Many new 1-6x rifle scopes were introduced at the SHOT Show 2014 and one of the best among those is the new Meopta MeoStar R2 1-6×24 RD. The new Meopta 1-6×24 features a true 1x magnification, lightweight 30mm tube, daylight visible reticle illumination with great battery life and what I like the most: German Schott glass. Not a bad deal for $1595 MSRP. I always considered the top-end Meoptas are on the same level as the premium German and Austrian optics but with a lot less money.

Many TFB readers may not be familiar with the Meopta name. The company was founded in 1933 and it is one of the best optic producer in Europe. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Meopta began to produce optics and components for well known names such as Carl Zeiss and Aimpoint. Meopta is now own by American and has its US headquarter and US factory in the New York State. The majority of the company and its main manufacturing facility are still based in Prerov, Czech Republic.

Designed mainly for the hunting market, the front part of new Meopta R2 1-6×24 has almost 2 inches of empty space that functions as a build-in lens shade. I think if Meopta ever come out with tactical version of this optic, they could eliminate that empty space and reduce the overall length from 11.7 inches to just under 10 inches. Which would make it a nice compact 1-6x tactical optic. The tube reduction should also take out an ounce or more off the current 17.4 oz weight.

Meopta is one of the first company to introduced daylight visible reticle illumination. However, the older illumination system uses the less common CR2050 lithium battery and the battery life is rather short at only 50-80 hours. The new Meopta R2 1-6×24 is now comes with an advanced illumination system that offers hundreds of hours of reticle illumination from a standard size CR2032 lithium battery. It’s good to see that Meopta has finally caught up with S&B, Zeiss and Swarovski in illumination technology.

The low profile capped turrets require no tool to change the adjustments. The illumination dial houses the CR2032 lithium battery and it features 8-level of brightness settings with off position between each level. The lens are treated with two new proprietary lens coatings: the MeoLux coating that delivers a class-leading 99.8% light transmission and the non-stick MeoDrop hydrophobic coating that repels water, dirt, grease and oil.

Meopta MeoStar R2 1-6×24 RD Specification