Athlon Talos BTR vs Arken EPL4

[Lefty2506]

Looking for some feedback from anyone who's used either of these scopes. How do they stand up to heavy recoil? I'm in the market for a scope for a new deer rifle (40 cal SML) and both of these have the features that I would find useful while also being within my current budget. I'm just not sure how well they hold up to recoil. On a deer rifle, I'm more of a set it and forget it guy so I'm not concerned with how they track. I just need them to hold zero once they are set.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Gary in MD]

I don’t have any experience with the Athlon but I hear good things about them. I have a handful of the Arken EPL-4 scopes. I have the 4-14x44 on a couple varmint rifles and also had one on a Sako 30-06 that is on the light side. Zero retention and tracking have been spot on. The 30-06 has pretty decent recoil being light weight and using a 150 grain load @ 3050 fps. No problems with any of the Arkens yet.

 

[Lefty2506]

Thanks! I have a few of the Ares, and an Argos and have been happy with them. I just don't have them on anything that generates much recoil. Depending on how hot of a load I end up running in the SML, and what the final weight is (probably 10-12 lbs), the recoil energy could be anywhere between 25 ft lbs and 33 ft lbs. Towards the lower end of that range, I think I'd be fine, but in the upper half I'm not too sure. Realistically, my goal is for the rifle to have noticeably LESS recoil than my 50cal SML (~36 ft lbs) so there's no good reason for me to end up in the top half of that range other than me being an idiot.

 

[Lefty2506]

Found the Talos on sale at Midway for $175 so I went with that. It has a mil reticle that I'm not crazy about (my brain works in MOA), but for a 300 yds deer rifle, I think it should be fine.