Nowadays there are many rifle scopes under 1,000€ that are absolutely usable for hunting. But when the Arken SH-4 GenII 4-16x50 was suggested to me, I was skeptical at first. I had never heard of the brand before. There was also no official German importer. In the meantime, the presented glass is available in a few webshops, but in the spring of 2022 it was different. So when a good friend from Sweden raved to me about the Arken SH-4, I became curious: around 700€ VK, great lenses, compact, robust, return accurate, with parallax compensation, and most importantly, with a MRAD reticle in the 1st image plane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=ZSUigxUUgtM&feature=emb_logo

Said friend put me in touch with the official European importer, Astro Sweden (https://www.astrosweden.se), and we came to an agreement. I was allowed to test the scope for several months not only on the hunt, but also in the hunting course. It sounded promising. Astro Sweden obviously had a lot of confidence in the product. I also learned that the ARKEN company probably has the lenses of their glasses produced in Japan. The brand itself, according to the website (https://www.arkenopticsusa.com/about-arken), probably goes back to Michael Reilly, a Navy Seal, who, together with his partners Josh Greer and Michael Benedict, set the goal to develop a target optic that everyone can afford, but that fulfills the essential points of high quality: Recurrence and adjustment accuracy, robustness, reliability. I was curious to see what would await me.

A short time later, the SH-4 Gen II 4-16x50 arrived at my home and was immediately mounted on the training rifle. This went pleasantly easy. also because of the surprisingly good rings from Arken, which were supplied. One small detail that I immediately noticed pleasantly was that on the rings was noted with how much force the screws must be tightened. So simple. Too bad that not all manufacturers think so much of their customers.

On the shooting range, shooting in on the HOWA 1500 was completely problem-free. The click adjustment works very well perceptible (haitisch as well as acoustically) and extremely precise. I have experienced this with much more expensive glasses quite differently.

The optics has a zero stop, so the possibility to block the adjustment mechanism after shooting in such a way that if you make a height correction, you can only turn back to the zero position to which is shot. This is very important for long range shooting. So I tested this (see video: https://youtu.be/ZSUigxUUgtM). To do this, I shot a flu. After that I adjusted 10 clicks to the left and 10 clicks down. The result was that the 3-shot group shot with this was exactly at a 45° angle 10cm from the center of the target. Then again 10 clicks back up and to the right. The group shot then sat exactly in the center of the target again. Excellent!

On the hunt it is then relevant when you have shot the rifle to 100m spot. Then, depending on the caliber shot, you have to make an elevation correction from 120m if you don't want to get too low. With the GEE, this is not necessary with modern calibers at hunting distances, but if you want to shoot as precisely as possible at long range, e.g. at small targets like marbles, you should consider such things. With the Arken SH-4 GenII 4-16x50 there is now in any case an instrument that is more than worth its price.

The lenses of the Arken are very clear into the twilight. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to capture with the camera. The eye box is generous. The reticle takes a pleasant back seat. Even when the illumination is on, it doesn't over-illuminate because only the small strokes right around the center are illuminated. So at the lowest magnification, it almost looks like a red dot. Then the divisions of the reticle are barely visible, and the then unnecessary information does not confuse the shooter.

At highest magnification, the fine divisions in MRAD become visible. Here, too, the reticle does not over-illuminate. Due to the fineness of the lines of the reticle, it also never blocks the view of the target. Overall, I liked the reticle extremely well.

In addition, the optic is very compact, and makes a robust impression. There were also no problems during shooting training, with one exception. The exception is then also the only point of criticism: the adjustment turrets are not lockable. For this Fun Kitiona I would be happy to pay another 50€ more. During shooting training, there have been several unintentional shifts in the point of impact, because hunting students have accidentally come to the towers. On de rJagd I never happened, and when shooting long range on the stand it is perhaps not so important, but on the hunt, especially in poor lighting conditions I would like lockable towers. Maybe Arken will come up with that. Would be very nice, because apart from that I really liked the glass. I'm still thinking at the moment whether to buy it.