Rifle Scopes Athlon Ares Turret upgrade?

[SlimySquirrel]

Seems like they are listening.



Anyone else had any time with the new turret?

Love to know if it's an interchangeable part because I would be all over one if so.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

It is not an interchangeable part, I am sorry to report

 

[supercorndogs]

Looks to me like they are switching to a splined turret.

 

[SlimySquirrel]

It is not an interchangeable part, I am sorry to report

Thats a shame but makes sense for a number of reasons!
Thanks Doug.

 

[rdmarco]

I just received a new ares 4.5-27 on Sunday. I can confirm it has the upgraded turrets. (removable with a coin slot on the top, no hex screws, I assume these are the "upgraded" turrets?).

 

[rdmarco]

Here is what the turrets on my new Ares look like. As I haven't owned one before, I can't really compare, but I can clearly hear and feel the clicks.

 

[rdmarco]

I mounted and zeroed the scope Sunday, on the only rifle I had without a scope - an old mark-x mini-mauser in .221 fireball. It shot well with the ares.

 

[ViP]

I mounted and zeroed the scope Sunday, on the only rifle I had without a scope - an old mark-x mini-mauser in .221 fireball. It shot well with the ares. View attachment 6897969

Can You comment on the quality, resolution, tracking, etc.? Thank you.

 

[rdmarco]

Can You comment on the quality, resolution, tracking, etc.? Thank you.

I am new to FFP scopes, so I can't compare on that basis. Overall, the optics seem really nice, very bright and clear. (I have had it out on two sunny days, and one partly cloudy). The eyebox seems a bit tight at max power, but not unusable. I haven't done a real tracking test, but it seems trustable so far (I have dialed up and down 2-4 minutes, right-left 2 minutes). I will try to do a better test of tracking soon. I can tell you it holds zero well so far.

I have a couple of older zeiss hunting scopes, and the ares compares well in clarity and brightness with them. brighter even.

 

[rdmarco]

OK, the weather hasn't been good for shooting here lately. I finally did a rudimentary tracking test. Here are the results. distance: 99 yards (laser rangefinder), I held at the lower left bull on the target, and clicked 8MOA to the corners. 3 shots per corner.

So, obviously I fired 3 initial shots at the lower left bull, (circled) clicked up 8 MOA, fired 3 shots, clicked 8MOA right, fired 3 shots etc. The last shot I badly pulled. ( the one to the far lower left ). My opinions? The scope does seem to track well, and return to zero. The glass is clear and bright. The turrets? well, they could be a little better, at the price I paid, anyways. Although I can clearly hear and feel the clicks, it is easy to runover, or miss a stop. It's a little annoying, that is all.

 

[SlimySquirrel]

Yeah, I have just removed the "O" ring from mine. The clicks are clearly audible now and more definitive.

I'm thinking a turret with less diameter would work better as it would make it harder to turn but it is how it is and it tracks really well.

 

[Stickshift]

Does anyone know if scopes with the new turrets are available yet? I was at CameralandNY's store recently and they only had scopes with the old turrets on hand.

 

[rdmarco]

They were out months ago. Mine came with them back in April.

 

[Stickshift]

Where did you order it from? Cameraland might have had old stock in their store.

 

[steve123]

Yeah, I have just removed the "O" ring from mine. The clicks are clearly audible now and more definitive.

I'm thinking a turret with less diameter would work better as it would make it harder to turn but it is how it is and it tracks really well.

Making a 10 mil turret of less diameter wouldn't be a good idea, the click spacing would be too small.

I've got the newer splined version 4.5-27, it's my favorite scope for the money, mostly because I like the reticle of all Athlon's lineup, but it's a great scope that I really can't fault. I like that it is shorter and lighter than other scopes it would compete with.

Yesterday I showed two guys I had met out at the local place to shoot LR in the FS. They were extremely impressed with it, they were shocked at the price, value, feature ratio.

 

[supercorndogs]

Pretty nice scopes. It was really nice they went to a splined turret.

 

[flatland1]

Hmm - that's a little odd. I bought seven of the Ares 4.5-27x50 mil scopes in my initial order from Athlon, sold three & put three on custom rifles of my own. All six of those have adequate click detents, though they're not as distinct or audible as those of the Cronus or the newer Ares ETR scopes. Need to get the one remaining Ares out of the box & check the knobs on it. Having three Kahles K624i AMR scopes on my comp Bighorn rifles - with the best turrets of any scope I've handled or shot - I've gotten kinda picky. But these Ares scopes are at the very least usable in my estimation. They track & return to zero reliably, optical quality is good, I like the reticle, and I feel for the price level, they're a very good value. Will see what turret knobs I get next time I place an order, but it's not a deal-breaker for me, one way or the other.

Oh yeah - the 7th scope out of the first batch has been taking up space in the inventory safe - think it's about time I pulled the old Nikon 30mm 4-16x50 sfp tactical scope off the little Howa Mini in 20 Tactical I just finished and replace it with the left-over, lucky #7 Ares. This little Bartlein-barreled Mini shoots plenty good enough to deserve a good ffp scope with a usable reticle. It's still got the Nikon on it in the photo...

 

[SlimySquirrel]

Amazing scope for the money no doubt.
I'll keep mine and it will go on my Son's rig but I do wish it had the new turrets!
Very keen on the Cronus BTR for my new 6.5 Target rig and would also love a look through the ETR to check how tight the eye box is at full mag.

Has anyone looked through both and can comment on the difference in eye relief?

 

[shields shtr]

Just got my Ares. It has the hex screws, which I guess is not the “updated” version. Turrets were definitely underwhelming.

I do have the Cronus BTR as well, and as far as eye box goes the Cronus might be slightly more forgiving, but not much. Hopefully I can get the upgraded or new turrets on the Ares, I like everything else about the scope.

 

[SlimySquirrel]

Just got my Ares. It has the hex screws, which I guess is not the “updated” version. Turrets were definitely underwhelming.

I do have the Cronus BTR as well, and as far as eye box goes the Cronus might be slightly more forgiving, but not much. Hopefully I can get the upgraded or new turrets on the Ares, I like everything else about the scope.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the turrets even with the O ring removed as the clicks are now too easy to move and can easily be shifted during transport.
Gotta love the way they have listened and fixed the problem though.
Would love a look through the ETR.

 

[steve123]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the turrets even with the O ring removed as the clicks are now too easy to move and can easily be shifted during transport.
Gotta love the way they have listened and fixed the problem though.
Would love a look through the ETR.

That's what the Midas TAC or ETR solves. Fantastic turrets, not quite like $3000 plus turrets but very nice.

Hopefully Athlon will come out with a Ares BTR2 and upgrade the turrets, nevertheless I like the Ares a lot and the turrets aren't bad. I especially like the APLR3 retcle which is about as good as it gets.