Constantine 1-8x24 RAR Rifle Scope Review-2

2024-07-26

Here is the Constantine 1-8x24 RAR Rifle Scope review from Jani Nordman.

Constantine 1-8x24 RAR LPVO (SCFF-60)

I'll start off with an analogy, if you've always only just driven the cheapest car in your country and you get to drive your friend's luxury car it's very hard to go back to your cheap car, and driving it will never feel the same, but they'll both do the same job of getting you where you need to go, one just might get you there quicker and more relaxed as the drive wasn't as taxing. This is how I feel after having used the super-expensive high-end scopes. But this scope is neither the top end or the low end of the LPVO world. Okay, let's have a quick look at what you get for the money.

Glass

The glass is fully multi-coated and gives good clarity, there is a little bit of distortion on 1x, but not enough to make it hard to use close range. Compared to Continental LPVO's it has a lot more black around the frame of the image and the edge of the scope. The eye box is pretty good, never did I have to try to find the scope when shooting and moving, there was always enough image to shoot.

Reticle

The reticle is a little different from the usual LPVO reticle, but not a new invention, there is a normal horseshoe reticle in the middle with the usual 5.56 / .223 bullet drop compensation Christmas tree, but on top of this, you get the rapid acquisition ring around it aiding you in aiming at a fast pace as the scope is FFP the reticle gets bigger when you zoom and the ring disappears at 6x. The middle and the ring also illuminate so you can use it in lower light, as with all (below 2-3k $ scopes) etched reticle ones the illumination is not visible in sunlight, even in cloudy weather you'd be hard to find any use from the illumination even at full blast, that's why the ring helps you to find the middle of the scope in a first focal plane scope.

Features

Elevation turret and windage turret are protected with a cap so idle hands don't accidentally move your zero, set in 1/10 MIL increments the setting is clear as it takes an effort to move the turret and you get a very crisp audible click on each turn. The last turret is the illumination wheel that goes from 0 to 11 and there is no off in the middle of all the settings, so you have to go all the way to 0 when done shooting, this is not a big deal but one of those would be nice to have.

As the scope is 30mm, there are so many options on mounting equipment, vector has some really good cantilever options as well, I paired it with SCACD-23 one piece with a bubble level at the back, this worked like a charm, and it something I can highly recommend if you already have a 30mm scope and need a cantilever mount, also have a look at the whole range at the vector official site linked below.

As the scope goes from 1 to 8x you can use it even at long distances, 8x you can get hits at 400-500m depending on the quality of the platform you've mounted it on. The zoom adjustment wheel is quite tight to move, but to help with this you get a little lever you can screw to help make the adjustments faster. At low light, the scope starts to struggle a little bit at full 8x zoom.

The first focal plane has its ups and downs, it keeps the bullet drop compensation lines always at the right distance, but on the bigger zoom, you have to start off with the really small middle of the reticle so it's not massive in the fully zoomed out. This is where the rapid acquisition ring comes in handy.

Overall

For the price you pay you get a good set of features and decent glass clarity, good reticle with the rapid acquisition ring so if that is what you need in your rifle and can't pay the continental 1-10x price, this is a very good alternative. And if you pair it with the cantilever mount offered by Vector Optics it will be a good companion on your rifle. Overall a 3.5/5 scope! This will live now on one competition AR-15 to see how it holds up in the fast pace of competition shooting. I will report back if any issues come up, so far after a few hundred rounds of .223, no issues.

Plusses

+ Glass clarity for the price is excellent

+ Good reticle design with a ring

+ Throw leaver included

+ IPX7 Waterproof

+ First focal plane

+ 5-year warranty

Minuses

- No lifetime warranty

- Struggles at low light on high magnification

- Zoom ring is stiff

- First focal plane (yes it's on both as it's both a plus and a minus)