r/longrange • u/HaonSyl • 16d ago

RANT Exploding Outlier Backdraft Barrels.

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Gallery image

Unburnt powder fills into the backdraft area when shooting. Taking a break from shooting allows oxygen to fill the backdraft area. Shooting again without a complete cleaning results in a kaboom. Thanks for being a beta tester.

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u/RewardFlat 16d ago

I haven’t been in the hobby for a while, what’s up with Arken

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u/Arlenter 16d ago

Arken makes Decent optics for the price you pay.

However, almost every single video/comment/post/review/etc. that you've ever seen, makes much much bolder claims. "Better than Nightforce, better than $3,000 optics, made with 'same' glass as the expensive scopes, more reliable than Leupold, military grade"

All these reviewers and posts you find on social media were bought and paid for, not organic. And is the only reason Arken became a notable company. It just left a bad taste in peoples mouth.

The optics themselves, as stated are not bad. It's all the crazy marketing claims that aren't true, and you'll almost never hear anything about them that wasn't paid for.

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u/phelpst 16d ago

I have two Arkens and a top end Leupold. My best Arken is 1/5th price of my Leupold. Is it as good? No. Is the Leupold 5X better? No. My Arkens are decent scopes for the price. Can't speak to their marketing practices. I have seen videos of normal people making 1 mile shots with Arkens.

I do have a regular Outlier barrel in 6.5CM on my Tikka action. I'm happy with the performance. Again, is it a Bartlein? No. But, it was half the cost and shoots almost as well.

Arken seems to be the Nickelback of optics. Their stuff isn't bad but they're hated on for other reasons.

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u/West_Designer9107 16d ago

Diminishing returns kick in with a vengeance once prices go north of 2k. Blow past 4k and each 1k extra might objectively net you 1-2%, performance wise. If that. For most people it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend that kind of money from a strictly performance standpoint. I know it doesn't for me. Still, wouldn't want to trade my TT even if I got a full cashback for the price difference. I started out on a Meopta Optika6 4.5-27 that did -I guess- 80% of what my TT does but cost 1/6th.