Kahles K525i DLR

[Snozzberries]

Looking to pickup this scope for NRL22 matches, and then anything else I might use it for later.

Does anybody have first-hand experience with it? I've already got a K1050, so I'm happy with Kahles.

Is this scope as great as it seems? Worth the money?

 

[eric32]

I'll tell you around the 30th of this month, I'll be able to do a side by side against a buddies razor gen 2

 

[ELR LVR]

I own a 2nd Gen Kahles K624 which I have never regretted spending the coin for.
I have not seen any scope in the $2000 range that can touch it for Long Range clarity.
Once you go to $3k in glass it is a different class of optics and many of them are excellent.
IOR, S&B Kahles, etc so I won't compare it to others in the same class except I will say I did not like the Steiner scopes for the money.
As you may have read the third Gen which is what you're considering is suppose to be even more refined but I have read some reports of people still preferring the older K624 for I believe it was better FOV.
My one and only gripe with my Kahles which is a small one.....is you cannot over adjust the parallax then dial it back into focus much past 600 yds.
Pretty much once it gets to 600 yds any further adjustment does nothing. It is still clear at 1000, 1200, 1500.
It's that the dial does nothing further for focus adjustment past 600.
I even sent it back to Kahles Austria through Swarovski USA to ask if they could include more parallax adjustment for focusing better at 1500 yds.
Heck (Even a Simmons 44 Mag scope can over-adjust past 1000 yds then dial back into focus) Although the image quality will not be there with a Simmons, I'm merely speaking of range of parallax adjustment.
Kahles sent it back untouched, not even cleaned. No charge of course.
As if their attitude is like the old timer who says "nobody needs to shoot deer past 300 yds!"
Yeah well this is a new era with better equipment and better projectiles.
Hence why Kahles should heed the call of incorprating more parallax adjustment than needed.
Kahles seems to have the attitude "nobody "NEEDS" to shoot past 1000 yds."
Still would buy another Kahles regardless but not for much over $3k although in my opinion they are worth every penny of $3K.

 

[eric32]

You should listin to the "rifles only accuracy podcast" episode 4. This episode had a leupold employee and he talks about parallax vs focus at distance. It's pretty interesting might give you a new perspective.

 

[ELR LVR]

You should listin to the "rifles only accuracy podcast" episode 4. This episode had a leupold employee and he talks about parallax vs focus at distance. It's pretty interesting might give you a new perspective.

Although I do know the difference between Parallax and Focus. Most of us know that while:
The Ocular adjusts focus of your eye to the reticle "initially" (set parallax to infinity then adjust ocular)
, if your parallax is out of adjustment the target "IMAGE" (not the reticle) will also not be very well in focus.
Example 1 - sight a target through scope at 100 yds with parallax set at 400 yds will equal = Blurry Image
Example 2 - I am also aware that when parallax is adjusted properly the image itself may not be perfectly in focus.
Also at longer distances lets say past 400 Yds, parallax error is less of a concern, but the range of adjustment should still be present to actually be able to adjust to "Infinity" on a $3000.00 and up optic.
That's all I'm sayin. If I adjust the parallax from 600 yds to 1000 yds, there should be sommmmme sort of noticeable difference in the image quality.

But I will check out the podcast you mentioned.

 

[eric32]

Yea give it a listen and also another youtube video that explains alot is the DarkLordofOptics he is a a wizard with scopes and does alot of in depth reviews and explanations

 

[ELR LVR]

I listened to it. Thank you for sharing. Loved the "Test Gun" used for their scopes.
Definite thumbs up on that Podcast !!! He has a very accurate and scientific method of explaining everything.
So yes In agreement with Michael, past say 400 yds (Past Hyperfocal Distance) I use my parallax as a focus knob since Parallax error is no longer any possible issue.
The issue is......a wide enough range of adjustment in the focus/parallax knob is not there with "my" Kahles.
SO I suppose Kahles thought "Meh, there is no possible parallax error past 600 anyhow so lets just stop the adjustment range there."
Yet forgetting that past that distance it now becomes a "FOCUS" adjustment.
And for Extreme Long Range shooters, being able to adjust focus out to 2000 yds and beyond is sometimes necessary.
If there is an Infinity symbol on the dial then theoretically we should be able to adjust focus to the moon if we want.
+1 for Leupolds since With many Leupolds I have used, you are able to adjust focus(Parallax knob) for a crisp clear image at 1500 yds ....BUT....also adjust past that distance even FURTHER to where the image is easily noticably quite blurry again which might be focused at 1700.....then dial back in to 1500 for the sharpest, most crisp image quality.
All high quality scopes should be able to have such a wide adjustment range of focus in my opinion.

 

[eric32]

Yes it was a pretty good episode. I see what your saying now. Seem like it might be a phone call to kahles and see maybe if your FOCUS knob might be out of tune or anything else like thag.

 

[ballisticxlr]

It's pretty easy with scopes nowadays. If you spend deep in 4 figures, you get a great scope. Whether it is a great scope for you or the purpose you want to put it is harder to predict.

 

[flatlander]

I've owned six of the K624i scopes - three Gen 2s, and three Gen 3s. Only reason I ever sold any of the Gen 2s was because customers wanted to buy rifles with a couple of those scopes mounted. As far as the parallax/focus on these scopes go, the Kahles seem to have an extremely good depth of field. IOW, there's little need to move the parallax ring once you get out to 600yds. I've shot many PRS-type practical matches with targets from 300 to 1400yds, and never really saw any need to dink around with the parallax ring - just set it at 600 and forget it. Doing that never caused me any problems with either image focus or parallax error.

I'd love to be able to use the K624i scopes on my comp V-22 rifles for matches, but you can't focus the parallax down to 50yds or below for the closer targets. Some guys say you can overcome this shortcoming by dialing down magnification, but that won't cut it on some of the 'novelty' paper targets which require higher magnification to define the aiming point. I thought about trying the newer K525i, since it will focus at the closer distances, but have put Athlon Cronus 4.5-29x56 scopes on the 22s instead.

 

[Snozzberries]

I'll tell you around the 30th of this month, I'll be able to do a side by side against a buddies razor gen 2

Hi Eric did you get a chance to compare?

 

[eric32]

I haven't work has gotten the best of my time. I will post when it does happen.

 

[saum14]

I have gen 3 6-24 it has been a fantastic scope i have 2 S&B pm11 i have compared some days the S&B seam better some days not , This is with my eyes
I have the K5-25 and also the DLR , I have the K5-25 on a Vudoo I have looked through the 6-24 and both the 5-25 and i carn't tell the difference . This is with my eyes ! maybe i have a good 6-24 ? the biggest difference is field of view , Just wind down the mag a bit and you don't notice as much the 5-25 has a smaller FOV
what i like about the DLR is the spacing of the elevation turret and the clicks seam more positive then the K525 and with the DLR I don't really notice the larger FOV over the K525 and with the DLR you get the throw leaver and parallax wheel

What i see on full magnification is 7.2mils each side top and bottom on the K525 and on the DLR 8mils so that is a total of 1.6mils extra FOV side to side

 

[eric32]

If your sensitive to CA which is the blue/purple hue that comes from shooting white targets on a darker background. The 624i is the worst culprit. But if it doesn't bother you then your good to go.

I am really sensitive to that when I had my 624i it really pissed me off when I was at a match shooting a P-dog stage.i missed a few due to not being able to see the edges of the target due to the bright purple halo around each of them.

But I have also gone thru a bunch of scope over years and the DLR is the most ergonomical and glass controls the CA really well. And the parallax wheel being on the time saves time during the stage.

And the extended space between each click is alot better than previous models.

If I ever decide to get rid of the K525i DLR it will be for a ZCO 4-20.