Arken EPL-4 4-16x44mm Field Eval

[Formidilosus]

This is a field evaluation of the Arken EPL-4 4-16x44mm F1 scope. This scope was brought to me from Ryan Avery for an evaluation. The ammunition used was Hornady Black 168gr AMAX that was purchased by Ryan. The 20 round proof group was just over 1.1 MOA, and the largest 10 round group that has been fired with this LOT # is 1.4 MOA.


The scope and weight:




Turrets:


Elevation turret is exposed, revolution indicated, 8 mils per rev, with a zero stop. Zero stop requires a tool. Windage is capped, non-revolution indicated, and tool less reset.


Elevation and windage-



Reticle:

The VHR FFP MIL reticle is a relatively standard half mil hash reticle with a center dot and thicker “cross” sections at .5 mil from center. It had half mil ticks out to 6 mils each direction horizontally, then from 6 to 8 mils it is broken into .1 mil hashes, then a gap to 9 mils, then a hollow post. Elevation below center has .5 mil hashes to 10 mil, then .1 mil ticks to 12 mils.

4x



16x

Illuminated 4x maximum brightness-





Illuminated 16x maximum brightness-








Cont….

 

[Formidilosus]

Zeroing:

No issues noted during zeroing. Boresight and two rounds at center dot which were .4 high and left .1mil; an adjustment, 8 rounds on left dot, a final adjustment and off to the drop portion-








Drop Evaluation, RTZ and “Tracking”



For an explanation see- Scope Field Eval Explanation and Standards


The “test” consists of three 18” drops on a mat- one left/right/top with a shot to check zero after each drop. Then the exact same thing repeated from 36”. Then three drops on all three sides for nine drops on the last part- 15 drops total. This is not “abuse”. The 18” drops are a joke really. The 36” start showing something. And when a scope make/model consistently goes through the whole thing without losing zero, failures in actual use are almost unheard of.

This one was conducted on semi packed, semi crusted snow.





The three 18 inch drops showed no issue, as well the left and right side 36” drops. The top 36” drop produced a short down .3 mils, to which I fired a second round which came back i side the group. The nine 36” drops in a row shift it high right.


Moving back to the zero target I confirmed the shift-



The two shots high and right are immediately after the drop eval, I adjusted and the four are labeled in the dot.




RTZ with several hundred mils per shot went without issue (there is a .1 mil left bias to the zero).



“Tracking” at 8.3 mils was fine with except for the slight vertical stringing on the “0” dot, however further shooting after the “tracking” check showed issue. It does clearly show that the scope needs a .1 mil right adjustment.









Initial conclusions:

The scope zeroed and adjusted fine. It did not pass the full drop eval, though it seems to handle 18” and most 36” drops fine. The reticle is better than most precision reticles from a visibility standpoint, however most regular hunters will not say it is a “good” low power reticle without illumination. The illumination is fine for low light, however isn’t quite bright enough to be overtly visible on bright days. On animals it does show up on fur. The scope is zeroed and I will see how it holds riding in the truck.

Q&A Thread

Con’t….

 

[Formidilosus]

Zero check today after 30’ish miles on paved roads and 4 or so on NF-

8 rounds.

 

[Formidilosus]

Nothing major, just a zero check from riding in the back seat for a 150 or so miles on paved roads and a few on FS roads.

 

[Formidilosus]

Shot at 539 yards. Just a few rounds. Prone, pack, no rear support.




Started at 3.2 mil elevation. Rock approx 20” wide at the top, 16” at the bottom, and 24” tall.

 

[Formidilosus]

65 rounds until today.

Zero check, 10 rounds before pulling scope and mounting on another rifle.




That’s a .2, almost .3 mil shift in zero.

75 rounds total, no drops or “abuse” after the initial eval, just riding in the truck.


First loss of zero at 65 rounds:

2-.3 mil zero shift high.

 

[Formidilosus]

Cleaning the truck out I saw the backside of the target that was used for the zero checks on the Arken.







Clearly shows random vertical shifts in elevation.

 

[Formidilosus]

The Arken was mounted on another gun.


5 adjusted, then these 10-


Adjusted right .1 mil.

At 106 rounds on the scope.

 

[Formidilosus]

Checked zero today-




It was removed and mounted back on the test rifle-

 

[Formidilosus]

Checked zero today. Four days and about 80 miles of riding in the backseat-





Keep in mind that this exact same rifle, exact same rings, exact same ammo was dropped 36 times from three feet high two weeks ago-



Also, the Gas Gun that this was mounted on a week ago when this scope lost zero- got the Trijicon put back on it when this scope was swapped out, and is still zeroed riding right beside this scope in the truck. That’s two rifles that haven’t had a zero shift in thousands of rounds with multiple proof scopes, and yet both have lost zero multiple times with this scope.