The design concept of the new FML-WBR reticle
Brandon wanted to bring to life a reticle that he felt best reflected the needs of the PRS shooter based on his experience with some of the top reticle options available. The idea was to improve upon the status quo within the industry, and bring some things he felt were missing from other offerings. There are many things Brandon wanted to achieve with a different approach from what other companies had taken.

Brandon wanted the reticle to be a .2 MIL standard offering with a .5 MIL indication available but without adding line in the reticle to limit clutter in the wide-angle view of the March-FX 5-42X56. This led to an open dot design at each .5 MIL mark that allowed the .2 Mil indications to be used in an alternating sequence, which enables the shooter to rapidly orient themselves on the reticle, without having to count the .2 MIL indications on the bottom side of the horizontal stadia of traditional designs which offer a .5 MIL indication.

During the use of other reticles on the market Brandon found that line thickness and center dot size relationships mattered and could make or break the reticle. Too small and users would struggle to use the reticle when the magnification needed to go down for movers or to increase FOV, too large and the lines would hinder the shooter’s view at higher magnification for longer distance troop lines and load development. The chosen line thickness and dot size were designed to be usable in both situations without illumination.

Brandon found that most shooters preferred no vertical stadia on the top side of the reticle and as a result, this was excluded from the design, as many others in the market have done. He also found that he very rarely used the tree, but always felt it hindered the shooter’s ability to clearly see the impact location on targets. As result the reticle was designed without a tree, and this allows an unobstructed view of impact points and targets. Brandon found that he had never used the tree in the fashion they were designed. For example, he would never hold targets down the tree and in open space for windage. The risk of not having an accurate hold was simply too great and as a result, he would dial the elevation to suit his targeting needs.

Additionally, unprecedented FOV, magnification range and image clarity/image quality were also a driver in this reticle design. So not only was the reticle designed based on past experiences of existing rifle scopes and reticles, but it was also designed with the perspective that with the new 5-42x56Genll, future PRS/NRL shooters are going to leverage the enhanced Magnification/FOV as the stage/conditions warrant, to gain greater target impact image resolution and awareness, acquire target(s) faster, and ultimately shoot with more certainty in time-compressed scenarios.