Thread: A Chinese Job

I have always enjoyed mucking around with emerging brands and odd gear. A useful example being Tract ‘scopes that have truly turned out to be winners.

So when I saw a new brand through CamerlandNY at a bargain open box price I grabbed one to try. Its an Element Helix 6-24 x 50, second focal plane. I was looking for a good value ‘scope for a .223 with a bit more mag anyway so it all fell into place nicely. They are made in China – but that doesn’t worry me at all. They can do some good stuff the Chinese. The main thing is that they are not a Chinese company.

There is a distributer in NZ too. Here’s the link and a pic of the reticule.

https://www.elementoptics.nz/product...x-6-24x50-sfp/

The specs speak for themselves but points to note are the excellent zero stop and simple knurled arrangement on top of the turret to easily re-zero it and to get at the zero stop. There is an alan key provided to adjust the zero stop.

The clicks are very precise and firm – the turrets are a stand out on this ‘scope. Tracking has been good to the extent that I have used it for sighting in and making adjustments on 50 or so wallaby out to 350 yards.

The glass is “good enough” and on 24 power it is clear on a clear day, and not so good in the murk or if the light is failing. Still good enough though and I shot a deer at 251 yards on 24 power the other evening at 6.30pm. Up to 18 power it has been just fine in all conditions. Probably the glass is about Leupold VX3 level.

The parallax adjustment is smooth but for my eyes the yards graduations are way out. I can still adjust it to a crisp picture though and it will focus down to 10 yards. The mag ring is very smooth.

One problem I had was when I mounted it I had the front ring hard against the turret housing and when tightened it made the parallax adjustment very stiff. I moved the scope back to create a small gap and when re-tightened the adjustment became smooth again.

Its been on a quad getting banged around quite a bit, and has done the usual day to day wallaby and deer stuff for me – which amounts to quite a bit of work. Its held its zero perfectly.

One afternoon while chasing wallaby at about 5pm I spooked a Fallow buck and it stopped at 311 yards. Dumb move. It was no problem to dial in the 3 mins of elevation, wind it up to 24 power, focus and pop it in the back of the head.

On wallaby the 6 power is low enough at any range and the 24 power is pretty damn cool for precision.

I’m not touting this scope or brand. But if someone is after a value scope for the sorts of things I’ve talked about here it would fit the bill well. I would imagine that their 2 higher priced ‘scopes (made in Japan) would be even better still, but not the value.

Size wise it doesn't look out of place on the Model 7.

Here’s some pics.

Originally Posted by Mohawk .308

Hey Tahr, what’s the go with buying a scope from overseas these days? Do you need an import permit ?
There was a bit of discussion on this recently.

Under NZD1000 they waltz in. No GST and no permit. Buy at will. Over $1k there is meant to be GST but I just bought a spotter in for $1700 for a mate - it arrived last week straight to my door free of GST.

Their higher end stuff I've only heard good things about. Tbf they're probably made in the same factory(ies) as the Delta, Trijicon etc offerings.

Good review Bruce, what $$'s did you land it for?

ORDER SUMMARY

Element Helix 6-24x50 SFP - EHR-1C MOA #50042
Sku:

Price: $399.99
Qty: 1


Subtotal: $ $399.99
Shipping Fee: $ $49.99
Total: $ $449.98

That's landed NZ in USD. NZD would be $632.00

Tilly be like…

Originally Posted by ishoot10s

Tilly be like…

Attachment 181633

@ishoot10s Do you think that she is whispering to it "he's tricking about it being from Chaina - even he wouldn't stoop that low"...

Good write up on the scope, Mod 7 223��

Son n law got a chinese scope on the 300wm,6x26x56,no name on the scope.But its the scope on the 300wm i shot the 1 inch group at 400yards.Think he only payed $250 $300 for the scope,some package deal with another scope.Nice glass and dialing.Its big,you could knock and young fallow deer out with it i reckn.

Athlon are a very reputable Chinese made brand used widely for dialing and long range. These companies like Athlon and Element are USA/Europe based and are ensuring good specs and quality control. They are good products earning a good rep. Very good warranties too.

The new Burris HD 'scopes too.

Far different to the Chinese knock off stuff.

Originally Posted by jono7

Good write up on the scope, Mod 7 223��

Yes

@Tahr What's the cable tie white plastic thingy under the bit of rail for ?

Thanks for the review Tahr, as a guy with a young family and not much left over for toys it's nice to see some lower cost options out there.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

@Tahr What's the cable tie white plastic thingy under the bit of rail for ?

It had a little inspection tag on it which came off eventually so the little cable remained. I could pull it off. Silly not to really.

@Tahr How often do use the 24X magnification? Everyone has their own shooting style, but my .223 has a 1-8X scope and I'm yet to use the 8X for actually shooting anything (other than zeroing), and most of the time it is set on 1X (bush pest control). I'm curious how often 24X is used in the effective range of a .223. Obviously if you were shooting rats at 200m I would understand.