Poor materials, poor image, poor scope, good dumbbell
Written: Jan 06 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A low-cost, illuminated scope. Good customer relations.
Cons: Few retailers. Heavy. Poor optics. Poor materials. Won't hold zero. Not waterproof. Off-center reticle...
The Bottom Line: Bells and whistles on a Yugo. Poorly made scope. Off-center reticle, poor image quality, heavy, extremely limited mounting adjustment, poor rings, won't hold zero, etc.
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| ncooty's Full Review: American Technologies Network ATN 4-12X60 LU Rifle... |
Overview
Few retailers. Too heavy. Poor rings. No appreciable mounting adjustment. Poor glass. Bad image. Reticle moves with adjustment. Won't hold a zero. Zoom magnifies the reticle. Not waterproof (fogproof?).
Background
I'm a Marine sniper and was a hunting guide for several years, so I'm pretty familiar with optics. I bought this scope out of sheer curiosity. I found an ATN customer support manager (also a dealer) who was willing to sell the scope at a very low cost ($260). (Contact info as of Dec. 2001: paykin@anything3d.com. Note: Anything3D is a sister company of ATN.) The money-back guarantee got me to try it. I would have heeded my own maxim about looking through optics before you buy them, but retailers are nearly impossible to find for this Russian company. Incidentally, all of my customer service dealings were with individuals with thick Russian accents and the emails tended to be a bit cryptic. Responses were fairly quick and always professional and cordial. Shipment took about two and a half weeks (from CA to TX).
Detailed Review
Out of the box - The scope is excessively heavy. Don't fool yourself into believing that weight is roughly correlated with ruggedness or quality construction. The body of the scope is made of something resembling pig iron rather than aluminum, thereby completing the overall look and feel of a dumbbell rather than a scope.
Mounting - I attempted to mount this on a bull-barrelled .308, so barrel clearance was going to be an issue. Because the body of the scope is thick, it exacerbates the size problems of the already large objective bell. (Don't even think about trying to put traditional flip-up scope covers on this thing.) I tried to mount the scope with the highest Leupold rings I could find (i.e., the tallest they make) and the bell just wouldn't clear the barrel... almost, but not quite. (You may have better luck if you're using a traditional, tapered barrel.)
I wanted to avoid using the factory rings because they were Weaver-style rings made of some alloy that looked and felt very weak. A local gunsmith relayed a story to me of another gentleman who'd snapped an ATN ring from simply tightening it down. The ATN rings cleared the barrel, but WOULD NOT align with the barrel. (I tried everything... switching, turning, you name it.) Don't even think about lapping the rings.
The design of the scope does not afford you much choice in the forward or rearward mounting of the scope in the rings. Moreover, the ATN rings are so tall that the scope objective bell has excessive clearance. On the shooter's end, this means that the ocular lens is so high that a reasonable cheek weld is nearly impossible. This is a severe problem for those of us who prefer to mount scopes according to our preferred shooting position rather than modifying our position for the placement of the scope.
Image/Sight picture - The image had heavy pink and yellow hues characteristic of mediocre Russian glass. The image had a notable spherical aberration. The reticle lines were very thin (at lower magnifications... more on this shortly). The diopter adjustment was smooth. The windage and elevation adjustments felt sticky and imprecise. The reticle illumination dial worked well and functioned smoothly, although at higher illumination, the light tended to bleed a little from the reticle.
There are two things about the sight picture that will likely surprise you. 1) Windage and elevation adjustments move the reticle off center. 2) Changing magnification zooms in and out on the reticle (so the image and the reticle get larger or smaller). The first issue is a result of cheap design. Rather than moving the internal alignment of multiple lenses, the designers chose to manipulate the location of a single lens (i.e., the reticle). However, shooting with an off-center reticle is extremely unnatural and this is exacerbated by the spherical image aberration.
The second issue is a function of placing the reticle on the objective side of the zoom rather than on the ocular side or amongst the moving zoom lenses. Those reticle lines that seem thin at 4x get pretty thick at 12x. Tech support at ATN stated that this avoids fore and aft movement of the reticle. They reasoned that less movement means a more consistent zero. In any case, zooming in and out on your reticle will be weird for a while... and then you can try to get used to the fact that it's not in the center of the sight picture.
Upon attempting to zero the scope, I began to pay for the fact that the rings wouldn't align. At 100 yd zero, the reticle center was in the far lower left of the sight picture. The scope did not hold a zero well. I don't know if it was due to movement of the rings or the internal movement of lenses, but the recoil on a heavy-barrelled .308 shouldn't knock a scope off zero - ever.
I boxed up the scope and sent it back to its source. I received a prompt refund. Customer service was helpful and they were interested in feedback. I did not keep the scope long enough to determine the quality of field performance, but I do believe that the scope would likely leak and fog internally. Note that the scope is not waterproof, but water resistant. I was informed by tech support that the scopes are nitrogen purged upon manufacture and that fittings are threaded and have rubber o-rings. However, they stated that if the scope were submerged, it might leak. They didn't think this was an issue because few people shoot firearms under water.
In my time as a guide and a sniper, however, I have seen many weapons submerged... often accidentally. Moreover, this problem can manifest even without dropping the weapon in a stream. Tech support stated that the nitrogen will stay in the scope because internal and external pressures are equivalent. If you take your weapon from an air-conditioned vehicle, house, shooting range, etc. outside into hotter, more humid air, you may introduce that warm moist air into the scope. Similarly, if you hunt all day in the cold and walk into a warm tent or cabin, the warm air will be of greater pressure and will attempt to get into the scope. Well made scopes have tight seals with positive internal pressure so that if there is ever a leak, it is more likely to push nitrogen out of the scope rather than let air in the scope.
Russian optics offer a lot of bells and whistles for low cost, but they are usually cheaply made. This scope is no exception. This scope is an irresponsible choice for hunters (because it would likely lead to poor shot placement) and a bad choice for target shooters. If you are a professional marksman, don't even begin to think about considering possibly thinking about using this scope.
Best of luck to you.
Recommended:
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Epinions.com ID:
ncooty
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Reviews written: 3
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