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Rifle Scopes Athlon Ares ETR
- Thread starter levi8599
- Start date
I had the pleasure of handling this scope at SHOT show and it will be a home run in my opinion..
To update status, Athlon is telling me end of July for expected release date.. there is a preorder wait list going with most dealers.. feel free to PM and we can discuss pricing and getting you on the wait list.. 10% down is all I require.
To update status, Athlon is telling me end of July for expected release date.. there is a preorder wait list going with most dealers.. feel free to PM and we can discuss pricing and getting you on the wait list.. 10% down is all I require.
Has anyone identified some scope cap candidates yet? According to Athlon CS, the eye piece measures 1.83" and the objective measures 2.5". Also, we'll need rings that measure approx. 1.45” from the top of the picatinny to the middle of the scope tube.
That ring height is for an AX or other similar full tail I assume. That's pretty normal for a 56mm
I'm using these on my Vudoo KRG Bravo
https://warnescopemounts.com/product/222-34mm-fixed-high-rings/
I have 4 other sets of the Warne Maxima's, the build quality, tube fit, bind free mounting, and a clean profile work well for my needs.
September now?! Have you heard of a further delay or that was a date on your calendar that the scope was needed? The date certainly does seem to be drifing further out as compared to what others quoted they heard early this year at Shot Show.
Yea a buddy got in on the PVA rifle deal. I told him not to expect to see it sooner than 12 months.
Since we are now in about the last week of July, has anyone heard from Athlon about them getting the ETRs in house?
Maybe a forum dealer will respond with an update to this thread being that many here have prepaid and are waiting patiently....much more efficient than customers calling dealers/Athlon individually.
@gr8fuldoug ?
I was talking to a dealer yesterday that spoke to Athlon this week. Said he was told glass is being finalized then shipped to Athlon USA for final QC check then shipped to distributors. He said he was given an estimate of mid August but emphasized they said that was an estimate
If these scopes turn out to be as good as many of us are expecting, it's going to put the hurt on sales of a bunch of 30mm ffp scopes that have been selling pretty well. It represents Athlon's opportunity to grab a big share of a fat segment of the market - it's no wonder they're taking their time to do everything they can to make sure the ETR meets or exceeds most of our expectations.
Not sure how I missed this scope... Probably going to wait for Xmas but I think this is probably what will go on my 308... I'll wait until I build another rifle to get a kahles
Yep. No reason to go with the 30mm Vortex 5-25 when you can get the 34mm Athlon 4.5-30 for the same money. Maybe we'll see some more 34mm options from Vortex at the next Shot show. Competition is never a bad thing.
If any one needs help with Specs on this or any Athlon product lemme know.. I have a direct line into Athlon and am happy to help get answers for you all.. Yes I am a dealer but at the end of the day it makes me happy getting shooters answers on stuff that helps them become better shooters!
Um...call the direct line and get us some ETR updates! Did the Athlon get them? First shipments to vendors?
Seriously though thanks for the offer.
ETR should be here soon. Quite soon as a matter of fact.
I am supposed to get one out of the first batch and I set time aside to do an initial work up on it quickly.
I like what Athlin is getting it if their Chinese OEMs, so this is very high on my list of things to look at.
Competition is a good thing.
ILya
I am supposed to get one out of the first batch and I set time aside to do an initial work up on it quickly.
I like what Athlin is getting it if their Chinese OEMs, so this is very high on my list of things to look at.
Competition is a good thing.
ILya
Got an email notice today that half my order of ETRs has shipped. Since it usually takes one day for UPS to deliver from the KC area out here to western Kansas, I should have that order by tomorrow. Guess they don't have any of the brown models ready to ship yet, since they're back-ordered. Will post my impression of these scopes just as soon as I get a chance to get a good hands-on look at them.
Our UPS driver usually comes through around noon CST....none of you guys are any more anxious to see & handle one of these scopes than I am. I've got three of the original Cronus scopes plus one of the newer BTR Cronus 4.5-29x56s mounted on my rifles, plus three of the Ares 4.5-27x50 BTRs on other rifles. Will be using this Ares ETR as a demonstrator on one of the customs in my safe - probably one of the 40X 22RF repeaters. It's a whole lot easier to get a precision 22RF out & let a prospective customer shoot with that right here at the shop than it is to mount it on a CF rifle & have to take them down the road a couple of miles to my range.
Don't be so sure....... my Vudoo will be arriving shortly, probably x weeks before the ETR.
Well, in that case, you may have a point. I know that I couldn't wait to get a Krieger bbl dialed-in, fitted & chambered, muzzle threaded, etc. when UPS (or was it FedEx?) delivered my V-22 action. Fortunately, I had a NIB Athlon Cronus sitting here, ready to mount when I finished the rifle.
That does it. I need a precision rimfire. I am moderately certain, I'll be able to pick a scope for it out of a few dozen sitting in the safe.
ILya
ILya
Did you order from Athlon direct or through a retailer who is having it drop shipped?
Don't be so sure....... my Vudoo will be arriving shortly, probably x weeks before the ETR.
LOL...…. I have a Meuller 8-32 I can put on it but that just seems so wrong. Like buying a Supermodel a cocktail dress at Walmart.
Ilya -
I went a little overboard after building my 1st precision 22RF rifle (Stiller 2500XR build patterned after EuroOptics' deluxe trainer). Really enjoyed shooting the Stiller, but wasn't crazy about how awkward it was to do a quick reload with the action's magazine chute for the Savage 10rd mags. Oh, it fed slick, and extraction/ejection was flawless as I recall, plus it shot great with the Krieger bbl I used on it. But the attraction of Mike Bush's V-22 mags, and the fact that Jonathan Elrod was available to convert the CMP 40X action I had led me to send it off to him. I put a Benchmark 3-groove bbl on it when it came back, and skim bedded it into a B&C #2015 stock, then fitted it with a Jewell HVR, EGW 20 MOA rail, low Vortex/Seekins 34mm rings, and an Athlon Cronus 4.5-29x56 mil scope. Once I got that rifle up & running, I couldn't help looking at a 40XB bbl'd action sitting in the corner of my office closet, gathering dust. So out it came, and off to jelrod's shop in N.C. it went. I put a Lilja titebore bbl on it when it came back, and settled it into a spare Manners T4A mini chassis stock, with another Jewell & Cronus. A few months later, I swapped the Lilja out for another Krieger, as I'd spec'd the Benchmark & Lilja bbls to finish at 26" (what was I thinking ?!?), and I wanted a 22" bbl.
I was very pleased with these two rifles, but the lure of the custom V-22 action was just too much, so I sold the Stiller to a friend, ordered another Manners Elite T4A, and got on the horn with Paul at VGW to get an action coming. Overboard? - for sure. But I'm happy enough with all three of these rifles that there's very little 'buyer's regret'. I've shot all three of them in a 22RF PR match at a semi-local club (it's worth the 170 mi drive, one way), and am pretty sure I'm having more fun shooting those matches than I do while shooting any of the CF PRS matches I manage to make it to.
That is an impressive amount of effort...
I have weird fascination with biathlon style actions, so I am still stuck on getting Volquartsen's Summit. It should be accurate enough for my purposes.
ILya
LOL...…. I have a Meuller 8-32 I can put on it but that just seems so wrong. Like buying a Supermodel a cocktail dress at Walmart.
Sieg - You're probably right, but shoot what you've got until what you want becomes available. One of my good friends at the club where I shoot PR 22RF matches put a S&B Super Short scope on his jelrod-converted 40X repeater, so I don't feel at all over-equipped with the Athlon Cronus scopes on mine.
I read the email invoice from Athlon wrong - I was expecting a matte black scope, but when I got home and found the scope that UPS had left at the back door, ripped it open, and found a 'brown' one, I was a little surprised. I guess they didn't have as much demand for the 'brown' model as for the matte black. No problem as far as I'm concerned - it looks great, though I'll probably want to CeraKote a set of Seekins rings to as close a match as I can achieve before mounting it. At first glance, I thought it was air dry burnt bronze CeraKote, but after a look in better lighting, I'm fairly sure it's anodizing, in a tint that's similar to the Gen I Vortex Razor HD scopes. All the H-series burnt bronze I've applied has much more metallic in it than this coating does, though I've never bought any C-series air dry burnt bronze, so can't comment on its appearance.
The ETR's optical quality looks very good so far - I'm not seeing it get any darker at 30x than an original Cronus does at 29x. Comparing a newer Cronus BTR to the ETR, I'm not able to tell much difference from here inside the house, looking out through double-glazed windows. Will have to get outdoors with a bench & bags to do better comparisons. I'll want to get out one of my Bighorns that wears a Kahles K624i, along with both the original & BTR Cronus scopes on 22RF rifles to get a better idea where the ETR slots in between them optically.
The click detents on the elevation turret are very distinct - the clicks have a slightly louder sound than those of a K624i, and it takes a little bit more effort to get each click than it does with the Kahles. While this means it's unlikely the elevation knob is going to get turned accidentally, that extra effort makes it a little harder for me to avoid getting two clicks instead of one. This is obviously fresh out of the box, with no break-in of the turrets - I'd expect things to 'wear-in' a bit after more use - and even if it doesn't, I'm pretty sure that familiarity with these knobs will take care of any initial issue a shooter might have. Also, keep in mind that I'm comparing the new ETR to my all-time favorite turrets on the Kahles. The ETR's windage knob has click detents which are closer to the Kahles' in my opinion - they're very slightly softer, though still easily audible. It takes a short pull-out of about 3/16" to unlock the windage knob, nothing annoying in any way to me.
The ETR's power ring & parallax knob are each a little easier to turn than on both the original Cronus & the BTR version. I'd rate them as just about ideal. Physically speaking, the ETR is about an inch longer than the Cronus, and the turrets are about 3/8" farther to the rear than the Cronus' turrets. Speaking of the turrets - the ETR's turret caps are held in place with a coin-slotted screw, whereas the Cronus screws are socket ones for use with an allen wrench. I've always had a hard time avoiding marring coin slotted screws by slipping out of the slot, and though it does take a wrench (small & easily misplaced or lost) to loosen & re-tighten them, I still prefer the socket cap screw arrangement. This is probably as personal a preference as locking vs non-locking turrets, so form your own opinion.
That's about it for what I can say until I've had a chance to get all these scopes outdoors, and ideally, get the ETR mounted on the 40XB repeater & zeroed so I can do a tall target & box test with it. For those who might not have read it in any of my previous posts, I am an Athlon dealer - albeit a pretty small fish in a big pond. Just a one-man gunsmithing shop, situated in a sparsely populated area of western Kansas - my scope sales volume is pretty low, although what I do sell is almost entirely to competitive shooters who participate in PRS & 22RF PR matches, and all recent sales have been of the Ares BTR or Cronus models. Wishing these ETR scopes had been available a couple of years ago - pretty sure I could've sold quite a few of them by now. But, they do appear to represent quite a step up in features & quality, so once I've satisfied myself that they perform as expected, we'll see...
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Same question here. I ordered from a dealer who placed his order a few after right after SHOT, so he should have the first run of scopes. Where did you order from?
A friend from south central Kansas has an Anschutz 1827 biathlon rifle that he brings up to shoot in the PR 22RF matches. I've been very impressed with it, and simply amazed at how slick it cycles. But I've invested too much in the conventional turn-bolt 40X-style actions & rifles to allow for the purchase of an 1827, so will stick with them.
Direct from Athlon - don't recall now when I placed the order, but it seems like it was either during or right after SHOT. I'm thinking the only reason I got one of the first run is because I'd ordered both matte black & brown - since I got a brown, but no matte black, I'd bet there was far more demand for the matte black model. After seeing the finish on this brown one, if I had need of one for my own use, I wouldn't hesitate to order another brown one. Might be the only ones available until another shipment of these ETRs arrives...
Precision rimfires are a blast and can come in soo many flavors. Started shooting them in the late '60's and never looked back. Then, in the early '90's, I found the Eley distributor, Tomart, in Laurel MD and stopped in during the day, only to be greeted by an Art Cook, the 1948 Olympic Gold Medalist who gave me the million dollar tour and answered my endless questions. Also got to watch him shoot, very humbling. My point, while I do not have any state of the art .22's but plan on one soon, my classic Win 52's, Rem 40x's and Coopers will still shoot great groups when I do my job with their preferred ammo, and are also a good investment. I like them all.
Good news, it appears they are shipping to resellers
FWIW - I ordered from a hide vendor.
FWIW - I ordered from a hide vendor.
Newest update, the ETR had a few come into Athlon earlier this week and were shipped to a select few. The next bath comes in Friday and those will go out to resellers/vendors. Can’t wait! This optic seems like it’ll be what it’s put out to be.
so who is going to do the first youtube review of this scope
Well athlon released a video to show tracking. A box test and run it out to 1k then back to 100.
Buuut I'd much prefer somebody non affiliated to do a review and also include tall target test.
I will say either they have one hell of a mic on that video or those clicks are LOUD haha
The clicks of the ETR's elevation turret are rather loud, but windage is quite a bit more quiet. I just compared the elevation clicks to the ones on my Gen III Kahles K624i, Bushnell ERS DMR, original Cronus, and Ares BTR - they're not terribly louder than the Bushnell, but are substantially more distinct than the Kahles, while the Cronus, & Ares BTR are barely audible by comparison. I'm thinking they will wear-in with use and become a bit quieter/less distinct, but only time will tell. I relayed my impression on to the Athlon salesperson I spoke with while placing another order this morning - wanting to get my hands on one of the Cronus Tactical 7-42x60 spotters with ranging reticle.
