It looks like Riton Optics is making the best budget optic in the business.
That’s certainly been my experience after a couple months and a few thousand rounds through the Riton Optics 3 Conquer 3-15×44.
The most important feature of any riflescope is the clarity and light transmission of the glass itself. It doesn’t really matter how many features the scope has, If you can’t see a clear image of your target, everything else is worthless.
The quality of the glass on the Riton 3 Conquer is good enough to leave me a little upset.
Compared to my more expensive Vortex Viper PST, looking at the same target, at the same time of day, the Riton 3 Conquer is the clear winner. It looks like I wasted some money there.
Even more troubling, looking at the same target in failing late afternoon light, where most budget optics can’t compete with more expensive glass, there was very little difference in my Nightforce SHV scope and this Riton riflescope. I paid a whole lot more for the Nightforce optic than the MSRP (not to mention the retail price) for the 3 Conquer.
The image above was taken within the last 20 minutes of legal hunting light with the scope at 10X magnification. The middle of that road is 800 yards away. Were there a deer in the middle of that road, I’d have no issue zooming farther in (it’s at 10X in the photo) and getting a better idea if it was a shooter or not.
Part of what differentiates budget optics from higher-end models is the coatings on the glass. Riton lists this glass as being “Fully Multi-Coated, Full Wide Band, Waterproof Coated, Low Light Enhancement”, but doesn’t provide any more detail on what that means. The “low light enhancement” is definitely there and is accompanied by a slight red/brown tinge of the image.
The literature also doesn’t specify what they mean when they say the scope is “waterproof.” I put it in a tub full of rainwater for half an hour and found no issues after taking it out. The glass spotted a bit, and those spots were easy enough to clean off with nothing other than the supplied cloth.
The Conquer features well-marked turrets and each click is clean and solid. There’s really no mush here at all, and if you are in the very bad habit of counting clicks (instead of reading the dial) this scope will certainly enable your poor behavior.
But far more important than how the turrets feel is how the turrets work. To test the turrets, I mounted the scope on top of a particular homemade favorite AR-15 of mine, the same one I recently took as a backup rifle on a prairie dog hunt.
So mounted, I then place the rifle in a Caldwell Stinger shooting rest and took a single shot at 100 yards. I brought the turrets in every direction several times, then brought it back to zero and took a shot. The shot landed well within the 1 MOA margin of error previously established for this gun. Next, I performed a simplified box test, and then a tall target test to make sure the reticle lines ended up where they should.
It looked like the turrets tracked and the reticle lines ended up exactly where they should.
A few days later I was teaching a mid-range shooter/hunter course. I loaned a student that rifle, still mounted with the Conquer 3-15×44 scope attached. However, prior to handing it to him, I took some shots at the 600 yard line. I dialed 17.4 MOA and found myself to be way high. Using the reticle lines, I found it should be 16.5 minutes of holdover instead.
I assumed something had gone wrong with the turrets and that they no longer tracked. Nope, I had transcribed the wrong line from my ballistics chart, using IPHY instead of MOA. Going back to the Shooter Ap, it told me to dial 16.6 MOA up. I did and put the round right where it belonged. In other words, the turrets worked just fine, I didn’t.
The turret caps themselves come off with a single hex key screw right in the center of each turret. Riton includes all the wrenches you’ll need for any adjustments or setting right there with the scope. There are no locks on the turrets, and there doesn’t need to be one. Since the zero stop is easy to set and works as it should, there’s no need to hide or lock the turrets.
This is the way it should be and I wish every manufacturer did it just like this. I don’t want to have to remove caps to make adjustments, and I don’t want to have to pull up or push down or anything else. The turrets are well and brightly marked, and all the shooter needs to do is look in front of them to see if the zero lines up where it should.
The Riton Conquer line comes with a resettable zero stop. This one’s fairly self-explanatory, but if you’ve never done this before it’s a good idea to watch the very helpful video Riton has on their website.
The zero stop on this scope worked perfectly and precisely. It’s a good idea to set your zero stop a wee bit beyond what your turrets line up at as zero, just in case you change ammunition or your environmentals changes dramatically.
There is only one reticle offered for this scope at this time, and it’s in MOA. It’s two broken lines with multiple hashes, without “Christmas tree” windage marks. This is a second focal plane scope, so you’ll need to do your ranging at the highest magnification.
The reticle is also illuminated, powered by a single, easily accessible battery. If you look closely, you can see that the left side of the reticle in the scope is a bit dimmer and harder to read than the rest. Illumination is laid out with an “Off” between each number setting, as every illuminated reticle with variable brightness should be.
Note that the parallax isn’t labeled for distance. I understand why this is, and why more and more scopes are going this way. Too many people think of the parallax adjustment as “side focus” and that’s not what it is at all. Jeremy did a solid article on parallax adjustment years ago and it’s worth the read.
By not labelling the parallax adjustment with any distances (other than the closest distance), it forces the user to not just dial to a specific yardage, but to actually use the adjustment as it should be used. It’s also slow and can be particularly time consuming on hazy days. If this were my scope, I’d spend an hour getting to know the distances and marking those numbers on the scope.
Riton is located in Tuscon, Arizona, with their magnified optics like this one are made overseas. Their FAQ page says:
We source all of our raw materials and use overseas assembly based on price point. Our optics have hand sourced Japanese or Chinese glass and have final assembly in Japan or China depending on price point.
Given the low price point of this model, I would assume it’s made in China. If that’s the case, then wow, those commie bastards really have come a long way.
Riton’s warranty seems pretty simple. If the scope breaks — ever, no matter who owns it — they’ll send you a new one.
Between this review and some very full days of being used by students, this Riton 3 Conquer scope has seen a lot of use. It never failed, and never failed to impress.
What’s really great is that, for a fairly low price point, a new shooter was able to get very confident with longer range shooting because he could clearly see the target and because the turret adjustments and reticle confirmed the riddles his ballistic app answered.
Specifications: Riton Optics 3 Conquer 3-15×44 Riflescope
Magnification: 3-15
Parallax Adjustment: 10-infinity
Tube Diameter: 30mm
Objective Lens Diameter: 44mm
Focal Lens Position: Second Focal Plane
Lens Coating: Fully Multi-Coated, Full Wide Band, Waterproof Coated, Low Light Enhancement
Reticle: Etched PDTR, Illuminated
Field of View at 100 yds: 38.3ft-7.6ft
Material: 6061-T6
Eye Relief: 3.7in/95mm
Exit Pupil: Low 14.7mm – High 2.9mm
Click Value at 100 yds/m: 1/4”
Adjustment Range: 85 MOA
Mounting Length: 5.9in/151mm
Length: 13.12in/333mm
Weight: 25.4oz/720g
Included Items: Flip Up Lens Covers, Lens Cloth, Allen Wrench
MSRP $659.99 (retail about Riton Optics 3 Conquer 3-15×44 Riflescope)
Overall * * * * 9/10
This Riton Optics 3 Conquer 3-15×44 Riflescope now sits at the top of my budget scope list. The glass is clear and much better than I expected, especially in low light. The controls work well and are laid out as they should be. It’s been lugged around for a few months. I didn’t pay much mind to Riton optics before this review, but they have my full attention now. I took something off for the illuminated reticle not being evenly lit throughout because I hate to give anything five stars.
The one pic:
“The image above was taken within the last 20 minutes of legal hunting light with the scope at 10X magnification. The middle of that road is 800 yards away. Were there a deer in the middle of that road, I’d have no issue zooming farther in (it’s at 10X in the photo) and getting a better idea if it was a shooter or not.”
The scope can see through the trees covering that area?
Quite interesting review! I got a budget Firefield 1-6×24 LPVO for a song. Made by Sightmark. The quality is outstanding. Good to know about Riton(& Swampfox,Burris,Vortex and others that ain’t thousands…
There are no trees covering that area, hence your ability to see the middle of the road.
sorry, I thought it was about the part scope was pointed at in the pic. Its covered by trees.
He was talking about the clear visual OF THE ROAD. Do you comment just to be snarky ?
No, I thought he was talking about the part of the road the scope was pointed at in the pic. Its covered by trees. Its about the middle of the road length shown in the pic.
If the is even a road. Looks like a patch of dirt strip. But ok.
Seemed to be a middle of the road comment.
We need the mods to curb some of these comments.
Hope I didn’t cross the line there.
*shrugs shoulders*
J dub, I have had this same scope for about a month now. I don’t think that they list the total elevation available, but on mine it works out to close to 95 or 100 inches total, also focuses down to 5(!) yards. Was nice to not need a 20 minute mount for it. Controls and hardware used throughout are impressive for the price point, the only dings that I have are only one reticle available, and only six illumination levels for it.
Otherwise, I can agree it’s pretty kickass value wise.
“Given the low price point of this model, I would assume it’s made in China. If that’s the case, then wow, those commie bastards really have come a long way.”
Yes, they have, to my annoyance.
Annoyed, since I would love to buy nothing but American, but doing that grievously dings my bank account. So the commie scum gets some of my money…
I have a scope with comparable glass to this, and by using my eyecrometer method of scientific testing, have a sneaking suspicion that this might be LOW ( Japan) glass.
These are made in Japan coming off the same line as Some Vortex models.
$600 ain’t cheap to me.
Ain’t it weird America is all against communism yet we support the largest communist country in the world.
Made in China, Made in China, Made in China.
Lord help the U.S.A. if China ever decides to put sanctions on it.
Shit , that ain’t nuthin to be worrying over Mr. Marsupial.
What keeps me up at night?… China supplies nearly ALL of our antibiotics, 90 percent of our pharmacutical raw ingredients, 85 % of the rare-earth elements that go into our frontline fighters( around 850 pounds EACH) , a large percentage of battery materials for King Dribblecups toy electric vehicles , etc., etc.
Don’t worry about it being a huge trade deficit though, they’re quietly buying up BILLIONS of dollars worth of Midwest farmland, you know, to keep things fair ‘n all.
NOW are you worried about a scope you could probably use anyway?
Yup on the farmland(and meds), awhile back the banks just couldn’t say No to the I need a new grain harvester, tractor, 40 row planter, some even suggested it. Gotta feed the world.
Then crop prices dropped, fuel prices went up, seed, fertilizer and Wing Ching just happened to have the money when the farm went up for sale.
America had one thing going for it, agricultural.
What tripod mount is that in the picture? Cause it ain’t the Caldwell Stinger.
https://dev.thetruthaboutguns.com/gear-review-pig-saddle-and-pig0311-g-tripod/
They ONLY reason to shoot a deer at 800 yards is because you are too bloody inept or too plain lazy to STALK’. True hunters go for a QUICK and CERTAIN one-shot kill and with as little carcasse damage as possible. There is no way that a quick and certain kill is possible at 800yards and I don’t care waht bloody Rifle or what bloody scope you a have ‘. And then you have to get over 800 yards of , hard ‘hunting’ terrain to GET the carcasse.
If you are not prepared to do that then you should not be hunting in the first place because if you are too idle or to inept to stalk it’s more than likely that you are too idle to walk 800 yards over rough terrain to get you freezer meat.
I hunt deer just so I can take long range shots. In the past I did stalk hunting with a revolver and found it to be pretty boring. Don’t get your knickers in a twist over my “Lack of skills” because the deer I took would frequently have powder burns on their hide because of how close I was when I took the shot.
As far as your ridiculous claim of “There is no way that a quick and certain kill is possible at 800yards and I don’t care waht bloody Rifle or what bloody scope you a have” I will say that you are clearly an ignorant fool. Frequently I will use a 110 year old rifle equipped with match diopter sights and the deer never take a single step after being hit. No bad for a tweaked service rifle.
Never bother reading that lying idiot’s comments.
I think 640 is as far of a shot as I’ve ever taken on a deer, I can’t really remember. I’ve pushed it a good bit farther on pigs and coyotes and I’ve seen a couple people drop deer in their tracks at around 800. Even the notion that a “quick and certain kill” isn’t’ possible is ridiculous. Not only are there tons of videos of people doing exactly that, the math is there in spades. Heck, my 28 Nosler generates more energy at half a mile than a 44 Magnum does at the muzzle.
The only things that should limit a hunter are their skills and equipment. If you’re a competent marksman and confident in the shot, take it.
https://media.giphy.com/media/krhW9yWEI0x0Y/giphy.gif
Albert, you forgot to get into your fake limey geezer persona for this one.
Yards instead of “metres”, no claims of past experiences with Her Majesty’s various services, didn’t even tell us how many bloody Americans were killed by ARs with large mags. You’re slipping dude, careful you don’t use one of your other names ( AllHail, dacian, Miner49er) or people will start thinking you’re a fake
By the way, idiot, some of us lousy shooters over this side of the pond routinely make 500 to 600 yard shots… on prairie dogs. Try that with the pellet gun that you subjects are allowed to possess.
When I read “budget” scope, I thought that would mean a price around $300, although I did not realize that this particular rifle scope has an illuminated reticle. (When I think of “budget” rifle scopes in the $300 range, they do not have illuminated reticles–at least not that I remember seeing.)
At any rate, with excellent light transmission and turret features/operation as well as an illuminated reticle, the retail price of $550 seems like an excellent value.
Some day I will venture to the more rural and open regions of my state where I may have 400 yards shots on white-tail deer. That would be thrilling. (Although the advanced preparations would not be so thrilling.) For now I am constrained to 100 yard maximum range for several reasons. And that is fine since all that requires is a tiny bit more pre-season work to identify game trails and where I can set up to see as much of as many game trails as possible. (In spite of my 100 yard constraint, I still managed to put three white-tailed deer in the freezer.)
If you take a look at the second picture, the one with full view of the AR, you’ll see a field under the muzzle. From the back porch, the beginning of that field is 400 yard and the back of it is a hair over 500. A lot of my deer are shot from that porch out of that field.
At 100 yards, a simple red dot is hard to beat.
“A lot of my deer are shot from that porch out of that field.”
Nice. Very nice.
I am seriously jealous, though. I would love nothing more than to be able to sit in a nice lawn chair on my back porch and listen to a college football game on a radio while waiting for deer to come into view. The closest I ever came to that was being able to hunt in a friend’s huge elevated “blind” (which was effectively a “tiny house” on stilts) and listen to a college football game while sitting on nice office-type chairs (which swivel and have great back support). I had to keep the radio quiet, though, because the maximum distance for shots on deer was about 60 yards. And I had to lug all my stuff (about 40 pounds worth of equipment) every bit of 200 yards to get to that blind.
By the way thank you for your thoughtful and thorough review. I will probably end up buying one of these for my “precision” long-range rifle chambered in 6.5mm Creedmoor.
It looks like that scope is currently (8/15) available at optics planet for less than 400 bucks with a coupon code available on the site. Just read the review and went looking. Thanks JWT!
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