I think you are right
on Jim. There seems to be a good book of evidence that the march scope really is designed internally to hold POI. The issue with glass brightness, clarity while a big issue with some isn't the over riding factor imo. It's the ability of the scope to track and hold POI. Durability counts too. The many reports of current NF scopes not being able to hold POI should be disturbing to a shooter. I would take a slightly inferior image and solid ability to hold POI over a slight perceived glass quality in a scope brand that has issues.
Regarding internal erector support and adjustment robustness, I can only recall a couple of direct comments from folks in the past. One was from Wally Siebert. He said that if you could look inside an old steel tube El Paso Weaver you would understand why they were so reliable and could be fixed if necessary. The other was a few comments by Jackie Schmidt about the adjustment design of the Weaver T36. Otherwise we are at a loss, other than reading comments from owners about the reliability of a scope to track and hold. Most of us can't tear one down. We can see glass quality. NF scopes cost less so probably they will show up in the equipment lists more frequently. However if March has the edge in tracking and holding, that's would be worth more to me if I were buying. jmo.
IMO my March 48 HM is close to my 3 NF Comps in brightness and resolution, but my eyes still give the edge to the NF. I trust all of my March's when it comes to holding POI. I don't trust any of my Comps to hold POI after what Alex Wheeler of Wheeler Accuracy posted when he took 4 separate NF 15-55's and one of Hood's scope checker tested each of them. All 4 of them printed the same way. Each of the 6 shots kept printing higher from shot 1 to 6. I took my only 55 off my 2 & 300 yard dedicated rifle because it wasn't shooting as good as it use to. I put my March 10-60 Tactical on it and won the 1st 200 yard match that I shot with it and the 2nd match that I shot with it I came in 4th on Sunday at the Nationals in Weikert. I have no faith in NF scopes anymore.
on Jim. There seems to be a good book of evidence that the march scope really is designed internally to hold POI. The issue with glass brightness, clarity while a big issue with some isn't the over riding factor imo. It's the ability of the scope to track and hold POI. Durability counts too. The many reports of current NF scopes not being able to hold POI should be disturbing to a shooter. I would take a slightly inferior image and solid ability to hold POI over a slight perceived glass quality in a scope brand that has issues.
Regarding internal erector support and adjustment robustness, I can only recall a couple of direct comments from folks in the past. One was from Wally Siebert. He said that if you could look inside an old steel tube El Paso Weaver you would understand why they were so reliable and could be fixed if necessary. The other was a few comments by Jackie Schmidt about the adjustment design of the Weaver T36. Otherwise we are at a loss, other than reading comments from owners about the reliability of a scope to track and hold. Most of us can't tear one down. We can see glass quality. NF scopes cost less so probably they will show up in the equipment lists more frequently. However if March has the edge in tracking and holding, that's would be worth more to me if I were buying. jmo.