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Rifle Scopes Athlon tracking?

BJames

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Minuteman
Jan 20, 2014
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Alaska
Tried a few search’s here, but didn’t come up with much. I’m delving into the rimfire world on a CZ platform and can’t decide between SWFA 10x and athlon lower priced optic. I have experience with SWFA, mine tracks like a beast (it’s committed to another project-luring a new shooter into our world) and haven’t heard of one that doesn’t. That said, a variable mag optic would be a bit better for me and in that price range, is athlon holding on mechanical tracking consistency? Really not interested in individual perceptive glass quality or turret feel, purely how do these stack up in tracking? Whichever model sub $1k. Oh and yes, I’m looking at SWFA variable magnification models but the fixed power versions are really appealing cost wise.
 
I have two Argos btr 6-24 ($350or so) one of which I use on my 22 the other on a 308 gas gun so they really get run through some elevation that track REPEATABLY I don’t know how true they track to 1milper 1 mil dialed exactly but have used them pretty extensively and have found them both to return to zero perfectly and every time I go to the range my dope gets me hits on 1moa plates at 1,000 yards I am the farthest thing from an expert on the subject but my experience with them has been positive tracking wise that being said I would lean more towards the ares line as the reticle in the Argos is very thick which becomes an issue on the 22 also I know you said you don’t wana hear about subjective things like glass quality but I upgraded the 22 to an ares etr because I could not resolve my dot drill targets past 50 yds with the Argos and I’m young with good eye sight
 
FWIW I have a number of Athlon scopes from the Argos up through the Cronus btr and I would recommend every one of them for one situation or another but my next Athlon will be a Midas Tac I think it’s a good option for a 22 and has gotten good reviews so far
 
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For Athlon under 1K you have lots of options that all track solid but I agree the Midas TAC is well worth a look for both price/performance. Otherwise you sir were dead right that in terms of mechanical performance the SWFAs are beasts and a great value for the money.
If any gripe can be made about the Athlons its the turret feel. the Midas TACs seem to be trending though in the right direction. The company is developing a reputation for listening to their customers suggestions/feedback and acting on them in a timely manner. Not to mention they have a solid reticle repertoire in their stable.
 
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For the money they are excellent optics. Even the cheap scopes tract excellent. Ive tested mine up to 25 MILS.
 
I have an Athlon Argos and two Athlon Midas BTR’s. I have spent a lot of time behind all dialing them repeatedly and I’ve never had any problem with them. I have never performed a formal tracking test but I have never missed a shot due to the scope. I know you aren’t interested in the glass really but the glass quality is well above it’s price point. If you give Doug at Camera Land a call they have the Athlon Midas BTR on sale right now for $339 which is an amazing deal. It is a SFP but the glass is exceptional for that price. I personally bought two from them.
 
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The Midas Tac 24x is what I now use on my 22LR. It's awesome glass in this price range and tracks true. Mine fell 5' to the floor from atop a tripod while I was looking thru it at a neighbor's house down the street. I figured it was hosed, but mounted it on top of my .22 anyway and shot it the next day. The thing tracked and held zero perfectly.
 
Just a few of the inexpensive Talos BTR's were slightly off, near as my friends and I could tell, like only 1-2 10ths by 10 mils. This is out of many scopes. I/we could have sent them back but most of us are inside of 5 mils usually,in which 1 click won't cause a miss on a 1-2 moa steel. Most of the time it's wind that causes us the miss. Even so, most ballistic programs have a correction factor that will compensate for tracking being off.

BTW, people don't realize that many scopes don't track perfectly, often off 1-2%, even expensive ones. Heck, not having the parallax set perfectly will do about the same thing.
 
i also have the midas tac 6-24x on my cz for rimfire prs. i am by no means a marksmen as this is my first year competing in ANY discipline of shooting but i can say with confidence, my misses are on me and my inability to build a stable position.

it zeroed with no problems, setting the zero stop is a breeze, i've dialed up to 10.5 mils for a 300 yard shot, hit and then returned to zero and hit at 50 yards with a center punch.

i have never done a true tracking test but my attempt at a box test turned out ok.

keep in mind i'm only shooting 22lr but that is also what you are shooting so you should be good to go.
 
Just a few of the inexpensive Talos BTR's were slightly off, near as my friends and I could tell, like only 1-2 10ths by 10 mils. This is out of many scopes. I/we could have sent them back but most of us are inside of 5 mils usually,in which 1 click won't cause a miss on a 1-2 moa steel. Most of the time it's wind that causes us the miss. Even so, most ballistic programs have a correction factor that will compensate for tracking being off.

BTW, people don't realize that many scopes don't track perfectly, often off 1-2%, even expensive ones. Heck, not having the parallax set perfectly will do about the same thing.
And also if need to dial more than 5mil..thats pretty much 5-800yards and shooters error most likely 3-5x chance missing target vs .1mill off..:)
 
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I have one of the Argos BTRs on my rimfire, Steve123 convinced me to buy, and the guys at Cameralandny gave me a pretty good deal on. I haven't had it long, but so far it's returned to zero every time, from 2 mils at 100yds. to 6.5 mils at 200.
 
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My Ares BTR and Cronus BTR both track well, the ares would be a good rimfire scope and it is well under 1K.
 
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Ran a vertical tracking test on my Ares ETR a few weeks ago. Shot it for one shot, dialed it up one mil and fired again etc through 8 mils. Let the rifle cool, dialed it back to zero and repeated, then repeated it all over again. Ended up with little 3 shot groups running up the vertical line very nicely, so it tracks straight, and measured correctly plus my scope and level are mounted true. Winner winner.
 
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Ran a vertical tracking test on my Ares ETR a few weeks ago. Shot it for one shot, dialed it up one mil and fired again etc through 8 mils. Let the rifle cool, dialed it back to zero and repeated, then repeated it all over again. Ended up with little 3 shot groups running up the vertical line very nicely, so it tracks straight, and measured correctly plus my scope and level are mounted true. Winner winner.

I’ll say! Good deal, thanks again everyone. I appreciate all the feedback.
 
I'm not as fussed about tracking accuracy as I am about tracking repeatability. If its consistently off 2% so what. It's a known.
 
I'm not as fussed about tracking accuracy as I am about tracking repeatability. If its consistently off 2% so what. It's a known.

Agree 100%. I adjust turret value in my ballistic solver of choice, helped to true my dope quite a bit.