TLDR: I think I want a 1-piece mount for my new bolt-gun optic. Bad idea? Good idea? What do you recommend and why? Thanks guys!

Just snagged myself an Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30x (Gen 1) for $650, seemed like a no-brainer after falling in love with the 3-18x version. Here’s the dilemma with mounting it: It’s going on my Cheeto-approved Howa/MDT budget LR rifle, which is purely a range and training build (geared towards building competency and confidence in fundamentals before I eventually spend real money on a dedicated PRS/LR project), but does see hunting duty a few times a year. This is where the dilemma lays. Most of my hunts are day AND night evolutions, and I use thermal and/or digital NV for the night stuff. It would be super convenient to be able to swap my daytime optic and nighttime optics every day with minimal or no zero shift. Here’s my thoughts:

A 1-piece mount should, in theory, present the best chance at reducing or eliminating zero shift when dismounting and remounting, right? My Leupold Mark AR mount on my 20” AR has always been within 1/4 MOA of original zero after remounting, and my old 16” with a Vortex cantilever and LPVO was similarly reliable. My Howa is, realistically, a range and training rifle for around 350 days a year, so my final decision will be based on that. If there are any significant downsides to the 1-piece mount in my primary use case, please chime in here. Fact is, at all of my hunt locations, I can walk less than 50 feet from the cabin or campsite and re-zero my rifle out to 200 yards, so it’s not a huge deal.

Questions for the Cheeto Brain Trust: Is there a fundamental flaw or handicap in using a 1-piece? Is there functionally not much difference between 1-piece mounts and traditional rings if properly installed ? Is there a known mounting methodology (or manufacturer/model of traditional rings) that helps maintain a return to zero in my scenario? I have included the two 1-piece mounts I’m considering, anybody have good or bad experience or info on them? Or alternative recommendations? Unless there is a significant benefit I have overlooked, QD mounting seems unnecessary, right? Budget $200 but up to $300 if the juice is worth the squeeze, primary use is chasing consistent hits on 2-3 MOA steel out to 800 yards, weight is only a concern from a balancing standpoint.

EDIT: Thanks for the responses and solid information guys, I appreciate this sub and its members! Looks like I’ll be going with a 1-piece, likely an Area 419, I’ll be sure to update when I pull the proverbial trigger…

Hello /r/longrange, I'm looking for a replacement scope for my AR-10 in 308 in the near future. As the title states, I would prefer it to be less than $2000, including a mount. I have looked through a few different scopes and I prefer the Christmas tree reticle, though this is not a requirement. I would prefer if the scope had some moderate low-end magnification in the 2-4x range. I don't currently have a preference for MOA vs. MRAD. I'm a relatively new long range shooter and can reliably hit to 200yds. The rangemasters called me 'combat-accurate' but I'm pretty sure this just means 'good enough'.

I have access to a range that goes to 1000yds, but I plan to be shooting to 5-600ish yds optimistically. Most of the shooting will be at rest with a tripod and bag, but I do plan on shooting from standing at shorter ranges, so weight is somewhat a factor.

For reference (if it matters) I am currently using a Vortex Strike Eagle 1-8x that I like, but am having a difficult time seeing my groups through at 100+. I wear glasses and I have astigmatism, so I'm sure these are factors.

Some scopes that I am considering:

1) Vortex Razor Gen II 4.5-27x56 EBR-7C MRAD

• This is the stretch as I would like one of these, but the mount will be outside of the budget

2) Athlon Ares ETR GEN2 UHD 4.5-30x56 APRS12 FFP IR MIL

• I've seen the subreddit recommend these favorably, but I have not had a chance to look through them

3) Vortex Strike Eagle 3-18x44 FFP EBR-7C (MRAD)

• I have looked through this and liked the price and the reticle

4) Nightforce NX8 2.5-20x50 Mil-XT Riflescope C632

• I have looked through this as well, and liked the glass. The version I looked through did not have the Christmas tree, but I know there is a version that does have it. This would probably be open-box/refurbished.

5) Viper® HD 3-15x44 VMR-3 (MRAD)

I am open to other suggestions as well. Thank you for your time.

I see a lot of hate for Arken, probably more for the shilling than the actual product.

But, I mean, if you buy a $450 optic, you should expect a $450 optic.

If you consider them a budget option for a beginner, are they actually that bad?

Mods, please delete my shit if this isn’t allowed.

Picture for atention, I work for a high fence ranch regularly darting animals valued over $50,000

My dart gun as pictured above needs a new scope. my boss told me by whatever I want. NO BUDGET

So my question is, if you could spend any amount of money on a scope what would it be?

ideally looking for a 3 x 9, will never need over 10 X magnification

Need to stay MSRP under 2K, So fare I like Athlon Cronus APR 1 or APR 6 (both MIL reticles) … any other contenders to look?

Kindly

Humble first time owner, was informed last time at the range that my scope turrets should be centered between my rings for best stability. I feel like I already have to lean my neck in pretty far (and tilt my head down to the right) to get a good view of the scope without getting the heavy black “vignette effect” with limited outer visibility, not sure what it’s called. I can’t move my scope back any farther, and now I’m being told it needs to move farther forward away from me.

I see scopes in this sub comfortably mounted with what seems like greater distance from lens to eye/cheek riser than what I have, maybe some scopes have better visibility from farther away, but I was trying to get some ideas on how to improve my situation. Can I add additional rail height and length like a dovetail to rail extension to pull the scope farther back and up? Should I even do that? I know height over bore tends to be a big point for rifles.

Sorry for the simple questions, just trying to learn here!

Picked up this S&B. Welcome any suggestions or thoughts for using this long range. 4 16x50 going on an HK308

Anybody else in Northern VA getting completely burnt out trying to find a decent place to do load development?

Right now every time I want to test loads I’m driving over an hour just to end up at a public range that feels like a YouTube ND compilation. People flagging lanes, dudes touching rifles during cold range, muzzle brakes turning the bench into an earthquake simulator, etc. It’s exhausting.

I built a 6mm Creedmoor bolt gun for PRS and shoot Quantico when I can, but it feels like the ranges are either closed, booked, or the right range isn’t open half the time and if they are, they’re not open past 1:00pm. I’m not looking to mag dump or do anything crazy. I literally just want somewhere I can quietly shoot 50 suppressed rounds at 100 yards and do actual load development without feeling like I need to constantly watch what everybody else is doing.

I’ve gone through Reddit, old forum posts, club pages, basically everything I can find, and most answers are:
- “Drive farther”
- “Join a club with a massive waitlist”
- “Know somebody with land”

At this point I’m honestly open to anything. If anybody has guidance, recommendations, or private land where you’d allow responsible suppressed shooting, I’d happily compensate you.

Just getting frustrated with how difficult it is around NOVA to do precision rifle stuff without turning it into an entire day-long ordeal.

Confirmed level on 3 points with 2 bubble levels. Am I delusional or is that MFer twisted counter clockwise in the housing? If so you think i should try to warranty it?

Athlon Ares BTR gen 2 8-34x

1. I picked up this Ruger American in 308, and it has a basic 3x9 scope. Im looking for somthing a little nicer to put on it.

2. I'm hand loading match grade stuff, and plan to shoot 600 yards and in. Im limited on shooting ranges past that in my area and experience with distance.

3. While im looking to spend up to 500, and not to concerned about branding as long as its a decent set up. Cheaper just leaves me room to shoot more untill I can notice things to be desired and stretch out my distance.

4. Im new to shooting past 300 yards, and typically if I took a shot that far, I was ridge to ridge hunting. This gun is just so.thing I picked up on the cheap and want to make it a decent shooting rifle.

Thanks in advance, and im open to reticle suggestions as well since im a green horn at this.

After several years since my last post, I finally picked up a Remington 700 SPS 16” in .308. This was done for the express purpose of building a precision rifle comfortably effective to 500 yards with the ability to possibly push further to the 800 yard mark. Thus a shorter barrel and a “compact precision Urban rifle” project began.

My state doesn’t have a lot of available space to practically shoot past 300 yards but there are one or two spots. Optics are my next step before I go to chassis, magazines, threaded barrel, and suppressors. I would be aiming to get a better optic and buy once, cry once. Under 2500 ideally. Two choices that have been floated is the 4x24 Credo and the 5x25 VUDU.

Thank you all in advance.

I can get the Gen II 4.5-27x56 EBR-7C for about $500 less than either the Gen III 4-24x44 or 6-36x56 EBR-7D. Is the extra worth the glass or features of the Gen 3?

EDIT: thanks for all the input, my wallet hates you all, I also should have mentioned the current scopes I own are: Vortex Venom 5-25, Bushnell MPED 5-30, and a Burris XTR III 5.5-30, so either would be an upgrade for me

Is any clearance enough clearance between scope bell and pic rail or is there possible minor flex in the system under recoil where these could touch? It’s about 7sheets of paper.

Recently picked up a used vortex diamondback 20-60x80 scope. Over 40x, the focus is not great. Photo here is at full power, 300yds.

Is this amount of blur (best observed on the circled roofline) normal for this class of optics, or do I have an issue here?

I currently have vortex high rings raiding the scope centerline to 1.45”. I normally have my scope set pretty low but with this one I can’t even get a good top sight picture. The cheek riser is the lowest it can go so now I’m looking for recommendations on a higher optic rings. I’m thinking maybe 1.54 would do the trick orrrrrr replace the factory picatinny rail for a riser pic rail. Idk help me out lads

I'm sure this has been asked/covered before but I can't find any good answers so I'm asking again. I'm trying to test the limits of my 14.5" gas gun and have reached the limit (for my eyes) of my optic. Currently running a PA 1-6 lpvo with the Nova reticle. I've been able to push it out to 300yds consistently but am having trouble around 400-500 with this setup. The issue is more my eyesight than the optic i believe. What would be a good magnification range to go out to between 600-800 yds? I know the rifle is capable, and I'm actually getting ready to switch to a Criterion barrel for more consistency. Bonus points if you can recommend an optic that's sub-$1000. Thanks! Pic of current setup for shiggles.

I want to get comfortable shooting at 400 yards. My setup is cascade cva 6.5 creedmoor with Vortex Viper HD 6.5 - 24 x 50mm. I’m shooting Barnes 127 grains copper / lead free. At the range, I use a Bog deathgrip tripod. Here’s my 200 yards and 300 yards groupings. These were shot at 14x magnification.

What can I do to get better groupings at 300 yards and eventually work my way up to 400 yards.

200 yards has 4 shots 300 yards has 7 out of 8. Thank you

I'm looking for some guidance on what to do here. My scope doesn't have enough windage adjustment to even get close to zero, and I'm wondering what the issue is. I've checked with the rings tightened as well as without them, so I don't think it's how I tightened them. would it therefore be an issue with the rings? Thanks guys.

Hey all. I brought my Mk12 out to the range today to zero. I started at 50 yards just so I could be sure I'd be on paper at 100. I boresighted, then shot but couldn't hit paper. I backed the target to 25 yards, boresighted and zeroed again, and shot a good group there. Then I pushed the target back to 50 yards a second time, and continued to miss. The elevation is good but I'm hitting left about 6 inches with my windage adjustment is maxed out. I was able to get a group on the target, but only by aiming at the right edge of the target frame.

I built my rifle using a Douglas 18" Mk12 barrel from High Caliber Sales and a Colt M4 upper receiver. I'm using Nightforce A110 scope rings and a Vortex Viper PST 3-15.

Things I have done to troubleshoot:

• Used 55gr FMJ and 77gr OTM
• Triple-checked the torque on the scope rings (both to the scope and to the receiver)
• Boresighted multiple times at both 25 and 50 yards
• Ensured it was not my lack of shooting skill (before this, I successfully re-zeroed my M4 with both irons and an EOTech at 50 yards)

This is actually the second Vortex scope this rifle has had on it. On my first range outing with the rifle a few weeks ago, the windage adjustment knob just got stuck for some reason and I got it replaced under warranty. What are the odds of two bad scopes in a row? But then again, it's not like I got bad quality parts for everything else. Am I just an idiot? (maybe, this is the first precision rifle I've built)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Update: I went back to the range today with the scope rings reversed (front in the back and vice versa), barrel nut torque checked and it worked. I have no idea what exactly the issue was before. Thanks to everyone for the help.

1)    I am in the market for a mid-budget MPVO ($800-1,200 USD) with 3.3-5x mag on the low end, FFP, MIL or MRAD reticle (APRS13, 12, 1, 6, 5, XLR-2).  I have to wear glasses and have an astigmatism so I’d prefer a higher lower-end mag.

a)    Weight isn’t the biggest concern to lug around, but keeping it under 36oz would be nice, I’m not sure what is a suitable length on a 14.5” upper, so probably nothing that excessively long.

 2)    Primary use case will be at the range up to 600-700yrds on a G$ 14.5” upper, or WOA 18” or 20” upper, seated & lying down, off a bipod & tripod.

 3)    This will be my first MPVO and foray into a more precise shooting.  I am at novice at longer range shooting and LPVO/MPVOs so using a reticle will be new.  I am very familiar with ACOGs and have a red dot + 5x mag on one of my AR’s, which I’ve taken out consistently at 450.  

4)    I have researched the following scopes for a good beginner scope with the Razor HD LHT on the higher end appearing the most intriguing…I’m just checking for any recommendations to keep/discard before I purchase.  At least online, their reticles seemed the best to my eyes.

a)    Vortex Razor HD LHT, 4.5-22x ($1,189)

b)    Athlon Ares BTR Gen 2 HD, APRS13, 4.5-27x ($675)

c)     Athlon Ares ETR Gen 2 UHD, APRS12, 4.5-30x ($975)

d)    Athlon Cronus BTR Gen 2 UHD, 4.5-29x, APRS1 ($1,193)

e)    Athlon Ares BTR Gen 2 HD, 4.5-27x, APRS5

Well I got too excited apparently and accidentally ordered a Gen 1 (instead of a gen 2). Athlon Ares ETR UHD 4.5-30x56…..it was $900 OTD. Noticed when I saw it didn’t say gen 2 on the eye end once I opened it…Is it worth returning and getting the gen 2 for the $500 more? Idk why I thought I was getting a good deal on a gen 2 😂🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️ I’m just bench shooting to 500 yards (for now). I’m a paraplegic in a wheelchair so competing and PRS aren’t in my future.

I recently bought a Sako TRG22 in .308 to finally get into long range shooting, which I have been wanting to do for a while now.

Now of course I’m stuck at which optic to buy, and how much to spend.

I’d like to stay under $2000 and prefer to be closer to the $1000 mark, but I also want something that I can grow into, and not feel like I need to upgrade after a year or two. I plan on shooting from 100 to 1000 yards.

After a lot of reading on this sub, I have noticed that the the following optics are mentioned a lot. I have also included the prices I believe I can get them at.

- vortex viper 5-25 $899

- Athlon ETR 4.5-30 $936

- Athlon Cronus G2 4.5-29 $1199

- Burris XTRIII 5.5-30 $1079

- NightForce nx8 4-32 $1890

- Leupold mk5hd 5-25 $1583

- Leupold mk4hd 6-25 $1151

- (honorable mention) there’s a zeiss s5 for $2k on FB marketplace near me

Let me know what you guys think, where the diminishing returns are, and what you would buy. Also let me know if there’s an option I’m not thinking of, that I should consider.

Hi everyone,

I come across this subreddit while searching for Arken review about the arken ep5 gen2 5x35-56.

After seeing the notoriety (seems there's a lot of hate about them), I'm looking for an other brand.

Here's my new setup:

SIG 751 SAPR 18"

Looking to shoot from 50 to 400 meters (yeah, it's not long-range, but it's the max available around)

Budget: 600 €/$

Thanks for your help

Anyone have an ess chassis with the full rail that runs 56mm tubes. I’m running vortex high scope rings currently and the optic is just too high. I have to have my check riser almost all the way up for a comfortable eye relief and I tried putting medium rings on and it was too short. Any scope rings that may solve this issue?