Falcon Menace 7.5x50

[Gavlar]

Apart from a short stint with airguns in my teen years, I came to the sport relatively late and have now been shooting about 18 months. In that time I have owned 6 or 7 PCP rifles and a similar number of scopes, from real cheapies to Zeiss and Leupold. As long as I was unable to make my mind up what I realy wanted, I wouldn't keep anything very long. What I did find though was that I don't get on with variable mag scopes as my ability to range find is not very good. I've tried variable mag with fixed parallax, fixed mag with fixed parallax and eventually decided that fixed mag with variable parallax was what was required. Side wheel parralax was also desirable.

At least I knew what I wanted, sort of. I had a 10 x 40 (I think) Viper for a short while but found the FOV too narrow to easily aquire targets. I tried a fixed 4.5 x 40 scope and found the mag not high enough for small targets at extreme airgun ranges.

GET TO THE POINT MAN!!!!!

I was unaware of the new Falcon Menace 7.5x50 until last week when I read a post mentioning it so I thought I'd give it a go.

It arrived Friday. First impressions, it's a bit heavy with big nobs, build quality appears top rate. (Hang on, this is turning into a description of me!)

The Menace comes with a screw in sun shade which is around 3" long. the scope itself is around 14" long. Because of the side parallax wheel and big turrets, it is a rather chunky 4" wide at the widest point. From the bottom of the tube to the top of the elevation turret, it is around 2.5". It has a 30mm tube.

It cost me £200

I centred the windage and elevation turrets and checked the scope for optical centre, having read that this would take about two hours, I found that the scope was nearly perfect out of the box. Result.

I then mounted the scope and zeroed it in the garden in good day light. It was easy to zero and was soon ready for action.

The big turrets are in my view a bit too large, but they are functional, easy to adjust with very positive clicks. I would prefer low profile turrets but can't complain at those fitted.

I took the scope out today with a mate and we went to two shoots, each around 500 acres. Didn't see a bunny at less than 200 yards all morning but I shot plenty of clods of earth at all ranges and found the scope to be perfect. It will parallax to below the advertised 10 yards, and out to infinity, but with plenty of adjustment at the low end, ie 10 to 50 yards, airgun ranges. The adjustment is very smooth, if a little stiff but I would expect that to relax after a bit of use.

The big objective means it should be good in low light. In that respect, I've been a little spoilt by some of my previous scopes but in all fairness, there is little to critisise here. We were out before dawn and I found that low light performance is as good if not better than any scope in a similar price range and isn't far short of the top end scopes.

The reticule is milldot. The dots are nice and close together and the reticule itself is very fine, meaning very small targets at all ranges remain visible, and zeroing on your last pellet hole is easy, even at 30+ yards.

It has a reletively long eye relief and a reletively wide FOV, which for me means I can bring the gun up to a shooting position, very quickly aquire the target and shoot, without much fuss.

7.5 mag is perfect. It is about what I would leave my variable mag scopes on. It is enough for the longer shots and not too much for the shorter shots.

Set the parallax to 20 yards and you will be about to see objects 5 yards away, the view becoming quite clear at around 10 yards and remaining quite clear out to 50 yards. I have never shot HFT but would suggest this scope would do the trick.

In summary, if you happen to own an airgun, which you probably do, then I would recommend this scope above all the others I have owned. I think I have finally found a scope I can settle on.

[The Squire]

Nice review mate

[Cheshire_cat]

Nice review mate

indeed...sounds like an interesting scope.

[GERALD BUTLER]

Apart from a short stint with airguns in my teen years, I came to the sport relatively late and have now been shooting about 18 months. In that time I have owned 6 or 7 PCP rifles and a similar number of scopes, from real cheapies to Zeiss and Leupold. As long as I was unable to make my mind up what I realy wanted, I wouldn't keep anything very long. What I did find though was that I don't get on with variable mag scopes as my ability to range find is not very good. I've tried variable mag with fixed parallax, fixed mag with fixed parallax and eventually decided that fixed mag with variable parallax was what was required. Side wheel parralax was also desirable.

At least I knew what I wanted, sort of. I had a 10 x 40 (I think) Viper for a short while but found the FOV too narrow to easily aquire targets. I tried a fixed 4.5 x 40 scope and found the mag not high enough for small targets at extreme airgun ranges.

GET TO THE POINT MAN!!!!!

I was unaware of the new Falcon Menace 7.5x50 until last week when I read a post mentioning it so I thought I'd give it a go.

It arrived Friday. First impressions, it's a bit heavy with big nobs, build quality appears top rate. (Hang on, this is turning into a description of me!)

The Menace comes with a screw in sun shade which is around 3" long. the scope itself is around 14" long. Because of the side parallax wheel and big turrets, it is a rather chunky 4" wide at the widest point. From the bottom of the tube to the top of the elevation turret, it is around 2.5". It has a 30mm tube.

It cost me £200

I centred the windage and elevation turrets and checked the scope for optical centre, having read that this would take about two hours, I found that the scope was nearly perfect out of the box. Result.

I then mounted the scope and zeroed it in the garden in good day light. It was easy to zero and was soon ready for action.

The big turrets are in my view a bit too large, but they are functional, easy to adjust with very positive clicks. I would prefer low profile turrets but can't complain at those fitted.

I took the scope out today with a mate and we went to two shoots, each around 500 acres. Didn't see a bunny at less than 200 yards all morning but I shot plenty of clods of earth at all ranges and found the scope to be perfect. It will parallax to below the advertised 10 yards, and out to infinity, but with plenty of adjustment at the low end, ie 10 to 50 yards, airgun ranges. The adjustment is very smooth, if a little stiff but I would expect that to relax after a bit of use.

The big objective means it should be good in low light. In that respect, I've been a little spoilt by some of my previous scopes but in all fairness, there is little to critisise here. We were out before dawn and I found that low light performance is as good if not better than any scope in a similar price range and isn't far short of the top end scopes.

The reticule is milldot. The dots are nice and close together and the reticule itself is very fine, meaning very small targets at all ranges remain visible, and zeroing on your last pellet hole is easy, even at 30+ yards.

It has a reletively long eye relief and a reletively wide FOV, which for me means I can bring the gun up to a shooting position, very quickly aquire the target and shoot, without much fuss.

7.5 mag is perfect. It is about what I would leave my variable mag scopes on. It is enough for the longer shots and not too much for the shorter shots.

Set the parallax to 20 yards and you will be about to see objects 5 yards away, the view becoming quite clear at around 10 yards and remaining quite clear out to 50 yards. I have never shot HFT but would suggest this scope would do the trick.

In summary, if you happen to own an airgun, which you probably do, then I would recommend this scope above all the others I have owned. I think I have finally found a scope I can settle on.

Good review Gavin ,Ive owned one of these scopes for abot 2months now and am well impressed the optics are superb and the clear range of view when set at a pa of 20 to 30yds is unbelievable, no fogging just a slight blurring at the range extremities ie:10to 50yds.THis scope is a hunters dream and I am sure as you say would be an excellent scope for hft.MY first post on bbs site .have fun with your scope.Best regards Gerald.

[ryan f]

what calibré or rifle aré you using it on?i was thinking of putting 1 on a 22/250

[GERALD BUTLER]

what calibré or rifle aré you using it on?i was thinking of putting 1 on a 22/250

I use mine on my air arms shamal .177 but a very experienced rifle shooting pal of mine was so impressed with my sight got one for his 22rimfire and thinks it,s great.Hope this helps and would like to hear your views if you get one.

[Hellequin]

Good review Gavin, cheers! I bought one of these scopes a few weeks ago, partially on the back of this and another review. I'm glad I did!

It's even better for what I need than the 4-14x42 Merlin it replaced. The magnification is pretty much perfect for airgun ranges, the build quality is exceptional and so are the optics. No more being tempted to "meddle" with an adjustable zoom, it's pretty much point and shoot now. The side focus works well too, though I've not found the need to adjust it too much for most shots, only those really close or a bit further than average. About the only thing I'm not overly keen on are the large turrets, though they do the job they were designed for very well.

The Menace is fitted to my .22 Daystate Mk3 Sport which is FAC'd to 30fpe and it's bloody brilliant. I've finally found a scope I can stick with, too.

[Sifu]

I've had the menace 4-14x44ffp for some time now but it's a pre-production model. It's still a fantastic scope but I've held off writing a review until I receive the production unit.
That should be coming in the next week or so and then there will be a full review.

Regards, Del.

[joffy]

has anyone compared this scope against the 7x50 meopta ? just a thought

[Br0dy]

meoptas dont have side parallax
i have a meopta and 2 menaces. Meopta every time for me. I find the meopta to be a much brighter image and top notch for low light or lamping. I dont lose the reticle in the darker spots either as i sometimes do with the menace. Menace is a good scope for the £ though.

[paul c]

I have the 4-18-56 version and will be doing a write up soon,
upto now it has worked a treat on my cz750 .308

[Nicks10]

Absolutely cracking scopes, I have 2 and haven't found a better scope for the money

Cheers

Nick