Holy Grail of Airgun Scopes

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Here is a copy of my review of my new Athlon Argos BTR 6-24x50mm First Focal Plane Scope, to Jason at Athlon Optics...at $369.99 they are a giveaway at this price in an attempt to steal the U.S. scope market! This scope has certainly stolen my heart!

Dear Jason,
I just received my new Athlon Argos BTR 6-24×50 IR MOA reticle scope from Midway USA today. I am just completely blown away with the quality of this scope. I love everything about it, and I feel like shouting out to the whole world what a prize I have found. I am an air gunner, and I bought this for my FX Wildcat .25 cal. air rifle. I got into this sport about 3 1/2 years ago and have tried many scopes. I am really ashamed to tell you how many scopes I have purchased and returned (12?) for a refund due to their poor quality or other drawbacks.

Just recently I purchased a Leupold VX3i 6.5-20×40 Target EFR…and I had the Custom Shop install their TS29X1 reticle. It was a one of a kind – I used it for one trip to the range and sold it the next day to a friend at a loss just to get rid of it. I tell you this to give you an idea of my desperate search for the “perfect” scope for my air rifle. I was fully expecting to send this scope back to MidwayUSA also…but I wouldn’t part with this gem for all the tea in China. I feel like I have found the “Holy Grail” of air rifle scopes. (It would work great on a powder burners also). So I hope to tell all of my brothers and sisters in this sport about it. This is perfect for us and you should aggressively market these three first focal plane scopes to the airgun community.

You should contact Airguns of Arizona and Pyramyd Air just to name a couple…I have purchased several of the Hawke Scopes, Leapers, Oculus, Optimax, Nikon, Leupold, Zeiss, etc. and none of them hold a candle to this one. We airgunners need scopes with holdovers on the reticle – like mildot, half mil dot, or moa reticles – because of the trajectory of our pellets. But we need holdovers that are valid throughout the full range of magnification! One of the big problems has been that the holdovers are not valid on scopes with the reticle in the second focal plane if one changes the magnification! I just recently found out about this when I watched the video of your Argos BTR 6-24×50 at MidwayUSA…it explains why I sent so many scopes back for a refund in the past, because I would memorize the holdovers at 10x and shoot at that power setting mostly. But when on occasion I would turn the power up higher or lower my rifle would not hit the target where it was supposed to – and I believed that it was no longer “holding zero”. I feel like such an idiot but I simply didn’t know! Besides this inherent problem with second focal plane scopes, only one of the scopes I have purchased in the past 3 1/2 years was as clear all the way out to the edges of the lenses as this one is. It was a Zeiss but it would only focus down to 50 yards, so back it went.

Allow me to give you a list of all the features one could hope for in a scope for an air rifle. First focal plane Illuminated holdover reticle – which is valid at all magnification settings, a 30mm tube – for best field of view and most elevation adjustment, side focus wheel – a 2″ & 4″ accessory would be nice, a locking ring for the eyepiece, focus from 10 yards to infinity, and absolutely crystal clear glass all the way out to the edges…even at full magnification in bright sunlight and at night with very little ambient light.

This scope has everything on the list except a larger side wheel accessory and a locking ring for the eye piece. I can purchase the former on Ebay, and live without the latter. Jason you have hit a major home run with this scope. If you are smart – and I believe you are – you will begin the process of marketing all of the Athlon Argos first focal plane models to the airgun community. You will steal the market away from Hawke, Leapers, Optimax, and the other last place finishers in this race. None of them have a “first focal plane” scope, and if they did they sure wouldn’t be selling it at this great price. Last but not least, this illuminated reticle is absolutely amazing outside in the dark…the reticle appears to just “float” in midair…it looks like a hologram or something. It is way cool!
Best regards, Chuckster
P.S. – Come out with a 4-16x50mm first focal plane side focus IR reticle model soon! Airgunners will eat them up!!

MOD EDIT: MOVED TO OPTICS SECTION
 
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I echo your sentiments! I bought two Argos 8-34x mil-dots and both were the same excellent quality. These scopes, especially first focal planes, allowed me to enjoy this hobby like never before. They are very clear, edge to edge, stay bright in the indoor range to about 30x and at 34x still around 80%, they hold zero and track perfectly. I think they are worth at least $800 or more.
 
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"iride"I hate to crash the party but , Have you compared this scope to a good scope like the Optisan Viper 6-24x56 IRS scopes?
I still have my Hawke scope but the Viper blows it away , We are talking about a little more money but not that much.
Mike
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Did not compare to any mid-line scopes, only compared to a few $400 scopes (Nikko Stirling 10-50x, Tasco Custom Shop 10-60x) and a S&B 12.5-50x FT. Much better than the Nikko at tracking, edge to edge, brightness. The old Tasco has a good glass but does get noticeably darker at around 40x indoors albeit still very usable at 60x, but tracking seems a bit sketchy at times. I did not keep the S&B (so never mounted it) but the glass between the two up to 30x power seemed close to the Athlon, of course the S&B had no issues with clarity and brightness at all magnifications at daylight outdoors, and was clear edge to edge. Never tested it at the 100 yards indoors range which is where I mostly shoot. I assume the S&B would have tracked as well as the Athlon, but never did any tracking on it.
 
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Thanks for the review. I was just about to spend exactly $360 on a Clearidge Ultra XP 6-20x40 but now I'm going to check out the Athlon. 

The reviews of many of the high magnification mid-range scopes (particularly Hawk) usually put me off because people complain about poor quality glass that lacks usable clarity at higher power. I am definitely intrigued by a scope that is clear at high mag and retains the same holdover at all levels. 

 
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Regardless of what scope you buy, I recommend you purchase it from MidwayUSA. They have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee! This means you have 60 days to return any purchase for a full refund or exchange. And after that 60 days you have up to one year to return an item for a store credit or exchange. This is very important because one of the biggest problems of buying things over the internet is that you cannot hold it in your hands and check it out before you buy it. And you know everything looks good on the computer screen...but when you open the box it is sometimes a different story. 

For you guys that like Hawke scopes for example...MidwayUSA carries the complete line with the exception of the new Frontier scopes. So if you buy a Hawke from MidwayUSA you may return it if you are not satisfied. If on the other hand you purchase one from an airgun store there is up to a 20% restocking fee...and that's if they allow you to return it. I have gotten stuck with internet purchases in the past that did not live up to the advertisement, and it is a total bummer.

Best of luck to all
 
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It has 18 mils of total adjustment so that 9 above and 9 below . One full rotation is 5 mils . So you get less that 2 full turns above optical center and less than 2 full turns below center . So from top to bottom your turret will only make 3 full turns with 3 mils left over so that 3.5 turns total from top to bottom . If you have your scope set at 25 to 30 yards zero and your going to shoot at a the 3/8 opening on a field target at 10 yards away and you want to set your cross hair in the center of the target you might not have enough rotation . At 10 yards your going to need at least 7 to 10 mils to get your cross hair on target . Someone that has this scope tell me if this is correct or not .
 
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Yesterday, I received my Argos 6-24x50. I wanted an upgrade for my Vortex Crossfire ll 6-18x44. After mounting on my Mutant and zeroing in at 30 yard (end of my back yard). It is clear, even at max magnification it's clear to the edge. Keeps POI better than the Crossfire. I got the Mil-dot reticle and takes a little getting used to FFP. But, for one day of shooting, I am very pleased with this purchase. I will purchase more Athlon products.

Bud
 
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http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1094688304877/athlon-argos-btr-rifle-scope-30mm-tube-6-24x-50mm-first-focal-side-focus-illuminated-matte

fenderguy...I am not sure what you were looking at, but click on the link and scroll down the technical specifications to where it says "Parallax adjustment: 10 yards to infinity". And to further answer your question, my Athlon Argos 6-24x50 FFP scope actually focuses all the way down to 5 yards crystal clear...and that is at 10x no less! (Not that I plan on using that capability any time in the foreseeable future:) 

I have a friend that shoots Field Target Competition, and he just got an Athlon Argos 8-34x56 FFP scope to replace the Falcon 10-50x60 scope he has been using on his AirArms FTP 900 for the last year...he was that impressed when he looked through mine. He is super excited about the crystal clear optics...and he agrees with me that it is like looking through a big round bay window. Or better yet, he echoed my sentiment by saying "it's like looking through air it's so clear"! He also said that after looking through his new Athlon that his "Hawke 8.5-25x42 looks like looking through a dark tunnel".

I can only recommend you buy an Athlon Argos and try it out for yourselves...if you are not 100% satisfied return it for a full refund. I would be willing to bet you keep it!
 
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