Behind-the-scene story of the development of March-X High Master 10x-60x56mm Rifle Scope.

DEON-manufacturer of March Scopes made efforts to improve the resolving power by 8.7 % (comparison between

March 10x-60x52mm and March-X High Master 10x-60x56mm) in order to make more wins at shooting competitions.

Today we’d like to share the improved quality by explaining the performance difference between March 10x-60x52mm and

March-X High Master 10x-60x56mm as an example (in section 1 below) and the reason why we decided to develop  

March-X High Master 10x-60x56mm (in section 2 below).

The Answerer

The Lens Specialist – Director  Yasutoshi Nishikubo

Nishikubo is a Director and also one of the founders of DEON- manufacturer of March Scopes.

The Questioner

Mari Morita (this article is written by Mari)

(1) Improved quality

Mari : What is the performance difference between 10x-60x52mm and the evolved model High Master 10-60x56mm ?

Nishikubo: First of all please see the graph below.

I’d like to explain the changes made from 10x-60x52mm to High Master 10x-60x56mm.

①  Effective diameter of the objective lens (lens facing the object)

The effective diameter of the objective lens has been enlarged from 52mm to 56mm.

The amount of light taking in has been increased and enhance the resolution.

②  Diameter of the body tube

Body tube is the thinnest part where the turrets are set.

As we made it thicker from 30mm to 34mm, strength has been improved.

Also as there are more space inside the scope, we can elaborate on how to assemble lenses.

Please make sure that you use a mount ring for 34mm.   

③  Overall length

As we developed new lens system, overall length is shorter by 7mm.

④  Weight

Since the body tube is thicker and we have more lenses assembled, total weight is heavier by 200g.

If the competition is strict with weight, you may want to avoid 200g increased weight.

⑤  Type of lens

ED lens is called special low-dispersion lens or Extraordinary low Dispersion lens.

ED lens uses material that color’s dispersion change is very small compared to a normal optical glass.

When used properly, we can gain an image with chromatic aberration next to nothing.

Especially at high magnification, ED lens is effective.

Super ED lens is an improved ED lens having an optical characteristic similar to fluorite.

Fluorite has the property of extraordinary dispersion.

By adopting Super ED lens, we can suppress chromatic aberration even more and realize a sharp image with greater contrast.

⑥  Number of ED lens

For 10x-60x52mm there is 1 ED lens, whereas for High Master 10-60x56mm there are 2 Super ED lenses.

Since there are 2 Super ED lenses having the similar optical characteristic similar to fluorite in High Master 10-60x56mm,

we think it is good value.

⑦  Resolving power

Please see section (2) for further explanation.

Price

Price is determined by the model, type of reticle and with or without illumination.

(Price may differ from what is stated here according to the material cost in the future)

Let’s compare the 10x-60x52mm High Master 10x-60x56mm under the same condition ;

same reticle (MTR-1・2・3・4・FT, with 0-set function, with illumination.

10x-60x52mm costs $3,150.00 (This is the MSRP in North America at August 2019. Please check the price at your nearest dealer.)

High Master 10x-60x56mm costs US$3,530.00 which is only $380.00 more expensive than 10x-60x52mm.

Considering the 56mm diameter of the objective lens, 34mm body tube and 2 Super ED lenses assembled in High Master 10x-60x56mm

this may be good value but for some competitions High Master’s features may be excessive.

If you are interested in other reticles or without illumination , please refer to our website.

Click here to see All the Scopes

Among customers who was using 10x-60x52mm previously and currently using High Master 10x-60x56mm, there are those who say

they can no longer go back to 10x-60x52mm. Because the Super ED lenses suppress the chromatic aberration even at long distances,

they have better visibility enabling them to see clearer even the mirage.

Our expert Japanese craftsmen poured their heart and soul into this development of High Master 10x-60x56mm.

We hope that you take High Master 10x-60x56mm in your hands and check the clear visibility.

All the High Master model scopes have 2 Super ED lenses with a new lens system.

Other than the  March-X “High Master” 10x-60x56mm, we also have

March “High Master” 48x52mm

March “High Master” 40x-60x52mm EP zoom

March “GENESIS” 6x-60x56mm

(2) The reason for development

Mari : 10x-60x52mm scope already has a superb resolution. Why did you think that you needed to develop an improved model?

Nishikubo: March-X High Master 10x-60x56mm scope was developed as an improved model of  March 10x-60x52mm scope in 2017.

Please bear with my long explanation.

There is an indicator called “resolving power” to show how much you can see the details.

The smaller the resolving power is, the more you can see the details.

Theoretically, resolving power is determined by the size of the objective lens.

That means that the larger the diameter of the objective lens is, the smaller the value of the resolving power gets and consequently you are able to see smaller things.

Resolving power of the lens is generally defined by  Dawes’s empirical formula :

[Resolving power = 115.8 second /(devided by) diameter of the objective lens]

I mentioned that the resolving power of the (imaginary) earth size lens is 20 mu arc second but you can calculate the angle as below.

Unit for angles

1 rotation = 360 degrees

1 arc minute = 1/60 degree

1 arc second = 1/60 arc minute = 1/3600 degree

1 milliarcsecond = 1/1000 arc second

1 mu(μ) arc second = 1/1million arc second

Eyesight 1 = the ability to perceive 1 arc minute (equivalent to perceive 1mm object at 3m ahead)

The resolving power of the earth’s size lens is 20 mu arc second = 1/20million arc second.

If you convert this to eyesight it would mean that you are able to perceive 1mm object at 9000km ahead.

Now let’s calculate the resolving power of 2 March rifles scopes using Dawes’s empirical formula.

March 10x-60x52mm　scope  : resolving power of 52mm objective lens is 2.227 arc second

March 10x-60x52mm　scope  : resolving power of 56mm objective lens is 2.068 arc second

When we take 2.227 arc second (resolving power of 52mm objective lens)for 100,

2.068 arc second(resolving power of 56mm objective lens) will be 107.7.

This means that there is an improvement by 7.7% in resolving power.

The reason why we enlarged the size of the objective lens from 52mm to 56mm and developed High Master 10x-60x56mm is because of this “increase of resolving power by 7.7% ”We make continuous efforts so that the shooters can win at competitions, so that they can score 1 point more.

However this is a theoretical value and it is difficult to actualize to the exact value.

There is tolerance when manufacturing metallic material for lens.

Even though we get the precise measurements and make all the metallic materials according to calculation, metallic materials will expand and shrink affected by the temprature.

It is very difficult to align all the centers of the lens when combining them together.

Special telescopes such as astronomical telescopes are developed spending large sums so that they will be close to the calculated value as much as possible.

However for rifle scopes, lens are tightly fastened in order to tolerate the strong recoil of rifle scopes.

Therefore lens will slightly be contorted.

Also since we use many lens, we elaborate the quality by synthesizing design, precision of the components and assembly technique.

Values shown in the performance list is the actual value measured under various conditions.

Also upon comparing the actual measured value in the performance list (not the calculated value),    

when we take 2.5 arc second (resolving power of 52mm objective lens)for 100,

2.3 arc second(resolving power of 56mm objective lens) will be 108.7.

This means that there is an improvement by 8.7% in resolving power which is 1.0% more than the calculated value.

So Mari now you know the reason why we keep trying to improve the lens system even for a slightest amount.

It’s because we want to be particular for even 1 point and commit to March Owner’s victories.