Key Takeaway: The new generation of the Maven RS4 brings to major changes to the scope since its inception and still delivers the performance long-range shooters look for.

The Maven RS4 is one of Maven’s elite series scopes. The scope is a first focal plane with zero stop ballistic turrets and a lighted reticle. It has a 5-30x zoom, putting it squarely in the long range scope category. 

Being a first focal plane, it is not suited for extreme long-range shooting. It ships with a neoprene cover for storage and transport. You have to buy rings separately.

Below, we take a detailed look at this scope and give you the information you need to make an informed decision about buying one.

Is the Maven RS4 worth it?

Depending on your shooting needs, the Maven RS4 is worth it. It is not suited for close work or extreme long-range. This scope is best for shooters who hit targets 300 to 1,000 yards away.

Below are reasons why this works as a mid to long-range scope and does not work well for extreme long-range shooting. We go over the pros, cons and distinctive features of this scope.

Features of the Scope

1. Size 

At 2.21 pounds, 35.4 ounces, this is a chunk of a scope. Mounted to a true long-range rifle, you are easily looking at a minimum of 15 pounds total weight. This is not a setup you haul into the woods for hunting.

At 12.8 inches long, without a sun shade, it is not a very long scope by long-range scope standards. It is not a compact scope either, but a true long-range scope is not compact.

It has a 34 mm tube. 34mm rings are the least common of the standard scope rings.

The objective lens, often called a front bell, is 56mm. This is extra large but not huge. The objective diameter is a whopping 65 mm.

The eyepiece is a generous 42mm, which is the same size as the front bell on many scopes.

The combination of tube size and each end of the scope means you need very high rings to give the scope enough barrel clearance. 

Cowitness rings may be tall enough for a barrel-clearing mount. Alternately, get a separate riser to increase the height of your mounting rail. Some cantilever rails may work.

Pros

• Huge light-gathering bell and eyepiece
• Big tube lets more light through

Cons

• Heavy
• Needs very high rings

2. Reticle

The Maven RS4 comes with 4 different reticle options. Each comes with a red or green illumination at 4 different levels.

Two of the reticles are MOA (see Adjustments below) and 2 are MRADs (see Adjustments below).

All the reticles are etched on the glass. This provides superior durability to a wire reticle. It also allows the lighting to work better.

Of the two, the CFR reticle is the most detailed. It is often called a Christmas Tree reticle because of its shape.

The reticle’s huge amount of markings allows a shooter to make aiming adjustments without touching the fingertip turrets.

The SHR-W reticle is simpler. It also offers much less information for the shooter to use when looking through the scope.

Both are good. Which you choose depends on which one you prefer.

Pros

• Choice of reticle, MOA or MRAD
• Lighted reticle
• Glass-etched reticle
• Choice of red or green illumination

Cons

• Takes time to learn to use the hash marks

3. Adjustments

Depending on the scope, you can get adjustments in Minute of Angle (MOA) or Milliradians (MRAD or MIL). For shooting purposes. 1 MOA is very close to 1 inch at 100 yards. An MRAD is 3.6 inches at 100 yards. 

The Maven RS4 has 1/4 or .25 MOA click values. Each click of the adjustment knob moves the reticle 1/4 of an inch at 100 yards. At 1,000 yards, this is a 2.6 inch movement per click.

The scope has 1/10th MRAD click values. That comes out to .36 inches, a bit more than 1/3 of an inch at 100 yards. This is 3.6 inches at 1,000 yards per click.

For comparison, the current 1,000-yard world record group is 2.6566 inches.

MRAD and MOA both have fans. Which is better depends on you and which you prefer. 

The scope also has ballistic or fingertip adjustment turrets. In a big change since the first edition of the scope, the scope is now a zero-stop. It will click back to the original zero setting. 

This is handy for people who shoot long-range tournaments. You can adjust the elevation turret without resighting the scope to shoot distances from 500 to 1,200 yards.

The windage knob lets you make shot to shot adjustments for wind conditions on the range.

Pros

• MRAD and MOA are precision measurements
• Fingertip turrets
• Return to zero

Cons

• Have to know the measurements to get the most accurate shot
• Illumination knob is on the windage turret

4. Scope Mechanics

The scope mechanics are the magnification, windage and elevation, parallax, lighting and the adjustment range.

Pros

• Settings are good
• Zero stop is perfect
• Knobs are easy to manipulate

Cons

• Mounting the light switch in a turret is confusing and not necessary

5. Magnification

The scope has a zoom range from 5 to 30x.

At 100 yards, you have 23.3 feet in the field of view (FOV). At maximum zoom, the FOV is 3.9 feet.

Put this another way. The average deer is about 6 feet long. At 5x zoom, you can see 3.8 deer nose to tail through the scope. At 30x, you can see most of an average deer or all of a yearling deer.

Pros

• 30X zoom enlarges the target a lot
• Zoom is easy to control

Cons

• Too much minimum magnification for close work
• Very high zoom reduces image quality

6. Adjustments

The adjustment turrets (knobs) offer 120 MOA or 35.5 MILs for elevation. This is necessary for long-range shooting because the bullet drops over 1,000 yards.

Windage is a lot less, 35.5 MOA or 14.6 MILs.

A complete 360 degree twist turns either turret is 25 or 10 MIL of change. These measurements also apply to the fingertip adjustments.

Parallax adjustment is 15 yards to infinity.

Pros

• High zoom
• Excellent zoom range
• Excellent parallax adjustment
• Plenty of elevation

Cons

• Limited windage adjustment

7. First Focal Plane

This is a first focal plane scope. The reticle enlarges are you zoom in.

This is good, given the reticle choices, for long-range shooting. It is not good for extreme long range shooting.

Shooting a mile to miles means the bullet has a lot of drop. As you zoom in to see the target, the reticle gets bigger.

You cannot see the bottom most part of the reticle, which you likely need if you are aiming at a target 2 miles away.

The benefit of a first focal plane is the reticle gets bigger, allowing you to better see the reticle marks and the spaces between them. A good shooter can set measurements smaller than the 1/4 MOA or 1/10th MRAD markings.

Pros

• Zooming in sets up very precise shots
• MRAD and MOA are equally good

Cons

• Not suited for extreme long-range shots

8. Glass

The Maven RS4 has extra-low dispersion (ED) glass. This means the glass is processed to provide maximum clarity.

Scopes without ED glass deliver poor images by comparison. Some cheap scopes also create a halo of color around the target, especially as the distance increases.

This is both distracting and it can hide small parts of the target.

The ED glass delivers more light through the tube to your eye compared to cheap glass. This is important in low light conditions as you need a much light as you can get hitting your eye.

The big front bell and rear eyepiece also maximize the amount of light that reaches your eye.

The glass in this scope is from Japan. It plays a very close second to glass that comes out of Europe, particularly Germany.

The drawback is this precision glass also drives the price of the scope up.

Pros

• ED glass
• High light transmission
• Excellent image quality

Cons

• Increases scope price
• A tad below European quality glass

9. Other Features

• Waterproof to 3 meters
• Fog proof
• Lifetime warranty
• Nitrogen purged

Overall, is the Maven RS4 Scope Worth Buying?

If you’re wondering if the Maven RS4 Scope worth buying, the answer is yes.  If you are shooting medium to light recoiling rifles at distances at 1,000 yards and less. I would not mount this to guns with heavy recoil like a 300 WinMag or heavier. 

FAQs

Conclusion

Since the Maven RS4 came out, it has seen two major changes from the first version:

1. A zero stop ballistic reticle
2. An illuminated reticle

Both of these are a direct response to customer requests. This shows the company, founded in 2013, listens to its customers.

While the company may not be a household name in shooting circles, that is just a matter of time. As time goes on and more shooters realize the value of this scope, hundreds less than comparable European optics, it will see more proponents.