Oh it does with the 22" Rock Creek cut rifled +2 gas barrel on it. I just pulled that to review this new Rainier Ultramatch MOD2 barrel for them.
Rifle Scopes Athlon Ares ETR
- Thread starter levi8599
- Start date
Oh it does with the 22" Rock Creek cut rifled +2 gas barrel on it. I just pulled that to review this new Rainier Ultramatch MOD2 barrel for them.
I noticed the new Ares ETR has a machine screw in the thumb knob on the power ring.....Does anyone know was the screw size/thread pitch is on it? Further, would anyone know of a nice aftermarket knurled post that would fit? Further yet, would a post in that position interfere with the bolt throw in any of the magnification ranges? Thanks.
Did you call or email them? All their pre orders were shipped directly from Athlon and as I understand it, all preorders other than black MOA have been fulfilled. Athlon said black moa would be first week October to fulfill all those preorders.
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I'll have to check with them again, thanks. Waiting on a black mil. Haven't heard peep from them or Athlon.
Yea definitely email Doug or call them. They added Black and Brown to their in stock inventory on their website today.
Ordered a black mil as well called today because I haven’t heard from them and it turns out it will be here tomorow ups I’m sure they just didn’t get around to sending you tracking info either as I didn’t order until very late
Just got mine in yesterday in black MIL, and I'm very pleased with the turrets. Previous Athlon turrets were way too quiet for my taste, and they felt "soft" like they could slip between markings too easily in my opinion. These feel great to me, nice and crisp with a solid click as it turns!
At first I thought the turrets had a little bit of play, because the turret caps could wiggle just a tiny bit back and forth without clicking with no resistance. It turns out that was just a turret cap that had loosened up slightly in shipping, however, since once I tightened it down (I found a nickel is the best fit for the slot) to be snug it disappeared completely and there was no wiggle or slop in the turrets at all.
I'm not necessarily a scope connoisseur like many here, but I've felt up the knobs on a number of different scopes including S&B, Tangent Theta (used one of these for about 6 months, actually), and Kahles. My personal opinion is that these are my favorite turrets overall for a couple of reasons, though I admit I liked the feel of the TT turrets best. What I wasn't a fan of on the TT was that it was honestly a little difficult to tell if you were at .2 or .3, or .7/.8, at a glance because it was a 15 MIL/rev turret with very fine markings and the increased diameter never quite made up for it. Since these are 10 MIL/rev turrets I find that easier to spot at a glance. The S&B turrets were a bit too stiff for my taste, since I would occasionally get two clicks instead of one - especially on the MTC turrets with heavy clicks at the mil marks. I like the Kahles turrets equally compared to these, just because they're very similar, but I do like that these are just a little bit firmer and louder on each click.
As far as feel goes I'd say they're not quite as firm as the S&B double turn and multi turn turrets, a little bit "crunchier" than the TT turrets (similar force required, but not quite as smooth), and firmer than those of a Kahles. They are exactly on the marks, as they should be, and there's no ambiguity as to which click its on like the older "super soft" feeling Athlon turrets. The zero stop feels solid, which makes sense considering it appears to just be a solid brass ring with a little knob that hits another solid brass bump at the bottom of the turret.
The locking windage knob is a nice touch, and it feels sturdy enough that I'm not concerned with it breaking. You can feel a bit of texture as you pull it in and out, so it's not the smoothest locking knob I've felt, but it's snappy and gets the job done. The lock when closed is solid and the turret feel when pulled out is very close to identical to the elevation turret (as others mentioned, it's just ever so slightly softer).
The magnification knob to me feels nice and is just as tight as it needs to be without being too stiff. It feels nice and smooth, but I'll have to see how much that holds up with all the silt and dust that likes to blow in Colorado. The only real comparison I have here is to the TT, and it's way better than the TT just because the TT mag ring was so stiff it would twist your gun on your bipod if you didn't make sure to hold the gun in place when changing magnification (which is one of the common complaints about that scope). I have yet to test and see how accurate the magnification marks are, but to me it makes little difference since I just shoot at what looks right for the application.
The parallax adjustment is as smooth as the magnification ring, and I hope it stays that way through the dust and grit because it's nice. It's got about 180 degrees of rotation between the minimum (just under the 25 yard marking) and the maximum (dead on with the infinity marking). The stops on the adjustment knob feel reasonably solid, which is nice since some scopes just feel kind of mushy when they reach the end of the adjustment at either end. I personally appreciate the markings on it (25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 500, infinity) since it gives me a frame of reference to use even if they don't like up with the exact marked yardages. Testing is required to see if the markings match up to correctly remove parallax at the appropriate distance.
The illumination has 6 different brightness settings, with 1 being almost too dim to see and 6 being almost painfully bright if you're in a low-medium light setting. Realistically I would consider the settings from 2-5 to be the usable illumination settings with 4 looking the best (not too bright, not too dim) to my eye.
The diopter was easy to adjust, but it felt almost too easy to me. It's about as stiff as the magnification ring, and I just wish it was tighter so that I'd feel more confident that it wasn't ever going to be moved by accident or when installing/removing scope caps. For now I just put a witness mark in an out of the way location so that I can double check if I ever want to.
Speaking of scope caps, I was a little disappointed that this scope didn't come with any. The Ares BTR that I purchased for my first low budget rig came with a pair of flip up caps that were at least something even if they weren't Tenebrax quality (I actually broke the hinge on the ocular cap because the brim of my hat hit it one too many times under recoil, but it still pops on and off without issues for transport). I expected the same from their higher end offering, but it looks like I'll be looking for a nice pair that fits the scope tomorrow morning at the shop. Not a major concern, just one of those nice to haves that I was surprised to find excluded since it's bundled with their cheaper scopes.
I can't say too much about optical clarity, tracking, or durability yet since about all I've done is fondle the scope, look out windows, and mount it on my rifle. I should be running it in several matches in October and can give a little more feedback then.
Pictures attached are of the turret zero-stop mechanism and for @StringBender to see whether or not a threaded knob would interfere with bolt throw at maximum magnification. I don't believe it should interfere, but this picture is taken with a Nucleus action so YMMV if you have a 90* bolt throw.
At first I thought the turrets had a little bit of play, because the turret caps could wiggle just a tiny bit back and forth without clicking with no resistance. It turns out that was just a turret cap that had loosened up slightly in shipping, however, since once I tightened it down (I found a nickel is the best fit for the slot) to be snug it disappeared completely and there was no wiggle or slop in the turrets at all.
I'm not necessarily a scope connoisseur like many here, but I've felt up the knobs on a number of different scopes including S&B, Tangent Theta (used one of these for about 6 months, actually), and Kahles. My personal opinion is that these are my favorite turrets overall for a couple of reasons, though I admit I liked the feel of the TT turrets best. What I wasn't a fan of on the TT was that it was honestly a little difficult to tell if you were at .2 or .3, or .7/.8, at a glance because it was a 15 MIL/rev turret with very fine markings and the increased diameter never quite made up for it. Since these are 10 MIL/rev turrets I find that easier to spot at a glance. The S&B turrets were a bit too stiff for my taste, since I would occasionally get two clicks instead of one - especially on the MTC turrets with heavy clicks at the mil marks. I like the Kahles turrets equally compared to these, just because they're very similar, but I do like that these are just a little bit firmer and louder on each click.
As far as feel goes I'd say they're not quite as firm as the S&B double turn and multi turn turrets, a little bit "crunchier" than the TT turrets (similar force required, but not quite as smooth), and firmer than those of a Kahles. They are exactly on the marks, as they should be, and there's no ambiguity as to which click its on like the older "super soft" feeling Athlon turrets. The zero stop feels solid, which makes sense considering it appears to just be a solid brass ring with a little knob that hits another solid brass bump at the bottom of the turret.
The locking windage knob is a nice touch, and it feels sturdy enough that I'm not concerned with it breaking. You can feel a bit of texture as you pull it in and out, so it's not the smoothest locking knob I've felt, but it's snappy and gets the job done. The lock when closed is solid and the turret feel when pulled out is very close to identical to the elevation turret (as others mentioned, it's just ever so slightly softer).
The magnification knob to me feels nice and is just as tight as it needs to be without being too stiff. It feels nice and smooth, but I'll have to see how much that holds up with all the silt and dust that likes to blow in Colorado. The only real comparison I have here is to the TT, and it's way better than the TT just because the TT mag ring was so stiff it would twist your gun on your bipod if you didn't make sure to hold the gun in place when changing magnification (which is one of the common complaints about that scope). I have yet to test and see how accurate the magnification marks are, but to me it makes little difference since I just shoot at what looks right for the application.
The parallax adjustment is as smooth as the magnification ring, and I hope it stays that way through the dust and grit because it's nice. It's got about 180 degrees of rotation between the minimum (just under the 25 yard marking) and the maximum (dead on with the infinity marking). The stops on the adjustment knob feel reasonably solid, which is nice since some scopes just feel kind of mushy when they reach the end of the adjustment at either end. I personally appreciate the markings on it (25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 500, infinity) since it gives me a frame of reference to use even if they don't like up with the exact marked yardages. Testing is required to see if the markings match up to correctly remove parallax at the appropriate distance.
The illumination has 6 different brightness settings, with 1 being almost too dim to see and 6 being almost painfully bright if you're in a low-medium light setting. Realistically I would consider the settings from 2-5 to be the usable illumination settings with 4 looking the best (not too bright, not too dim) to my eye.
The diopter was easy to adjust, but it felt almost too easy to me. It's about as stiff as the magnification ring, and I just wish it was tighter so that I'd feel more confident that it wasn't ever going to be moved by accident or when installing/removing scope caps. For now I just put a witness mark in an out of the way location so that I can double check if I ever want to.
Speaking of scope caps, I was a little disappointed that this scope didn't come with any. The Ares BTR that I purchased for my first low budget rig came with a pair of flip up caps that were at least something even if they weren't Tenebrax quality (I actually broke the hinge on the ocular cap because the brim of my hat hit it one too many times under recoil, but it still pops on and off without issues for transport). I expected the same from their higher end offering, but it looks like I'll be looking for a nice pair that fits the scope tomorrow morning at the shop. Not a major concern, just one of those nice to haves that I was surprised to find excluded since it's bundled with their cheaper scopes.
I can't say too much about optical clarity, tracking, or durability yet since about all I've done is fondle the scope, look out windows, and mount it on my rifle. I should be running it in several matches in October and can give a little more feedback then.
Pictures attached are of the turret zero-stop mechanism and for @StringBender to see whether or not a threaded knob would interfere with bolt throw at maximum magnification. I don't believe it should interfere, but this picture is taken with a Nucleus action so YMMV if you have a 90* bolt throw.
Attachments
@ThePretzel, what caps are you planning on throwing on it? You mentioned Tenebraex caps. Are you planning on trying those? Just curious, I tried the objective cap that is supposed to fit the Cronus BTR and the adapter did not thread into the objective. Curious to what you find out if you go this route.
I have ran mine on my Nucleus for one club match now. I was able to take fourth shooting out to ~13xx yards. My only gripe so far is dot size on low magnification and i have noticed a couple times the focus changing when increasing the magnification. I hope to also give a more thorough review sometime soon.
My Ares BTR did not come with a set of caps. Interesting yours did.
Kyle
I have ran mine on my Nucleus for one club match now. I was able to take fourth shooting out to ~13xx yards. My only gripe so far is dot size on low magnification and i have noticed a couple times the focus changing when increasing the magnification. I hope to also give a more thorough review sometime soon.
My Ares BTR did not come with a set of caps. Interesting yours did.
Kyle
My Athlon that came with caps was an Argos BTR, not the Ares, which makes it seem even stranger that they were included since the Argos is about as inexpensive as it gets for Athlon.
As far as which scope caps I intend to use, I was planning to just pick up some inexpensive Butler Creek covers that are said to fit the Ares BTR so that I could check for proper fit since they're a bit more forgiving with the o-ring design instead of a threaded adapter.
I am putting a defender on the front for now. I think they are great and tough but I seem to be good at sliding them half way off sideways shooting stages. Between the brim of my hat hitting the ocular cap and opening the front cap. I ended up electrical taping them on to one of my other scopes which is black so not as big of a deal but my ETR is the brown one. First world problems...
FWIW the vortex defenders are interchangeable from the Cronus to the Ares ETR but the Butler creeks are not this might be obvious to most not sure
I’d say something in the 1.0”-1.1” range would work for most cases I have mine in a 1.060 mpa mount and it clears on my defiance rail with 20 moa and a heavy Palma contour no problem
My scope shipped out today and due in next Tuesday. I ordered a Spuhr 30mm/1.18" 20MOA unimount for it to be mounted atop a Seekins 20MOA rail; I calculated it should still have enough room for some flip caps, we'll see...
I called Doug today, and somehow my order got missed. Oh well, I’ve had my panties in a wad about this scope. I think God tries to teach me patience, no matter how much I fight him on it. My scope is on the way. Still need a little more patience.
I'm in the same boat as you, somehow I have been waiting on a MOA when I preordered a MIL. Those are only due to arrive in a few weeks. Not sure what happened, but this scope was going to go on a rimfire trainer to get me prepared the next match. Well, that match is here and gone aleady. They're sorting it out tho, it'll work out.
Put the electrical tape on the scope under the rubber boot of the defender cap. A couple layers should do it. That’s what I did to my Ares BTR with defender caps. See if that works for you.
Thanks for the help I have a 20moa rail as well and a savage heavy barrel. Should be pretty comparable
I know 1.18" = very close to 30mm and I presume that is what your referring to(?)…...but so others don't get confused, the tube on the Ares ETR is 34mm.....different from the Ares BTR which is a 30mm tube.
The 1.18” he is referring to is that model of mount’s height from top of rail to optical centerline and not the 34mm tube diameter which the etr has
Right. I was just pointing out to others that the tube was 34mm not to be confused with the height of the mount in this particular case. I thought it would be worth differentiating only because the older Ares use to have a 30mm tube.
Sieg, I’m waiting on an Mrad. I told them brown was my first choice, but I would take black if that’s what came available first. At this point I’d be giddy if it showed up pink with purple polka dots.
I hear ya, I ordered my ETR MOA black 2 days after I ordered my Vudoo. The rifle arrived on August 10th (57 days from order date).
There are a few online places that have the mil version in stock in both black and brown. Ordered mine Tuesday and will be delivered tomorrow being shipped from east coast to west.
Hoping to take it out on Sunday to sight in and test a little.
Hope people won’t have to wait too much longer as it appears this last shipment still has some in stock.
Hoping to take it out on Sunday to sight in and test a little.
Hope people won’t have to wait too much longer as it appears this last shipment still has some in stock.
I've got mine on a Nucleus with a 20 MOA rail and a 1" straight taper pre-fit barrel, mounted in a high pair of Leupold Mark 4 rings. According to Leupold's website that's 1.06" rings, and I probably would've been just fine using rings closer to 0.9" or so.
Any rings in the 1" height range should work just fine, probably closer to .8 or .9 if you've got a barrel nut barrel like me or a sporter profile barrel.
Any rings in the 1" height range should work just fine, probably closer to .8 or .9 if you've got a barrel nut barrel like me or a sporter profile barrel.
I have mine on a Nucleus 20moa rail and Medium Palma barrel. Seekins low rings work fine for me with plenty of space for a cap. I think they are 0.92"
Well it’s here, but, I just worked 14 hours. It’s 2:20 am and the clock is set for 5:45 as I have a pcc match a couple hours away. Sunday I will be ROing/shooting at the vprc long range match so I won’t get to play with it. I told you that God is trying to teach me patience. It’s not working.
Take it with you to the long range , mount in a tripod/hog saddle and take a look around at the Sunday shoot...
I understand mine may be delivered on Tuesday, guess I better get some test loads put together. Patience is good, I've been trying to get there for almost 60 years, STILL a work in progress.That’s a good idea. I’m getting ready to unbox this thing, then unpack from today’s match, and reload the truck for tomorrow’s match. I’m tired.
Yes, I should have been more clear; I was referring to the mount height, which is 1.18" (Spuhr says 30mm) and not the size of the rings which are 34mm in my case... Sorry for any confusion.
Shooting out the winderr of a Caddylack.... awesome
When I called Doug at Cameraland to inquire about mine, he said that they were available. You may want to give him a shout.
Just took a peek and there are some in stock at a 'very large, well-known online retailer'... I got my ETR from them out the door brand new for < $1000... I prefer however, to support our Forum Sponsors whenever possible...
Quick question and apologies if it's a dumb one but I just counted the total number of elevation clicks possible on my ETR Mil version and it came to around 250 / .1 mil clicks (249 actually). This equates to around 25 mils of elevation adjustment from top to bottom of available range. Seems there are some 'missing' mils of adjustment; if there are a total of 32 mils of elevation adjustment possible according to the documentation, shouldn't there be 7 mils or 70 more clicks of adjustment or are they only accessible when setting the zero stops?
Thanks in advance,
Thanks in advance,
Just wondering if your zero stop was set, or did you run it all the way up before you started clicking.
Straight out of the box and after mounting to my rifle, what I did was twist the turret all the way down until it stopped and then reversed direction counting the clicks until it stopped again... BTW, I've never tried this exercise before; I was just curious to see if it matched up to the specs...
I received payment and order confirmation for a MIL ETR on July 5th and still waiting...…. like an idiot. Forum advertisers should perform and communicate at a higher level.
Calpatriot- as indicated by others your problem is the zero stop. Unscrew the turret cap and you will see a brass disc with three tiny set screws - this is your zero stop. Loosen screws and move brass disc further up turret and you will find your "missing" mils......
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