I'm interested in March, but see negative posts on other sites about them not holding zero and other issues. Never read or see anything regarding Nightforce or S&B. And I'd attest to the same with both my NXS and S&B...
I would call the above the poster child of a bogus post.
I seriously doubt the person has any interest in March scopes but uses that comment as cover for unfounded claims about seeing posts on other (unnamed sites) about not holding zero and other (unnamed) issues. Then he adds another claim that he never sees anything bad about Nightforce or S&B.
Wow.
I have been aware of and following March scopes for about 10 years now. They are legendary in how they hold zero, track perfectly and are strong as anything out there. I frequent a lot of shooting optics boards and have never hear of anyone reporting a March not holding zero. Ever.
About 9 years ago, I decided to get really serious about F-class and spent serious money building a suitable match rifle and topping it with a Nightforce NXS 12-42X56. I was a little worried because that year at TSRA there had been three, count them, 3 NF NXS which had taken a dive and sidelined the shooters. Fortunately my NXS did not give me any issues and I used for 3 years at which point I upgraded it to a March-X 5-50X56. The NXS simply was too dark at 40X for my aging eyes in the early morning competitions. I had always known that Nightforce was not the best in light transmittance but now it was getting in my way. The March-X cured the problem for me.
Over the last 6 years with my March-X, I took part in over 100 competitions around the continent, most are one day club matches, but there were plenty of state, regional, national and two world competitions. I have fired about 20,000 full-load FTR rounds guided by that scope and it never burbed, or given me any cause for worry; it just performed.
Some months back, I sent it back to March to change the reticle from the original MTR-2 to the identical but thicker MTR-5 and it was back in my hands inside of three weeks. They had cleaned it up and calibrated everything as part of the service and reported that they had tweaked the focus at long range. I had never noticed anything amiss but I will not argue with the manufacturer who has the equipment to detect that, especially since it didn't cost me anything to had it checked and fixed. The reticle swap was $275, before you ask.
The scope was delivered back directly to my house and looked like new. It went back on the rifle,I dialed back the original adjustments and I was on paper, in the black, on the first shot at 1000 yards but now with a new reticle that my aging eyes could discern well.
Over the last 5 years, I have come to learn a lot about March scopes and the way they are made. These scopes are immensely strong, especially all the ones with a 34mm tube. The thickness of the tube is 4mm compared to the 2mm of the 30mm tubes, including the Nightforces. The March scope bodies are machined from aluminum bar stock, not press molded like other scopes. All March scope bodies are made the same way; yes, it is a more costly way of shaping a tube and quite wasteful in material (which does get recycled) but it makes for consistent strong tubes.
The scopes are all hand assembled in a factory in Japan and the quality control is fierce. Yes, they are hard to get, there is a waiting list and not much stock. The yearly production numbers are shockingly low, but man are they ever amazing scopes.
No, they are not for everybody; they are very expensive but they are ultra reliable and worth the wait, so plan accordingly if you want a specific model.
