Brendan Atkinson, Benchrest World champion, writes an article for the Australian Shooter magazine.
In the very precise world of top
level benchrest shooting, the quest for the perfect group and aggregate goes
on. The standard of equipment has been refined to a point where just maybe the
perfect one hole group may someday be possible.
There has, however, always been one
weak link in the chain. It has long been acknowledged that the riflescope is
the one area where the problem of holding absolute zero has not really been
conquered. All sorts of after market methods have been tried, including gluing
the internals of the scope into a solid mass and fitting external mounts. The
major scope manufacturers have tried hard to produce a high quality benchrest
product and some have pretty much succeeded â however, there is enough evidence
to show that this standard of fine precision can sometimes fail at the worst
time, usually in the middle of a match. Remember of course that 99% of rifle
scopes are production line finished. Also, consider that we are talking about a
scope âmovingâ less than a quarter MOA, which a hunter would most probably
never notice nor care about. Benchrest shooters know instantly.
A couple of years ago, word got out that there was a new scope being created in Japan - they would be hand built to
extremely precise tolerances, and were guaranteed not to shift point of impact.
Naturally, they would not be cheap, but the purchaser would be buying the
confidence that this scope would track truly and hold its zero. The new scopes
would carry the name March, and were produced by Deon Optical Design
Corporation in Japan.
The Deon Optical Design
Corporation was formed in October of 2004, by a group of engineers, and each
one of these engineers had over 30 years of experience in high precision
optics. Widely experienced in their field, members of the team had already
achieved awards and honours from the Japanese Government. Under the direction
of company President Shimizu, the companies aim was to produce extremely high
quality scopes for those marksmen and hunters who were prepared to pay a little
more for a hand built custom scope.
40x52BR
In 2007, the first March scope
to appear on the firing line was the fixed 40x52 BR model. It cost over twice
as much as the leading competitors equivalent, but as selected shooters started
to win with a March scope on board, the demand began to increase.
Incorporating very high quality
ED (extra dispersion) lenses, a side parallax adjustment and rear lens focus,
the March 40x scopes were soon seen on the benches in Australia. They
cost around USD$2200, and with the unfavourable dollar at the time, were
setting shooters back well over three thousand dollars. The March 50x52BR soon
followed, and proved a challenge for shooters on some of our mirage plagued
ranges. An even bigger magnification 60x52BR is now available, should anyone
require this sort of power in a fixed form.
Three reticules were offered.
Shooters could opt for the standard fine x-hair, or choose either a 1/8th
or 1/16th dot. Click adjustments were 1/8th MOA and the
scope featured 72MOA in elevation and 50MOA windage adjustment inside a 30mm
tube. They can be focussed from 50 yards to infinity. Itâs not a lightweight at
597 grams, and shooters need to weigh everything to make sure that they do not
exceed the limit on the lighter benchrest classes. This can be critical in the
sporter and light benchrest classes. Heavy benchrest wonât be a problem.
March scopes are constructed
from a single piece of aluminium bar stock. As mentioned before ED lenses are
used for superior clarity. The erector tube is made from the lightest materials
available to reduce the effects of inertia during recoil. The erector tube and
the body receiver are CNC machined to a convex/concave socket design with minimum
tolerances. The engineers at March prefer to use a flat type erector tube
spring, rather than a coil. They felt that a coil is more likely to develop a
memory than the flat type. Hand lapping is employed in the mating of the
focussing group tube and the tube liner â these are treated hard surfaces. It
is emphasised that March scopes do not use any plastic internal parts.
All March scopes are filled with
Argon gas after assembly and before sealing.
Having produced top quality
fixed power target scopes, the team at Deon turned their hands to producing
variables. For the benchrest and long range shooters they made a 10-60x52 and a
36-55x52 â I have used one of the latter for serious competition. The variable
option is good for those days when mirage is fierce and a bit less power is
actually an advantage. Deon also produce variable compact tactical scopes for
those going âin harmâs wayâ, including a 5-32x52 zoom.
used a borrowed March 40x for the 2009 National Benchrest Championships in Brisbane, and was impressed with the clarity of the scope
in the tumbling mirage of Belmont range.
It takes a bit of fiddling with
the focus and the parallax to get them just right (especially for those like me
with corrected sight), but once achieved the March is most impressive. Of late,
I have been using a March 36-55 x 52, and have enjoyed the flexibility that
this scope offers.
For the hunters
The hunters have not been
overlooked, and the engineers at Deon have come up with a couple of interesting
offerings for them. How about a 1 to 10x or perhaps a 2.5 to 25x magnification
scope?
Many variables have a
magnification range which is a factor of three â eg. 4-12x, 3-9x, 6-18x, etc. The
March variable scopes employ 6, 6.4 and 10 times magnification ratios â the
latter is the highest ration employed in any production scope at the present
time. The 1-10x24 is a compact hunting scope with the usual 30mm tube and a
side parallax adjustment.
The hunting scopes are based on
the March tactical scopes, but do not have illuminated reticules.
I fitted the 1 to 10x to my
17HMR rifle, and found that I had a scope power for just about every situation.
It was a bit like Goldilocksâ porridge â not too big and not too small, but
just right. It is a compact scope, only 26.4cm in length with a weight of
525gm. It features quarter minute clicks, and has a staggering 200MOA of both
vertical and horizontal adjustment. The objective lens diameter is 24mm. The
side focus/parallax allows focussing from 10m â infinity. A duplex reticule was
fitted. I would imagine that this scope would be right at home on a large
calibre centrefire, where low power would be ideal for stalking in the scrub,
with the option of more power for more open county work.
The slightly larger 2.5 to 25x
42 looked a good candidate for my DGA Shilen 220 Swift. It is also quite
compact with an overall length of 314mm and a weight of 613gm. The click
adjustments are quarter minute, and it has a generous 100MOA of both vertical
and horizontal adjustment. A duplex reticule is fitted. This scope impressed me
greatly with its clarity throughout the power range, but in a hunting situation
it would be rare to use more than about 12 power. In fact, I had it wound down
around six power until a target was identified, and then the power could be
moved up until the intended victim all but filled the scope.
Conclusions
Obviously, these are high end
top quality expensive scopes, and may be out of the financial reach of many
shooters. For the money the shooters gets a hand built superb product from Japan. Are they
worth the extra dollars? Well, that is a matter of perspective. If one checks
out the prices of other manufacturers top end products (especially the European
ones) you may find that the price difference is not that great.
Certainly in the benchrest
world, these scopes have swept the field amongst the top shooters. The
Australian A Team that won the 2009 World Benchrest Championships in South Africa
all used March scopes. Stuart and Annie Elliott (BRT), who are the Australian
distributors for March scopes, have been simply amazed at the number of orders
that they have had for the product.
Prices fluctuate slightly with the dollar value at the time of order, so check with BRT for the latest figure.