Nikko Stirling 3-12 x 56IR "Nighteater"

[Greylag]

Hello All,

First time out with a used Nikko Stirling 3-12x56IR Nighteater scope bought from a member of the forum.

The first thing that struck me was the clarity, the optics are excellent and very clear. The 56mm object lens and 30mm tube made the light gathering capabilities of the scope excellent, in low light you could see a lot more through the scope than with the naked eye. I found the "floating centre cross" type reticule to be a bit too fine under lamping conditions but in daylight it was easily seen, the illumination made it better under the lamp and the first of the 12 settings illuminated the cross visibly no problem. Zeroing adjustment was very easy with the finger adjustable turrets although I felt they could have done to be a bit more positive with their clicks as could the illuminated reticule brightness selector but I had it zeroed for close range work in a very short time.

The only downside I found with the scope was the lack of an AO lens, parralax is set at 100 yards on this scope and the focussing at close range (15 yards) could only be achieved at 3x or 4x magnification any higher magnification saw the scope going out of focus. Due to the object lens size high mounts had to be used and these needed packing slightly on the back mount to lift the point of aim for short range work otherwise the point of aim was well below the target.

Overall I was very impressed with the build quality and optics of the scope. I found the scope a pleasure to use and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably cheap decent quality scope.

Regards