Immersive Optics Prismatic Air Rifle Scopes
Immersive Optics is a British company that’s selling an interesting – and unusual – line of riflescopes.
In fact, these are prismatic rifle scopes. They have a very different optical design to that of conventional rifle scopes that makes them very compact and light. That’s compact as in around 5- or 6-Inches long and light as between 13 and 19 Ounces weight – including the mount.
Immersive Optics prismatic riflescopes are designed for use with non-recoiling airguns only. That means primarily PCPs and CO2-powered guns. This is because the eye relief – the distance between the scope and your eye – is extremely short.
If used with a recoiling airgun – like a gas ram or spring/piston air rifle – the result would be a painful case of “scope bite”. The scope would cut your eyebrow at best – damage your eye at worst. So, they’re for PCPs and CO2 guns only!!!
The upside of this close (between 3/4-Inch and 1 3/4-Inch) eye relief is that prismatic scopes have a very wide field of view. Typically this can be between 2x and 4x wider than a comparable conventional scope at the same magnification.
Immersive Optics prismatic riflescopes focus down to less than 7 Yards, so they’re well-suited for airgun use in this respect also. Parallax correction is obtained by using the left side turret.
The company has a range of configurations available, ranging from 5 x 24 to 14 x 50.You’ll notice that these prismatic scopes are fixed magnification scopes. There’s no zoom scope available in the range for design reasons.
A choice of reticles is also available, including a conventional Mil Dot version and a “Christmas Tree” version too on the higher powers. There’s red illumination available for the reticle, if required.
HAM mounted a 5 x 30 model to a SIG Virtus PCP air rifle. The Virtus is an extremely popular model with HAM readers. The prismatic scopes have a distinctly “tactical” look to them, so that seemed to make for a good pairing.
The result was a comfortable, light weight combination that handled well and provided easy shooting. Image quality looked very good in our informal testing.
Due to the short eye relief, Immersive Optics prismatic scopes are supplied with no less than three Picatinny mount bases. This allows the scope to be positioned appropriately close to your eye for correct use.
These mount bases also allow the scope to be mounted at a pre-set angle to provide a built-in correction for long-range shooting, if required.
It has to be said that these scopes are very comprehensively equipped and beautifully-packaged. All models include the three scope mounts with appropriate pairings of eyecups and lens covers.
For full details, check out the company’s website.
