Scope ordered. Falcon 5.5-25x50IR with B20 reticle.

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30cal

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May 22, 2015
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WA, United States
My new RAW HM1000x .25 will be here next week. I really like first focal plane mil/mil scopes. I have been looking at this scope for a couple years now: http://swfa.com/Falcon-Menace-55-25x50-Tactical-30mm-Riflescope-P49980.aspx
There is just not much choice in the market right now in this price range in FFP mil/mil scopes. Especially in higher power magnifications. One of my main goals with this gun is to practice and learn the art of long range shooting. I don't have access to a 1000 yard range for PB's so I'm going to do it on a smaller scale with a high power air rifle. I'm going to find the optimum pellet for this use and then I will stick with it and map the reticle for that pellet and power setting. This will be mainly a bench rest/bipod gun so the heavy scope won't be much of an issue.
This gun has the new 22 MoA picatinny scope rail which should be perfect for this application. Now I really like the self centering nature of BKL scope rings but they don't make Weaver/Picatinny versions. So I went looking for something similar in the firearms world. I settled on Warne Maxima fixed rings: http://warnescopemounts.com/product/216-30mm-fixed-extra-high-rings/
There is really nothing more solid than these. They are made of sintered steel. Probably way stronger than needed for a PCP air gun but what the hell. They are comparable in price to BKL rings.
I originally wanted the version with out the illuminated reticle but SWFA was out of stock in that one so I decided why not and got this one. Its there if needed.
So scope and rings are on the way from SWFA. I will post lots of pics of the whole setup soon.
 
BRS Maybe I have my terminology wrong. What I mean is to learn ranging with the mil reticle and make a dope card for the set up. I'm still new to that and have limited experience with mil ranging.

Its my understanding that FFP scopes don't have shallow enough depth of field for focus ranging like is done in field target. Falcon even says as much in the owners manual. You have to use mil ranging. I plan to put targets of known sizes at random distances and measure with the reticle then use my learned and recorded holdover info. I will practice dialing as well. Should be fun!
 
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30
Does the Falcon focus at 10 yds? I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking about getting one and would like to be able to use it in Field Target also.

I've had the SWFA SS 3.5 -15x42 on my mind for quite some time and it will focus down to 6 meters. But I would like to have the higher magnification of the Falcon over the SWFA, plus the Falcon has an illuminated reticle.

Ron Robinson came in 2nd in Hunter Division at the Nat's this year with a SWFA, I haven't seen the Menace out there yet. The big Falcon T-50, but not the Menace.
 
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Fussell
The Falcon does focus in close. I have not measured it yet but I asked Falcon about that last summer. I think they told me it was about 11 yds. That was a condition of course for me to use it on an air gun. I'm not sure that FFP scopes are suitable for field target are they? I thought that the deep depth of field that they have made them unsuitable for ranging with the parallax wheel. The T-50 is made for FT but it is 2nd FP.

I am reserving judgement on the Falcon 5.5-25x50ir for the moment. I just returned mine to SWFA for replacement. I think it has an optical problem. I'm hoping it does anyway. It got dark and lost a lot of contrast and got really hazy with lots of glare at powers over about 12-14. But only in the shade. Out in the bright sun it was fine but in the woods on a bright day it was useless over 12-14 power. I know higher power scopes tend to get dark at the high end of their range but this seems extreme. Hoping the replacement will not have this issue.

One thing I don't like is that the entire reticle is not usable at the highest power. You have to back it off to around 20x to view the whole thing. It loses the bottom two mils. I do like the B20 reticle and the illumination works good. It has red and green with just a bit of bloom at the highest brightness. It's noticeable when just looking through it, playing with it, but in use I don't notice it with the brightness set to the conditions.

The scope feels well built, the turrets feel good, with decent audible and tactile clicks. Haven't had a chance to do a box test yet but plan to. I will wait to report on the optical characteristics until I get the replacement.

I really want to like this scope. Time will tell.
 
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The replacement scope came yesterday and I got it mounted up with the new UTG quick release mounts: http://www.pyramydair.com/s/a/UTG_Max_Strength_30mm_Rings_Medium_Weaver_Picatinny/4921 I got two pair and put a set on my new Aeon 8-32x50 target scope also. Now I can switch between the two scopes at will. Works great! These are the perfect height rings for the RAW hm1000x. The Magazine just fits under the scopes, any lower and they would not fit. I like to keep the scopes as low as possible for better cheek weld and the mags are the limiting factor for that.
I got both scopes mounted, leveled and sighted in last night. Already I can tell that the replacement Falcon is much better than the first one. Much brighter at high magnifications with just a slight darkening right at the top end. Nowhere near as bad as the first one. I plan to do some shooting with it over this weekend starting after breakfast this morning and will report my findings soon.

SWFA is a good place to deal with. They had a tech hand inspect the replacement scope before sending it to me and I did not ask them to. Thought that was nice. I paid the return shipping for the bad one and they paid the shipping for the replacement. 
 
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Well I have not completely made up my mind on this scope yet. The weather this time of year is very dark (plus I live in the woods which makes it even darker) cold and wet where I live and so I want to wait until spring summer to be able to give it a real workout. There are two main issues I have with it. First is the exit pupil is small which makes it very sensitive to eye placement making it hard to find just the right spot to look through. The second is that the reticle zooms in so far at the highest magnifications that you loose the bottom couple mils. This will only be a problem if you want to shoot a really extended ranges at the higher mag settings. You could always re-zero a couple mils higher than center to compensate. It also has some distortion at the edges that cause the reticle to distort as you move your eye from side to side and up and down. Not the center of the reticle just the far left and right and top and bottom. This has not been a problem shooting but is kind of weird. Also when the illumination is on there can be some bloom on higher settings but mainly only if it is set to bright for the conditions. Like many higher power scopes (especially less expensive ones) it gets darker at higher mag settings. This is not a problem in bright daylight settings but is in the dark woods in winter.

On the positive side this scope is built like a tank and I have no doubt it will be durable. It has performed flawlessly so far and seems to track well. I will do more testing come spring/summer and decide if I'm going to keep it. Mine has the B20 reticle and I really like it! It's fine enough for target work and the illumination makes it visible in dark settings. It also has both red and green settings. It has the type of knob that starts low and gets brighter with each click as you rotate it. I wish it had off positions between each setting like my Primary Arms 4-14x44 ffp scope does. I also wish the reticle would turn off after a period of inactivity like some higher end scopes do. I have left it on a few times. I have used it out to 100 yards so far and the glass is reasonably clear.

The bottom line with this scope is that all the issues I pointed out are things that I can learn to live with. We have to keep in mind the price point of this scope. If it was a $1000. plus scope these issues would be disappointing but it is only half that and good FFP scopes are expensive to make. The fact is that this is about our only option for a high power FFP close focus scope for PCP air gun use. I have been looking at all the options up to about $2000. and have not found one yet that is paralax free under 35 yards then only the SWFA HD5-20x50 $1300. All the rest are 50 yds and over. So If you want a higher power FFP scope the Falcon is really your only choice. There are many good choices in the 9-15 power range however such as the Primary Arms 4-14 that is an amazing value for the money!
 
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