Arken releases 'lighter weight' 30mm tube options

Well as time would take and busy life I never canceled my order. My scope finally arrived today. I only open the box and looked through it in the house. Boxing was loose and should of had more foam or something around the scope for protection. Also in the box the cutouts look like they were made for the larger scopes but at least the ends were supported and it did have a tight piece around the turret. Clicks are loud and crisp like the other scope and the windage is a little less loud but still tactile but its capped which I don't mind at all. Glass looks ok but I just in my house. Still have one more day to work this week so I try and get it mounted up and this next week to try it out. I just need to figure which rifle its going on. I think I already know but just need to make sure.
 
Tumbleweed said:
Thought I'd jump on here and give my feedback on the EPL4 6.24 MOA I just received a few days ago. I do have 3 other EP5's and an SH4. Absolutely love the scopes, in fact I replaced much higher price point optics with Arkens because the EP5's were better in every way. Anyway...the EPL4. It is a baby version of the EP5, it weights in at 24oz. The elevation turret feels exactly like the bigger Arkens which I love. The windage turret feels a little different as it's smaller, but it is very crisp and there's no mistaking when an adjustment is made. Very positive engagement. Now the glass...I compared two of my EP5's with the new EPL4 on an eye doctor type chart at 100 yards that has shapes of various colors along with letters of different sizes to compare with. The EPL4 has quite a bit better clarity than the EP5's. I also compared to a 3-15 Burris Veracity, the EPL4 was also better than that. I wasn't expecting the quality of glass to be this good in a 30mm tube.

I mounted the scope in a solid fixture 20 MOA off of the bottom of adjustment (as this is where it would be zeroed on the rifle) and ran it against a precise MOA grid at 100 yards. The EPL4 tracked absolutely perfect out to 50 MOA which was about all I had in the scope. I did this several times and it returned to zero every time. Very impressed, but this is what I've come to expect as normal from the Arkens. I took it out to zero on my 6.8 Western and it took two shots total to zero. 2nd shot was in my 5/16" black aiming dot. Guys, don't hesitate to try one of these, the wait is worth it too.
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I agree. I put a EPL4 on a AR and a bolt rifle about a month or so ago. The 6-24 Version. So far I have shot both a bunch out to 760 yards. Yesterday I fired 300 rounds total through the AR out to 760 yards , shooting old school MK262. The scope performed flawlessly. It tracked well as I transitioned quickly between 6" plates at 760, 580, 460, 320 and 210 yards. Mine have the MOA reticle. The scope was plenty clear @ 760 to easy see 5.56 hits on a 6" plate with a fresh white paint job. The reticle was nice and crisp holding off for my wind calls. For the money it can't be touched considering the scopes features. There are allot of people shooting scopes with a "V" on them, that are a whole lot less scope and cost 3 times plus what the Arken costs. I ordered two more 6-24's and four 4-16's.

How I see it is. It's like with me and several guys I shoot allot with. We all have our custom rifles and a wide verity of glass that ranges from 2-10x to 7-35x with price tags above $3500.00 for some of the optics. But we all also have 6.5 Ruger American Predators with good inexpensive glass on top that just about hang with the customs at distance and cost a whole lot less money and are just as fun to shoot .
 
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Initial Review: EPL 4x16x44 MOA

The scope showed up yesterday and I unboxed it this morning. Very nice overall on the packaging and feel, fit, finish. I took it with me to the range this morning but it was loose, not mounted to a rifle.

I took a rifle with a Burris Veracity 3x15x50 to compare it too since that is about a $750-800 scope right now. I will say that after comparing them I do like the Arken alot and think it offers alot of nice features. I will also say that people who think the Arken is better than a $1200-1500 scope are not being honest with themselves.

The Arken feels nice and sturdy and the adjustments are crisp and clean. I really do like the reticle in the scope, it reminds me of the MOA reticle I really liked in the 3x10 Nightforce SHV. The glass is nice and doesn't seem to distort even near the edges. That said the glass was not as good as the glass in the Burris Veracity IMO. The Burris is a 50mm, but the glass in it shows better/brighter colors and had a crisper image to me. The Arken EPL image was fine and I would not have had problems viewing and hitting target I don't think, but it wasn't as good.

That said, the Arken EPL is a very nice scope for the price point I paid, and does punch above its price tag. I feel the glass is probably about the same as my Vortex Viper 6x24x50 HSLR roughly. The zero stop is very functional and the the turrets are nice. The reticle was very good as well for what I like which is a useful reticle that isn't to busy.

Overall I think it is a very good buy for the money. I think it is probably worth something around the $650-750. Price range. I would love to compare it to a Viper 4x16x44 HSLR. I think they might be very similar.

I am planning to put this on a .338 win mag so hopefully I will get a chance to put some rounds through it sooner than later.
 
Yesterday I had my Vortex HSLR 4x16x44 out on my 308 and the new ELP 4x16X50 on a 7-mm08. I'm going to have to start with some cons on this one first then I do the likes. Biggest issue for me and this may be just my fake lenses in my eyes since cataract surgery but I have none of these issues on my Vortex. Also the lens in my eyes are the best money could buy at the time I had them done so its not a bad lens issue back in 2018. Doctor did change my focus length on one eye basically the near and far thing once you are over 40 standard practice for most. Anyway back to the scope. The reticle is so small I could not even make it out until I had it on about 8 power. Now to be fair I was sighting in on a black shoot and see target. When I pulled it off the target I could see most of it about on 6 power but found myself adjusting it always back to around 8X to see everything conformably (the reticle) at 100yrds. My battery was dead on this one so I was not able to use the illumination. I did sight in at max power though. For me the reticle is to fine at small magnification. The parallax adjustment even at 100yards I found myself almost at the 200yrds focus point.. Not a big issue but just seems to be off. Also the parallax adjustment past 200 you just have to set on infinity. Last issue that I had was the focus eye piece came screwed down so tight I had to take some rubber grip pliers to it to break it free. Like WTH..who does that.

Pros.....Biggest one ....COST....It hits all the features I need for long range as long as it keeps tracking good.
Once sighted in I ran it through some paces still at 100yrds and it tracked very well. Left and right up and down box test. It made it back to the same spot. I did take the turret and run it to max top and bottom it out and back to zero and it was at zero again also.
Plenty of adjustment for long range. Currently set up with a 20MOA rail I have 63MOA to adjust after sighting in. Plenty for a 7mm-08.
This one is actually clearer than the SH4 that I have and when looking through the scope at longer ranges I didn't feel I needed to adjust the eye focus again as I have to do on the the larger higher power SH4. That may just be a function of the lower power.
Weight...Fits right in with the rest of the scopes I own.
I don't know what you call it but it did not have any tunnel effect when looking through.
Off color effect. I'm out in the Idaho southern desert and everything is just tan or brown right now so I don't know.
As for brightness I could not tell any difference between the two so it works but I haven't had it in really low light so that test is for another day.
One other thing since the reticle is FFP you can use the reticle to add or adjust for your target.
 
I just shot these two groups @ 300 yards with a Arken EPL-4 6-24 and a Ruger Predator chambered in .224 Bleedmore. Which is a .22 Creedmoor Improved with a 40 degree shoulder. 1-8 twist with Berger Full Bore 80.5's on top of H-4350 and a CCI450.

First group was on the left. I dialed up 1/2 MOA and shot the second group. Re-Zeroed the elevation turret. Plenty good for a Coyote / Rockchuck truck rifle.

Just point and click on Coyotes out to about 360 yards.
 

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megastink said:
If they do a 2-10 option under or around 18oz, I'd be in for a few. Still holding my breath that Bushnell makes an LRHS2 in a 1.5-8x32 or 2-10x32. A man can dream!
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LRHS2 is an excellent scope. I wish the reticle was a bit thinner at full tilt. But still a favorite scope of mine either way
 
idcwby said:
Any more updates on these?
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My EPL4 6-24 is on a 6.8 Western. I confirmed drops with it a few weeks ago starting at 1,052 yards and then moved to 1,350 yards where I busted a 5" rock on the 2nd shot with the first being a near miss. No correction to the program needed at all. Drops matched absolutely perfect with my Kestrel 5700 Elite and the custom drag model for the Berger 170 EOL. I had zero issues shooting such a small target either, glass was more than adequate. Can't say enough good about this "little" scope.
 
Ordered mine Jan 17th, been 9 weeks now. Last week they said at least two more weeks. Gonna go on my son's 260 ai. It's ok to wait a little longer, his xlr chassis is still another 2-7 weeks...
 
codyadams said:
Ordered mine Jan 17th, been 9 weeks now. Last week they said at least two more weeks. Gonna go on my son's 260 ai. It's ok to wait a little longer, his xlr chassis is still another 2-7 weeks...
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If you get his rifle done and it's not there I can loan you one. I have some sitting around.
 

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