This Thanksgiving Day the sales ads were flying fast and furious into our mailboxes here at The Arms Guide and the rest of the Hurricane Groups facility of sites. I would say that I received more than fifty email from vendors and manufacturers about their latest offerings and sales, but one grabbed my attention so much that I actually purchased something for one of my rifles. The team at Primary Arms chose this holiday season to release the new Primary Arms Model MD-RB-AD Advanced Micro Dot Optic.
The Legacy and Details
The story of the entire line of Primary Arms red dot optics is legendary in a way. The predecessor to this new optic is the model that was famously abused by Robski & Paul from the AK Operators Union, with the help of a lot of rocks and a four-wheeler. The optic was blown up, drug behind an ATV and had massive amounts of damage but still held zero despite having a dented case and cracked glass. The Primary Arms optics are built as tough as a Soviet Tank, the below video shows the abuse these things take and keep working. At around the 1:24 mark of the video is the real tale of the optic.
https://youtu.be/pajDIPDNyOw
The New Generation
One of the comments on the original Primary Arms red dots was that the controls for the optic were simple two buttons located on the top of the optic. Many people wanted to see the optic with a rotary style illumination control on the optic that can easily been seen by the user. Something similar to other optics that were on the market. So the company did what any good company does, they listened to their consumers and made an optic to feed the needs of even more shooters, without compromising pricing. In fact the new optic has many of the same features as the original but at an even lower price point. Lets take a look at the specifications of the recently announced Primary Arms MD-RB-AD Red Dot.
Specifications:
Manufacturer: Primary Arms
Model: MD-RD-AD
Base Type: Weaver or Picatinny
Battery Type: Single CR2032
Run Time: 50,000 Hours
Brightness: 11 Settings
Night Vision Compatible: Yes
Material: 6061 Aluminum
Finish: Hardcoat Anodized
Mount Type: Aimpoint T1/H1 Compatible
Reticle Size: 2 MOA Dot
Reticle Color: Red Only
Weight: 5.4 oz
Warranty: Lifetime
Price: $134.99
Primary Arms mounted on SLR Rifleworks Rail
Overall Impressions
It’s hard to argue with an optic that has the history of what Primary Arms has been able to do, and at price that is below $150.00 at full retail. There are several competitors to the Primary Arms red dots, but honestly non of them have the warranty, the durability and the 50,000 hour run time. To break that down a little better 50,000 hours of battery life works out to just under 2100 days , or approximately 5.7 Years. That’s more than an entire election cycle, and just sorta hard for me to comprehend that I can leave it running for literally years and still have no issues. I will say that in the interest of science and the web site I intend to leave this optic on the #5 setting from the day I get it and let it run its course. I want to see how long it will last in real use outside of a laboratory.
When we unboxed the optic the fit, feel and finish of the optic was exactly as we have come to expect from Primary Arms. This isn’t our first go around with the company, if you remember they sent us their 1-6X Generation III optic this past Spring and we were very impressed by it. We’ve come to expect great products and customer service from the company and so far they haven’t let us down in the least. The finish on the optic was smooth and a deep matte black with the company logo lightly printed on the side. This subdued lettering was a nice subtle touch by the company, I understand they pay tons of money in research and development and want their name on their products. The problem is many companies make a great product and give it all the qualities to not reflect light or give off a glare then slap shiny white bold letters across it. Primary Arms went with the subtle approach and it works extremely well.
The controls for the illumination settings are on the side of the optic and the numbers are easy to read but again not coated with bright white paint. This particular model has two setting for use with night vision capability and are labeled N1 and N2 for easy use. The other eight settings on the red dot are labeled three through eleven, the setting marked zero which lies between the N settings and the numbered settings is the off position.
Objective Lens With Protective Coating
Operating the new style rotary controls of the Primary Arms MD-RD-AD Red Dot is simple and straight forward. The only thing about the operation that might frustrate a small minority of users is that when the optic is set to the highest setting you have to turn it all the way back down to shut it off. In other optics you can simple rotate the control from the highest setting to the off position quickly, that’s not the case here. This isn’t an issue to me but I wanted to let readers know the very small quirk about this particular optic.
The final part of the optic that I want to spend a few words talking about is the mounting system and the adjustment controls. Primary Arms chose to use a tried and true system for mounting this optic to any picatinny rail but give the user some options for other base plates if they chose. The base plate we chose to use is the stock low mount which allows me to see the crisp and clear red dot in and utilize a lower 1/3 style. To our surprise for our $134.95 we received both the low and the high mount as well as a CR2032 battery installed. This made set up of our red dot take only a few minutes and a few twists of the supplied T10 torx wrench.
Adjusting the point of impact for the Primary Arms MD-RD-AD is much like any other red dot optic on the market. The vertical adjustments are located on the top of the optic and protected by the knurled cap. As expected the horizontal adjustments are made on the side of the optic with a cap system exactly like the one on the top of the optic. Nothing earth shattering here from Primary Arms, just a simple system that allows for a 1 MOA movement of the red dot with each click of the rotary controls.
The Primary Arms MD-RD-AD is an affordable and simple red dot that offers a ridiculously long battery life and a nearly indestructible housing. In our opinion for $134.99 it’s hard to find an optic that does so much in such a small package that doesn’t rape your wallet. I would like to point out that I was so excited about the release of this optic that I spent my own hard earned money on it instead of waiting and hoping for a company sponsored model. I always say someone should put their money where their mouth is, and this time I did. We want to hear what you think of this latest offering from Primary Arms, especially if you are already a user of other Primary Arms optics. I will admit I was ignorant to the brand until I watched one get drug behind an ATV for a while and still hold zero after the abuse. Now I’m sold on the brand based on a large list of reasons. What are your thoughts?
Primary Arms Red Dot
