The line thickness on the H58 in the NF F1is thicker than the current H59 - twice as thick actually. The line thickness on the H58 is thicker due to a masking that was applied for the illumination. The masking prevents the illumination being viewed from a forward observer and most always creates a line twice as thick as intended . The main line thickness in the 15x F1 shoudl be .05mr but is .098 as the mask creates a shield that is .024mr above and below. There is a reason that the H59 is not illuminated in our current F1 - the end users requesting it do not prefer to have illumination and also prefer that the spec of the reticle appear true to spec.
Focal length dictates the tolerance of line thickness as the reticle is seen. An etched and filled reticle will appear thicker than specified as the etching technology is not capable of etching a thin enough feature for some focal lengths. The NF 15x F1 has a short focal length which limits the reticle line thickness features size. Reticles are etched in microns and microns equate to the moa or mil features in a reticle. Current etch and fill technology can only go down to about 7 microns which is a limiting factor of what is possible in certain optical prescriptions.
We do not have involvement in the development of the Horus reticle with our reticle mfg. Horus handles that and then we receive the reticle and have to assume it is correct because we do not have the design prints. We receive the reticle and then measure the features with our equipment. Being involved with the development from the beginning could have alleviated the thicker line issue. We would have known that the mask would create a negative effect based on the overall focal length of the prescription. We now have a revised reticle development and approval process to help work through and prevent issues such as this when dealing with 3rd parties. The H58 was our first endeavor with Horus and we learned how to better work together in development of their reticles. There is a learning curve to just about everything.
Also, one thing worthy to note is that FFP reticles require much finer features than SFP reticles. Current reticle etching technology makes it possible to do as fine of a feature as we want for SFP. FFP on the other hand has limitations since it is located in front of the magnification elements.
One other thing to note, line thickness in a Leupold or S&B or other brand may not equate to what the eye sees in a NF since focal length dictates. A .125 moa reticle feature can appear to be differnt thickness across differnt brands.
Back to the original question, yes the H58 will appear thicker than in other brands of scopes or our current H59 since it is made to the illuminated spec which appears thicker in the NF 15x F1.
A solid explanation straight from the horses mouth.
