Best of the best - msrk reticle - Kahles K624i 6-24x56 Rifle Scope

Kahles scopes are made by an Austrian company which is a sister company to Swarovsky. The company has been in the scope/glass business for over 100 years and used very high quality materials and techniques to make one of the better rifle scopes available.

The Glass:
I own Schmidt & Benders, Hensoldt, Nightforce, Steiner and Leupold scopes and my Kahles K624i's are by far the best. I own two of these, but only one of everything else if that says anything. I've compared the glass resolution side by side with all of the others, and the Kahles are the brightest, clearest scopes. The Hensoldt is almost as good, except there are major sacrifices in the scope is operated. I've compared the glass side by side with a Nightforce Beast which was maybe a tad bit brighter (not sharper), but the comparison wasn't exact because the Kahles has a 4-7% wider field of view. The BEAST is also almost $1,000 more and weighs a half pound more than the Kahles. It's also one of the shortest scopes in it's class.

Zoom adjustment:
The zoom adjustment is smooth and in my mind has just the right amount of tension on it. I don't like it when the adjustment is too stiff as it can throw off my hold if I have to bear down on it to zoom in or out. Additionally, there is a raised bump on the dial which assures you can get the leverage needed to adjust the dial even when wet or using gloves.

The Turrets:
The Kahles turrets are the best I've seen. They are not "mushy" like the Steiner, or too hard like the Schmidt Bender. To me, the feel on the Kahles turrets is literally perfect. The clicks are accurate, positive and wide so there is never any doubt which click you're on. You can feel the very high quality of the internal mechanism. In performing the box test, I found the turrets return perfectly to zero every time. With the tall target test, I confirmed the turret measurements are dead on accurate, corresponding perfectly to the reticle calibration. On the Kahles K624i 1 mil on the turret equals one mil in the reticle, and 1 mil equals exactly 3.6 inches on the tall target test. This is one of the few scopes I've owned where is true (for both scopes!). I note than some MOA scopes are intentionally calibrated so that 1 MOA = 1" (rather than the correct 1.04"). This can get confusing since those scopes usually have reticles calibrated in mils. The shape of the Kahles turret is low and smooth (unlike the BEAST and many others) so nothing easily catches on them. The turrets also have a zero-stop feature and a red button that pops up to let you know (even in the dark) that you're on the second turn of the elevation travel. The Kahles has less total elevation adjustment than some of the other high-end scopes (like Nightforce), but unless you're using very slow/heavy bullets or are shooting at distances beyond about 1,200 yards this is very unlikely to be a problem. Still, I would recommend at least a 20 MOA scope rail when mounting the scope.

The Parallax / Focus adjustment:
Maybe the most innovative feature of this scope is the Parallax adjustment dial which on the Kahles is located on the top of the scope beneath the elevation turret. Being used to the left-hand side for this adjustment, I was surprised at how quickly I grew to love the top location of this. It felt almost immediately natural to me. For lefties, this is probably a necessity since the parallax adjustment is easily accessible to either hand. There is no need to worry about trying to separate the illumination knob from the parallax adjustment as is the case on every other illuminated scope I've used.

Reticle:
The MSR reticle is useful for ranging targets at distance and the system works well. On the Kahles MSR-K version of the reticle, there is a dot rather than a cross hair in the middle of the reticle. This is a wonderful improvement as it adds to the precision of the shot. The shooter can place the small reticle dot very precisely on the target.

Illumination:
On the MSRK reticle only the center is illuminated so as not to obscure the surroundings in the dark. I haven't tried it, but the small portion of reticle illumination and very low settings were probably designed to allow this scope to be used with night vision equipment. This also keeps down the amount of light in the shooter's eye and behind the scope. Some target shooters may want the entire reticle to glow. For this reason I may actually consider a different reticle next time as the MSRK reticle is probably intended more for military snipers.

Diopter adjustment:
The diopter adjustment works perfectly to get an extremely crisp reticle image. However, I wish there was some kind of locking mechanism to freeze the setting once it is adjusted.

Conclusion:
I've used many different type types and brands of scopes, but to me the Kahles is a cut above the rest of them--even the more expensive scopes with more well-known names. At some point I plan to trade most of my other high-end scopes for Kahles scopes!