The Athlon Argos BTR Gen 2 8-34×56 recently topped our Boyds Pro Varmint Stock .22-250 upgrade. This time, we’re taking an in-depth look at the optic.
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About the Athlon Argos BTR Gen 2 8-34×56
As a recap, I’ve been wanting to upgrade my Weaver scope for some time to something more tactical.
I selected the Athlon ARGOS BTR Gen 2 8-34x56mm. This affordable FFP scope ($499.99 MSRP) has 0.1 mil clicks, a versatile magnification range, illuminated reticle, side focus, and zero stop. Illumination is especially handy for early morning and before dusk shooting.
From Athlon:
If you’re looking for a top rated rifle scope, check out the Argos BTR GEN2 family of rifle scopes. The Argos BTR GEN2 family is great for those looking to get started in PRS or other long range shooting disciplines. This family of rifle scopes featuring FFP and SFP models, True Precision Zero Stop, Fully Multi-coated Lenses, Direct Dial Elevation & Windage Turrets (Capped in 1-8×24), Illuminated Reticle, 30mm Tube.
Product Specifications:
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- Magnification: 8-34x
- Obj. Lens Diameter: 56 mm
- Tube Diameter: 30 mm
- Eye Relief: 3.3”
- FOV @ 100 Yards: 12.5 – 3 ft.
- Parallax Adjustment: 15 yards
- Click Value: 0.1 Mil
- Length: 15.5”
- Weight: 32 oz.
What’s in the Box
The magnetic closing box is convenient for storage and contains the optic with covers, instructions, a lens cloth, Allen keys and a battery.
I paired the Athlon scope with Athlon Precision Rings and bought an EGW 20 MOA rail to round out the scope upgrade.
With some help from Wheeler Tools, it wasn’t long before everything was ready to go.
APMR Reticle Specifics
This scope is first focal plane, so the reticle scales with magnification. This means that at every magnification, the subtensions will still be accurate.
The tradeoff is the reticle is smaller at lower magnifications. This Christmas tree reticle provides both elevation and windage holdovers with 0.5 mil resolution, but isn’t overwhelming.
Ultimate Reloader Optics Test Rig
The Ultimate Reloader Optics Test Rig, designed and built in house, measures actual optics performance using precision 100 yard targets (MIL, MOA) and camera positioning to sub -0.0005”. It tests tracking, zoom, parallax, and distortion. Note: We do not currently have a way to capture optics image quality in a meaningful way.
To test tracking, we took the scope up, down, left and right 3.0 mil, noting where we landed on the target. This scope performed very well though we did have a slight shift due to mirage. The clicks were very tactile with a distinct sound, making it easy to both feel and hear the changes.
For parallax, we started with the center of the scope scope and camera collinear. With the parallax set to the testing range (100 yards), we moved the scope left and right 0.050” to simulate varying head position. The reticle remained in the exact same position for left 0.050”, centered, and right 0.050”.
To test image distortion, we took one frame from the video and aligned it with a rectangle to see if there is any pincushion effect. There was a little bit of inconsistency along the top and top right corner, but not enough to meaningfully impact the scope’s performance.
Conclusion
This affordable yet quality optic has a number of uses and a 4.4 out of 5 star rating on Amazon. It worked incredibly well during live-fire testing on the Boyds .22-250 Pro Varmint rifle, and I look forward to using the illuminated reticle at night.
Get the Gear
Athlon Argos BTR Gen 2 8-34×56
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Thanks,
Gavin Gear
