While I wait for my Razor HD GenIII 1-10x MOA/BDC to get delivered, I wanted to discuss multi-gun LPVOs, and why people don’t seem to get what makes for a good one.

What do you do in multi-gun? Shoot lots of not-small targets at distances of 10-500+ yards on a timer, usually in decent weather. This generates some requirements for our LPVO.

You need to be able to shoot at a distance without dialing in – quickly. I know a lot of people bash BDC reticles, but if you’re trying to hit a target at 475 yards on the clock followed by another target at 350, dialing isn’t an option. I don’t think most people are going to remember their holdover in mils for every 50yds in the middle of a competition. BDC is where it’s at.

Further, if you have an array of targets at 150yds, you do not necessarily want to have to dial to 6x/8x/10x to engage. FFP becomes important.

You need to be able to shoot close-in – quickly. Field of view is important for fast target transitions. Having a bright reticle that you can easily find in the sun is important. Being able to shoot both eyes open at 1x is important. Having a scope that doesn’t weigh your gun down is a nice thing.

So what are we looking for in an ideal multi-gun scope?

• Efficient FFP/DFP BDC reticle compatible with our rifle/ammo. This may mean altering your rifle or ammo slightly. The reticle also needs to be easily usable at 1x.
• Bottom end magnification of 1x, with a wide field of view.
• Top end magnification as high as it can go – preferably 6x or higher.
• Daylight bright illumination.
• Ability to quickly change zoom levels (think magnification lever).
• Lightweight, or at least not too heavy.
• High-end glass clarity.

What makes the Razor GenIII interesting is that it meets all of those criteria. There are scopes that can compete with it – the S&B Short Dot coming to mind – but they all tend to be a lot more expensive.

Of course, there are a lot of quality scopes that meet some or most of those criteria, and they may be perfectly suited for other uses. For example, I have an SMRS 1-8.5x FFP scope that I really like on my AR-308… but it has a mil/mil reticle, it’s heavy, and it doesn’t go daylight bright (just daylight visible). It would just not be a great choice for a multi-gun scope. It’s probably a pretty great choice if I’m OK spending the time to dial in for that first shot hit on a 2MOA target, though.

There is also a whole school of thought that says that you can get by with an RFP scope with a good BDC reticle that doesn’t have daylight bright illumination because if you use the BDC, it will always be at max magnification. There is nothing wrong with this viewpoint, but I am a little suspicious that scopes with top-end magnifications of 8x or 10x might find it constraining for things like 200yd shots with fast transitions.