Riton Optics Good or Bad?

[GregP42]

LR,

I will, and the place I bought them from is local to me and been there for 20+ years. As for breaking, I have broke Mark IVs, Burris, Texas Weavers, and the
cheap ones over the years. I figured I would try them out, the 6-24 is made in Japan, I am not sure on the 1-4, but I will look into it.

Greg

[NeilVT79]

Well LR1955, Unless we all run iron sights or Trijicon Acog's then we all use scopes made with Asian glass. What scope do you have that is made with US glass?

[LR1955]

Well LR1955, Unless we all run iron sights or Trijicon Acog's then we all use scopes made with Asian glass. What scope do you have that is made with US glass?

Neil:

There is a lot of Asia that is not Communist China. I have no problems buying optics using glass made in Japan for example. I have no problems buying products made in countries that are our allies. I do have problems sending my money to Communist China because they still vow to destroy us. I may be totally wrong about the origins of these optics but when I read their QA, they said the components were either Japan or China. I doubt they have the facilities to gas impregnate optics so I am assuming they are importing the entire optic. If I am wrong, I am wrong and will admit it. I will not apologize about my comments concerning buying products made in Communist China though.

I own a Lyman Target whose glass was made in the USA. Also a M-49 whose glass is made in the USA. I own a Unertl Raven whose glass may have been ground here but if not, it was Germany. All are obsolete optics by today's standards but I must admit, the Unertl has the clearest glass with the best resolution of anything I have looked through. Absolutely fantastic.

I own a couple of Nightforce optics I bought when Nightforce was making a name for themselves. Never checked to see where the glass came from but if from Communist China, it is a lick on me. If from Japan, not a problem at all. Japan is an ally.

BTW -- I believe Nightforce and Trijicon are grossly overpriced and won't buy them. Leupold's quality is questionable big time. Won't buy a Burris, Redfield, or any other of the low end US made optics. I have owned them in the past and thought them to lack the type of quality I want when spending a couple hundred dollars. I have never used a Vortex but according to LRRP52 and others here they seem to be pretty well made and at a pretty reasonable price. I don't know where their components are made though. If I want to buy one, I will find out.

Here is something I consider if I want another optic. Unfortunately, price seems to be directly related to quality. I would view an optic that is under $500.00 as being a optic that will not give me the type of precision or dependability I want. Between $500 and $1K I have a 50% chance of getting an optic that is functional but probably lacks a key feature I want. Between $1K and $2K I can find an optic that suits my needs and is reliable. I won't spend over $2K. I am not real happy about this theory but it seems to hold true.

I am glad I bought the Nightforce optics when I did because they were on sale and I also got a military discount. Their price today is way beyond anything I can afford.

It is a big world and I can buy stuff from places that are not vowing to destroy me.

I can also be completely wrong about the origin of the Riton line of optics but you are looking at ones that are under $300.00 so I would caution you simply based on the price.

LR55

[BjornF16]

I think you fellers will find there are a lot of military/former military on this site that feel exactly as LR1955 has expressed...count me as one of them.

The OP asked for opinions on Riton...LR1955 gave his opinion. You're call as to whether to follow his advice or not...(notice that LR1955 happens to be a moderator on this website; he has a vast amount of shooting experience).

I personally would steer clear of new brand on the block from China (unless you are willing to throw the money away as an experiment).

(And as an aside, I am willing to spend more $$ just to avoid products from China..."I'd rather be dead than red...").

[A5BLASTER]

I think you fellers will find there are a lot of military/former military on this site that feel exactly as LR1955 has expressed...count me as one of them.

The OP asked for opinions on Riton...LR1955 gave his opinion. You're call as to whether to follow his advice or not...(notice that LR1955 happens to be a moderator on this website; he has a vast amount of shooting experience).

I personally would steer clear of new brand on the block from China (unless you are willing to through the money away as an experiment).

(And as an aside, I am willing to spend more $$ just to avoid products from China..."I'd rather be dead than red...").

Lmao (dead then red) lmao man it's been years since I heard are read that saying lmao, brings back good times.

Op new glass from a new company is like new grendel products from a new company it's a crap shoot.

Might be best to give them some time to have their products out and let others experiment on their dollar for you.

I use vortex scopes and they have been good too me, but as upgrade money comes avalible they will be upgraded to their top end models to get away from any China parts they use in their lower end products, personal preference on my part.

[Klem]

This is an interesting thread. It has morphed from a particular Chicom-made scope to how personal values/attitudes influence purchases.

I think the notion of nationalism can be a double-edged sword so I prefer to be patriotic instead. No doubt we are all nationalistic to a degree but to what extent becomes soul-searching when global manufacturing starts to limit our options. For me, I am nationalistic but have made the decision to buy the best regardless of where it is made and who gets the profits. If the best scope is made in North Korea I'd buy that, and then when the time came, use it against them. Don't get me wrong, I'd still prefer not to give them money for it but if I can't do that then I'll live with the confliction. Like religion, how fundamental and literal do you want to be at your own expense?

Next point, without perfect information we often use decision heuristics to help make purchases. Best chocolate from Switzerland; reliable cars from Germany; perfume from France etc. In the shooting world my heuristics are Japan/USA/Western Europe, Philippines and lastly China, in that order for optics quality. Mostly because it is true. The quality control coming out of China has improved markedly with technology but they still cut corners and lack integrity in every aspect of doing business. You cannot believe any specs or trust in the quality of parts and workmanship. To me it is not necessarily because they are regional bullies or culturally different but simply because they are utterly untrustworthy and make low quality scopes.

My understanding of Nightforce is that they opened their US assembly plant to capitalise on the nationalistic spirit 55 is referring to. Nightforce is still an Australian family-owned company however which for many years assembled their scopes in Adelaide, South Australia. Their Headquarters is in Hindmarsh and was founded by a Aussie shooter called Ray Dennis (at the time he was a dentist and avid bench rest shooter). They don't hide this but they don't advertise it either. Perhaps because the US is their biggest market and a lot of shooters lean towards 'Made in the USA'. I remember when they first opened in the 1980's starting with hand-held shooting spotlights. That part of their business is called 'Lightforce'. I still have a couple of Lightforce spotties. The Dennis family have expanded recently to assembling guns under the name Ace Precision Riffle Systems; using Maddco barrels (Australia), Manners stocks (USA) and Stiller actions (USA). Stiller uses some machines made in the USA (HAAS and Eldorado), but also Japan (Mitsubishi). Nightforce sources their glass from Schott in Germany, who in turn source the silica from Aix in France. The glass is then ground and coated in Japan and assembled in the US.

My Grendel scope is made in Japan and sits on a mount made in Sweden. The scope manufacturer, Deon sources its silica from Vietnam. Apparently the purity of the silica is the reason they chose Vietnam. Both Japan and Vietnam were enemies of where I live but now they are friendly countries. Japan was our ally in WW1, our enemy in WW2, and an ally again. Deon has three retailers in Moscow and one in the US. To pander to the US market they have images of Eagles and North American mountains on their Japanese website, and an American flag on their US website. Again, I only care because their glass is arguably the best, their repeatability it as good as it gets and they are innovators. They were the first to come out with the 10x zoom ratio and have recently introduced a 6-60*56mm scope with 400MOA elevation range, for long distance.

As for the Riton...Never heard of it. They have no detailed specs on their website and that sets off warning bells. Optimised for .22 means the fixed parallax will likely be set about 65-75yds. For all other fixed-parallax scopes it will be about 100-150yds. You need a scope for a calibre that goes a lot further than 100yds so I would steer clear of a factory-set parallax under 100yd. Without any other information I would go on the heuristics; a no-name Chinese brand with no specs and cheap. You will get what you pay for.

My advice is to spend as much money on the scope as you do the rifle. Add up what the rifle cost and there's your budget. The more expensive the rifle, the more you expect it to shoot and you don't want the scope limiting this because you think it's an accessory and an opportunity to save money. Barrels, scopes and triggers are the gun. The rest just holds it together.

[King31]

I ended up not jumping on this deal. I was not happy with the fact that my email was not replied to and I had to actually contact over the phone. Something did not seem right. Guess I will stick to Vortex for my budget scope needs!

[rabiddawg]

Something that has always puzzled about people. When we find something that works we always look for something else.

[LR1955]

I ended up not jumping on this deal. I was not happy with the fact that my email was not replied to and I had to actually contact over the phone. Something did not seem right. Guess I will stick to Vortex for my budget scope needs!

King:

Am curious what you asked them and what their response was? If you want to say. Seems to me they were pretty open on their web site.

LR55