Falcon T35-56

[Rich]

Last week I bought a Falcon T35-56 scope from Andy T on here, and it arrived yesterday morning. Thanks Andy for the excellent service.

I had a quick chance yesterday to try it out, putting it on the wife’s S200 just because the S200 was available and the wife wasn’t looking. I bought it as a possible alternative to the heavy old big Nikko for FT. Having felt the weight of it, there can only be a few ounces in it as it’s pretty hefty.

The image has a quality similar to my 18-40 Leupold. Optically the scope is very clear, medium to high contrast image, it doesn’t snap in and out of focus quite as positively as my big Nikko, but then it’s 35 mag and not 50. Eye relief and eye position seem not to be as critical as the high mag would suggest.

The distance markings on the large sidewheel are not what you’d call accurate. I marked up a new strip and attached it today.

I’d put this scope into a set of BKL mounts to go on the S200, and today I wanted to try it on the EV2, hoping to keep the nikko in its own mounts so that it would zero easily if and when I put it back on. I forgot that BKL mounts won’t go onto the EV2 front dovetail as it is stopped at both ends, and as I didn’t have any other mounts to hand, I had to use the ones the Nikko was in. A few minutes on the zero range – in pouring rain today – and I was ready to try it for real.

This is a really impressive scope. I tried it out over a dozen or more targets on our home course where I know the distances accurately, and without fail, it was coming up with the correct ranges within a yard. It focuses down to 11 yards. For really close targets a 50ft adapter will be necessary as it’s fixed mag and can’t be turned down, and with just a plain ret there are no mildots to help. Still, the Nikko benefits from a 50ft adapter so no difference there.

The sidewheel felt really stiff to turn, and I assumed it might be short of lube on the O rings, as it felt they were dragging. I took the oversize wheel off again and loosened the fixing screw that holds the small wheel on, noting that it was loctited in. Off came the wheel, and true enough there was some but not much lube on the O rings, so a smear of silicon grease was added. When I put the small wheel back on again, I found out why the screw felt like it had been loctited. The small wheel has a rectangular slot milled out of the underside and this sits over a rectangular head on the brass shaft that drives the focussing mechanism. The loctite was there to soak up any clearance between the two, to minimise backlash. Removing the wheel had broken the loctite seal, and now I had some backlash. Hmm.

The rectangle top to the brass shaft measured 5mm across flats. The milled slot in the small wheel measured 5.2mm between faces. So I needed to find something 0.1mm thick to use as shim, one piece either side of the slot. A pellet tin lid (often a good source of shim material) miked at 0.2mm thick. A Coke can miked at 0.11mm so with a bit of luck that would just about go. I cut a small square of coke can about 12mm across and punched a hole in the centre for the fixing screw, laid it on top of the brass shaft end and carefully pressed it over the rectangular head, folding both sides down tight, forming an inverted channel. Offering up the small wheel very carefully I could feel the shimmed head start to engage in the slot; a gentle pressure then put the screw back in and hey presto, a very smooth focussing wheel with absolutely no hint of backlash.

Although it’s not much lighter than the Nikko, it’s shorter and it makes the rig less front-heavy. I’m looking forward to trying it out at the next SWEFTA league shoot in a couple of weeks.

Again, thanks Andy, I’m well pleased with the scope.

[Tomahawkss]

looks like a bargain to me Rich.