We have reviewed several different rifle scopes for the site and our YouTube Channel. Some were in the past. Some will be published soon. Most are in the mid to upper level price point. However you, our viewers, have continually asked us to review the Millett TRS-1 Rifle Scope. The whole purpose of our company is to bring you the information that you want. You asked for it. Good or bad, here it is.

The Millett TRS-1 Rifle Scope is a 4-16x magnification, variable power rifle scope. It features a 50mm objective lens and a second focal plane reticle. Millett describes their reticle as a MilDot-Bar reticle. It is similar to appearance to a standard mildot reticle with a line between each dot. The reticle is illuminated with ten standard positions and one “NV” setting. The turrets on the TRS-1 are graduated with 0.1 mRad clicks and feature locking rings. Parallax is adjustable with the large turret on the left side of the turret housing.

First, lets cover the strong points of the TRS-1. The scope comes in at the $300 price point.  This is most likely what attracts the majority of buyers. The scope has a matching mil reticle and mil turrets. This allows the shooter to quickly make corrections on the turret by measuring the distance from the point of impact to the intended target. The side parallax adjustment makes dialing in your parallax quick and easy. The 25y parallax setting makes the TRS-1 suitable for .22 trainers and dry fire practice. Zeroing out the turrets can be quikly accomplished by backing off one screw centering the turret and reinstalling the screw. The turrets are equipped with locking rings at the base. Twisting these rings causes them to bear against the turret caps and prevent the turrets from easily being turned. The Mil based reticle is illuminated with one night vision setting. The reticle was accurate at a single power setting (as with all SFP scopes) and the turrets seemed to track accurately in our test model.

The feature list and the price point is the end of the pros we could find for this scope. The negatives were many.

My primary gripe is with the reticle. Millet calls the reticle a Mil-Dot Bar Reticle. This makes sense because it is basically a Mildot reticle with bars between the dots. Except it’s not. In my experience, every other rifle scope that features this kind of arrangement places the dots at the full mil value and the bars at the half mil value. This makes it very quick for the eye to break the mil into smaller increments. In the case of the Mil-Dot Bar reticle the literature on Millet’s website states this is how it is supposed to work. However it does not.

The TRS-1 is a second focal plane scope. This means the reticle is correct at one magnification setting. Usually this setting is the scope’s maximum magnification. The reason for this is simple. It is easier to make precise measurements at maximum magnification. Alternately, if the reticle is correct at maximum magnification, it can also be used effectively at half of the maximum magnification by applying a correction factor. This is the “defacto standard” for Second Focal Plane rifle scopes. The TRS-1 tosses the standard to the side….and not in a good way.

Instead of maximum magnification, Millet decided to set the mil-correct magnification of the TRS-1 at 10x. They were even kind enough to place a click-detent in the power selector ring at 10x. The detent is a nice touch, but it causes a problem. There is enough slop in the detent that you may or may not actually be at 10x. Next, when the magnification is set at 10x, the reticle does not work like you would expect. Both the dots and the bars act as full mil markers. Now is MIGHT make sense on a 4-20x scope where the reticle would then function properly at 20x. However the TRS-1 only goes to 14x, making that I possible. In fact the only good point to a 10x mil-correct reticle is that I usually shoot moving targets on our 500 yard range at 10x. Just make sure you know if you need a dot or a bar!

Ok, so the reticle is jacked up. We can still dial, right? Well, yes. But here, to Millet decided to do their own thing. Most mil based scopes will set their turrets up with 5 mils per revolution. Higher end scopes may do 10 mils per rev. This makes it very simple when you dial to the second revolution. Millet decided to give us more with a 5.5mil per revolution turret. So now, when you are on your second revolution and you dial to “1”, you are actually at 6.5 mils. Whereas on most other scopes you would be at “6”. Half a mil at long range is a miss.

You get the same markings for the windage turret and no benefit of left or right marks other than on the top. Even the markings on the turrets demonstrate a misunderstanding of how Mils work.

While the turrets on our test model tracked accurately, we have received reports of the locking rings causing a deviation in the zero. If you own one of these scopes. Make sure you verify you zero with the turrets locked and unlocked.

This scope is not all bad. It could find a home on a .22LR trainer. Here the close parallax focus is an asset. The Second Focal Plane reticle can be used to advantage if you want to try to duplicate a situation with reduced size targets.

Overall, I cannot recommend this scope for beginning shooters. There are too many issues to overcome that would distract from the shooting problem.

New shooters would be much better served by purchasing a Bushnell 3200 10x with mil turrets or a SWFA 10x and learn to use the reticle and turrets as they should be. The money you save can be squirreled away while you save for a mid to top level scope.