Riton 5 PRIMAL 2-12×44 Review: Affordable SFP Hunting Scope

Introduction

I’ve had the good fortune to play with a few Riton scopes over the years, and I am happy to bring you another one today. The 5 Primal 2-12×44 (which I’ll refer to as 5 Primal) is a second focal plane riflescope that is a perfect fit for those looking for a good hunting scope. The Riton 5 Primal brings many great features to the 2-12 scope world.

Aside from its core features, the affordable price of the 5 Primal makes it an excellent option for many folks out there with a lower budget. Riton does a good job of offering a broad enough selection for most shooters to find what they need.

As we look into the 5 Primal today, keep in mind how its features may benefit or hinder your practices behind the rifle. Only you can evaluate how well it will serve your purposes.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Riton sent us this scope for testing and evaluation, but it is NOT a paid promotion.

5 Primal 2-12×44 Review

Specifications

Pros & Cons

My pros and cons list may confuse you, so let me explain a little before we get into it. Your specific purpose might dictate whether some of these features are an asset or a liability.

For example, I like first focal plane reticles, but they may not be ideal for many scenarios. Same with capped turrets. I prefer exposed turrets, but you may want capped turrets.

Fielding the 5 PRIMAL 2-12×44 Riflescope

I mounted up the 5 Primal to a rifle I had handy using a 30mm one-piece scope mount. I did a quick boresight job before hitting the range with it. The hand-adjustable turrets are easy to adjust, the ¼ MOA clicks are easily felt, and a complete turret rotation gives you 25 MOA of elevation.

With the scope mounted to a Q Fix chambered in .308, it would be a fine little rifle to take out in the field for a hunt. The 5 Primal made an excellent companion to the rifle.

I really like the 2-12 power zone for hunting. I often think people over-magnify their hunting rifles, but I prefer having a wide field of view to watch impacts and potentially escaping animals after a shot. Even when hunting with bigger scopes like a 5-25, I still rarely engage animals above 14 power.

After zeroing the scope, I used the reticle to make shots all across a deep and long canyon. The hold-over points were easy to keep track of. I like when reticles are labeled at least every few lines, which applies to the 5 Primal. Using the reticle for holdovers worked great at 12X or doubling values at 6X.

The parallax/focus allows you to focus on targets as close as 10 yards, which could come in handy with an air rifle. But for my .308, it wasn’t so necessary.

The low profile of the 5 Primal makes for a good pack rifle to throw over your shoulder, with few things to hang up on as you hike through the forest. The included flip-caps also helped keep the lenses clean and away from contaminants.

Different throw lever options are also handy, making it easy to adjust the magnification quickly and without having to look for it. It’s also nice to be able to pull the throw-lever off if it creates a snag point for you.

The optical clarity was fine for me, as I wasn’t expecting something incredible from a scope at this price point. It’s also fair to point out that the lower power magnification doesn’t magnify flaws as much, either, so you’re less likely to see them.

Features

Precision Hunting Dot (PHD) Reticle

The PHD reticle is simple enough, yet it gives you 20 MOA in three directions for measuring impacts and holding over. Points are labeled at 10 and 20 MOA, with some good subtensions down to 1 MOA as you near the center of the reticle.

The second focal plane nature of the reticle allows for pretty fine aiming points. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t be against having a first focal plane reticle in this scope, either. The low power settings would likely be useful with the FFP reticle, though it might require a finer reticle.

Adjustable Throw Lever

I like throw levers, and this was a nice little feature for those like me who like them. Built-in throw levers can occasionally be in the wrong place or cause contact points with things like bolt handles and the fingers holding them.

The ability to remove the throw lever and install it in another position on the power ring is much appreciated. As is the ability to just remove it if needed.

Capped Turrets

As I mentioned above, this can be a good or bad thing, depending on your shooting task. If you need to adjust your elevation frequently, such as you would in a competitive shooting scenario, capped turrets may be a little less desirable. You can, of course, leave the caps off, but I lost quite a few turret caps back in the old days doing that.

For a hunting rifle like the one I tested here, I think the capped turrets are fine, since I likely wouldn’t engage anything beyond 500 yards with it. For those kinds of ranges holding over with the PHD reticle is fine for me.

Conclusion

The Riton 5 Primal 2-12×44 scope is an excellent choice for someone shopping in the sub $1,000 price range. The scope isn’t what I would call super light; instead, it’s built pretty robust, which I’d prefer sometimes.

It should do a great job of providing accurate shooting for most practices. The overall performance of the scope and warranty from Riton makes the scope a pretty safe bet.

Having used several Riton scopes now, I would feel confident recommending them for such purposes as I’ve mentioned.

Are you a hunter on a budget? If so, what rifle would you mount the 5 Primal on?