Description
Rifle Scope Product Details
MK Machining Athlon Optics – Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30×56 MOA Billet Throw Lever & Ultra Low-Profile Scope Level (APLR2, Brown)
Save money and increase speed and accuracy with this custom bundle from MK Machining! For the same price as you’d buy just this optic elsewhere, you get a premium throw lever and scope level preinstalled. Machined from billet 6061 aluminum and hard coated with a Type III anodization. Just when you thought we couldn’t improve the Ares BTR, we did! The Ares ETR First Focal Plane Scope is loaded with features that will allow you to take your long range shooting to another level. Featuring a completely revamped turret system, the Ares ETR has a locking Windage turret along with a true zero stop on the elevation turret to make sure your turrets and shots are right on every time. Extra dispersion ED lenses allow for the sharpest and best color image possible. Constructed with an 34mm tube, this riflescope can withstand even the harshest of elements.
Rifle Scope Product Features
First Focal Plane Reticle
Milled in USA Throw Lever & Scope Level Preinstalled
ED Glass w/ Etched Reticle
Zero Stop and Locking Windage Turrets
About the MK Machining Company
MK Machining is a premium company for long gun scopes, optics, mounting solutions, and other accessories used for guns like rifles and long guns. They innovate and make their products by applying building materials which are durable and long lasting. This includes the MK Machining Athlon Optics – Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30×56 MOA Billet Throw Lever & Ultra Low-Profile Scope Level (APLR2, Brown) by MK Machining. For more shooting products, visit their site.
What You Need to Know About Rifle Optics
Rifle scopes allow you to exactly align a rifle at various targets by lining up your eye with the target at range. They do this through magnifying the target by using a series of lenses inside the scope. The scope’s positioning can be adapted to take into account varied environmental aspects like wind speed and elevation to account for bullet drop.
The scope’s purpose is to help shooters understand precisely where the bullet will land based upon the sight picture you are viewing via the scope as you align the scope’s crosshair or reticle with the target. Most modern-day rifle optics have around 11 parts which are located inside and outside of the scope body. These parts include the rifle scope’s body, lenses, windage turrets, focus rings, and other elements. See all eleven parts of optics.
Rifle Glass Types
Rifle scopes can be either “first focal plane” or “second focal plane” type of scopes. Deciding upon the finest type of rifle scope is based around what type of shooting you plan to do.
First Focal Plane Scopes
Focal plane scopes (FFP) come with the reticle in front of the magnification lens. This triggers the reticle to increase in size based upon the level of zoom being used. The benefit is that the reticle measurements are the same at the enhanced range as they are at the non magnified distance. For instance, one tick on a mil-dot reticle at 100 yards without having “zoom” is still the very same tick at 100 yards with 5x “zoom”. These types of scopes work for:
- Quick acquisition, far away kinds of shooting
- Shooting situations where computations are very little
- Experienced shooters who recognize their aim point “hold over” plus “lead” correlations for their long gun
- Shooters who don’t mind the reticle is bigger and requires more visual sight room than a SFP reticle
Info About Second Focal Plane Optics
Second focal plane scopes (SFP) come with the reticle to the rear of the zoom lens. This induces the reticle to stay at the exact same scale relative to the volume of magnification being used. The final result is that the reticle measurements evolve based upon the zoom used to shoot over lengthier ranges considering that the markings represent distinct increments which vary with the magnification. In the FFP illustration with the SFP optic, the 5x “zoom” one hundred yard tick reticle measurement would be 1/5th of the non “zoom” tick measurement. These particular kinds of glass are handy for:
- Long distance kinds of shooting where shooters have more time to make ballistic calculations
- Shooting where most of the shots take place within shorter distances and ranges
- Shooters who desire a clearer optic picture without area used up by the larger size FFP reticle
About Scope Magnification
The amount of magnification a scope offers is identified by the size, thickness, and curvatures of the lenses inside of the rifle scope. The magnification of the scope is the “power” of the scope.
Info on Single Power Lens Rifle Optics
A single power rifle optic comes with a zoom number designator like 4×32. This implies the magnification power of the scope is 4x power and the objective lens is 32mm. The zoom of this type of optic can not change because it is a fixed power optic.
Variable Power Lens Optic Info
Variable power rifle scopes use enhanced power. The power change is handled by the power ring part of the scope near the back of the scope by the eye bell.
Rifle Optic Power and Ranges
Here are some recommended scope power levels and the ranges where they may be efficiently used. Highly magnified optics will not be as effective as lower magnification level optics since too much magnification can be a negative aspect depending on your shooting distance. The same applies to longer distances where the shooter needs enough power to see exactly where to properly aim the rifle.
Lens Finish for Optics
All modern-day rifle optic and scope lenses are layered. There are various types and qualities of coverings. When researching high end rifle optics and scope devices, Lens coating can be an important component of defining the capability of the rifle. The lenses are among the most essential parts of the optic as they are what your eye looks through while sighting a rifle in on the point of impact. The coating on the lenses safeguards the lens surface and even improves anti glare from excess natural light and color profiles.
HD Versus ED Rifle Optic Lens Coatings
Some rifle scope suppliers also use “HD” or high-definition glass finishings which apply various procedures, elements, polarizations, and chemical applications to draw out various color ranges and viewable definition through lenses. This HD finish is often used with higher density lens glass which lowers light’s ability to refract through the lens glass. Some scope corporations use “HD” to describe “ED” meaning extra-low dispersion glass. ED deals with how colors are presented on the chroma spectrum and the chromatic aberration or difference which is also called color distortion or fringing. Chromatic aberration is often obvious around items with defined outlines as light hits the item from specific angles.
Single Covering Versus Multi-Coating for Scopes
Different optic lenses can likewise have different finishings used to them. All lenses usually have at least some type of treatment or covering applied to them before being used in a rifle scope or optic.
This lens treatment can protect the lens from scratches while reducing glare and other less useful things experienced in the shooting environment while sighting in with the scope. The quality of a single covered lens depends on the scope maker and how much you paid for it.
Some scope manufacturers similarly make it a point to specify if their optic lenses are layered or “multi” covered. Being “better” depends on the producer’s lens treatment technology and the quality of products used in constructing the rifle scope.
Info on Hydrophobic Finishing
Water on an optical lens does not support keeping a clear sight picture through an optic in any way. Many top of the line and premium scope producers will coat their lenses with a hydrophobic or hydrophilic finishing. The Steiner Optics Nano-Protection is a good example of this sort of treatment. It provides protection for the exterior surfaces of the Steiner optic lens so the water particles can not bind to it or produce surface tension. The result is that the water beads slide off of the scope to keep a clear, water free sight picture.
Choices for Installing Rifle Glass on Firearms
Mounting approaches for scopes can be found in a few choices. There are the standard scope rings which are individually installed to the optic and one-piece scope mounts which cradle the scope. These various types of mounts also generally come in quick release versions which use manual levers which allow rifle shooters to rapidly mount and dismount the scopes.
Hex Key Scope Rings
Standard, clamp-on type mounting optic rings use hex head screws to install to the flattop style Picatinny scope mount rails on the tops of rifles. These types of scope mounts use a pair of detached rings to support the optic, and are usually constructed from 7075 T6 billet aluminum which are manufactured for long distance accuracy shooting. This type of scope mount is effective for rifles which need to have a long lasting, hard use mount which will not shift no matter how much the scope is moved about or jarring the rifle takes. These are the style of mounts you want for a specialized optics system on a far away hunting or interdiction firearm which will rarely need to be changed or adjusted. Blue 242 Loctite threadlocker can also be used on the scope mount’s screws to keep the hex screws from wiggling out after they are mounted securely in position. An example of these mounting rings are the 30mm type from the Vortex Optics brand. The set generally costs around $200 USD
Quick-Release Cantilever Rifle Optic Ring Mounts
These types of quick-release rifle scope mounts can be used to quickly remove a scope and attach it to a different rifle. Numerous scopes can also be switched out if they all use a compatible style mount. These types of mounts come in handy for rifles which are transferred a lot, to swap out the optic from the rifle for protection, or for scopes which are used in between numerous rifles.
About Rifle Glass Tube Sealing and Gas Purging
Moisture inside your rifle optic can destroy a day of shooting and your pricey optic by causing fogging and developing residue inside of the scope tube. The majority of scopes avoid moisture from going into the scope tube with a system of sealing O-rings which are water resistant.
Details on Rifle Optic Tube Gas Purging
Another part of avoiding the buildup of wetness inside of the rifle scope’s tube is filling the tube with a gas like nitrogen. Since this space is already taken up by the gas, the scope is less altered by temperature changes and pressure variations from the outside environment which might possibly enable water vapor to seep in around the seals to fill the void which would otherwise exist. These are good qualities of a good rifle scope to seek out.
