Athlon Ares 2.5-15x Overkill for Hunting?

Buck Wilde

Buck Wilde

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 6, 2020
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FL
#1
Before covid ruined everything, I was excited about shooting and hunting, so I bought a lot of junk. I got myself a Tikka T3x in 6.5 Creedmoor.

I thought I would hunt deer with it, which has never happened. I am trying to get back on track and do whatever has to be done in order to get some kind of hunting done, whether it's deer, pigs, or bears. I'll pay a guide. I don't care.

When I got this thing, I was all excited about mrad tactical reticles, because II had just learned to use one. I decided I wanted one for the rifle. I didn't want excessive minimum magnification, because I wanted a reasonably large field of view at the low end. I didn't think I needed total high-end snob glass. At the time, my decision was to get an Athlon ARES BTR GEN2 HD 2.5-15×50 APRS5 FFP IR MIL, which, obviously, goes from 2.5x to 15x.

Is this a crazy scope to use for hunting? It's on the bulky side. My wild guess is that I'll never shoot at any animal over 200 yards away.
 
#2
Yeah, I'll go out on a limb and say that's too much scope. I mean, not so much the magnification range. 2.5x is a nice bottom end and I've never complained about having too much magnification on the top end, but the bulk is what you could do without. If youre still hunting, i suppose it doesn't matter one way or the other, but if you're gonna be humping around with the rifle, lack of bulk is a good thing.

My .308 wears a 2-10x. My 200-300 yard rifle wears a 1-6x LPVO. At 200 yards, that 6.5 is gonna be shooting flat. All you really NEED something with a simple duplex reticle. The Gen II Vortex PST is great for what youre talking about.

If you're worried about dusk and dawn shooting, then you can probably justify something that's gonna gather more light. The Athlon Helos 2-10x is getting really good reviews and is pretty compact for what it is. I've gotten behind one a couple of times and it looked good, but it was in ideal conditions.

You could also go old school and grab some flavor of 3-9x40. Good prices on those and should suit you.
 
#3
I was hoping for a scope like the one I learned to use, but maybe that's stupid under 250 yards; 6.5 Creedmoor isn't going to drop much.

I was also hoping to have some fun shooting targets at longer ranges, but I never got around to it, and I have an RPR anyway.

I have a useless K31 with a Burris Fullfield II, which is somewhere around 3-9x, and I have a Vortex Diamondback 4-12x.

On the up side, I got the light version of the T3x, so that knocked off a pound.

Maybe I'll just go with it.
 
#4
Funny you mention the Viper. Tonight I found out I have two of them. I knew I had the Gen2 5-25x, but apparently I also have the Gen1 6-24x. I had forgotten all about it. I stuck it on a TC Venture in .204 Ruger and forgot about it. Won't help me with hunting, unfortunately.

I see they make 1-6x and 2-10x. I don't know if I want to go as low as 6x on the top end, but it's probably fine.

The real question is whether I'll actually do anything other than shoot targets.
 
#6
I prefer a little more magnification on a hunting scope. One year on a shorter than ears pronghorn hunt, my dad was on the binoculars and told me it was a doe. Through my scope I caught the prongs on what turned out to be a young buck, and that cemented in that a little more scope doesn't hurt. I am weight conscious so I run LHTs and don't feel like I'm giving anything up.
 
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#7
A light weight 2-7 X or 3-9 X is all ya need for 200 yd big game. I used the Leupold duplex reticle, for fast target acquisition.
The lighted center dot would be nice in dark heavy timber or low light situations.
 
#8
2.5-15, 3-18, 4-16 is about the perfect magnification range for a hunting rifle to cover everything. Sure you may not need more than a 2-7 for the hunting you think you’ll be doing, but what if you find yourself in a situation where you do? Same with dialable turrets and a reticle with holds. If you want to go out west with that rifle where shots may be considerably further, or you sit on a power line stand, or you just want to go shoot the rifle at LR targets you have that ability without much (if any) penalty.

That scope isn’t huge or overly heavy, it’s not like you’re talking about a 3lbs razor or something.
 
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#9
15 isn’t too much in my opinion. I run a 3-9, 2-10, and 1-4 on my main hunting rifles. Most of my shots are going to be 200 or less and most falling into the 60 or less yards. For the shorter ones the 3-9 or 1-4 get most of the action. The 3-9 is on a 44 mag rifle, and the 1-4 is on a 10.5 inch 300 BO, both are my short range blasters. The 2-10 is sitting on an 18 inch 7-08 that I hope to stretch some this season.

Extra mag is always nice to look and see what is actually out there. Maybe not waste your time calling it closer if you don’t want it
 
#10
I run two different Bushnell 4.5-18 (LRSH & LRSTi), a 3-15 Minox, and sometimes a 5-25 Minox on my hunting rifles. Never thought I had too much magnification. I always have my scope turned down to minimum magnification for any close shots I may have. I have shot several deer and coyotes past 350 yard at 4.5-6x, but I will crank it up if time permits. I am considering the same Athlon Ares BTR for my clip on thermal since the parallax goes down to 15 yards. My 3-15 only goes down to 50 and it isn't ideal for the clip on.
The picture is a fawn at 150 yards at 4.5x through the LRSTi.
323.JPG
 
#11
Buck Wilde said:
Before covid ruined everything, I was excited about shooting and hunting, so I bought a lot of junk. I got myself a Tikka T3x in 6.5 Creedmoor.

I thought I would hunt deer with it, which has never happened. I am trying to get back on track and do whatever has to be done in order to get some kind of hunting done, whether it's deer, pigs, or bears. I'll pay a guide. I don't care.

When I got this thing, I was all excited about mrad tactical reticles, because II had just learned to use one. I decided I wanted one for the rifle. I didn't want excessive minimum magnification, because I wanted a reasonably large field of view at the low end. I didn't think I needed total high-end snob glass. At the time, my decision was to get an Athlon ARES BTR GEN2 HD 2.5-15×50 APRS5 FFP IR MIL, which, obviously, goes from 2.5x to 15x.

Is this a crazy scope to use for hunting? It's on the bulky side. My wild guess is that I'll never shoot at any animal over 200 yards away.
Click to expand...
My 6.5 Creedmoor sports an Athlon Helos BTR GEN2 2-12x42mm Mil which is a bit smaller, lighter, with a wider field of view and it's reticle is better suited to fast closer range shooting.

But there's nothing wrong with your Ares 2.5-15x50 choice either, depending on where you hunt. My view is the Ares is better at ranges over 200 yds than under.
 
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#13
BobinNC said:
My 6.5 Creedmoor sports an Athlon Helos BTR GEN2 2-12x42mm Mil with is a bit smaller, lighter, with a wider field of view and it's reticle is better suited to fast closer range shooting.

But there's nothing wrong with your Ares 2.5-15x50 choice either, depending on where you hunt. My view is the Ares is better at ranges over 200 yds than under.
Click to expand...
I like the HG2 2-12 as well compared to the 2.5-15 for close and fast.
 
#14
I have hunted coyotes with an SWFA 3-15x, and my Ares BTR 2.5-15x completely blows that scope away with better glass quality, good illumination, and a built-in zero stop that takes some of the guesswork out of the equation. The tree reticle is also helpful for holding over when you need to make a quick decision.

Before you go out and buy something else, run what you have. It's more than suitable to get started, and you might find that it's good enough to help you bag the game you're looking for. Experience is going to be your most valuable asset, so get out there!
 
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#15
i use a 3-15 Leupold VX5 for hunting on my .25-06. Normally I run it on about 5x, but it’s always nice to have the extra power. When the opportunity arises, have used all 15X. Taken quite a few deer with this combination in the last few years.

I think the power of the Athlon you are choosing will be just fine. You don’t have to use it all all the time, but when something catches your eye and its hard to make out…..you’ll be glad you have the 15x
 
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#16
Run it!

My hunting rifles used to wear 10x max power scopes but now my primary 2 wear a Cronus 4.5-29 and Razor Gen 3.

Doesn’t sound you will be hiking for miles so a few more ounces won’t matter.
 
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