The rifle optics game has been changing a lot as of late, one might even say turning on its head. While the old dynasties continue to bring newer and better products to the consumer, some upstart brands are challenging them for dominance. What would once be unthinkable, an unknown company jumping in and not just surviving, but taking market share? Happening all the time.
One such company is Tract Optics, who has a revolutionary idea. They are direct to the consumer, with no dealers or distributors. If you don’t know, this is very contrary to how things normally happen in the firearms business. Due to the unique regulatory nature of firearms, there must remain an end dealer with a license. Because of that, for decades, everything firearms has followed an ancient logistical path.
And while that is fine, you must realize it does cost you. The manufacturer sells typically to a distributor. That’s markup number one. The distributor takes orders and sells them to the dealer. That is markup number two. Then the dealer has to keep his lights on, so he marks up again for you. Markup number three.
This isn’t something we will likely ever get away from in firearms. Not to mention, it is pretty handy to have that dealer around so you can hold a gun at the counter. Provide warranty services. Sometimes even let you test-drive one before you buy it. But it doesn’t have to be that way with optics.
Tract Optics advertises that they went to the best Japanese manufacturers of scopes, and made a deal to bring the top-tier quality direct to you. And that is a pretty high bar. You may not know it, but many of the companies you already buy from very craftily say “assembled” or “designed” in the USA on the box. Not manufactured.
In the grand scheme of things, Japanese scopes have always been quite good. After all, anyone capable of optical wonders such as cameras, Bluetooth players, and precision instruments should be. In descending order of glass quality, we tend to say German, American, Japanese, Philippine, and then Chinese. And you will pay a pretty penny for those first two.
The Tract model we chose to review was the TORIC 30mm FFP 4-20×50 MRAD PRS scope. It is advertised as featuring the Tract Optics Ultra High Definition optical system, consisting of SCHOTT high transmission glass. Which sound like two things a marketing guy would make up, if we are being quite honest.
However, the tale of the tape changes my initial skepticism. Prepared to be unimpressed, I lined my new TORIC 30mm up next to a Leupold Mk5. The Leupold Mk5 has been a favorite on the channel for some time, and would be my first choice in what I consider a mid-range scope. (By that I mean $2000 or under.) I was absolutely shocked at the results.
Now to be fair, clarity of glass and light transmission is a very subjective thing, without lab equipment and using a caveman eyeball. But, that said, my eye at least preferred the Tract. Not only was the clarity better, but the colors also looked warmer and brighter. Kind of important when you are looking for game against a fall background. Also, despite the Tract having a 30mm tube and the Leupold having a 35mm, the Tract did better as the light was fading. That is very odd in itself. Usually, but not always, the bigger tube does a better job of light gathering. For the Tract to even hang is a miracle. To outperform, which it did, is downright stunning.
And with the glass proven out, the rest of the features of the Tract TORIC really shine. The elevation knob is a locking pull-out style, with a zero stop. The windage knob is also locking, with a knurled texture and size that makes it easy to use. Both have a positive pop feel when they are in adjustment mode and lock up tight when depressed.
The reticle is its own piece of brilliance. First, it is illuminated, and well so, which is crazy at this price point. The PRS reticle in our test model is a Christmas tree style, with .2 mil windage markings. The floating center dot is a mere .04 MRAD in size, which makes aiming small a breeze. I didn’t realize how much this mattered until I shot the TORIC’s style of center for zero. I would say it shrank groups considerably, and I’m not exactly new at this.
One of the only failings of the scope, in my opinion, is the elevation holds on the Christmas tree. Tract inexplicably went with .5 mil markings on the elevation portion, which I find odd. Now perhaps it doesn’t matter with a centerfire, but I did a lot of my testing on a precision 22LR. A precise elevation hold tends to matter in that discipline a great deal. That matters to me, but to be fair matters less to a guy running a 6.5 Creedmoor.
The TORIC tracked true in our tests, which is also a big deal. At this price, I was happily surprised that it went the distance on a tall target test without fail. The 30mm tube has a full 20 MRAD of travel, which I will grant is enough for most applications. For us though, in testing, I would have spent the extra $400 for its bigger brother with a 34mm tube. The 34mm tube has 32 MRAD of travel, a significant gain. This did hurt us rather badly on the precision 22 AR upper, where we needed 15 mils to finish out our 300m range. Considering that would get us to 1000 meters roughly with 5.56 NATO, I have no complaints.
All said and done, I for one am quite happy to have come across Tract Optics. Not only is their product fantastic, but their response time is also insanely fast. It isn’t uncommon to have one of the two owners handling the live chat help on the website, whatever hour of the day. Tract, in my opinion, is arguably the best value in optics today. If you haven’t tried one, you should, and for the money it looks like it can’t be beaten.
The rifle optics game has been changing a lot as of late.
MSRP $1294
*** Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! All Local Sales are FREE! ***
Available on GunsAmerica Now
is a former Marine and Green Beret, retiring out of 3rd Special Forces Group. He is a multi-decade and -service sniper, as well as 3-Gun competitor and Master ranked shooter in USPSA Production. In addition to writing about guns, he is the author of “Last Son of The War God,” a novel about shooting people that deserve it. You can also follow him on twitter, @offthe_res or his website, Off-The-Reservation.com