March 40X ED Scope–Now See Your Bullet Holes at 600
The big news at the recent NBRSA 600-yard Nationals was Don Nielson’s dominant performance, which included a new 1.776″ 10-shot NBRSA-record group. From a hardware perspective, however, the major story was the 40X ED March scope used by Lou Murdica. With this new, ultra-sharp scope with ED (low dispersion) glass, Lou was able to see his 6mm and 6.5mm bullet holes clearly most of the time, and that helped him aim his shots more precisely. Lou finished third overall, second in two-gun score, and posted the Light Gun high score, with a 50-3X, 1.745″ target.
Until now, ED or low dispersion glass was only available in premium camera lenses or top of the line spotting scopes. This is a significant enhancement for benchrest scopes. “ED” or “LD” stands for low dispersion glass–this lessens chromatic aberration, which can cause an image to look fuzzy. All things being equal, low-dispersion lenses transmit a sharper image because different colors (wavelengths) don’t separate as they pass through the glass.
We have looked through various scopes at 6mm bullet holes at 600 yards. With a Leupold 8-25x LRT you can sometimes (in perfect conditions) see holes in the white but they are fuzzy and indistinct. With 36X Weavers or Sightrons, you have more magnification but most examples don’t have the sharpness to pick out 6mm holes consistently at 600. With a 12-42x Nightforce at max power you can see 6mm holes in the white when conditions are good, but it’s pretty difficult otherwise. With the March, Lou reports: “I could easily see 6mm bullet holes in the white or the blue in the mornings. At mid-day holes in the white were still really sharp, but shots in the blue were getting harder to see. At the end of the day when the mirage was bad, I could still see holes, but you needed to wait for the conditions to clear a bit.” Lou added: “On the March the image is bright and sharp all the way to the edge. It’s really noticeably better at the edges than other scopes.”
If all March 40X ED scopes perform as well as Lou’s, then this is a major advancement that may change the way the 600-yard game is played. If the March scope lets you see your bullet holes reliably, in all but the worst mirage conditions, then that really does give a “competitive advantage” over other scopes. We can expect some 600-yard competitors will trade in their Nightforces for March EDs. Lou tells us “many, many top short-range BR shooters are going with the March–Tony Boyer, Billy Stevens, Mike Ratigan–you name it.” But in short-range BR, it is not the resolving power that has driven sales of the March–it is the tracking reliability. Lou explained “In short-range BR, maintaining shot to shot Point of Impact (POI) is do or die. That’s why guys ‘lock up’ Sightrons and Leupolds. But with the March the POI stays constant. And when you do spin the knobs, you get totally repeatable tracking. I was clicking throughout the 600-yard match–even in the middle of a group. When I came back to my original zero it was always dead-on.” Lou noted: “Since I’ve been using the March, my shooting has improved dramatically. I’ve been up at the top and winning more than ever. Even at 300 yards the March makes a big difference. At the 300-yard Nationals Eric Stanton and I were the only two guys who used the scopes and we cleaned house with those things. I finished second overall and Eric finished first.”
The March scope, built by Koto Precision of Japan, is a 40-power, non-zoom, side-focus design, with 1/8-MOA clicks and 72 MOA of total elevation. Weighing 21.2 ounces, it has a 30mm tube, 52mm front objective, and a 1.3mm exit pupil. In the USA, March scopes are sold exclusively by Kelblys. Price is $2100.00 with a choice of four reticles. For more info, click HERE for the March data sheet.
If I were a bird-watcher, the ED glass in the March scope might be of interest. However, since I’m a BR shooter, chromatic aberration is a complete non-issue. To see bullet holes at any distance is a matter of distinguishing dark from light, NOT colors. FWIW, I was in the same match with Lou, on the same relay, and I too could see my bullet holes quite easily with a $300 Weaver T-36, thank you very much. $2100 for a scope that offers nothing that can’t be had at half the price or less? I don’t think so….
Bert, thanks for your comment. If your T-36 did the job at the same place, in the same conditions, one can’t argue with that.
However, it’s an unfortunate fact that not all examples of a particular brand of scope will necessarily perform as well. Jason and I have both personally checked out Sightron and Weaver 36X scopes that will NOT reliably resolve 6mm bullet holes at 600. The Nightforce 12-42x and Leupold Comp 40x are a step up, but again, most of the 600-yard shooters I’ve polled using those scope tell us that resolving 6mm holes is “iffy” with those scopes at 600 yards.
Regarding the benefits of ED, or low dispersion, the point is not so we can see more vivid colors. Rather we are trying to see light that is not breaking down into different wave lengths. “White light” is actually composed of multiple wavelengths. The problem when you have secondary chromatic aberration is that the green wavelengths “bleed” out of the white light and actually focus at a different point. This means that the entire image you see starts to look ragged or fuzzy with green/magenta fringes. It’s sort of like having 10-20% of the reflected light from an object slightly out of focus.
I have no doubt that your T-36 performed admirably. But I can assure you that if you looked through two otherwise identical spotting scopes, one with ED glass and one without, you would notice the difference–even with white and black objects. With the ED the edges would appear crisper and you could resolve slightly smaller objects. This is because the ED glass eliminates green/magenta color fringes.
That said, if you have a great T-36 that does the job, there’s certainly no reason to spend a dollar more. I’ve looked through more than a few Weaver 36s that were marginal even resolving 30-caliber holes at 500 yards, plus the glass was dim and there was definitely distortion around the edges.
Is the March worth the price? To some shooters yes. To others, the $1700+ you pay over a Sightron or Weaver is better spent on a new barrel and action.
Thanks again for your comment.
Bert – neither sightron nor leupy 36x scopes have impressed me…the 40x Leupold Comp is a big leap though…and I suspect the March will be a similar leap ahead of that.
Seeing bullet holes in paper at 500-600yds is tough to talk about as a little difference in mirage makes ALL the difference. THat said, I’d not want to have to depend on a 36x if I had to see holes at 500-600…I wish I could (cause they are cheaper) but I don’t have faith in them after using them along with a 40x and 50x leupy and 42x NF…
That is just my experience trying to see bullet holes at 500-600…
I have daily contact with optical engineers at my place of employment (NASA), and their (rather authoritative) opinion is while ED glass certainly improves contrast & color rendition, it does nothing for resolution. Now visual perception is also very subjective, so I guess if you want to believe ED elements make that much difference, then maybe for you they will. I know if I’d dropped $2K+ on a scope, I’d sure want to believe it was something magical.
However, it is still my opinion that $2K worth of barrels, actions, and/or bullets can do a heck of a lot more to improve one’s performance that the same amount spent on a single scope.
As an aside, if you REALLY want to see 6mm bullet holes at 600 yds, take a look through the (> $600) Meade 125 ETX spotting scope.
Regards,
Bert
Extra low dispersion glass will help with image sharpeness by focusing all wavelengths of light on the same plane but you only really look at the very center of a rifle scope , you will likely never notice a difference. Zoom scopes also have inherent pincushion and barrel distortion at each end of their power extremes, but nobody notices that either.
I own Leica M6 and some Nikons, yes the leica is just plain better yes I paid much moroe fore it.
I shoot BR , own few rifles and rifle scopes. The NF is more then twice as much then Weaver T36 which is excelet FOR THE MONEY , but simply not as good as NF in number of ways !
It is simple. In this instance for sure, one just gets what he pays for. That is that.
Now who do I speak at the Kelbys…can I have some name and tel. number please. I would like to give the firstrifle scope with the ED glass try,
Thank You
Peter Effenberger
Moderator: Peter, ask for Jim Kelbly or Hobie bond. The phone number is: USA Country Code + 1+ (330) 683-4674.
Web: http://www.kelbly.com/main.html
It is important to realize that in order for our visual system to resolve detail in an image from the scope, the image needs to be as free from all artifacts and distortions as possible. Chromatic aberrations are particularly bothersome since we tend to view or targets in reflected sunlight which is a very broad spectrum source. Any uncorrected chromatic errors will result in out of focus wavelengths which will tend to blur the image.
Beside the obvious advantage of lower chromatic aberration, the use of low and extra low dispersion glass allows for using less individual lens elements and thinner elements with lower surface curvature. This reduces other aberrations and also reduces the transmission losses associated with internal surface reflections. The thinner and lighter lens elements also allow for designs with more durable and stronger mounting at overall lower scope weight.
I am not a BR shooter, but a Field Target shooter (16J air rifle). We use high mag scopes for measuring the distance of the targets (that we do not know beforehand). We use the side or front parallax wheel for this. The minimum target distance is 8 yards,and the maximum is 55 yards. We need to measure the distance accurately even on 50 yards. We have to differentiate 52 yards from 54 yards due to the bullet drop.
I wonder if anyone has a March 10-60×52 scope, since I would like to know how big is the rotation range of the side parallax knob? Is it almost 360 degrees (one complete turn), or less? If anyone can answer this…
THX.
Having ordered a March BR scope 40X52 with the Crosshair LR2 I would appreciate if you could kindly let me know How many MOA there are between the The central crosshair dot, and the higher located crossahir dot. Thank you
heinz kostner / Italy