Actually - it does work but in a very weird way - by pressing \
The quirks are as follows:
Using scopes in first person - press \ - player view pans down and then back up - scope provides a static view of the distance
Laser designator - press \ - player takes out rifle and then puts it back - designator provides static view of distance.
Neither provide dynamic distance reading as they used to.
This screams of broken animation similar to heal self or repair vehicle rather than an intentional change.
Would be good if someone could point me in the direction of where it says that these sort of changes were intentionally made - my searches proved fruitless unfortunately.
This is a very frustrating issues for my friends and I and keen to get this cleared up.
Cheers all.