An example of what we're talking about regarding optics tracking

[LRRPF52]

Listen to how the gears sound right off the bat. Reminds me of a cheap toy out of Asia with weak springs and plastic gears.

[rabiddawg]

You done done it now

[joedirt199]

They did come out and sacrifice internals for better glass and coatings in order to get the price down and attractive.

[LRRPF52]

Keep in mind this wasn't even with shooting.

If a scope passes a dry tracking test, then you go to a live fire tracking test with 10 mils of vertical travel, 10 mils of windage, 10 mils of vertical opposite original, then 10 mils of windage opposite to end up back where you started.

What you'll see with the garbage scopes is that they can't pass a box test like this with live fire, and will backlash a lot. That means residual tension in the plastic gears and untreated spring "steel" isn't done releasing tension until you fire a shot. Once you fire a shot, the gears slip to the setting they wanted you to have, not where you needed the reticle to be.

This is why I recommend to people to take the $200-$350 you might have spent on something like this, buy a mount, and save up for the optic that will actually work.

This isn't me trying to trash anyone, or steering you to a brand, as I have no financial or buddy-buddy relationship with any of the scope manufacturers. I do have decades of continuous shooting experience with rifle optics that are dialed constantly, not including my childhood, where I regularly shot our family hunting rifle and learned some very hard lessons about mounting properly.

I did SOTIC Level II in 1996 in Korea, run by a MTT out of Okinawa, and haven't stopped shooting regularly since. Never once did I consider getting a questionable optic that wouldn't track. A Leupold LR/T 3.5-10x40 is probably the lowest quality of scope I have bought since that time for LR use.

[Kilco]

Wow...

I've never really gave the Athalon line any attention as of yet.. I sure hope anyone considering one gives this a watch..

[Kswhitetails]

I had an Argos 6-24 BTR Mil. I did the box test at 100, and found it to be better than I was. I never had a fancy chart to use like this guy, but I did do it live fire. The impacts moved as far as they should have when I dialed in the mils. and I went varying ups and downs for it. I started at zero, went up two, then down seven, then right 5 then left 10 then down 10 then up 15, then right 5, down 5 - it hit 1/2 inch from the zero group. I guess it wasn't actually a box... but it did show me that the turrets tracked like they were intended to. I did not video it, I don't do that. I took a picture, I'll see if I can find it, that was a hard drive ago.. I may find it on a backup from last fall...

Anyway, I found in that one test that it tracked well. It was every bit as clear as my buddies Vortex, if not even more so. Even he was surprised at what I paid. I think his was a 2.5-14x44, mine was 6-24x50 so I had a slight advantage in objective diameter. We compared at 14x (his scopes max mag) and below. Both were great. Both warranties are changing the industry, though Vortex gets full marks for making this train start moving...

I just let mine go in the exchange in favor of an optic with a little more reputation, as I plan on taking a reputable LR class as soon as I can put together the trip. Anyone know any good LR marksmanship trainers

[1911man]

This test actually wasnt as bad as some others ive seen but as LRRP pointed out this is just a dry test. This is what I fear with alot of new scopes on the market, they put all the bells and whistles on them to make them look cool. You know large turrets, fancy reticles, decent glass, but they dont track which makes them pretty useless for long range precision shooting. Frank from snipers hide did point out in an article I read though that if you dont shoot past 300 yards often these scopes can get the job done. Just depends on what you need, and if you need to take that long shot on game or win a match your probably not buying an Athlon scope.

[LRRPF52]

You guys watched the video and saw that it was already off by .2 mils pretty quickly.

I know a lot of people don't have the chance to shoot much past 600yds, so in practice, if a scope like that held up, you wouldn't know the difference.

That's a big IF though. What are thy doing to retain optical elements? What alloys are they using for their turrets and springs?

I can tell you the NightForce springs alone cost more than the most of entire Athlon scopes do at MSRP because NF uses a certain alloy for its springs that they heat-treat, then put under compression for a month, then release and measure. If they springs don't return to memory, they fail QC and are recycled.

When I see things like this:

Nothing stands out in mind about the scope except mine has a parallax issue. Not trying to dump on teh thread but passing word that the dealer I spoke to said he has heard of 4 with the same problem. The cross hairs move if you move your eye behind the scope. I have been chasing accuracy issues with a CZ and I think most of it came from the scope. I can get the cross hairs to move 2 inches at 100 yards by moving my head around.

Anyhow athlon wants me to box her up and send it back in for repair or replacement. Just to be clear, this is the 6-24X50 in MIL FFP one.

Do you want question marks about your scope when you're dialing in a new rifle? Not me. It takes me about 30 minutes to drive to the closest ranges.

If I'm out in the desert, it takes at least an hour to get there, and another 30-45 minutes to set up my steel.

I'll usually either have hundreds of dollars of ammo on me for the trip, or have spent at least an hour that I could have spent pushing my babies in the swings out back, talking with my wife, doing yard work, etc.

Does it make any bit of sense for me to skimp on my optics, considering all that I've gone through to get to my shooting trip?

No it does not. The worst possible thing to happen with my gear is for there to be a planned failure point that ruins everything else with the trip, whether that's a flat tire, stuck in the mud, forgot water, or a garbage scope that doesn't track, has no parallax control, with plastic or pot metal gears.

Do not be tempted to buy something that seems too good to be true, because it is. Guys/gals, we see this every time almost when running courses. People show up with unknown quantity optics, and guess what? They have a terrible experience for 2-3 days unless there's a loaner available. There is more than one reason why I bring loaners to courses besides rifle failures.