I recently picked up a Millett DMS and mount because I plan on trying some 3 gun. The last sight this rifle had was an EOTech 512, which was alright, but I wanted something with some magnification for long shots.
The DMS uses a dot-in-donut reticle with three lines similar to the old European scope reticles - two horizontal and one vertical from the bottom of the scope, but interrupted for the donut (and therefore only good for leveling the scope). The reticle is second focal plane - the reticle stays the same size in the scope, but when you zoom in, the target "grows" compared to the reticle. At 4x, the dot in the center is 1 MOA, the inside of the donut is 10, and the mostly-pointless lines are 2 MOA thick. The outside diameter of the donut is 12.6 MOA (yeah, useful...).
The DMS uses a CR2032 battery under a cap on the left side of the scope. There is a spare inside the windage knob cap. Millett is nice enough to include two batteries (one is already inside the cap) with the scope. Millett apparently forgot to put a manual and product registration card in the box for my scope (wouldn't have registered, anyway), luckily you can find the manual online.
Overall, the reticle is pretty quick to pick up and can be used for accurate shooting. It's not a bad design, though I wish we could find a way to do without the fake crosshair lines. I'd also really like the donut be a little bigger (though 10 MOA helps with holdover guesstimation) and put the reticle on the first plane.
Yeah, I'm picky...
When I mounted the scope, I noticed a few things:
At the range, zeroing was pretty straight forward, I got it on pretty good considering the turrets are only graduated in 1/2 MOA. Standing up and killing shotgun shells on the 25 yard berm at 1x was quick and accurate and hitting a hard-to-see 6" steel at 200 yards from a bench was pretty easy. You can't really even see that gong with your naked eye, the way the range is set up - no paint on the steel, and it's got a "box" around it so that it's in shadow. The fussy eye relief means I probably will keep my 6 position stock on as long as I have this scope, so I can adjust the fit to my position.
The turret clicks aren't very positive. You can hardly feel them; you mostly hear them. But I keep having to remember how much this scope sells for: under $200. With shipping and tax, I think I payed $230 for mine, and that included a mount. That still doesn't excuse the weird change in magnification from the edges toward the center of the view. It's almost like looking through the side of a glass of water. The magnification adjustment range is pretty stiff. If I think it's hard to twist something, it's pretty damn hard to twist; my hands are a bit stronger than average.
Of course, yesterday I had a chance to handle a Burris 1-4x scope. My advice? If you can, save your money up for the M223. If you just can't swing it, the Millett will work.
Overall, not a bad scope for the money. I'll probably run it for a year, sell it (or put it on a .22) and get a Burris.
The DMS uses a dot-in-donut reticle with three lines similar to the old European scope reticles - two horizontal and one vertical from the bottom of the scope, but interrupted for the donut (and therefore only good for leveling the scope). The reticle is second focal plane - the reticle stays the same size in the scope, but when you zoom in, the target "grows" compared to the reticle. At 4x, the dot in the center is 1 MOA, the inside of the donut is 10, and the mostly-pointless lines are 2 MOA thick. The outside diameter of the donut is 12.6 MOA (yeah, useful...).
The DMS uses a CR2032 battery under a cap on the left side of the scope. There is a spare inside the windage knob cap. Millett is nice enough to include two batteries (one is already inside the cap) with the scope. Millett apparently forgot to put a manual and product registration card in the box for my scope (wouldn't have registered, anyway), luckily you can find the manual online.
Overall, the reticle is pretty quick to pick up and can be used for accurate shooting. It's not a bad design, though I wish we could find a way to do without the fake crosshair lines. I'd also really like the donut be a little bigger (though 10 MOA helps with holdover guesstimation) and put the reticle on the first plane.
Yeah, I'm picky...
When I mounted the scope, I noticed a few things:
- For proper eye relief, I needed the ocular mounted over the charging handle.
- This is a pretty big scope! From about the rear of the receiver, it extends over half way to the front sight.
- It's also pretty heavy.
- The scope can be a bit finicky about eye relief, especially at 4x.
- Clarity is so-so.
- Keeping both eyes open at 1x, you get an odd double-vision effect. The reticle doesn't look like it's in the same place if you focuse too hard out of your support side eye. I think this is because of the length of the scope.
- It does indeed make acquiring smaller targets at distance easier at 4x.
- You don't need a battery for the scope to work. The reticle is etched and the red glows off the etching instead of being projected.
At the range, zeroing was pretty straight forward, I got it on pretty good considering the turrets are only graduated in 1/2 MOA. Standing up and killing shotgun shells on the 25 yard berm at 1x was quick and accurate and hitting a hard-to-see 6" steel at 200 yards from a bench was pretty easy. You can't really even see that gong with your naked eye, the way the range is set up - no paint on the steel, and it's got a "box" around it so that it's in shadow. The fussy eye relief means I probably will keep my 6 position stock on as long as I have this scope, so I can adjust the fit to my position.
The turret clicks aren't very positive. You can hardly feel them; you mostly hear them. But I keep having to remember how much this scope sells for: under $200. With shipping and tax, I think I payed $230 for mine, and that included a mount. That still doesn't excuse the weird change in magnification from the edges toward the center of the view. It's almost like looking through the side of a glass of water. The magnification adjustment range is pretty stiff. If I think it's hard to twist something, it's pretty damn hard to twist; my hands are a bit stronger than average.
Of course, yesterday I had a chance to handle a Burris 1-4x scope. My advice? If you can, save your money up for the M223. If you just can't swing it, the Millett will work.
Overall, not a bad scope for the money. I'll probably run it for a year, sell it (or put it on a .22) and get a Burris.
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