's through the scope to give you an idea of scale. As you can clearly see, quartering that target would be a piece of cake. Also, it's important to remember that these pictures are no where near the quality of your actual experience when looking through it. I would be equally comfortable taking the shot at 5x as I would on 17x with a target of that size. The reticle is very useable on all magnifications. The field of view on all magnifications was fantastic. The eyebox was very forgiving. I didn't struggle to get centered behind it at any point. The scope pretty much disappears when you get behind it, letting you concentrate on what you should be; Shooting!
In all, I'm very happy with this scope from U.S. Optics. There are a few minor things that I'd like to see change. Mainly the windage knob as I described earlier, but I'd hardly call it a deal-breaker. You can get into a 3.2-17 T-Pal for around $2,200. To get one configured as I have here would be closer to $3,200. If you look around, there are often specials or coupons available for USO scopes. Better yet, get a hold of Scott Berish @ Liberty Optics and see what kind of deal he can get you!
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out www.primalrights.com.
