The New Element Immersive 5x30mm Optic Reviewed

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What is a general-purpose riflescope? For an AR-15 shooter, it’s usually a low power variable of some sort. For a hunter, it is an intermediate power 2.5-10x42 or similar riflescope. If we avoid exotic applications, it turns out that almost all general-purpose riflescope designs have an overlap, in that nearly all converge in the 4X to 6X magnification range and have an exit pupil between 4mm and 7mm.

That should not be surprising. A fixed 4X or 6X riflescope used to be the general-purpose option for decades. Then, decent variable scopes came out and most people gave up on fixed power designs. Some have not, but a lot of that has been nostalgic in nature. While you can make a good argument for sticking with a fixed power design, a variable riflescope is certainly a more versatile option. On the other hand, the less you can adjust, the more you will focus on actual shooting and the more you will practice with the same exact sight picture.

Conventional fixed power scopes are dwindling in number, with only a few like the nearly iconic SWFA SS designs doggedly persisting. The less conventional fixed power optics utilize prisms in addition to lenses. The first ones essentially resembled one half of a binocular with a reticle added in. They have come a long way since then and are enjoying a notable renaissance because of how well they work on various AR-15 variants. Until now, they had limited use with other types of firearms due to eye relief and mounting limitations, but that is slowly changing.

The Prismatic Revolution

The incredible evolution of prismatic riflescopes was kicked off by the military adoption of several rugged and excellent optics, with Trijicon’s ACOG and the Elcan the best known. More recently, several OEMs primarily in China released affordable, well-performing prismatic scopes that kicked off the current abundance. These subdivide into small prism and large prism designs.

Small prism models are a path up the magnification ladder for those upgrading from irons and red dots. These are compact and lightweight with moderate field of view (FOV). With most, you get similar FOV to conventional optics on the same magnification except in a significantly lighter and more compact package. The tradeoff compared to conventional designs, like the ubiquitous low-power variable optics (LPVOs) is weight and size versus the flexibility of variable power. Modern small prism optics have good optical performance, but perceived image quality depends on the apparent FOV. That is where large prism designs shine.

Large prism riflescopes sacrifice weight advantages in lieu of notably wider FOV and better optical performance. These usually weigh about as much as modern LPVOs. The compromise here is better image quality and more immersive sight picture vs the flexibility of variable magnification. One of the newer such prismatics has been introduced by Element Optics. It is a clever new 5x30 design that is equally at home on both AR-pattern and conventionally stocked firearms.

The Element

The appropriately named Element Immersive 5x30 prismatic provides an enormous sight picture. The name “Immersive” is not accidental. Most conventional riflescopes and small prism designs have apparent FOV in the 20- to 22-degree range. Element’s new scope has the apparent FOV of nearly 30 degrees. That provides a huge and immersive image, hence the name. Apparent FOV is a measure of how large the image looks to your eye when behind the eyepiece. It is not a commonly listed specification, but the easy way to calculate it is to multiply the real FOV by the scope’s magnification. To give you an idea, the new Element has roughly the same (slightly larger) apparent FOV as the ubiquitous 4x32 Trijicon ACOG, except with longer eye relief.

In practical terms, the new Element Immersive has a larger FOV on 5X than most conventional riflescopes do on 3.5X, while still maintaining 3.35 inches (85mm) of eye relief. That requires a large diameter eyepiece and a beefy prism assembly. Despite that, the new 5X still sneaks in under 18 ounces without a mount.

That’s heavier than compact prismatics but reasonable compared to more conventional options. Equally importantly, prismatics are short, so all the weight is closer to you. The 5x30 is less than 6 inches long and balances nicely on lightweight rifles. When used on an AR-15, it still leaves enough space on the flat-top of the upper receiver to add a flip-up wedge prism, like TacomHQ’s TARAC Alpha, or even a thermal clip-on if it has a rear biased mount (Gen1 Burris BTC50 is a good example).

Given the abundance of different prismatics available, what makes the new Element 5x30 substantially different from other high quality large prism optics out there? It is good optically. Moreso, it is difficult to build optical systems with a FOV as wide as this one on a budget, but Element did just that. Additionally, the Immersive has two unusual features that help it stand out: side focus and a mounting system. 

The purpose of the side focus turret on riflescopes is misunderstood, and that mostly comes from it being misnamed. While it is commonly referred to as “parallax adjustment,” that’s not what it does directly. It adjusts the focus of the objective lens of the riflescope. That also happens to change the distance at which the scope is parallax free as a side effect.

Without side focus, most riflescopes of moderate (and higher) magnification do not resolve targets closer than about 50 yards particularly well. Most prismatic riflescopes are focused at the factory somewhere between 100 and 150 yards. That provides reasonable image sharpness between 50 and 350 yards on scopes in the 5X to 6X range. Even out to 600 to 800 yards, the image is usually acceptable enough to aim at 18-inch plates. The higher the magnification, the shallower the depth of field. With lower magnification, everything is in focus out to the practical extent of where you can aim with a 3X (for example) optic. However, at extended distances, more magnification and the ability to focus helps. Side focus makes an even bigger difference at shorter distances if you want to place a precise shot, making the new Element 5x30 equally at home on rimfires and airguns. When dry practicing indoors, it can focus down to 6 yards.

Immersive Application

In ideal conditions, conventional 5.56x45 can reach surprisingly far with specialized loads (Hornady’s Superformance ammo, for example, is supersonic past 900 yards where I live), but more commonly available 55- and 62-grain loads are at their best inside of 600 yards. Although the Element Immersive does have perfectly functional turrets, they are intended to be kept covered most of the time with trajectory and wind compensation accomplished via the reticle.

That is how I ended up spending a significant amount of time with these optics: the good folk at Element asked me to help them with the reticle designs. Several excellent prismatics out there have functional reticles, but I have been considering what would constitute an optimal reticle for a general-purpose scope for some time. Element provided me with an opportunity to test my idea in a real product, so I sketched up two designs. One is a BDC/MOA reticle pattern intended for AR-15 use. The other is a cross platform MRAD based pattern that is at home on most rifles.

The BDC reticle is designed to take you out to 600 yards with a 62-grain SS109 load. All BDC reticles are approximate, and the exact holds vary with muzzle velocity, bullet specifics, and altitude. A lot of that can be accommodated by sighting in a little differently and by keeping good notes. It is intended to be sighted in at 200 (or 55) yards, and the ballistics are worked out for 3,000-foot elevation and 2,950 fps muzzle velocity. That keeps it adequately close in most environments. An abbreviated Christmas tree provides wind holds for full value 5 and 10 mph wind. The numbers that identify the hold distance also serve as approximate 5 mph lead indicators.

The slightly more expansive Christmas tree of the MRAD reticle cover up to 6 mils of holdover (a bit beyond 700 yards with good 5.56 loads), which happens to be close to the practical limit of many intermediate cartridges. It was easy to adapt to everything I have tried with it to date: .22LR, 7.62x39, .300 BLK, 5.56 NATO, 6mm ARC, and 6.5 Grendel. It even spent some time on a .458 SOCOM thumper and worked well there, too.

Push-button reticle illumination cycles through several brightness levels starting at a very low one that will not ruin your eyes’ low light adaptation. Only the horseshoe and the primary stadia are illuminated. That way, the sight picture in adverse lighting conditions is significantly streamlined. The BDC reticle includes a simple rangefinder scale below the primary reticle. The ranging pattern is designed for quick estimation of distance based on three object sizes: 12 inches, 18 inches, and 70 inches.

The scope comes with a clever mount that can be set to different inclinations should your rifle require it. The modern doctrine on use of prismatic scopes is centered around adding either a piggybacked or offset red-dot sight for close range use. The mount Element provides comes with a short Picatinny rail that can be positioned in several spots depending on your preferences. To use the Element prismatic on a conventional rifle, the tall AR-15 mount can easily be removed and replaced with either a single wide ring or two conventional rings just forward of the turrets.

What started life primarily as an AR-15 optic ended up being a lot more than that. It is easy to use on a variety of firearms and at any distance from 6 to 600 yards. It is a true general-purpose modern fixed magnification scope unlike anything else out there. 

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