Preface
Among the many brands of optics available to you now, Arken Optics is one of the more affordable options. Toting their Japanese made lenses and other great features, Arken is well known for happy customers. We’ve seen some of their other scopes before like the EP5 model, which led me to get into this Arken Optics EPL-4 6-24×50 riflescope. I was looking for a good scope that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, it would be going on a custom rifle for a family member. It wouldn’t take long to figure out if I’d made the right selection.
Unboxing the Arken Optics EPL-4
In my experience, Arken Optics come with a pretty no nonsense kind of packaging. Everything you need and nothing you don’t. The scope included a thread-on sunshade, which I really like. As well as an inexpensive bikini lens cover. Adequate instructions and a battery for the illuminated reticle were all there. There was little needed other than a pair of rings to get this scope mounted and on the range.
For that I chose a simple pair or Warne 30mm medium rings. They set the scope close to the bore, and allowed proper eye relief for the scope. They also offer some custom flip caps for this model that I will have to get later.
A Rifle to Match
This scope would be married to a custom Remington 700 chambered in 25-06. Together I hoped they’d sing a beautiful and accurate song. Using the above mentioned rings, I mounted the scope to the picatinny rail, and adjusted it for level and eye relief. Once that was done, I torqued everything down evenly.
Then it was time to boresight the scope at the range. I centered the target in the bore of the supported rifle. And carefully adjusted the reticle to the same location. You can read more about how its done here.
It only took a few shots to get the rifle zeroed, and I was quite happy with the consistency. After shooting several groups to confirm, I set to zero the turrets of the EPL-4. This was easy following the directions. I loosened the turret set-screw, and turned the turret to zero carefully paying attention that no clicks were felt or heard. Once on zero, I retightened the set screws. The windage turret uses a hand tightened cap, that doesn’t need any tools. And it can be either capped or used openly.
Zero-stop
After checking everything for proper function, it was time to set the very easy zero stop. The stop functions using a screw that when set in place hits an internal stop, preventing the turret from being turned past zero in the down direction. The hex-bit screw is in the top of the turret, and it is secured by a second set screw that goes in the side of the turret.
You loosen the set -screw, then you can tighten the zero-stop screw in from the top until it stops. It should engage when you dial the turret down to zero, and should stop hard on zero. Once you’ve got that done, tighten the set-screw, and you are ready to go.
Field Shooting with the EPL-4
As with other Arken scopes I’ve used, I found the optical performance to be great. Considering the price of these scopes I think they punch above their weight. Using the scope in the big country of the Rocky Mountains gave ample opportunity to evaluate the scopes performance. Later, we would take the rifle on a deer hunt in the deserts of Southern Utah.
Quality
I would say this, you can tell Arken Optics are made to meet a lower price point. I think they are going after a portion of the shooting market where people want a great performing scope for under 500 dollars or even less.
Focus adjustment, as well as parallax was smooth and precise. Tension and clicks of the controls were exactly what I’d want. The illumination and its control was easy on the eyes, and having an off setting between brightness.
That’s not to say the scopes aren’t built well, you can just see that they focused hard on making the features most shooters want. And they did it without spending an exorbitant amount on many of the components, keeping price reasonable. All that said, I believe your average shooting enthusiast upon unboxing and looking through an Arken scope, would be happy with their purchase.
Durability
While this particular scope is just getting started (and its off to a great start), I have several friends who have been running this and similar Arken scopes for some time. I look forward to seeing how this scope continues to stand up to our use, and I will update this as we build history with it. But based on my experience and those I trust, I expect this scope will far outlast my expectations.
Value
Value seems to be a massive part of Arken Optics operation. It wasn’t that long ago that I would have expected to pay well over a thousand dollars for a scope with these features. The optical performance is even comparable to scopes that cost triple the price as little as 10-15 years ago. When I first got started in this game decades ago, a three to four-hundred dollar scope for a precision rifle would have been taboo. Most would have considered it junk at that price, but today I find myself quite happy with them.
Last Thoughts
Once again, I find myself impressed with how well a relatively inexpensive rifle scope performs. Like other Arken Optics I’ve used before, this one seems to be a great buy. There are scopes with much more bells and whistles. But if you are looking for a quality scope with most of the features like FFP, Milling reticle, 8 MRAD turrets, zero-stop, and so on, these scopes are a great option.
