Enter the dragon...I mean Snake...the Viper Connect.

Some time back I was muttering to Sammie (who is a good listener...perhaps she ought to work for the Samaritans...get it?..SAMaritans....I’ll get my coat) that I wanted a wide angle scope for squirreling.

I could have had one of their standard wide angle mambas, but Sammie told me to hang on as there was a new Connect in the pipeline that ticked all the boxes...so I hung on, and have been lucky enough to secure both an early/unique prototype and (when they arrive) a production model, so here goes.

Great Expectations...or, (ideally), not

Firstly I would say that for anyone expecting a scope in any way similar to the Connect 01, you are going to be disappointed....but for all the right reasons.

Apart from the positively huge FOV, they are poles apart.

If the old one was marmite, this one is honey...without the stickiness.

I am not going to quote all sorts of stats. They are on the MTC website, I will just tell you what I thought.

The old unit made my BTAS100 (even with a big lump of GinB stock) very top heavy. This one is unnoticeable by comparison and does not disturb the balance one bit. It is very small and light, more akin to a Mamba Lite in all honesty.

With a 40mm objective (The production version has a 32mm objective and will fit anything), it fitted my BTAS100 in much the same way that a standard 40mm scope would, except that it is obviously further back to allow for the eye relief.

This would possibly foul the magazine of many multi shots, which is why the production versions have a smaller objective and slightly longer for end. This has had no noticeable effect on the image.

The scope itself is pretty unique in that unlike a normal side parallax scope, you have a second set of controls almost immediately behind the parallax and zero adjusters, these are for the IR rheostat and the on off switch, and are fairly close as this scope is extremely short for a 3-12x40/32 unit.

This feature will lend itself to the later addition of a front add on NV unit should one become available. Sammie tells me there may be plans afoot to use the Viper connect as a sort of chassis for a dedicated MTC system, allowing for front mounted add on NV, lasers, etc.

Straight away the drawbacks of the old unit have gone, in that the unit is now down at a height where a conventional scope would be, so the need to be a contortionist is somewhat diminished...which is nice.

Mounting is via 2 x 30mm mounts one behind the other. This seems to work well in normal use.

I don’t know whether cross over is more or less likely with this setup.

Sports-match are producing a single piece unit which is by all accounts quite pricey, but whether the single piece unit is more likely to eliminate cross over than the eminently practical 2 mount approach remains to be seen, and Sportsmatch don’t tend to produce rubbish do they?

Having seen an image of their mount, and knowing how chunky this sight is, I doubt it will offer any support as the tube would appear to be very strong, but it may give possibilities for scope mounted lamps or lasers.

So what is the Viper Connect like to use?

Well, if I may borrow a line from one of my heroes (Baldrick)....”Bloody hell”

Mounting and setting up is pretty well normal, except that the scope is mounted much closer to the eye than a conventional scope (and hence further back on the rifle). This is necessary in order to make use of the quite literally stunning field of view.

That said, there is still quite a lot of leeway, and the scope can be set up far more comfortably than the earlier Connect 01, it is almost conventional in this respect.

It also shifts the point of balance on most rifles back a touch when compared with a standard 10 x 40 scope.

I would suggest that you set up the scope in the prone, as this is where you eye will be closest to the eye bell (MTC also suggest full mag, which I did not do but I tend to be at 10x anyway, must pay more attention Mr B).

MTC have revolutionised the standard eye bell in that this unit has a rotating, extendable hood that pulls out from the eye bell itself by about an inch (adjustable eye relief).

This helps keep light off of the lens, but can be adjusted to give better contact kneeling or standing, and for spectacle wearers.

It is a feature I have only seen on binoculars (my Nikon Hi Grades have the same eye pieces) but it is now something I would like to see on all scopes, close eye relief or otherwise as it helps keep glare/rain etc off of the lens without resorting to enhancers etc.

It will not push back when you push your eye against it as the spiral tracks it runs on are very shallow angle, so lock it in position well without the use of locking collars, catches etc.

Setting up the ret focus is also straight-forward, simply rotate the adjuster until a sharp ret is seen.

The adjuster is situated right behind the zoom ring, but it is reassuringly firm in operation and is neigh on impossible to move by accident.

The Viper Connect differs from a normal scope in that at 10x, you still have a huge FOV, so target acquisition is a doddle at relatively high mags, but unlike the old connect which was fixed at 10x, you now have a range of 3-12x32.

The old unit worked extremely well with a lamp (even ambient light from farm lighting was enough to hunt with in some instances) and it also works well in low light. The light just did not have far to go, and the huge FOV seemed to work in the same way as a normal scope on low mag.

With the Viper Connect, I would say that the effect is pretty much the same at 10x, but at 3x it just gets silly, as much FOV as anyone could want. At 10x I was counting the heads on Oxalice at about 40yds as the moon was coming out and the rabbits were pretty much silhouettes, then dropping it back to 3x I was suddenly aware of a shiny blur at the bottom of the image...it was my blued barrel and silencer reflecting the light of the rising moon...weird.

So if you plan using this puppy in wider than wide angle mode, or when lamping, it may be an idea to do something to dull or dampen reflection from the barrel or it may be a bit distracting....maybe nick a mirage strap off an AI or matt your barrel down somehow as you may well see it a bit.

The zoom ring has an easily located lug for easy smooth one hand operation and, uniquely as far as I know, there is a stop at 10x, which is useful as Mill dot (and hence AMD and SCB) are all true at 10x...and I shoot predominantly at 10x so that is even better.

The Reticule is the new MTC AMD ret (Advanced Mill Dot). MTC have taken the already popular SCB ret and improved (depending on your viewpoint) on it.

If you already own an SCB you will be able to use the AMD with no problem s as they are geometrically similar and Mill dot based, but the AMD is finer, and less cluttered.

My personal opinion was that the ret was superb. It can become lost against some backgrounds, but you will live with this when you consider that with a lot of other rets, you cannot easily use pellet holes as an aiming mark at 50yds.

This is easily possible with the AMD, and as long as the wind played the game, I was producing single 10mm ragged holes at 50yds...this has nothing to do with my shooting, and everything to do with the combination of fine accurate aiming marks, and a cracking rifle in the form of the BTAS100 I was using as a test rifle....and a bipod!!

I believe the Viper Connect also comes in SCB flavour...you cant loose.

Illuminating

Interestingly, the IR can be set and left at a setting then switched on and off without going through the range (and wrecking your night vision or burning little crosses on your eyeball).

I like this feature, and the ret when illuminated was extremely fine with no glare or peripheral glow in use however..

Only the centre cross is illuminated, which initially I thought was a bit of a drawback until I thought about it.

On my .177 combo at 10x, this still represents aiming points from between 15-40yds, so more than enough for low light but, if you were to drop the magnification down to say 6x or less (Which I expect a majority will do) you will have an even greater range or aim points...providing you can remember them.

What I would love to see is a red green choice as I am one of a number of users who find the green more relaxing on the eye (and some folk cannot even see the red) but that is splitting hairs, I really have to try hard to find fault, and this is not a fault, just a wish list.

Currently, you may have problems mounting a lamp, although I suspect a 30mm clip on mount may be persuaded to fit round the objective of the production model, there just is not much spare tube to mount onto with this compact all rounder.

I have seen folk adapting mounts to take lamps, and with the current crop of small LED lamps about, I don’t think adaptation would be hard, and I suspect these lamps will suit the Viper Connect perfectly.

The objective is shielded/protected by a rather swanky split fixed hood. This not only keeps unwanted light off the objective, but also protects it from damage by branches etc.

A fitted cap swings out and is held back against the hood by a small spring. Because the cap swings back on the side of the scope, it does not confuse when you reach forward for the parallax control, it works very well.

There is no rear cap.