So, I ran my new to me k525i in two matches over the weekend. One centerfire and the other an nrl22.
If you aren’t one for reading long posts, the title pretty much is the best way I know how to sum it up. You won’t find any features the stand alone best out there (except for tracking, but I typically operate under the assumption that all optics in this range track well), but it is really, really good at everything.
If you need something that can parallax/focus under 25 and may be using the optic on centerfire as well as .22.....this is probably the optic for you.
Glass - not going to spend much time on this as its messy and subjective. I also don’t pick up CA on any optic I use unless someone shows it to me. And I purposely keep it that way as I don’t want to shatter that mental glass (pun kinda not intended).
Glass is great. Is it Minox great? Nope. The minox is noticeably better to my eyes. Is the Kahles behind enough to make me wish I had Minox glass every time I’m behind it? Nope, the kahles glass is perfectly great and doesn’t leave me feeling behind after spending a month or two behind the minox
Fit and finish - awesome. The finish seems very durable. I rand it for 12 stages on Saturday and I cannot find any marks on it that will not wipe off with a rub of my finger. This wasn’t the case with Minox and Schmidt for me. It’s comparable to the vortex amg and razor finishes which are outstanding.
Fit - awesome. All surfaces are smooth, sleek, and a pleasure to look at.
Diopter - fast focus and no lock ring. Pretty stiff, which is a good thing since there is no lock ring. I made a witness mark when I set up the optic and it didn’t move at all.
Mag ring - almost perfect tension. Easy to move on purpose and hard to move by accident.
The magnification numbers are static and the ring indicates what mag you’re on. I prefer the mag ring to have the magnification on it so I can just glance up and see where I’m at, but this is just me being boujee. It’s perfectly fine the way it is.
Elevation turret - average to above average clicks for optics in this tier. They are positive and have tactile audible feed back. This is to be expected as it is a 16 mil rev. The more I use it, the easier it is for my hands to feel the feed back.
I would love to see them add a more tactile click on the actual zero indicator. Again, boujee.
The zero stop is .5 under zero
Windage turret - this is the only spot I feel like they shit the bed on. Not going to sugar coat it. I don’t like the windage turret. I don’t use the turret except on mover stages, so I don’t really care. But it sucks
Twist guard (or twist shit guard gimmicky as fuck spinny thing as I call it), might have a real world purpose, but I don’t see it. It spins freely, but the turret can still catch the main part on some surfaces. I haven’t been able to make the turret spin move off zero, but that seems to be a product of a stiff (good thing) turret, and not the twist shit guard gimmicky as fuck spinny thing.
The windage turret isn’t “mushy,” but it definitely isn’t even close to the same level as the elevation turret. I can barely feel the clicks, and they are not audible even in a dead silent room. I have to look at them to see what I’m doing.
Bright side is the turret is pretty hard to move. So, I zero and forget it until a mover stage.
My suggestion, ditch the twist guard, make the windage similar to elevation, and put a lock on it.
I would also like to see a zero stop or MTC on the windage zero. I was under the impression after watching initial reviews on the k318i there was an MTC on zero, but either there is not on the k525i, or I just got a shit windage turret.
Parallax/focus - I absolutely love the ambidextrous focus wheel. When shooting off hand or when I have the rifle stabilized by my off hand and need to tweek the parallax, its so much easier to do with whichever hand is free.
The wheel is pretty damn stiff. I don’t find this to be a problem, but some may. It may get easier over time, or you may need to get a throw lever for it (there are a few options out there). Adjust accordingly to your needs.
The indicators match up pretty well. Set it close to your intended use range, and find adjust once you’re on the optic.
Inside 2-300 yds, I found I needed to tweek the adjustment more. 400 and out seemed as though I didn’t need to adjust as much. It’s not as much a set it halfway and forget it the whole match, but its also not a hindrance either.
Skmr3 reticle - I find this reticle to be a very good balance of perfectly usable while not being “busy.” I’ve been using the MR4 (.05 mil) and LRR (.025 or close to it), and the skmr3 (.035) is about as perfect thickness as it can get for me. I never lost it on any target or background and it also didn’t seem overly large on target.
The main horizontal is just about the best horizontal subtension out there IMO. Not much more to be said, horizontal is awesome if you’re into .2 mil hash marks.
Wind tree and vertical is very useable. Unless its a no dial stage, I don’t use the tree. So its more of a utility feature for me and while I think something like the MR4 reticle makes more sense logically.....I don’t use it enough to require all the subtensions. For me the wind tree is a utility and for reference.
If you don’t like dialing (learn to dial damnit) you may want to look into the MR4 or a Horus reticle. For nrl22 matches you don’t really need to hold much for wind. For 22 PRS, I use the reticle just like I would for normal PRS. Dial for everything I can and use the wind tree as a utility only when I have to.
Size - for a 5-25, it very compact. If that’s important to you, great, if not, great. If you really need a very lightweight optic, get an AMG. If you want a fairly short, medium weight 5-25x56, get this.
Summary:
If you pick each part of the k525i, you’ll definitely find an optic or two that does it better, though not by much.
But, take all the ergonomics and features this optic offers, and you’ll find very little out there to compare it to.
Only shooting centerfire and don’t care about 20m focus, lsw, or ambidextrous focus knob? Look into Minox, TT, schmidt, etc etc and pick the reticle or glass you like the best. You might still end up with a k525i.
Need something that does focus down to 20m and hate most schmidt reticles? Don’t hesitate to pick up a k525i, its awesome overall.
I think I’m going to stick with this as my main centerfire optic, and run a schmidt h2cmr on my vudoo (horizontal stadia on h2cmr is very similar to skmr3). When its time for “marksman” .22 matches, where I’m shooting matchsticks and playing cards. I’ll probably throw the k525i on since it has a center dot.
So, and awesome, awesome overall package from Kahles. Just fix the shitty windage turret and I’d have almost zero complaints.
IMO, this is the best “do all optic” out there at the moment. 20m focus and a reticle that can be used for longer distance or tiny precision .22 work.
If you aren’t one for reading long posts, the title pretty much is the best way I know how to sum it up. You won’t find any features the stand alone best out there (except for tracking, but I typically operate under the assumption that all optics in this range track well), but it is really, really good at everything.
If you need something that can parallax/focus under 25 and may be using the optic on centerfire as well as .22.....this is probably the optic for you.
Glass - not going to spend much time on this as its messy and subjective. I also don’t pick up CA on any optic I use unless someone shows it to me. And I purposely keep it that way as I don’t want to shatter that mental glass (pun kinda not intended).
Glass is great. Is it Minox great? Nope. The minox is noticeably better to my eyes. Is the Kahles behind enough to make me wish I had Minox glass every time I’m behind it? Nope, the kahles glass is perfectly great and doesn’t leave me feeling behind after spending a month or two behind the minox
Fit and finish - awesome. The finish seems very durable. I rand it for 12 stages on Saturday and I cannot find any marks on it that will not wipe off with a rub of my finger. This wasn’t the case with Minox and Schmidt for me. It’s comparable to the vortex amg and razor finishes which are outstanding.
Fit - awesome. All surfaces are smooth, sleek, and a pleasure to look at.
Diopter - fast focus and no lock ring. Pretty stiff, which is a good thing since there is no lock ring. I made a witness mark when I set up the optic and it didn’t move at all.
Mag ring - almost perfect tension. Easy to move on purpose and hard to move by accident.
The magnification numbers are static and the ring indicates what mag you’re on. I prefer the mag ring to have the magnification on it so I can just glance up and see where I’m at, but this is just me being boujee. It’s perfectly fine the way it is.
Elevation turret - average to above average clicks for optics in this tier. They are positive and have tactile audible feed back. This is to be expected as it is a 16 mil rev. The more I use it, the easier it is for my hands to feel the feed back.
I would love to see them add a more tactile click on the actual zero indicator. Again, boujee.
The zero stop is .5 under zero
Windage turret - this is the only spot I feel like they shit the bed on. Not going to sugar coat it. I don’t like the windage turret. I don’t use the turret except on mover stages, so I don’t really care. But it sucks
Twist guard (or twist shit guard gimmicky as fuck spinny thing as I call it), might have a real world purpose, but I don’t see it. It spins freely, but the turret can still catch the main part on some surfaces. I haven’t been able to make the turret spin move off zero, but that seems to be a product of a stiff (good thing) turret, and not the twist shit guard gimmicky as fuck spinny thing.
The windage turret isn’t “mushy,” but it definitely isn’t even close to the same level as the elevation turret. I can barely feel the clicks, and they are not audible even in a dead silent room. I have to look at them to see what I’m doing.
Bright side is the turret is pretty hard to move. So, I zero and forget it until a mover stage.
My suggestion, ditch the twist guard, make the windage similar to elevation, and put a lock on it.
I would also like to see a zero stop or MTC on the windage zero. I was under the impression after watching initial reviews on the k318i there was an MTC on zero, but either there is not on the k525i, or I just got a shit windage turret.
Parallax/focus - I absolutely love the ambidextrous focus wheel. When shooting off hand or when I have the rifle stabilized by my off hand and need to tweek the parallax, its so much easier to do with whichever hand is free.
The wheel is pretty damn stiff. I don’t find this to be a problem, but some may. It may get easier over time, or you may need to get a throw lever for it (there are a few options out there). Adjust accordingly to your needs.
The indicators match up pretty well. Set it close to your intended use range, and find adjust once you’re on the optic.
Inside 2-300 yds, I found I needed to tweek the adjustment more. 400 and out seemed as though I didn’t need to adjust as much. It’s not as much a set it halfway and forget it the whole match, but its also not a hindrance either.
Skmr3 reticle - I find this reticle to be a very good balance of perfectly usable while not being “busy.” I’ve been using the MR4 (.05 mil) and LRR (.025 or close to it), and the skmr3 (.035) is about as perfect thickness as it can get for me. I never lost it on any target or background and it also didn’t seem overly large on target.
The main horizontal is just about the best horizontal subtension out there IMO. Not much more to be said, horizontal is awesome if you’re into .2 mil hash marks.
Wind tree and vertical is very useable. Unless its a no dial stage, I don’t use the tree. So its more of a utility feature for me and while I think something like the MR4 reticle makes more sense logically.....I don’t use it enough to require all the subtensions. For me the wind tree is a utility and for reference.
If you don’t like dialing (learn to dial damnit) you may want to look into the MR4 or a Horus reticle. For nrl22 matches you don’t really need to hold much for wind. For 22 PRS, I use the reticle just like I would for normal PRS. Dial for everything I can and use the wind tree as a utility only when I have to.
Size - for a 5-25, it very compact. If that’s important to you, great, if not, great. If you really need a very lightweight optic, get an AMG. If you want a fairly short, medium weight 5-25x56, get this.
Summary:
If you pick each part of the k525i, you’ll definitely find an optic or two that does it better, though not by much.
But, take all the ergonomics and features this optic offers, and you’ll find very little out there to compare it to.
Only shooting centerfire and don’t care about 20m focus, lsw, or ambidextrous focus knob? Look into Minox, TT, schmidt, etc etc and pick the reticle or glass you like the best. You might still end up with a k525i.
Need something that does focus down to 20m and hate most schmidt reticles? Don’t hesitate to pick up a k525i, its awesome overall.
I think I’m going to stick with this as my main centerfire optic, and run a schmidt h2cmr on my vudoo (horizontal stadia on h2cmr is very similar to skmr3). When its time for “marksman” .22 matches, where I’m shooting matchsticks and playing cards. I’ll probably throw the k525i on since it has a center dot.
So, and awesome, awesome overall package from Kahles. Just fix the shitty windage turret and I’d have almost zero complaints.
IMO, this is the best “do all optic” out there at the moment. 20m focus and a reticle that can be used for longer distance or tiny precision .22 work.
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