Riton is an optics company based in Tucson. Recently I got the opportunity to check out one of their tactical riflescopes called 3 Tactix along with a quick-detach (QD) mount. I came away from the experience really surprised at how well this economical scope performed. Here are the details.
True confession time, color doesn’t matter, but I was secretly thrilled to open the presentation-worthy scope box to find what I describe as a bronze-colored scope, though Riton calls it FDE.
Whatever it is, it’s a really good match for a new rifle in the family stable which had been pre-selected to wear this scope. Black and FDE are the two available colors.
Riton Scope Mount:
The QD mount, made by Contessa of Italy and branded by Riton, has a handy but discreet bubble level in the base to help ensure a perfect mount. The 30mm tube of the 3 Tactix looks good and was secure in the three-screws-per-side rings.
The mount itself is a little different from many of its type as it has only one thin “tooth” that goes inside the Pic rail of the upper, and only one clamp on the side to close in on the sides of the rail. But I need not have worried.
What the clamp doesn’t have in matching teeth, it has in side-to-side torque. It was rock-solid once placed on the rifle, leaving just enough room to retain my rear back-up iron sight.
The release lever is tougher to operate than most but not difficult, and it reassured me that the mount won’t come loose from inadvertently catching on something on my chest rig or some other object in the field.
This mount is a great choice to pair with a tactical optic. Made from steel, it’s a tiny bit heavier than most, something that’s inconsequential except for overland walking/running, as I see it. Riton also offers the same mount built on 20 MOA elevation, handy for a dedicated long-range rifle.
Riton 3 Tactix Scope Review:
But we’re really here for the scope, aren’t we? The 3 Tactix is in the low-power, variable magnification optics (LPVO) class, with 1-8 magnification and a trim 24mm objective lens.
The left turret houses the battery and reticle illumination control, which is on a 0-to-11 scale, with no stops in between. There is no parallax adjustment option, which is typical for LPVOs.
The windage and elevation turrets have screw-on caps that are easy to remove, but well-threaded so they won’t undo themselves and expose the dials.
Click value is ½ MOA. I found the adjustment increments on the dials to be so small that they’re really hard to read, but in real shooting situations, even from a bench, there’s not much reading required when clicks can be felt and the dials are zero-resettable, which these are.
The rifle came from the factory nearly perfectly zeroed; it took only about ten rounds to get it to my chosen 50-yard zero.
The second focal plane reticle is, in my estimation, ideal. It offers precise aiming with a tiny center dot, thin outer circle, and ladder-like MOA designations left, right, and below. Never is the view of the target obliterated by the reticle. For dark-colored targets, turning on the illumination resolves any problem with the dot getting “lost.”
Clarity is excellent with this scope. Waterproofed seals and a coating that enhances light-gathering in dawn/dusk conditions makes it usable in all kinds of challenging environments.
Zooming in or out takes a little harder twist than on most scopes, made easier by the removable throw lever. The diopter/fine focus is effective at getting a really sharp image through the glass.
Where this scope really shone is on the tracking test. A target with four marked locations in one-MOA boxes, scattered on a sheet of paper, is used for this test. The point of aim on the reticle remains the Start box, and the path to numerals 1-4, then back to “S” is dialed in.
This scope performed flawlessly. The final shot, in the lower right corner of the S box, is shooter error. It was after this exercise I decided it was safe to set the zero-stop dials to match my chosen zero, an easy exercise using the provided Allen wrench.
This test, and the experience of using the scope over numerous days after carrying it here and there, convinced me that the 3 Tactix scope and QD mount are superb quality.
The mount is not inexpensive at $419.99 but provides a foundation that can be counted on. The scope is a fantastic buy at $509.99, priced well below average for its quality. This is a setup that could serve a shooter for many, many years.
