Primary Arms SLx 1-8×24

by moondog on December 15, 2024 with No Comments

When Primary Arms (PA) introduced the ACSS about 10 years ago (an evolution of the Trijicon ACOG reticle), PA quickly became the must-try LPVO. When PA introduced the 1-8×24 they set a new bar for high-power, budget LPVOs. SupersetCA, Garandthumb, MrGunsnGear reviewed it and raved about it, and I bought into the hype and I bought one.

Because so many other big Guntubers had already covered this optic, I didn’t see a need to do a review of mine. But after I started posting reviews of LPVOs from SIGs, Vortex, even Monstrum, one of the more common comments I’ve gotten is some like “You should try a Primary Arms”. So here I am 5 years after I bought mine, with a review of the PA SLx 1-8×24.

This scope doesn’t come with a lot of accessories in the package. All the magic is in the scope. It has a decent eyebox, pretty clear glass (though not edge to edge clarity), bright illumination, and one of the best SFP combat reticles available, the ACSS.

4 years ago, I had taken 1-8x off my ready rifle to put it into rack storage to make room for optics I was testing for my channel. It was sitting in storage when I pulled it out to test on camera. I discovered that it had a parallax alignment flaw causing objects to shift in position when brought into the scope’s field of view at 1x. I suspect 99% of the buying public would never notice this flaw (I didn’t when I bought it nor in the time I used it).

I contacted Primary Arms about the issue and sent them photos and they were amazing. They called me immediately and sent me a return label and inspected my scope. And this was a 100% joe-blow customer interaction. I had never reviewed their products nor had a contact at PA; to them I was just any other customer. PA confirmed what I was seeing in the scope and sent me a brand new one to replace it. I was pleased to discover this SLx had slightly better glass and illumination than my original scope: Great job PA, twice!

The PA SLx 1-8x may not have the sharpest or flattest glass (fisheye) but I still love the ACSS reticle for its fast and intuitive design. The ACSS is not really great for precision shots over 500 yrds away but honestly, that’s not what I use a LPVO for. I’m looking to engage man-sized targets from CQB distance to an 8″ plate from 150yrds. Sadly the SLx also taught me that more is not better: the trade off in higher magnification with an LPVO is a tighter eyebox at 1x.

The SLx may not be the best. It may not be the cheapest. But the SLx remains my benchmark for a solid, practical, “budget” combat optic.

If you want a detailed explanation of how the ACSS reticle works, check out MrGunsnGear’s video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfVEQXVxi4A