mtc viper 3x12

[pokeandhope]

Just finished playing with mine.Very impressed with the overall package.
I can`t talk for the hft boys but for hunting and sporting class its a steal.
Get one whilst you can.

[hadaka-jimi]

MTC Viper 3 x 12

For the money, this is a very good optic indeed.

The main attraction was the ret with a view for HFT application and it is very good indeed. The ladder gives plenty of aim points and the ability to bracket and estimate range - especially useful now reduced kill zones are becoming more popular.

This for me has the potential to be a lot better than the Mil dot rets I have used to date. The only downside is that it is perhaps a little less instinctive in that there is a lot of information in the ret which you have to process in relation to the target. A simple 30/30 ret will give you less to think about - a little more hit and miss - perhaps literally too The Mil dot will get you thinking to though perhaps less than the MTC's ret.

The optical quality seems good too though if you spent more money, there are scopes out there that will perform better in the gloom. BUT this is sold on a very tight budget and the intial feeling is I can live very happily with the low light performance of the MTC and you might be spending a lot more money for the pleasure of low light viewing

A lot of people have a real downer about illuminated rets but to be frank, this is a brilliant feature of the scope. Out hunting last night on a low lamp level as the bunnies are very shy at this shoot, I put the IR on lowest and it allowed be to place the cross hair spot on where before, they were difficult to see when on the target. The low level is great for lamp shooting - low enough not to cause problems with your vision.

I also see the IR being of use at HFT as a couple of shoots I go to like to put plates up into the skyline so the target is totally blacked out. So ong as you know such a target is out there switch it on at the start and you will see the cross hair on the target and it pushes the odds in your favour.

The switch is a little too loose on mine and it could easily get switched on by mistake though. I take the batteries out to protect against this but most wont bother.

The side wheel focus is actually quite snappy - the image suddenly snaps into focus but as far as range finding goes, forget it - it's not designed for this purpose and it is unfair to expect this unit to do that job. However, I did note that changing the focus did not have a big impact on the POI which is a plus point. I havn't used the big side wheel as I dont intend to use the mag or whell to range find. This will be my initial eyeball estimation and by using the ret to bracket depending upon use and target in view i.e metal or furry !

The elevation and windage turrets are fairly unusual in the way they adjust. They dont have dust cover caps so a quick tweak in a field night hunting is easy as you dont have to unscrew and keep the dust cap safe and dust free. They are easy to adjust even with gloves on.

They adjust by pulling the turrets out, turning to change the POI and then push back to lock the turret into place. This is a neat idea indeed subject to their ability to withstand extended use.

If your tweaking a lot, then this may be a potential wear point for the scope - only time will tell. If the POI stays good and you don't have to keep messing about, then don't. If it aint broke - dont fix it.

The depth of field seemed good and it was easy to just tweak the focus wheel to bring images clear if they were a little longer or closer. This is a nice touch compared to my previous Bushnel Elite 3200 fixed 10 scope which I really liked.

That scope was a little diamond and I will get another. However, the MTC is another scope I instinctivly liked and the mag and side focus combined with the illuminated ret and the ret itself make this a very good package for the amount of money required to get one.

If your into hunting and HFT and like to do a lot of night shooting, this scope is the equiv of a japanese motor - It has all the bells and whistles of a BMW plus a lot more to boot. I also suspect that the build quality and trouble free use will be good. It is however to early to say.

I used mine on an HW100 with a Venom cylinder and whilst this rig is heavy, it was well balanced and the scope with the mounts supplied sat well on the action as i have found that the cheekpeice is a little low for anything but low mounts.

In conclusion, this is a good little scope and does many jobs very well.
The Reticule is well sorted and will benefit those who want the ability to apply measures to targets. It will annoy those who like an uninterrupted field of view but you wont be looking at an MTC anyway.

For the cash, you wont go far wrong.

[kram245]

Yeah, good review. I bought one a few weeks ago and am very impressed. Low light capability is not quite on par with my Leupold 3.5-10x40 vx3, but pretty close, and better than a couple of Jap scopes i already have, including an Optima Moonlighter, with similar size objective. I also like the illuminated ret and dont find the SCB ret too busy, but then i am using a TMR ret on the leupold which contains more info than a standard mildot. Particularly liked the mildot chart for a .177 that seemed bang on for me, certainly on 40mm spinners, out to 60 yards. I also liked the windage bars, again, quite satisfying hitting a 60 yard apple in pretty gusty wind with my first shot (2.5 mildots holdover, from memory, and used the corresponding wind bar). It certainly gives you a starting point for wind estimation which is absent on a 30/30 ret. I have this mounted on my PCP, quite fancy another to put on a springer for HFT. All in all a great scope that covers hunting and HFT quite nicely, buy one! mark

[James N]

just add my views on the scope.

i started off looking for a scope around the £100 mark, but after reading some excellent reviews and seeing some recommendations, i decided to double my budget , and went for the 3-12x44.

all i can say was it was money not wasted- for the whole package you get it really is unbeatable (scope, mounts, sunshade, sidewheel, cloth, lens covers)
one of the best features is the illuminated reticle, which really comes into its own in less than perfect conditions. another gret feature is the turrets for adjustments- rather than retrieve a screwdriver or whatever- you just lift them up, turn them and lock them back down. you can also spin the dials on them, so you can set a zero, adjust it, but still come back to it later.
the 'scb' reticle also looks a great feature, but i have yet to use it to its full extent, but im sure i wont be disappointed!

If you are deciding whether to get it or not, i really would and gary cooper- the supplier- is a great guy to deal with- he answered all my many questions and even drove himself to my local gunshop to make sure it was there for me!

mine is mounted on an s400 .177, and is looking and performing better than could possibly be expected

well recommended!
www.mtcoptics.co.uk