Rifle Scope Military standard Engineers Instrument Report*
BLUF:
The Delta Stryker 4.5-30x56 FFP performed perfectly on tracking tests conducted using in-service military testing equipment. In addition, no lash was recorded in the windage or elevation turrets, and no reticle can’t was detected.
Aim:
Level scope reticle and conduct vertical and horizontal tracking tests to assess mechanical accuracy and reliability.
Method:
After being mounted in a serialised pair of Vortex Precision Matched rings, the scope and rings were mounted onto a picatinny fixture built into a levelled TTS bench. The levelled collimator was then placed in-line with the scope, and the scope was then levelled against the perfect reference of the collimator. Horizontal tracking tests were conducted twice, out to five milliradians each side. Vertical tracking was then twice assessed from zero up to 18.7 milliradians (downward travel was not evaluated, as zerostop was fitted). Both windage and elevation turrets were then evaluated for backlash by repeatedly dialling corrections and comparing dialled values to observed values.
Results:
No reticle cant was detected. Horizontal and vertical tracking tests showed nil deviation through the ranges tested.
(COMMENT: The EIR Tech remarked that this was the first time that they had observed perfect tracking results over such a large testing range). No lash was measured in either windage or elevation values for the values tested.
I’ll refrain from drawing any conclusions, since this is a sample of one, other than to say that these results were quite remarkable. I do not have access to the optical testing equipment required to draw meaningful conclusions on glass quality and characteristics, so perhaps that is a piece of work that others could undertake on my behalf. I believe Ilya Koshkin (from Optic Thoughts) has already done some very good subjective evaluation, so potentially no need to reinvent the wheel.
For my money, I like it at least as much as my Vortex Razor Gen 2. I feel like that glass is ever so slightly better in the Delta (though only at higher magnifications, and/or at the extremes of elevation travel), although I prefer the mechanical turn indicator of the Razor and find parallax faster to remove in the Vortex as well. I prefer the reticle in the Delta to the EBR-2C and EBR-7C, although I wish the Delta has 0.2 graduations around the centre aiming dot where I feel they are the most use for rapid follow up engagements. Click feel is positive, but muted, and I prefer the feel of the Razor turrets…although I’ll take perfect tracking over turret feel 100 times out of 100.
Overall, I think it’s an incredible scope and a killer value. You really need to step up to Zero Compromise or Tangent Theta level optics to see improvements in optical quality and elevation travel. You can’t get better than perfect tracking, so there is nothing to be gained there. Very impressive package, and my new favourite rifle scope of field and PRS style shooting. I intend to put one of the DLR-1 versions on my 300 Dakota Magnum, and see how well it performs out past one mile with heavy mirage/rain/haze etc.
I hope some or all of this information proves useful.
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