Rifle Scopes New for 2025, the Kahles K540i

[CSTactical]

Update 02/12/25: We have a few more shipping in that are available! Kahles K540i 5-40x56 DLR CCW SKMR4+ w-left Windage https://cstactical.com/kahles-k540i-5-40x56-dlr-ccw-skmr4-10721/


01/13/25: We have a handful of Kahles K540i DLR CCW 5-40x56 SKMR4+ LSW KLS-10721 ($4,599.00) shipping in! They are not on our site so PM, call us at 916-628-3490 or email [email protected] to grab one


Information is limited, but here’s a sneak peak…

MAP is $4,599.00

 

[Islas82]

Beat me to it.

Very interesting, looks like the 328i’s non retarded brother.

 

[TheOE800]

Beat me to it.

Very interesting, looks like the 328i’s non retarded brother.

The scope they SHOULD have launched with

 

[Guthwine]

Looks interesting allthough the choice of reticles is kinda meh.

 

[stanley_white]

Looks interesting allthough the choice of reticles is kinda meh.

“The Game Changer” giggle snort.

-Stan

 

[Nik H]

Any projected pricing?

 

[468shot]

Any projected pricing?

The only price I've seen is $4599.

Kahles K540i 5-40x56, DLR

CLICK HERE to order your optic with a mount, and save 25% on the mount!

www.area419.com

 

[Kiba]

If the specs listed at Area 419 are correct, it has 29.1 degrees afov @ 5x and 29.78 degrees @ 40x, that's huge. Hopefully there's no weird fisheye distortion image effects like a peephole lens in a door.

8x mag ratio is going to make things interesting IMO between optical performance and reticle design to keep the reticle usable at both ends of the mag range.

The specs on the area 419 page also show 160 clicks per rotation... 16 mil turrets? If so I hope the turret is huge so the hash marks are easy to read and not crammed together. I'm guessing they did that to have all 29 mils of elevation travel available in 2 rotations. In the promo video it looks like the knob is 10 mils though, but it's hard to tell.

Regardless of how good the specs for this 5-40 look on paper I don't know if I can bring myself to pay that much for another kahles... My early k624i that was touted as a top of the line scope was really disappointing, I haven't bought another scope from them since. I've also learned not to be the first in line on new products anymore, I'll let other people do the initial testing and reviews so I don't have to take a huge loss selling it when it doesn't live up to the hype.

 

[Nik H]

If the specs listed at Area 419 are correct, it has 29.1 degrees afov @ 5x and 29.78 degrees @ 40x, that's huge. Hopefully there's no weird fisheye distortion image effects like a peephole lens in a door.

8x mag ratio is going to make things interesting IMO between optical performance and reticle design to keep the reticle usable at both ends of the mag range.

The specs on the area 419 page also show 160 clicks per rotation... 16 mil turrets? If so I hope the turret is huge so the hash marks are easy to read and not crammed together. I'm guessing they did that to have all 29 mils of elevation travel available in 2 rotations. In the promo video it looks like the knob is 10 mils though, but it's hard to tell.

Regardless of how good the specs for this 5-40 look on paper I don't know if I can bring myself to pay that much for another kahles... My early k624i that was touted as a top of the line scope was really disappointing, I haven't bought another scope from them since. I've also learned not to be the first in line on new products anymore, I'll let other people do the initial testing and reviews so I don't have to take a huge loss selling it when it doesn't live up to the hype.

They are also making a DLR version with 10 mil per rotation turret

 

[B y r o n]

As a right handed shooter, I like the left side windage adjustment and the top mounted parallax adjustments. I don't like the price point but sometimes sacrifice's are necessary.

 

[Kiba]

They are also making a DLR version with 10 mil per rotation turret

Ah, that makes sense. I'm at the age where presbyopia is just starting to set in so I'm all for 10 mil turrets with widely spaced hash marks and extra revolutions, lol... That's why I was a little surprised to see them advertising 16 mil turrets when the current trend seems to be going back towards 10 mil turrets.

 

[Sprayed99]

I have been testing this optic for a few months and I was not nice to it at all. It has not had a hiccup. Optically it is splitting hairs with the other Alphas. The FOV is stupid big. There is a small bit of fisheye at the lower range but I expected that, just like the 328i exhibits. I'm not some deep into the specs optics review guy. I'm a shooter and hunter with a lot of time behind pretty much any optic that has come out over the last 10 years. I can say that this optic has a place amongst ZCO and TT. This optic will be on my primary PRS rifle and also on one of my NRL Hunter rifles, and before anyone gets it sideways. I did pay to play with my personal 540i and my thoughts or opinions are not bought.

To the fan boys of other optics, innovation is great for all brands. As the consumer, these companies are pushing each other to areas we have not seen. It is an amazing time to be a shooter and have these types of products to utilize!

 

[Shoots 700's]

This sure has my attention

 

[AznTactical]

sounds like that scope has 31.7mils of elevation? Their tech spec says 2.9m of elevation.

 

[st1650]

10mils per turret rotation masterrace

 

[Sprayed99]

sounds like that scope has 31.7mils of elevation? Their tech spec says 2.9m of elevation.

Shows 29 - Elevation and 12 - Windage

 

[Secant]

If these are on par with TT/ZCO, there might be a DLR, LSW, SKMR+ out there with my name on it. Based on my experience with my k525i, I won't be an early adopter, but I have high hopes for this!

 

[Glassaholic]

If these are on par with TT/ZCO, there might be a DLR, LSW, SKMR+ out there with my name on it. Based on my experience with my k525i, I won't be an early adopter, but I have high hopes for this!

Temper your expectations, it is an 8x erector, I would be very surprised if it is as forgiving as a TT/ZCO. Not sure why Kahles chose to with 8x for their extreme FOV models, maybe because of Swaro's popularity with the Z8, but different animals.

Like Kiba mentions above, some of us have been burned by early adoption. But I'm a lot more curious about this vs the K328i, they should have led with this scope.

Kahles has not proven to be worth the price point IMO. Each release since the K624i has struggled to perform as well as the competition at a similar street price value. But having the extreme FOV will help and Kahles turrets have always been really good.

I would not expect the reticle to be usable below 10x, but let's be honest, will anyone really use this scope below 10x but that begs the question, why? How much are we paying for the 8x erector and all the correction to get a good image?

 

[Jonesse91]

The only price I've seen is $4599.

Kahles K540i 5-40x56, DLR

CLICK HERE to order your optic with a mount, and save 25% on the mount!

www.area419.com

Yikes

 

[Guthwine]

Found another video.

 

[st1650]

Yeah why not make it a 10-40 or even 8-40 ?

This isn’t going on a SPR nor on a hunting rifle/crossover
How often will it be used below 8x, especially with the extra FOV

 

[TheOE800]

Spec sheet spooging probably LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME

 

[stanley_white]

I feel like Kahles wants to be March when it grows up.

-Stan

 

[netcat]

Damn, just bought and mounted up a K328i DLR. Would definitely prefer this one

 

[jthor]

Temper your expectations, it is an 8x erector, I would be very surprised if it is as forgiving as a TT/ZCO.

Genuinely curious, what’s wrong with an 8x, erector? Break it down Barney style

 

[Glassaholic]

Genuinely curious, what’s wrong with an 8x, erector? Break it down Barney style

Nothing wrong with it per se but understand that the higher the erector the more difficult it is to make a forgiving scope. High erector scopes have a history of being more finicky than their lower erector counterparts and by more finicky I mean with parallax, DOF and eyebox. Case in point, take the NF NX8 2.5-20x50 (8x erector) and the NF ATACR 4-16x42 (4x erector) while the 2.5-20 is pretty impressive, the 4-16 is a more forgiving scope making for a better experience behind the scope. Keep in mind the sport optics world is a balance between feature and compromise, some of us are willing to accept the compromises in order to gain the features while others are not. Interestingly enough, Kahles (in their marketing) says due to the large eyepiece design their 8x scopes have very generous eyebox's and I've heard mixed reports about that from the K328i, but the K328i was also hampered by a 50mm objective whereas the K540i is using a 56mm objective and larger objectives typically lend towards more forgiving eyebox experience. Also, high erector scopes have a tendency to "get dark" towards the top of the magnification range, again, Kahles is saying that IQ is superb at 40x but I stopped believing in marketing hype a long time ago after my own testing proved a lot of marketing claims to be false or misleading; again, that's not to say this scope won't be stellar but until it starts getting into the wild and some reliable comparisons are made to TT, ZCO and Schmidt I will keep my expectations in check.

One thing is for certain, Kahles is pushing the limits of contemporary optical design, similar to what March has been doing for years. I think these innovations ultimately help the industry even if some of the designs make for a more frustrating experience vs. more traditional designs.

 

[st1650]

Which brings another question, why so few 60mm objectives in these kinds of scopes ? Even the March 8x-80 is a 56mm obj

 

[Glassaholic]

Which brings another question, why so few 60mm objectives in these kinds of scopes ? Even the March 8x-80 is a 56mm obj

Is the market willing to pay the price for larger objective lenses? The cost of the scope would go up quite a bit, not sure if anyone wants to take that on. Blaser came out with their 4-20x58 a few years back, that has been the largest objective I've seen since the Zeiss Hubble (6-24x72). The best scope I have seen to date at high magnification is the TT 7-35 at 35x, it stayed the brightest and held the resolution where a lot of other scopes begin to fall off above 25x somewhat. I have not yet seen the ZCO 8-40x56 but I planned to do another review of the TT 7-35 and ZCO 8-40 later this year and now I think it would be good if I could source a Kahles K540i and a March 5-42 HM Gen2...

 

[Nik H]

Is the market willing to pay the price for larger objective lenses? The cost of the scope would go up quite a bit, not sure if anyone wants to take that on. Blaser came out with their 4-20x58 a few years back, that has been the largest objective I've seen since the Zeiss Hubble (6-24x72). The best scope I have seen to date at high magnification is the TT 7-35 at 35x, it stayed the brightest and held the resolution where a lot of other scopes begin to fall off above 25x somewhat. I have not yet seen the ZCO 8-40x56 but I planned to do another review of the TT 7-35 and ZCO 8-40 later this year and now I think it would be good if I could source a Kahles K540i and a March 5-42 HM Gen2...

I would love to see that review

 

[db2000]

Is the market willing to pay the price for larger objective lenses? The cost of the scope would go up quite a bit, not sure if anyone wants to take that on. Blaser came out with their 4-20x58 a few years back, that has been the largest objective I've seen since the Zeiss Hubble (6-24x72). The best scope I have seen to date at high magnification is the TT 7-35 at 35x, it stayed the brightest and held the resolution where a lot of other scopes begin to fall off above 25x somewhat. I have not yet seen the ZCO 8-40x56 but I planned to do another review of the TT 7-35 and ZCO 8-40 later this year and now I think it would be good if I could source a Kahles K540i and a March 5-42 HM Gen2...

Give the people what they need. Drop a DNT 7-35 in that mix while you’re taking the time to do the comparison!!
Looking forward to it either way.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

One thing is for certain, Kahles is pushing the limits of contemporary optical design, similar to what March has been doing for years. I think these innovations ultimately help the industry even if some of the designs make for a more frustrating experience vs. more traditional designs.

It is an exciting time.

 

[Secant]

Temper your expectations, it is an 8x erector, I would be very surprised if it is as forgiving as a TT/ZCO. Not sure why Kahles chose to with 8x for their extreme FOV models, maybe because of Swaro's popularity with the Z8, but different animals.

Like Kiba mentions above, some of us have been burned by early adoption. But I'm a lot more curious about this vs the K328i, they should have led with this scope.

Kahles has not proven to be worth the price point IMO. Each release since the K624i has struggled to perform as well as the competition at a similar street price value. But having the extreme FOV will help and Kahles turrets have always been really good.

I would not expect the reticle to be usable below 10x, but let's be honest, will anyone really use this scope below 10x but that begs the question, why? How much are we paying for the 8x erector and all the correction to get a good image?

Don’t try and pop my balloon ya dick .

I agree that Kahles’ retail has been….optimistic. I also agree about their turrets. Only thing better that I’ve owned is Tangent.

Based on the reticle diagrams that are currently on Kahles’ website, I’d fully expect the reticle to be exactly as useable as the k525i. I killed animals on 5x with that scope, and I could start using hashes at about 7x or 8x.

For my use, I don’t care at all how this scope performs over 25x. If it’s solid from 5x-25x, this will be a solid contender for me. Especially with Schmidt’s recent price increases.

Time will tell, but I really hope they nailed this one.

 

[jthor]

Nothing wrong with it per se but understand that the higher the erector the more difficult it is to make a forgiving scope. High erector scopes have a history of being more finicky than their lower erector counterparts and by more finicky I mean with parallax, DOF and eyebox. Case in point, take the NF NX8 2.5-20x50 (8x erector) and the NF ATACR 4-16x42 (4x erector) while the 2.5-20 is pretty impressive, the 4-16 is a more forgiving scope making for a better experience behind the scope. Keep in mind the sport optics world is a balance between feature and compromise, some of us are willing to accept the compromises in order to gain the features while others are not. Interestingly enough, Kahles (in their marketing) says due to the large eyepiece design their 8x scopes have very generous eyebox's and I've heard mixed reports about that from the K328i, but the K328i was also hampered by a 50mm objective whereas the K540i is using a 56mm objective and larger objectives typically lend towards more forgiving eyebox experience. Also, high erector scopes have a tendency to "get dark" towards the top of the magnification range, again, Kahles is saying that IQ is superb at 40x but I stopped believing in marketing hype a long time ago after my own testing proved a lot of marketing claims to be false or misleading; again, that's not to say this scope won't be stellar but until it starts getting into the wild and some reliable comparisons are made to TT, ZCO and Schmidt I will keep my expectations in check.

One thing is for certain, Kahles is pushing the limits of contemporary optical design, similar to what March has been doing for years. I think these innovations ultimately help the industry even if some of the designs make for a more frustrating experience vs. more traditional designs.

Thanks for the information! Looking forward to getting a few 540s.

 

[Glassaholic]

Don’t try and pop my balloon ya dick .

I agree that Kahles’ retail has been….optimistic. I also agree about their turrets. Only thing better that I’ve owned is Tangent.

Based on the reticle diagrams that are currently on Kahles’ website, I’d fully expect the reticle to be exactly as useable as the k525i. I killed animals on 5x with that scope, and I could start using hashes at about 7x or 8x.

For my use, I don’t care at all how this scope performs over 25x. If it’s solid from 5x-25x, this will be a solid contender for me. Especially with Schmidt’s recent price increases.

Time will tell, but I really hope they nailed this one.

They call me balloon man... was a favorite song of mine in the late 80's right before I joined the Army...


I too really hope they nailed this one. I have always felt Kahles scopes were so "close" to ideal, I loved everything about my K624i except for the purple kaleidoscope of CA, just couldn't get past that so I bought an AMG (Vortex not Mercedes ) and felt that did everything I wanted in a smaller lighter package, which at the time, I was looking for the ideal crossover scope. Then I got the K318i and loved everything about it (handled CA so much better than my K624i) except for the narrow FOV, after reviewing side by side with ZCO 4-20 and Schmidt 3-20 I just couldn't go back to the narrow FOV even though I felt the Kahles did better optically than the Schmidt at high mags. So here we are a little over 10 years from the K624i introduction and we have the K540i and hoping Kahles nailed it... (I did not feel they nailed the K328i).

 

[Glassaholic]

I threw the specs into my spreadsheet and this is how the Kahles stacks up spec wise to other scopes with >30x at the top end. (My AFOV numbers come from using the top magnification FOV value as provided from the manufacturer, keep in mind some mfr numbers are not always correct.)

* Let me know if you see anything incorrect in the above specs.

 

[Night Vision Viking]

I have a Kahles K540i DLR since about 2 months. I think I was the only international reviewer to get it in advance, but I could be wrong.

I have all the options with it, and took plenty of photos so that potential buyers can get an idea before ordering.
I think the throw lever is a must, unless you’re going to use it at a fixed magni all the time.

Here is my review:

TFB Review: Kahles K540i Riflescope - The 40x Game Changer?

This is a review of the brand new Kahles K540i DLR premium riflescope.The K540i is designed for precision shooting at extreme ranges, boasting an impressive 5-40x magnification range.TFB is the only international publication chosen to review this riflescope before its official release.Kahles...

www.thefirearmblog.com

 

[Glassaholic]

I have a Kahles K540i DLR since about 2 months. I think I was the only international reviewer to get it in advance, but I could be wrong.

Tell me, do the European K540i's have even wider FOV than US version... (I am totally kidding here )

I have all the options with it, and took plenty of photos so that potential buyers can get an idea before ordering.
I think the throw lever is a must, unless you’re going to use it at a fixed magni all the time.

Why do you say that, is the mag ring super stiff? Were you testing this at -50° in Norway???

Here is my review:

TFB Review: Kahles K540i Riflescope - The 40x Game Changer?

This is a review of the brand new Kahles K540i DLR premium riflescope.The K540i is designed for precision shooting at extreme ranges, boasting an impressive 5-40x magnification range.TFB is the only international publication chosen to review this riflescope before its official release.Kahles...

www.thefirearmblog.com

Really enjoyed your article, writing style, humor and honest information and feedback!

 

[mrmarklin]

The problem with all the high power scopes is that with a 56mm endbell, once the magnification exceeds 29x, resolution flattens out. It does not improve. That’s just an optical fact, and is the reason I’ll never buy a scope with more than 30x magnification.

 

[Glassaholic]

The problem with all the high power scopes is that with a 56mm endbell, once the magnification exceeds 29x, resolution flattens out. It does not improve. That’s just an optical fact, and is the reason I’ll never buy a scope with more than 30x magnification.

The TT 7-35 has pixie dust because it truly defies the odds with regard to this statement. Not sure what kind of magic TT pulled but it blew me away that it did not falter like the rest above 30x, by far the highest resolution scope above 25x I have seen to date.

 

[koshkin]

The problem with all the high power scopes is that with a 56mm endbell, once the magnification exceeds 29x, resolution flattens out. It does not improve. That’s just an optical fact, and is the reason I’ll never buy a scope with more than 30x magnification.

No that is not an optical fact. I have seen people make this argument before. It is usually some sort of a lazy derivation of the Rayleigh limit. That would apply if you are looking to resolve two very distant point sources (Rayleigh was an astronomer). When dealing with complex objects and a human eye, that does not quite work that way. Larger objective does, obviously, help on high mag, but you can't use Rayleigh criterion to define cutoff in a DVO.

ILya

 

[3rdfocal]

Sooooo is it gonna be.... Khales 540 VS March 5-42 for high FOV, high magnification scopes in the foreseeable future?

SKMR+ and FML-WBR are both excellent reticles in my opinion. Price is a wash. I guess if you like the Khales options for the windage/parallax controls, you go that route. Otherwise, flip a coin?

 

[Glassaholic]

Sooooo is it gonna be.... Khales 540 VS March 5-42 for high FOV, high magnification scopes in the foreseeable future?

Not necessarily, there is a lot more to the scope than erector and FOV. As with all things optics, there are always compromises, sometimes we are willing to look past the compromise in order to gain convenience or some other attribute we feel we need or want. The March 5-42 G2 High Master is 2" shorter than the Kahles... shorter along with high erector ratio typically means more compromises, but I say "typically" because there are things (magic) that optics manufacturers can do to help correct. All that to say that I do not expect the Kahles and the March to perform at the same level, but until we get them side by side we will not know for sure.

 

[CK1.0]

I’m interested, but what’s the word on Kahles’ support/service?

If I were to buy a $4K+ scope from them and have an issue or if it breaks, what could I expect?

 

[Glassaholic]

I’m interested, but what’s the word on Kahles’ support/service?

If I were to buy a $4K+ scope from them and have an issue or if it breaks, what could I expect?

Do you mean, is Kahles serviced here in the states or does it have to go back to Austria to be serviced? There was rumor that Swarovski USA was going to take over service but I am not certain that ever happened, will be curious to find out from someone who knows for sure.

 

[Nik H]

I’m interested, but what’s the word on Kahles’ support/service?

If I were to buy a $4K+ scope from them and have an issue or if it breaks, what could I expect?

I had an issue with my k624. I had it back in a little over 3 weeks. No questions asked, and it has worked perfectly since the repair (about 2.5 years ago).

 

[Nik H]

Do you mean, is Kahles serviced here in the states or does it have to go back to Austria to be serviced? There was rumor that Swarovski USA was going to take over service but I am not certain that ever happened, will be curious to find out from someone who knows for sure.

Swarovski USA is about 30 minutes from me here in RI. They generally do minimal repair there. My k624i went back to Austria, as did my STR80 spotter. I drove the items to them, and they took it from there. The turnaround was less than 4 weeks for each of them.

 

[3rdfocal]

Not necessarily, there is a lot more to the scope than erector and FOV. As with all things optics, there are always compromises, sometimes we are willing to look past the compromise in order to gain convenience or some other attribute we feel we need or want. The March 5-42 G2 High Master is 2" shorter than the Kahles... shorter along with high erector ratio typically means more compromises, but I say "typically" because there are things (magic) that optics manufacturers can do to help correct. All that to say that I do not expect the Kahles and the March to perform at the same level, but until we get them side by side we will not know for sure.

Ok, so who else makes a scope with comparable FOV?

 

[Kickin45]

10yr warranty on a nearly $5k scope!?

 

[Glassaholic]

Ok, so who else makes a scope with comparable FOV?

Possibly NF NX8, but their numbers are suspect with real world performance. What good is FOV if edge distortion makes things a blurry mess (like the early NX8 2.5-20), I've seen a pre-production March 5-42 Gen2 and was very impressed with its edge to edge clarity (certainly better than the Gen1) so I have good hope for the production units, and early claims with the Kahles K540i also indicate excellent edge to edge clarity but putting them up against a TT or ZCO which are well known to have superb edge to edge will help identify any shortcomings.

 

[Secant]

I’m interested, but what’s the word on Kahles’ support/service?

If I were to buy a $4K+ scope from them and have an issue or if it breaks, what could I expect?

I had to send my k525i in for service. I had to pay shipping to the east coast. Then Swaro shipped across the pond to get fixed. I forget how long, but I think it was a month or 2 door-to-door.

Kahles service is definitely in the con column for me.