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Rifle Scopes Athlon Argos.. is it me or the scope?

Snip-er

Private
Minuteman
Dec 23, 2017
91
1
Just received my Athlon Argos 6-24×50 scope. Really do like it out of the box. So i took it outside and was looking at an object about 500-600 Yds away. The target was blurry and I had it set on 6 mag. I turned the focus all the way counter clockwise untill it stopped and it was still blurry? I tried going clockwise and it just got worse, so the best it looked was turned all the way counter clockwise until it stopped and it was not anywhere near focused or crisp. Is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Or does it seem to be the optics? Thanks for your time.

P.S I also adjusted the mag up until 12 and it was way worse, so just to say I did adjust the mag too.
 
Argos BTR, the model that has parallax. You adjusted the eye diopter at the rear which is for focusing the reticle, did you adjust the parallax? The knob on the left hand side. With the rifle still move your head left and right, you will know when your parallax is correctly turned when the cross hairs don’t move across the target but stay on the one spot. That should also coincide with looking in focus but you may have to adjust the diopter once you reach the point that the cross hairs and target are in the same image plane.
 
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Yeah but even if the parralex isn' set perfect, shouldn't the picture still be clear?
 
If it’s close to perfect then it should look close but if the parallax is way off than the image quality will be way off as the lenses aren’t in the correct location.
 
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Set your parallax to infinity, turn your mag full, run your ocular all the way in. Look at the blue sky or smooth bright wall. Look at the reticle ONLY, while spinning the ocular out until the reticle is crystal clear. Close your eyes often and reopening while making the final adjustments if needed.

Once the ocular is set, now look out the window or whatever and spin the parallax knob until the target is crystal clear. You can then back of the zoom for a brighter image. If it does not clear up, you indeed have a issue. If all is good, the clearest position should also keep the reticle and target in the same relationship even if you move your eye axis.




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Diver, when I'm trying this adjustment, it doesn' matter what the distance is? Like if I try this on my wall as u said, dobubhave to be so far from the wall for this to work? It' night time now, so can I do this in a well lit room right now in my house?
 
Go into a dark bathroom or closet and turn the illumination on. Haven’t tried it myself but read about it in here and have been meaning to see the results.
 
Ok, so I just did what you stated and what MRiles posted. I now have a clear reticle. But, now my mag is set at the highest as is the parallax. So now what?
 
Also, sorry I didn't see the sticky guys. My bad. So, how do I know what to set the parallax at now and the Magnification? How do I know what to use for certain yardages? I am a rookie at this, so sorry and thanks for your help.
 
Also, sorry I didn't see the sticky guys. My bad. So, how do I know what to set the parallax at now and the Magnification? How do I know what to use for certain yardages? I am a rookie at this, so sorry and thanks for your help.


Snip-er, from your post recently you are VERY knew to these things. Where are you located and maybe we could get someone to help you out in person or a training class you could attend.

Figuring out how to adjust parallax is something that shouldn’t be this difficult.
 
I'm located in Southeast Michigan. I am not new to shooting, I was Infantry in the Army, but back in my day we only used Iron Sights, no scopes. I can shoot my ass off, thats not the issue, but I really am new to scopes for sure. And, I am just getting back into rifle shooting for distance, as I am a handgun guy, but really wanting to get into long range shooting for fun.
 
You really need to do this stuff with the scope mounted, it's much harder when it's not. It's important to stay in the middle of the eyebox (which means you have the full FOV in the scope itself) doing this while making all the adjustments.

The way Diver described is the most common method but you can do it at any distance past 10Y. Just go back and forth from the diopter, to the focus, on a target until you have a clean focused reticle and a clear image.

Later on you can practice dialing out parallax completely, which takes more finesse.

 
Also, sorry I didn't see the sticky guys. My bad. So, how do I know what to set the parallax at now and the Magnification? How do I know what to use for certain yardages? I am a rookie at this, so sorry and thanks for your help.

You set magnification at whatever power you want or like, you adjust parallax knob until you can see the image crystal clear. These two things can change and you will have to make adjustments depending on your shooting situations.
 
Omg you guys.. you that’s true but lame. If you want to ensure you have the best the scope offers you do exactly what I suggested.. same with a $250,000 camera and HD lens..

Back focus is a gear above this discussion.


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I really like your advice, it's really technical and explains it in a way to get the most out of it. You just can't do that in the field. I hunt, idk where the deer will come from so my parallax adjustment is normally fixed at a certain point. If I am able to adjust perfectly before taking my shot, I will. If not, I'll adjust to where it's clear enough, sometimes it's not perfect.
 
You want to ensure your ocular is adjusted well before your hunt, match etc. I mark a sharpie on my scopes bodies so when someone else uses one of my systems I can come back to ground zero.

Parallax is something you do at the FFP when you decide we’re your target is, might be or what the best field strategy might be. For target shooting one distance, ya, you might bob your head up and down for the perfect solution.

Just removed if you ocular is jacked, not setup for your personal eye prescription you will be chasing your ass when working the parallax.




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I think the OP was able to successfully set the diopter probably to his eyesight which is why I replied the way i did. I agree, the ocular must be adjusted before you venture out to use the scope. Mine is set to my eyesight already and the reticle is perfectly in focus (for me). My comment about leaving it fixed or making adjustments in the field was strictly for the parallax adjustment and magnification. Hope this helps eliminate confusion, if any, to the OP.
 
OP

The ocular that you were adjusting original is how you make the reticle sharp. The knob on the left is how you make the target sharp. The magnification is how you make the target bigger or smaller. The ocular should be adjusted once and left alone. The magnification will be adjusted pretty frequently depending on how big you want the target to be and how much field of view you want. The parallax will be adjusted any time the distance to your target changes.
 
Thanks Diver and everyone for all your help. I understand how all this goes together now to get your sight picture. I thought I knew what parallax was, which I do to an extent, but I didn't realize parallax also made the target sharp. I thought it was just to keep your reticle from moving if you moved your head around or didn't have it centered in the ocular. Thanks again for everyones help. Much appreciated.
 
Well, this morning I tried to set the Parallax. I took it down to the lowest mag setting which is 6. So my parallax setting goes from 0-11. Is 11 supposed to be infinity? Anyway, I had it set on 11 when I set the diopter last night like you all said. So looking through the scope out the window because it's 4 degrees outside. I turned the parallax down from 11 a click at a time all the way down to zero and nothing changed. It is still blurry and not a crisp sight picture at all. I don't have it set up on the rifle as I don't have the rifle yet, but I still hold it secure enough that I should be able to get a clear picture. So is this scope bad? Something wrong with the Parallax? I understand this isn't a high end scope, but damn I do expect to have a clear sight picture. Thanks for your help.
 
Snip-er, it shouldn't be this hard, perhaps there is something wrong with your scope. Go down to the local gun store and look through any scope with a adjustable parallax to see if you have the same problem.

For now do not make the adjustments on 6x, use 24x. Pick something in your yard past 10Y, focus on it with the side focus parallax knob, first make gross adjustments to the ocular diopter to clear up the reticle, then go back to the side focus again and make the image clear as can be again, now back to the diopter and fine tune the crispness of the reticle. By now both the reticle and the image should be about perfect. If this doesn't work send the scope back.

Guy's, my eyes fluctuate - type 2 diabetes. Also sometimes I wear glasses, like during a match, and sometimes I don't, especially when shooting air rifles. I probably am adjusting my diopter, which immediately affects where the focus is and parallax, more than anybody on this site. If there is time and I feel the need I adjust to fine tune all three, the reticle focus, the image focus, and alleviating parallax as much as possible.
 
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Well, this morning I tried to set the Parallax. I took it down to the lowest mag setting which is 6. So my parallax setting goes from 0-11. Is 11 supposed to be infinity? Anyway, I had it set on 11 when I set the diopter last night like you all said. So looking through the scope out the window because it's 4 degrees outside. I turned the parallax down from 11 a click at a time all the way down to zero and nothing changed. It is still blurry and not a crisp sight picture at all. I don't have it set up on the rifle as I don't have the rifle yet, but I still hold it secure enough that I should be able to get a clear picture. So is this scope bad? Something wrong with the Parallax? I understand this isn't a high end scope, but damn I do expect to have a clear sight picture. Thanks for your help.

Oh, lol, that's the illumination knob!!! NOT the diopter. The diopter is at the very edge of the ocular at the end of the scope. It's probably dialed all the way in so it's hard for someone not knowing where it is to notice it's there.
 
Oh, lol, that's the illumination knob!!! NOT the diopter. The diopter is at the very edge of the ocular at the end of the scope. It's probably dialed all the way in so it's hard for someone not knowing where it is to notice it's there.

Steve, your right, I'm an idiot. I thought there Parallax was right at the front of the ocular. I haven't put the battery in it yet, but I will do that lol. So, my parallax is on the left side exactly where my elevation is on the top and the windage is on the right side. Boy do I feel stupid. Jeez.


Steve, thanks for your time as well, I appreciate it. I also have type 2 and my eyes play with me as well, so I am sure I will have to do a lot of what you do as well.

Thanks again for all your time, and I really appreciate your help.
 
It was a head scratcher for a while. Yeah, no problem. All of us start a place of ignorance, for years and years, way back when, I didn't know what any of this stuff was.
 
Now for clarification on when you set up a scope or when you are trying to really learn to set your parallax for non-movement, you do so whenever possible, at maximum Zoom/Magnification power.

So, is there a distance I want to do this at when it's set at max Mag/Zoom power?
 
Also, I now have a clear crisp picture and reticle. Again, appreciate everyone taking their time to help with this matter.
 
Don't these scopes come with instructions?

Edit: never mind the instructions suck.
 
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