I’m sure that the March name needs no introduction amongst serious competitors be it Benchrest, F Class, ELR or what have you.

I got my first March – a fixed power 40x for short-range benchrest many years ago. It’s done a few ‘Worlds’ and years of club Benchrest and I still love it. I also have a 2.5-25x on a tactical rig – another great scope. I’ve not yet splashed out on a March F Class scope, relying on my Vortex Golden Eagle 15-60x which I’m happy with – though I’ve only ever used it on max power once. Maybe this is down to atmospherics rather than the scope.

A couple of years back I was at the F Class Europeans at Bisley – the year when the temperature was pushing 35 degrees – remember that?  Not surprisingly, mirage was rife and I was glad I wasn’t shooting – I hate mirage!

Gary Costello of March Scopes UK had his display trailer set up and he had one scope mounted on a tripod. I had a look through it at the F Class targets on Stickledown – we were about 100 yards back from the firing line – so the targets were getting on for 1100 yards away. The scope was the latest 8-80x March Majesta.

The scope was set on 40x and I focussed on the targets – yes, mirage! Horrible!  “Wind it up to 80” says Gary. What? With that mirage? OK I wound it up to max power – surely the picture would be horrendous.

Well, it wasn’t good but I played with the zoom and focus and got a surprisingly decent ‘shootable’ image. Another well-know manufacturer also had a scope set up – it wasn’t too bad but – to my eyes – the Majesta had the ‘edge’.

Thankfully, we don’t shoot a lot of mirage in the UK but I’ve shot Benchrest in hot countries like Spain where the mirage runs for the whole week of the competition. Some guys shoot mirage all the time and can deal with it – not me!

Anyway, since that initial introduction to the Majesta a couple of years ago, I’ve yearned to put one through its paces and now I have the chance. But first, here’s what March has to say about their Majesta:

“This new scope has 25 degrees wide angle eyepiece which is 25% wider than the standard 20 degrees. (125% field of view (FOV) expansion. To the eye of the shooter, this increase is equivalent to 156% in terms of FOV area at all magnifications.) The shooter is presented with a much larger magnified picture of the target and its surroundings, eliminating the tunnelling effect inherent in high-magnification long-range optics. This majestic vista helps the competitor identify the conditions at the target thus allowing for last-second adjustments. It also helps to identify the target and reduce the chances of a crossfire. The hunter and the target shooter will also benefit from this huge increase in the magnified field of view by increasing their awareness of the surrounding area at the target”.

Out of the box, the Majesta is a stunner – it just looks and feels so right. If you have any sort of engineering appreciation you will be impressed by the abundance of superb machining – on the ocular, the zoom ring, turrets and objective focus ring. All markings are clear white and large enough to easily see from behind the scope. The turrets move with a very positive, crisp feel. Unusually, the 34mm body is finished in a dark satin silver/grey with all moving parts contrasting in black. Stunning! For the most powerful zoom on offer anywhere, it doesn’t look overly large with its 56mm objective but it weighs a substantial 41.45 ounces so you won’t be putting this on an FTR rig! There is a good choice of ‘target’ reticles – all are fine, some with stadia markings and honestly I’d be happy with any! Ours has MTR-W1 which is a fine crosshair with stadia markings. Very useable for any discipline.

For the bits you can’t see, we will again quote March:

“By using Super ED lens elements, we can suppress chromatic aberration even more than with ED lenses and thus produce a sharper image with greater contrast. This riflescope with Super ED lenses can handle mirage better than ED lenses and dramatically better than regular optical glass as well. ED lens preserves the focus position of this light and Super ED glass does an even better job of doing that. Because of this ‘shimmer protection’ the riflescope’s magnification can remain high and thus provide the shooter with a better aiming point”.

Our test scope is a second focal plane in MOA – for me, the best choice for a serious F Class shooter. However, you have the choice of MIL and FFP if you prefer. I’m happy with quarter MOA clicks but some shooters like 1/8 and this is what the Majesta has, with 10MOA per turn of the turret.  Elevation offers 66 MOA and 18 MOA windage in either direction. Remember of course that we will lose half our elevation just mounting the scope but we also had a 20MOA Pic rail built into the Impact Precision action. The Majesta is mounted in a Tier One one-pice mount and the barrel is chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor with all work carried out by Walker Rifles of Halifax.

So let’s get set up and put it through its paces. First test is ‘round the angles’ which gives us three results – the accuracy of adjustment in elevation and windage and the ‘return to zero’ ability. We shot a 24MOA square – in other words after zeroing in the centre we applied 12MOA left wind and 12MOA vertical and fired the first shot – which impacted in the top left-hand corner of the target. 24MOA right windage was then applied and a second shot which impacted top right. The 24MOA down for shot no.3 and 24MOA left for shot four. Now the critical one. We apply 24MOA of elevation and fire shot no.5 – in a perfect world with a perfect scope, shooter, rifle and ammunition and no wind it should go through the same hole!  It’s about half an inch away – elevation-wise it’s perfect so maybe the wind.  Nonetheless a great result. The sides of the square should measure 24 x 1.047” which equals 25.128 inches. We measure the sides at 25.25 inches so a great result. Checking the diagonals reveals a perfect square. The Majesta tracks and returns to zero near perfecly.

OK, let’s get the scope set up at 1000 yards. As I did with the Zero Compromise scope, I have my 15-60 Vortex Golden Eagle for comparison. When I tested the Zero Compromise we looked at a variety of targets but only one proved to be challenging – the little red and white 300 yard Benchrest target. Those red rings sorted the good from the very good. In addition to the red target, I also have a black and white benchrest target. Let’s see how the Majesta copes.

A lot of this comes down to atmospherics – i.e. the day. Is it crystal clear?  Rarely. Today, we have a very good day – especially for the UK. Cool with a nearly clear blue sky and sun – typical of a good UK shooting day – except for the dreaded mirage!

My 15-60 Vortex is set on full power and we also set the Majesta on 60x for comparison. We play with the focus to tease out the best image but both are disappointing – no chance of seeing the rings on either target with either scope. The red square however is discernable. Winding down the power to around 30x eventually produces the best ‘shooting’ image with both scopes. But honestly, all three of us agreed there was little to choose between the two. I must admit I was expecting the Majesta to have the edge in that mirage. Maybe another test on a mirage-free day.

Finally, March claim to have put a lot of effort into durability. The scope is Argon filled and waterproof to 4 metres – so it should stand even the worst of British weather – and has passed impact tests of up to 1000G. The 34mm body tube with its 4mm thick walls is simply to make the scope extra strong. What’s not to like? Well maybe the price – a smidgen over 4k but worth every penny if you are a serious shooter.

Contact March Scopes UK – www.marchscopes.co.uk to learn more and purchase.