SWFA 1-4x24 SS - Illuminated MIL-Quad DM Reticle, 30mm, .1 MIL Clicks

I have this scope mounted on my PTR-91 with an ADM Recon Mount. I bought this scope under the impression it was manufactured in Japan, but it is made in the Philippines. There are not any problems with that, I assumed it was manufactured in the same factory as their SS10x42 scope. I have the SS10x42 and the SS12x42 scope and they are great. With that being said, this is also a good scope. The magnification adjustment moves smoothly and the turret clicks are tight and positive. The build quality is solid. While the illumination is not bright enough for daylight at high setting, it does work well in low light conditions. I love the off click feature after every illumination adjustment. However, it did lose a star due to the edges of the aperture appearing fuzzy at 4X when looking at a 400 yard target. Compared to a Chinese Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6X, the edges are noticeably fuzzier. Other than that, this is a good scope for the money.

This is a fantastic and TOUGH optic. I use it on a Ruger Mini 30 which are notorious for destroying optics and its held together for a couple thousand rounds at least. I use it punching paper but also as a hunting optic. The illuminated feature is fantastic in the low light situations encountered in the north woods and the 1-4 magnification is perfect. The scope has a very wide FOV and as you can imagine its extremely bright due to the lower magnification but also the quality glass and coatings. It tracks dead on accurately and good eye relief. Many scopes have a very noticeable barrel or rolling ball effect on low magnification but this does not...its corrected perfectly and the pin cousin effect is not noticeable at all. Hats off to SWFA...you have to spend north of a grand for any appreciable upgrade.

My initial analysis of the swfa 1-4. Glass is clear enough for any ranges you would actually use a 1-4. I would say its on par with most of the glass coming out of japan. Eye relief is decent, definitely better than any of the other scopes I've tried in this price range. The brightness of the image isn't as good as say the trijicon tr24 but definitely on par with scopes in this price range. The reticle is really precise and the easy ranging negates the need for any math that you would use for a mill system making it fast to figure out a firing solution. However i did notice that the reticle is a little bit hard to pick up especially at speed when you are trying to be fast. This I believe is a byproduct of the reticle being rather busy and the lack of illumination (ill get to that in a bit) The turrets click positively, and firmly. I wouldn't be worried about accidentally bumping the turrets and loosing my zero. And the turrets are probably better than the swfa ss 3-15, even better than some sub 1000$ vortex stuff I've tried. I initially had some trouble setting the proper focus and getting the 1x to look right. At first everything was way smaller appearing through the scope. This is big problem with lower end glass, because if the image doesn't look the same through the scope as it does with the naked eye it slows you down considerably, especially when practicing snap shots inside of 20 yards. but after messing with it i got it pretty close to looking right. I found the illumination is pretty much unusable for everything except maybe inside of a house with artificial lighting. But outside even with overcast sky it really doesn't have enough juice to be picked up easily. The unit includes 2 batteries and has a place in the battery cap to store them. they include 3 different cat tails, and that save you from having to spend more on a cat tail. Overall good scope for the money, and you would be hard pressed to do better for 400$

Outstanding scope. I'm not going to try to write an op-ed article or worse, a yelp review… the reticle is excellent, clear, and very easy to use, whether or not you know how to use milliradians, you're probably going to set up for your own PBZ anyway. The illuminated center diamond is very quick to pick up as are the pre-set 1 yard @ 4x ranging hash marks. Adjustments are precise as is zero return. Clicks have "excellent tactile and audible feedback", (is that still the current fashionable jargon?). I have 5 SWFA scopes and I don't regret buying one of them. I think the glass is excellent and the controls are extremely precise and repeatable on all of them. The quality and toughness of the build is outstanding in this and the other four SWFA rifle scopes I own. Once this company's name becomes tacticoolly fashionable, the prices will probably go up considerably.

The SWFA 1-4X24 scope has most of what people want in a scope for an AR-15 or similar carbine. The manual does a good job of explaining the simple yet powerful ranging reticle. If you're already familiar with a mil-dot scope the reticle in this scope may not offer much more usefulness for the same ranging capability but is more cluttered looking, but if you want a more complicated reticle with more intuitive prompting and less to remember, and a faster target solution for "close enough" shooting as opposed to precision shooting, then this reticle is a lot like a Heads Up Display with all the ranging info you need without the need to remember the height and width of various common target objects in mils. This scope is built like a tank, has solid tactile clicks on the elevation and windage turrets, and good optics as expected for Japanese glass. This is a cut or two above the typical $250 scopes with similar features, although some of them do have lifetime warranties. You'd probably need to pay twice as much to get a better scope for the intended application. I also like the attention to detail, such as the storage for a spare battery under the battery cap. If you want a better tactical scope than the $250 competitors but you don't want to spend much more than that, this may be as good as it gets. Be sure to see if a bundle is offered with the S.S.A.L.T. mount. If so, it's probably a better deal overall.

I do not have previous experience with other tactical 1X scopes to compare against the SWFA riflescope, but I have several other quality hunting scopes. The packaging and instructions are spartan, but the controls and features are straightforward. The reticle is useful and the illumination levels are appropriate. I have astigmatism and the illumination produces no starring effect. The glass quality is as good as my best hunting scopes. +2 points to SWFA Customer Service: I ordered scope and mount separately, then discovered a bundle at a discount. The customer service representative refunded back the price difference. My only wishes would be caps or cover included, convertible adjustment knobs (internal or external), and less weight. I strongly recommend this very good product!

Bought this scope almost 2 years ago to use for 3 Gun matches and it works great. I have absolutely beaten the snot out of this thing and it holds zero. Targets are clear and crisp. I have 0 issues engaging targets from 3 yards to 300 yards. 4x zoom is a bit under what most of the others are running, but I'm still competitive with them and a few are looking to get this for themselves or friends after looking through mine. Not super heavy, built like a tank, and super clear. Not much more needs to be said.

This is a great optic. Tough, versatile, precise, clear and bright, and the reticle design is a masterpiece.