Gear Review: Riton 5 Conquer 5-25×56 Rifle Scope

There’s an oft-repeated bit of advice you’ll hear that, like many things these days, is rooted in truth, but isn’t as important today as it once was. At least, it’s not for most shooters. That axiom is that you should spend more on your scope than you do on the rifle it’s sitting on. That’s mostly good advice. No one ever peered through their glass at their target in diminishing light and thought to themselves, “Gee, I sure wish I’d spent $750 less on this scope than I did.”

You pretty much always want to buy the best glass you can afford and, as with most things, the price, features, and quality curves tend to track together. But the good news is that, particularly in the last five to ten years, there are more and more reasonably priced options out there that give you options for very good glass and first-rate features. That means you can get away with spending less to get good glass — letting you shoot farther and more precisely — than you would have had to in the past and still get the kind of performance most shooters want.

Along those lines, Riton’s 5 Conquer 5-25×56 rifle scope is one of the most full-featured, reasonably priced options out there in a scope that lets you reach out and touch things out to a thousand yards and beyond.

It won’t surprise you to read that the most important component in any scope you buy is the glass. Because duh. If the glass isn’t good, nothing else really matters. I can confidently report that the 5 Conquer 5-25×56’s glass is very good. I’ve put it up against similar magnification scopes I own from both Leupold and Nightforce and the Riton’s glass is very competitive with the bigger boys.

Edge to edge clarity here is excellent. Riton’s multi-coated, extra low dispersion lenses show zero color fringing at any magnification level. That coating is particularly important in low light conditions, just after dawn or right before sunset. That’s where the quality of coatings can really makes a big difference. While the 5 Conquer’s light transmission isn’t quite there with with my Leupold scopes (the standard in low light conditions), it’s very close. And you need to keep in mind that the comparable Leupold optic to the 5 Conquer will cost you more than twice as much.

The illuminated BAS reticle has what Riton terms a “condensed Chistmas tree” for holdover and windage without dialing. At 5X, it’s small, but that tree becomes very useful from about 8X on up. The 5 Conquer is a first focal plane scope, so you can range with it at any magnification.

I’m one of those who like to dial in elevation and hold for windage. If you’re one of those people too — or if you like to hold for both rather than dialing — the BAS reticle works and makes it easy.

The 5 Conquer’s controls are smooth and sure. The turrets have zero stop to lock them in once you’re zero’d at 100 yards. The windage and elevation turrets have clean, crisp, tactile clicks adjustment you’ll feel and appreciate with each turn. Riton’s Dual Throw Lever System gives you a choice of two positions on your zoom ring so you can pick the one that’s right for you…or remove it altogether if that’s what you want.

Both windage and elevation turrets have quarter MOA adjustment clicks. Again, they have a substantial, precise feel to them that gives you a good feeling about the optic’s build quality. Like so many scope designs, there’s a combination turret on the left side for both parallax adjustment and reticle illumination brightness.

Riton has done the right thing by providing off positions between each of the six brightness levels. That’s far preferable, in my humble opinion, to having to spin the dial all the way to turn illumination off. The dial on my scope was pretty stiff right out of the box, but it’s become easier to turn with use. The battery for the illumination function is a standard CR2032 and the sealed compartment can be opened with a casing or a coin.

For zeroing and spotting I also used Riton’s excellent 5 Primal 15-45×60 spotting scope. It’s a compact angled scope that also has Riton’s HD/ED coating formula rendering excellent clarity and glare resistance. The 5 Primal has an extendable hood to keep direct sunlight off of it to reduce flare. And at 2.8 pounds, it’s relatively light weight.

To test the 5 Conquer’s precision, I ran a box test at 100 yards after zeroing. The point of impact was within 1/4 inch of my original shot. That’s well within the tolerances of the rifle and ammunition I was using, so I have no worries about the 5 Conquer’s tracking precision.

Riton got all the important things right when they designed the 5 Conquer 5-25×56 scope. That includes very good glass, a useful reticle, and excellent build quality you can feel in the turrets and their precise adjustments. I like the smaller things, too like the Dual Throw Lever System and the inclusion of front and rear caps. The 5 Conquer does literally everything you need a good 5X range scope to do whether you want it for precision long range shooting, tactical applications, or hunting.

Nothing is perfect, of course, and the 5 Conquer isn’t the lightest scope in its class. Its 90 MOA adjustment range is also less than its bigger-name competitors. But being priced at well under $1000, the 5 Conquer 5-25×56 will cost you less than half to one-third the price of comparable optics. Those pricier competitors certainly do a few things better, but if you want to shoot precisely out to almost a mile, you’ll have to decide if the significant premium you’ll pay for those other scopes is worth it to you. For a great many shooters, that answer will be no.

Specifications: Riton 5 Conquer 5-25×56 Rifle Scope

Magnification: 5 to 25X
Objective Lens: 56mm
Focal Plane: First
Glass: Multicoated ED/HD
Reticle: BAS MOA Christmas tree, illuminated (MIL available)
Click Value: 1/4 MOA (1/10 MRAD)
Adjustment Range: 90 MOA (26 MRAD)
Tube Diameter: 34mm
Eye Relief: 3.5 inches
Length: 13.4 inches
Weight: 2.3 pounds
Made In: China
MSRP: $959.99 (about $800 retail)