The Kahles German made scopes
The Kahles Helia C 1.1-4 X 36 is a low cost German made scope with an impressive list of features that is deserving of further investigation.
The MSRP on the Kahles Helia-C 1.1-4 x36mm is currently $1398 at Long Valley Shooting Supply and they are available in very limited supply in some stores like Brownells . This is about half the price of other brand name optic manufacturers entry level scopes, and they do not offer anything near the feature set offered by this one. The next closest competitor would be the Zeiss Conquest HD5 which MSRP’s at $1999 but again both of these optics are priced well it’s competitors.
The three tube construction is one of the biggest selling points to me, I have yet to see another optic with the ability to be able to accommodate a piggyback RGB laser range finder without being physically separated from the main optic. This allows for quick ranging and accurate shot placement in any condition or scenario imaginable. My second favorite feature is that it uses a lever locking system to lock out the turrets preventing accidental adjustment. It also comes with two different levers for both European STANAG 4694 rail systems as well as standard Picatinny rail systems. However an interesting fact about this scope is that if not properly mounted it will not zero with a US made AR-15. This is because the rail systems are designed with an adjustable gap that allows for a shorter or longer gap between the scope and receiver, this gap of course can affect your down range accuracy of more than .5 MOA (my experience).
Kahles Helia-C 1.1-4 X 36mm is built on a 30mm tube allowing it to be very strong and durable but also allows you to make adjustments for fine tuning without adding any more weight and looses its rigidity. The lenses used in Kahles scopes like this one are proprietary and only available from Kahles , which again justifies their high price. For those wondering yes I will be doing an article on their optics soon.
One of my biggest issues with this scope has to do with what I consider a design flaw, the windage turret. It is placed too close to the eye piece and it makes for difficult adjustment due to its small size and lack of texture on it. The elevation turret does not have this problem which is why Kahles chose to move it back towards the objective end of the tube. They did however include an adjustable rheostat for low light situations that can be activated without changing your cheek weld or taking your eyes off target which is really nice, but you’ll more than likely never use it so I see no reason they couldn’t have included more user friendly turrets as well since there are plenty of space between them.
All in all the Kahles Helia-C 1.1-4 x36mm is a great optic with very few issues and defects which for this price point is more than impressive. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants top notch glass without having to break the bank, or someone looking for an extremely durable rifle scope that can handle anything you throw at it . It is also nice that they also offer 100% quality control on any of their optics regardless of where you purchase them from. Unfortunately they do not perform sub MOA accuracy tests, only ±3 MOA according to their website so if you are a competition shooter this will not be an issue for you.
Kahles Helia-C 1.1-4 X 36mm is available in three different reticles, their standard MOAR , the MP-ZM1 TMCQ and Z420 . The Z420 or “20/2” is my personal favorite from them since it’s one of the biggest they offer at 36mm allowing you to easily acquire targets in all lighting conditions. Finally I would like to add that these scopes can be had used on www.kahlesopticforum.com if your willing to wait for someone to list one up for sale, just keep checking back because people do sell them there frequently (most likely because they are discontinued, also keep in mind that all new Kahles scopes are covered under their lifetime warranty).
Thank you for taking the time to read this review, hopefully it was informative and will help you make a better decision next time you’re looking for optics. Also if there is anything I did not cover or you have any question feel free to post them down below. If you enjoyed this article don’t forget to like us on Facebook ! As of the time of writing this article I am in no way affiliated with Kahles , I just really appreciate the quality of their products and they deserve more recognition from shooters worldwide so please share if possible!