At a recent event, I had the opportunity to try out the Crimson Trace Hardline 2-7×32 scope with BDC for 300 Blackout. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to run it long-term (the event was only a couple of days). Due to the stupid ammo shortages, I could only spare a couple hundred rounds of 300 Blackout (supersonic) since we had to bring our own ammo. The struggle is real, my friends…

I was the only one attending that was able to bring a firearm that shot in 300BLK, and the only one I have is my SIG Rattler. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear back from the Crimson Trace engineer before I left (not their fault), so I didn’t know the full specs to which they developed the BDC.  Specifically, I was interested in barrel length since that impacts the accuracy of the subtensions.

Crimson Trace Hardline 2-7×32 BDC-Blackout

The Crimson Trace Hardline optics line is designed for both tactical and target shooting. This specific model has a 1-inch tube diameter and needs 3.5-inches of eye relief.

Magnification goes from 2-7x, and the reticle is a non-illuminated BDC with subtensions for both supersonic and subsonic rounds. The scope weighs in right at 1-pound, has a 40mm objective lens, and is 2nd Focal Plane.

All of Crimson Trace’s scopes have a lifetime protection and a guaranteed warranty.

Specifications

Technical

• MAGNIFICATION: 2-7X
• RETICLE: CT CUSTOM BDC BLACKOUT
• FOCAL PLANE: 2ND
• MATERIAL: AEROSPACE ALUMINUM
• EYE RELIEF (IN): 3.5 IN
• OBJECTIVE LENS DIAMETER: 40
• TUBE DIAMETER: 1″
• CLICK VALUE: 1/4 MOA
• TURRETS: EXPOSED
• ILLUMINATION: NO
• LIGHT TRANSMITTANCE (%): 90
• DIMENSIONS (W X H X L): 2.1 IN X 2.1 IN X 11.5 IN
• PRODUCT WEIGHT (OZ): 16.08 OZ
• LENS COATING: GREEN MULTI-COATED
• REAR MOUNTING LENGTH (IN): 2.1
• FRONT MOUNTING LENGTH (IN): 2
• WINDAGE RANGE: 90 MOA
• ELEVATION RANGE: 90 MOA
• SIDE PARALLAX: 100 YD
• ZERO STOP: NO
• FOV MAXIMUM: 44.5 FT
• FOV MINIMUM: 12.8 FT

Subtensions

The BDC Blackout reticle of the Crimson Trace Hardline scope has subtensions for both supersonic (calibrated for 2200 fps, 125-grain projectiles) and subsonic (calibrated at 1000 fps, 208 gr projectiles). In addition, the reticle manual gives a few other parameters they used for those of you that want to nerd out.

The reticle itself is a standard crosshair with dots and bars on the descending stadia. The “dots” are the subsonic holds, and the “bars” are for the supersonic holds.

The subsonic holds start at 75 yards and increase by 25 yards (up to 150). The supersonic holds start at 200 and increase irregularly (so you will need to memorize the holds; 200, 350, 400, 500, and 600 yards).

Observations

It has been a while since I’ve had the chance to review optics, and I expected to have issues zeroing. Especially given that Crimson Trace was not a brand I previously associated with anything other than grip lasers (yes, I know they’ve been doing other things for a while).

I pulled all of the goodies off my SIG Rattler (DBAL-2, Cloud Defense Dual Switch Mount, and Eotech XPS-4), so I had rail available for mounting. I’d hoped to not have to pull everything off, but it is what it is on a rail with that small amount of real estate.

I was provided a set of Warne 1-inch tactical rings with the scope and mounted those up. It’s been long enough that I’ve changed out any of my builds that I was a bit rusty. I initially used the mid-height rings, but the scope bell was resting on the rail. facepalm Yeah, yeah, I know. So I switched to the 1-inch Tactical rings, and everything was great.

I did not take a ton of time to level the scope to gravity—it’s 300BLK; I’m going to shoot this 150 yards and in.

I got the eye relief basically where I wanted it and locked everything down.

I figured it was going to be significantly off and take a few rounds to dial it in. To my surprise, it was pretty close right out of the box. Elevation was slightly off, but I’m also shooting a 5.5-inch barrel (the Hardline BDC Blackout was configured using a 16-inch barrel).

I had the Rattler mounted in my hog saddle and dialed elevation up a bit, and reconfirmed. Then I reset the turret by pulling up on it (a Hardline series feature)–I love tool-less turret management.

I found the holds to be off, which was ENTIRELY expected since I was shooting a barrel shorter than what it was configured for (and thus had lower velocity). The amount off was not that much—it was roughly 2-inches low at 150 yards which is the farthest I could safely do at paper, given our range configuration. It lined up with my ballistic calculator (Ballistic AE) pretty well.

I attempted to shoot on steel at 200 and 400. For the 200, I had to hold the hash a bit above the target (basically the 100-yard hold for the subsonic rounds). When I tried the shots out to 400, I was dancing around the target but couldn’t get on. I’m chalking that up to this being a 5.5-inch barrel–I didn’t design the build for this use case anyway.

Bottomline

I was pleasantly surprised by the Crimson Trace Hardline. For a scope at the $250 (ish) price point, it performed well. It was easy to zero and provided a clear picture to shoot. The zoom was nice for the further out targets and would probably be a lot more useful on a gun that was designed for shooting longer distances than a typical hallway.  I had previously only thought of Crimson Trace as a “laser grip” company, but they have definitely pushed into some new product lines.

Have any of you used this scope?  What did you like/dislike about it?

You can learn more about the scope here: https://www.crimsontrace.com/products/riflescopes/hardline/hardline-2-7×32-bdc-blackout/01-01260.html#start=1

Big thanks to ATN and Crimson Trace for sponsoring an event where we could have the ability to get hands-on with a bunch of different scopes and optics at an appropriate facility for testing. Be on the lookout for write-ups of other products from this event!

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