NRL 22 scope recommendations

[rich44]

My Vudoo V22 should be here next week and I need a new scope for it.
I'm mostly going to be using it for 50 and 100 yard KYL racks and next spring a NRL22 match at our local club's 100 yard range and 22 PRS match at another local club with targets out to 400 yards.
I ordered the Vudoo with a 30 moa base and 20" barrel, my scope budget is $2500.
These are the scopes I'm looking at
NX8 4x32x50
Athalon Ares ETR 4.5x30x56
Vortex Razor 4.5x27x56

I haven't actually been able to look through any of them but I do own Nightforce and Vortex scopes, I'm not dead set on any of the above scopes, if there is anyone that has experience with the above scopes or any other I should be looking at I would appreciate your input thanks.

 

[Esabatm]

I've run a Sightron Slll 10x50x60 and a Athlon ARES ETR on my Vudoo. The ARES mil is the way to go.

 

[Schutzen2]

Cameraland has some good sales on some Athlons right now. For another hundo you can have the Cronus BTR. I haven't spent a lot of time behind mine yet but I put it on my Bergara and shot out to 300 yds. Pretty darn nice scope especially for the money and I like the APLR5 reticle.

 

[linebaugh]

I really love the XT reticle in the NX8 and I also like the fact that paralax dials down to well below 20 yards at full (20x) power. At present I am less than impressed with their customer service so it's hard to brag to much about their products.
I have shot probably 40 plus centerfire PRS/NRL type matches and about 10 of the NRL22x and regular nrl22 type matches this year and I can tell you I have never wanted for more power than 20x and I run 16X probably 97% of the time in both diciplines. It's okay to want more power but make sure your paralax dials down to 25 yards clearly.

More thoughts...
IMO any reticle you buy needs to be of the tree type and needs to have .2 mil wind holds. I have become very dependant on the .2 vertical holds as well as the horizontal and would be hard pressed to go back. I also recommend mils because they dial faster.

 

[flatlander]

I have four Athlon Cronus scopes on a converted CMP 40XB repeater, two V-22 competition rifles, and a RimX that I just built, as well as a couple more on a Bighorn TL2-SA in 260 Improved 30* and a M700 in 7-08 Impr 30*. All these scopes have tracked extremely well, and as often as the scopes on the 22RF rifles get their elevation ran up to 200+yds and then back down to their 50yd zeros, if there had ever been any issue with them not tracking or not returning to zero, I'd have seen it by now, after using Cronus scopes on every one of the precision 22RF rifles I've built since 2016. Their optical quality is also very good, and I've never had an issue with any of them from that aspect. I also own three Kahles K624i scopes that are mounted on Bighorn TL2-SA & TL3-SA rifles, and to be honest, I prefer the optical quality & turrets of the Kahles scopes to those of the Cronus. But considering that the Kahles cost more than twice what the Cronus cost, I'm very satisfied with them.

I've also got an Ares ETR on a custom M70 in 6x47 Lapua, and although it tracks just as well as the Cronus, and - at least as far as I can tell - its optical quality is extremely close to that of the Cronus scopes. But I've never cared for locking turret knobs, which the ETR features. I've never experienced unintentionally moving the elevation or windage knobs on the Cronus scopes, even though I sometimes carry them to matches in heavy drag bag cases. If Cameraland in NY City still has these Cronus BTR scopes in stock at the reduced sale price of just under $1000, I don't think there's a better buy out there right now.

 

[Schutzen2]

I have four Athlon Cronus scopes on a converted CMP 40XB repeater, two V-22 competition rifles, and a RimX that I just built, as well as a couple more on a Bighorn TL2-SA in 260 Improved 30* and a M700 in 7-08 Impr 30*. All these scopes have tracked extremely well, and as often as the scopes on the 22RF rifles get their elevation ran up to 200+yds and then back down to their 50yd zeros, if there had ever been any issue with them not tracking or not returning to zero, I'd have seen it by now, after using Cronus scopes on every one of the precision 22RF rifles I've built since 2016. Their optical quality is also very good, and I've never had an issue with any of them from that aspect. I also own three Kahles K624i scopes that are mounted on Bighorn TL2-SA & TL3-SA rifles, and to be honest, I prefer the optical quality & turrets of the Kahles scopes to those of the Cronus. But considering that the Kahles cost more than twice what the Cronus cost, I'm very satisfied with them.

I've also got an Ares ETR on a custom M70 in 6x47 Lapua, and although it tracks just as well as the Cronus, and - at least as far as I can tell - its optical quality is extremely close to that of the Cronus scopes. But I've never cared for locking turret knobs, which the ETR features. I've never experienced unintentionally moving the elevation or windage knobs on the Cronus scopes, even though I sometimes carry them to matches in heavy drag bag cases. If Cameraland in NY City still has these Cronus BTR scopes in stock at the reduced sale price of just under $1000, I don't think there's a better buy out there right now.

X2. I have a 318i and a 525i and the brightness and contrast are slightly better. Are they 2X better? IMO, no. At least not for what I use them for. The price at cameraland is 1300 for the cronus and 1200 for the ares etr so it was a no brainer for me.If the quality stays as good as it is now I will keep using them.

I also had the chance to look through a midas-tac on a friends CZ455 and that is also a great scope...for the money. It was the main reason I ended up with a cronus.

 

[rich44]

Just got the tracking number for my Vudoo today.
Thanks for all the help the Cronus looks like the top contender and for a little more than I was planning on spending I may get one for the Vudoo and one for my Kidd having the same on both guns makes a lot of sense to me, thanks again for the help!

 

[flatlander]

X2. I have a 318i and a 525i and the brightness and contrast are slightly better. Are they 2X better? IMO, no. At least not for what I use them for. The price at cameraland is 1300 for the cronus and 1200 for the ares etr so it was a no brainer for me.If the quality stays as good as it is now I will keep using them.

I also had the chance to look through a midas-tac on a friends CZ455 and that is also a great scope...for the money. It was the main reason I ended up with a cronus.

I concur - the glass of both Ares ETR & Cronus is better than that of the Midas TAC, but then the 30mm 6-24x50 Midas TAC is just under 1/2 the price of the discounted Cronus. That's why I have Cronus scopes on all the 22RF repeaters that will be used in competition, but at the same time, I'm very pleased with the Midas TACs I have on a couple of CZ457s & a couple more on two Howa Mini rifles with custom bbls.