Schmidt 5-45x56 LRR unboxing

[ds1]

Received a Schmidt & Bender ffp PM2 5-45x56 today with LRR reticle. The scope really is all about the reticle for me. Unboxing thoughts.

 

Preamble: I am a big fan of high magnification ffp scopes, especially the March fx 5-40x56 because of the fml-1 reticle that has a 0.05 mil centre dot. The IOR 5-40x56 is also a favourite as an ELR cross-over scope with 100 moa  of elevation and an illuminated daylight visible centre 0.1 mil centre dot ( even if not advertised as such). I have also had my fair share of other S&B pm2 scopes 4-16, 5-25 (several) 12-50 so I have had or have comparable scopes to compare this scope to.

 

Glass: tier one, superb as you would expect. Excellent depth of field, no edge fringing, no lens baffle creating tunnelling as per 5-25 pm2

 

Mounting: not yet mounted it to the AI but I have tried it in the Spuhr SP-4002 mount - perfect.

 

Parallax: I lasered  various distances, particularly close ones. Excellent accuracy. I was surprised to see 30m and 50m distances sport on. 30m is closest parallax adjustment range.

 

Turrets: I went with the low profile double turn MTC elevation turret in 0.1 milrad clicks and CCW direction- this works really well as the scope has 66 moa of elevation, so using a 30moa rail. I should be able to zero it at 100m and get all the leftover available elevation ( around 60moa) within the double turn of 14 milrad first turn and 13 milrad 2nd rev (27 milrad total) which should see me out to 1500m with the 338 lm. The second elevation revolution shows a visible and tactile cylinder from the top of the elevation turret. Simple and for me much better than vernier type turrets. It should greatly reduce the chances of being a rev out on the turrets. The MTC more tactile clicks means that every mil (number) the clicks are harder. It’s an easy way to count clicks fast. Spacing between clicks is OK but not as well spaced as say on the IOR - that is an issue of my old eyes not scope.

 

 

Schmidt have different turret options. - multiturn but I don’t much see the point of this on this scope at least with milrad clicks. Also they offer the choice of CCW or CW. The elevation turret has a zero stop that seems pretty simple to setup.  It also has an elevation lock and the standard pm2 windage turret is capped. I don’t see the point of these two thing on such a scope unless using a christmas  tree type reticle.

 

Reticle: LRR, this is what this scope is all about - how usable is the 0.02 mil centre dot in the cross? Initial testing on a dull background shows:

20-45 mag - reticle fully usable without daylight illumination. 

10-20 mag - reticle fully usable only if illuminated 

5-10 mag - requires illumination - works like a red dot.

 

Thing is the illumination is daylight visible. So in practice it should be excellent wether shooting groups on paper or banging steel as fast as possible.  The illumination is only the centre dot and first lines of the reticle. Brightness has  11 settings so really fully adjustable. Only criticism so far is that the brightness settings don’t have an off between settings. It is the same saddle arrangement as per 5-25pm2

 

Nice touches: the parallax, illumination and windage reference marks are at 11 or 1 o’clock- meaning easy to see when you are in position on the rifle. Tenebraex type covers come with the scope - excellent. Just about worth mentioning that the scope comes with a cleaning kit and of course an Allen key to adjust the turrets with. No sunshade is supplied however unlike many other manufactures.

 

Size: bigger than a March 5-40 fx, slightly bigger I think than a 5-25 pm2 ( don’t have one on hand) but nowhere near the 4.5-27 pm2 baseball bat.

 

Tracking: I put it on a USO collimator  - elevation and windage track perfectly as you would expect.

 

Initial thoughts are that it is a fantastic scope. The reticle, provided that you accept that you may need illumination during the day at mid and low magnification is very versatile - I think the best that I have seen, reticles are very personal things however.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lee w 118]

Great glass top scope told you so , shame about the wait 😁👍

[ds1]

Hi Lee, you were right about the scope  Sadly the wait continues. We are still waiting for number 2 to arrive which was ordered with this one and number three has been ordered.

I am also waiting for the 58mm Hoya nano UV filter to turn up before shooting it - I like to protect the objective lens. Just hope that it is a standard 58mm thread.

[lee w 118]

Good things always come to people who wait 👍enjoy 

[TC]

Size: bigger than a March 5-40 fx, slightly bigger I think than a 5-25 pm2 ( don’t have one on hand) but nowhere near the 4.5-27 pm2 baseball bat.

 

 

I don’t know if there is a new version David but when I compared them side by side at IWA the x27 was 4 to 5 cm shorter than the x45 which swayed me to the x27 (plus I felt I would seldom want the higher mag)

I have found the turret position on the x27 does put the mount a long way forwards though, almost needs a cantilever .

Enjoy the new purchase and put it to good use 👍

Tony

 

[ds1]

Hi Tony,

you’re right, what I saw was about 5 or 6 years ago at the IWA S&B booth was something different than that ( unless I am getting old timers). Looks like the 3-27x is the shortest of the three with the 5-45x being a couple of centimetres longer than the 5-25x.

I also checked on the internal elevation of the 5-45 - 27milrad is available with the double turn turret but internally there is a total of 30 milrad (105 moa).  Maybe the multi-turn turret is making a bit more sense, but still not sure how much of that could be accessed without restriction on windage adjustments.

 Also noticed that inside the ocular bell is threaded so have ordered a 40.5mm UV filter for this as well as a 58mm UV for the objective lens......hope they fit.

ps. the  PRL matches look good fun - I keep seeing your name in the results

[TC]

5 minutes ago, ds1 said:

. the  PRL matches look good fun - I keep seeing your name in the results 

You’d have had to go a loooong way down the list in the last one but still a fun weekend 👍

Another CZ trip is way overdue.

Tony

 

[ds1]

Update on mounting and filters:

Mounting: it can be mounted in a Spuhr mount using the levelling wedge without interference from the parallax turret.

Filters: objective takes a standard 58mm camera filter - you can sandwich the filter between the objective and tenebreax sunshade which then screws into the front of the filter. I used a 58 mm Hoya UV nano HD filter.

Ocular: not there yet- I want a UV filter to protect the ocular. Schmidt offer filters that screws into the ocular but I think only yellow and grey. I tried a standard 40.5mm camera filter it is close but you need to wrap the filter threads with Ptfe  tape to make it engage the threads. I think 42mm ( old style camera filters) would be too big but I will probably try one.....and give Schmidt a call about a UV filter.

[Rangefinder]

Hi from your experience how would you rate the S&B 12x50 

thanks Jimmy 

[geek]

16 hours ago, Rangefinder said:

Hi from your experience how would you rate the S&B 12x50 

thanks Jimmy 

I have an S&B PM II 12-50 x56 SFP with P4F reticle on my AI AT and I would rate the scope very highly. If I could afford it (I can't, I would have S&B on every firearm I own! :))

[Rangefinder]

Many thanks, I’ve several scopes and probably my favourite is a S&B 5-25x56 P4F I was thinking of changing to a 12-50x56 but have never had any experience of it 

regards Jimmy 

[ds1]

Rangefinder, As an optic I really liked the 12-5x56 pm2 and was I the best optic that I have had on my 22lr Sako Finfire Range as it parallaxed down to 10m.

For a “PRS” type rifle it lacked illumination for night shooting and the click options 1/8 moa, 1/4 moa or 0.025 milrad were less than ideal for me. I had the ffp version in 0.025milrad clicks and p4 fine reticle. 

For some applications the lack of illumination and smaller click values might  not matter or be an advantage, ftr comes to mind. 

Really what the 5-45x56 offers is an updated 5-25x56 with the top end magnification of the 12-50 x 56 and more updated reticle choices and turret options.

One update on the 5-45x56 pm2 is the ocular filter size is 41x0.5mm. A German company makes UV filters in this size for about 30 Euro. Now have one fitted. Btw S&B grey or yellow filters ( not UV) cost about 200 Euro each - pass.

[Rangefinder]

Thanks