Discover why the ARKEN EP5 has claimed the top spot as the ultimate optic in this comprehensive review. Unparalleled clarity, precision, and quality make it the go-to choice for discerning shooters.
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How do budget scopes perform for precision rifle shooting? We test six to find out. Precision By Alfredo Rico
J
ust spent your money on a precision rifle and now don’t have the cash to buy a premium scope? We’ve all been there. A few years ago, I would have said, “Save your money until you can buy once and cry once.” But recently, optics companies have improved their budget-friendly lines. Being curious and dubious about this crop of new scopes, I rounded up optics that get a lot of buzz and tested them to see what ones I’d have confidence using in a competition.
When choosing the criteria for PRS-style shooting, I look for low dispersion glass, a first focal plane (FFP) reticle, and a Christmas tree-style mil reticle. You can be competitive with- out these, but the path has its challenges. The criteria quickly narrowed the field to the Athlon BTR GEN2 HD 4.5-27×50, Arken Optics USA EP5 5-25x56, Sightmark Latitude 6.25-25x56, Primary Arms GLx 6-24x50, Riton 5 Conquer 5-25×56, and Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56. At $529, the Arken EP5 was substantially the least expensive of the group. The rest were between $840 and $1,087.
By First Last Photos by First Last
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Primary Arms Athena BPR
Sightmark PRS
Sightmark Latitude 6.25-25x56
Primary Arms GLx 6-24x50 FFP Rifle Scope - Illuminated ACSS Athena BPR MIL Reticle
What’s Important? When scoring the scopes, I gave the most weight to glass clarity, turret tracking, and build durabil- ity. Clarity is important in finding your targets, reading wind con- ditions, and seeing impacts. The better the glass, the sharper the image, the wider tonality of colors, and finer details you will see. You can’t hit a target you don’t see. Reliable and repeatable tracking will give you consistent impacts shot after shot as you zip up and down the elevation. If there is slop in the turret or it fails to return to zero, it will cause misses and make you doubt your rifle’s DOPE. Without a durable build, a common bump or fall can cause the lenses to shift, erector assemblies to bind, or the turret system to go out of whack. A great warranty will not save a scope that keeps breaking. Price carried weight only after the above performance stan- dards were met. If I can’t trust the scope, I will not recommend it, no matter the price. Testing Before evaluating the scopes, I meticulously leveled them, set the turrets at the optical center, and adjusted the diopter ring to get a crisp reticle.
Glass
Low dispersion
Low dispersion, multicoated
Tube Diameter
34mm
Glass
in the elevation turret, making it difficult to tell if I dialed 8.5 or 8.4 mils on the closely spaced turret markings. All these little things put the Sightmark at the bottom of my list. MSRP: $840 sightmark.com 5. Primary Arms GLx 6-24x50 The best features of this Primary Arms are the reticle, the push-but- ton zero stop, and the knurled turret caps. The ACSS Athena BPR reticle has everything you need, including two ranging reticles, a chevron center, and .2 mil marks on its horizontal stadia. The grid- ded dots are the right size to not obscure your impacts. In brightly lit conditions, optical quality was very good, but with gray skies, the image started to get washed out at 9X. Above 17X, it was degraded too much to be useful. I found the eyebox finicky and would lose the image with little head movement. When you are shooting high and low positions, its beneficial to have an eyebox that is lenient with head position. MSRP: $850 primaryarms.com
Total Elevation Adjustment Total Windage Adjustment
31 mils
Tube Diameter
30mm
Total Elevation Adjustment Total Windage Adjustment
17.5 mils
20 mils
Turret Features
Zero stop
11.6 mils
Adjustment Per Revolution
10 mils
Locking, zero reset, zero stop, hardened steel
Turret Features
Parallax
20 yds.
Adjustment Per Revolution
Eye Relief
4.2 to 4.7 in.
10 mils
before performing another optical tracking test.
I tested the optical quality by looking at dense vegetation and trees as well as high contrast structures. The many shades of greens, browns, and grays, leaf shapes, and branch sizes tested the scope’s dynamic range, contrast, resolution, and depth of field. High contrast areas revealed any chromatic aberration. I looked at objects from 100 yards to 800 yards. I ran three head-to-head com- parisons on different days under different lighting conditions and compared each scope to a $2,000 U.S.-made Burris XTR Pro. Spoiler alert: the XTR Pro was always the better scope. I tested tracking two ways, optically and physically. For the optical tracking, I have a system that is reliable and repeatable and can see .1-mil deviations. I ran ele- vation the full length of the reticle
Reticle
PRS
Parallax
25 yds. to infinty
Illuminated
Yes
Pressing the return-to-zero lock’s button allows you to move the turret up or down.
Revolution markings on the turret body make dialing simpler.
Eye Relief
3.5 in.
Length
13.77 in.
Results: Good to Best All of the scopes had a great image at low to mid power and on a brightly lit day. What separated the good from the best was how they performed on gray days, when looking into shadows, and when magnified beyond 12X. The scopes that found the top spots had the best images across the magnification range and in good and poor lighting conditions. The optical and tall target tests agreed with each other. The Athlon and Arken tracked per- fectly in both cases, and the rest varied from 1 to 2 percent, which is acceptable and can be compen- sated for in a ballistic solver. All scopes passed the durability test with no effect on tracking or the reticle.
ACSS Athena BPR MIL
Reticle
Weight
33.1 oz.
Illuminated
Yes
Field of View @ 100 yds.
16.1 to 4 ft.
Length
15.3 in.
Weight
24.5 oz.
Field of View @ 100 yds.
15.2 to 4.2 ft.
and the windage to 5 mils on each side of center. For physical tracking, I performed a tall target test. Using the same point of aim on a round sticker, I shot three shots then dialed 10 mils and shot again. If the shots were 36 inches apart, it tracked perfectly. If it was more or less than that, I noted the difference in a percentage. A 2 percent difference in 36 inches is an acceptable deviation. For durability, I pounded each optic on a dense material using a force similar to that of dropping a rifle. I hit the scope on all axes
6. Sightmark Latitude 6.25-25x56 This is a beefy scope and rated to handle .50 BMG recoil. I had an issue with this scope right out of the box. The finish was uneven and discolored. The glass fared well in bright light, but on gray days, the weaknesses came out. Some areas were sharp, and other areas were soft. During the track- ing test, I noticed some backlash
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Riton PSR
Athlon APRS5
Riton 5 CONQUER 5-25×56
2. Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56 I’ve reviewed a lot of Vortex scopes in the last two years and find they offer some of the best scopes in this category. This one is no differ- ent. It easily has the best edge-to- edge clarity and definition of the group. Combined with its wide field of view, the scope seems to disap- pear, and you feel like the image is directly in front of you. Although the image was a little washed out in shadowed areas with an increase in magnification, it was usable to 25X. Its tracking deviated by 1 percent. This is a good scope that will serve a shooter a long time. MSRP: $900 vortexoptics.com
Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56
Glass
HD, fully multicoated
Left: The zero stop is located inside the cap.
Tube Diameter
34mm
Glass
XD, fully multicoated
Total Elevation Adjustment Total Windage Adjustment
31 mils
Tube Diameter
34mm
Right: The removable throw lever can be
Total Elevation Adjustment Total Windage Adjustment
31 mils
31 mils
Turret Features Zero stop Adjustment Per Revolution 10 mils Parallax
23 mils
installed on one of two ring locations.
Locking turrets, RevStop zero system
Turret Features
20 yds. to infinity
Adjustment Per Revolution
10 mils
Eye Relief
3.5 in.
4. Athlon BTR GEN2 HD 4.5-27×50 The BTR GEN2 HD with its 30mm maintube is the little riflescope that could. The glass on this scope was so similar in definition and color tones to the Vortex scope. This tells me they most likely share the same lens maker. The field of view was very close to the Vortex and Arken, which have the same magnification. When combined with the forgiving eyebox, I thought I was behind a larger scope. The scope got milky in shadowed areas around 15X and usable beyond 20X. Since the Athlon had perfect tracking, it remained a close fourth. MSRP: $1,087 athlonoptics.com
3. Riton 5 Conquer 5-25×56 V2 The 5 Conquer 5-25×56 was intro- duced in May 2023 and replaced the 5 Conquer 5-25x50. I had the old model for a while, but the new version is noticeably better. Aside from a larger objective lens, the glass is improved and slightly better than the Athlon at high magnifica- tion. The image was a little milky in shadowed areas at higher power but usable to 25X. The tracking was within 2 percent of 36 inches, which is acceptable. The Riton has a slight price advantage over the Athlon, and the turret clicks felt better. It also has a quality look and feel. I wish the turret body had revolution markings. MSRP: $960 ritonoptics.com
Parallax
15 yds. to infinity
Reticle
PSR
Athlon BTR GEN2 HD 4.5-27×50 APRS5 FFP IR MIL
Eye Relief
3.7 in.
Illuminated
Yes
Left: 24 mils of elevation travel is plenty for shooting out to 1,000 yards. Right: The zero stop is an easy-to-set brass locking plate.
Reticle
EBR-7C (mrad)
Length
15 in.
Glass
HD, multicoated
Illuminated
Yes
Weight
37 oz.
Tube Diameter
30mm
Length
14.6 in.
Field of View @ 100 yds.
27 to 3.4 ft.
Total Elevation Adjustment Total Windage Adjustment
24 mils
Weight
30.4 oz.
Field of View @ 100 yds.
24 to 5.2 ft.
24 mils
Turret Features
Zero stop
Vortex EBR-7C
2
Adjustment Per Revolution
10 mils
Parallax
25 yds. to infinity
Eye Relief
3.9 in.
.2 mil horizontal, .5 mil vertical
Reticle
Illuminated
Yes
Length
13.8 in.
Weight
27.3 oz.
Field of View @ 100 yds.
22.7 to 3.8 ft.
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Arken EP5 5-25x56mm FFP
Japanese ELD, multicoated
Glass
Tube Diameter
34mm
Total Elevation Adjustment Total Windage Adjustment
37 mils
19 mils
Turret Features
AZS zero stop
1. Arken Optics USA EP5 5-25x56 Right out of the box, I liked the EP5. The turrets were large with well-spaced and easy-to-read markings. The reticle is well designed and offers just the right thickness at all magnifications. My minor quip about the EP5 is that I wish it had .2 mil marks on the horizontal stadia. The Arken’s Japanese-made ED glass is almost on par with the Strike Eagle, but it takes scrutiny to notice the differences. The glass gets milky in shadowy areas at 25X, but at 20X, the image is still clear. Optical tracking was dead on. Its price makes me wonder what corners are being cut, but in the end, the EP5 earned its top spot by getting a lot of little things right. The lowest price was the cherry on top. MSRP: $529 arkenopticsusa.com
Adjustment Per Revolution
10 mils
The turret innards are stainless steel, which assures precision, repeatability, and durability.
Parallax
25 yds. to infinity
Eye Relief
3.4 in.
Reticle
VPR
Illuminated
Yes
Length
14 in.
Weight
39.2 oz.
Field of View @ 100 yds.
25.3 to 4.9 ft.
Arken VPR
An example of milkiness at high power. The image looks a bit washed out, and definition is compromised.
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