falcon Menace 4.5-18x56 Metric MP20

[flims]

so i received my Falcon Menace this morning thanks to one bbs member which helped me out. I had been waiting to purchase this model for a while so i got it all setup to head to the range.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314862567.jpg

i used sportsmatch high mounts 30mm to mount the scope. i had already read some reviews from prominent sources regarding the scope so i knew roughly what to expect. the scope came with a sunshade too, lens cloth and an allen screw for turrets.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314862581.jpg

Why did i purchase this one from the myriad of scopes availble. first of all the price is good but it encorporates the features i wanted. the turrets match the reticle as both are in Mils. this was important for me because when i see the impact on the target i can say exactly how much im off my mark and then dial in exactly what i see, therefore if i was 2.5Mils low, i dial 2.5 Mils and i dont have to do the Conversion to MOA as before. This can be done on the true Mil value of the reticle which is calibrated at 10X and also marked in red on the magnification ring.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314862574.jpg
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314862605.jpg
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314863100.jpg
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314863084.jpg
The reticle has a long vertical stadia with a total of 15Mil-dots which is great. 5 on top of the horizontal and 10 below. this means that using only the reticle you can already shoot far out. The turrets are large which i like and the clicks are audible and repeatable which is very important. i checked the Mil- value to make sure its right and at 35m it bracketed 3.5cm which is what i was hoping for.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314863092.jpg

lenses- well lenses are very clear, much better than other scopes i have used altough on 18x the eye relief is shorter and if i was using it on a heavy recoiling rifle, i would prefer to leave it on 14x or lower. the reticle first seems to engulf the whole reticle however once you get use to it, you will start to see the advantage of that grid like reticle. from my current 35yard zero i still have 11.5Mils available. yes i could shim it abit however the shim i had was abit too thick and POI was high at 35m. with 11.5 Mils i could shoot the rifle to 155yards. i converted the MOA values i had done for my other scope to Mils however i will have to try them out on the plate. if i Use all the 11.5Mils available on the Turret, i can still use another 10Mils which should send the pellet out to 220yards easily.

tomorrow i have to do the box test just to make sure that each 1mil on the turret moves the bullet by 1MIL or 10cm at 100m. since it is mounted on an air rifle the test will be done at 25m just to make sure i get one hole groups even if its windy. the box test is very important but more than that i want to make sure that if i see a hit that is 1 Mil off on the reticle, the turret will move it exactly 1Mil so i can rely 100% on the reticle/turret combination.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314862594.jpg
here's a pic of the target i drew for the box test and reticle.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314863770.jpg
Another good thing on the turrets for those who dial in is the fact that there are arrows showing the Right and left for windage and these can be seen from behind the rifle thus you dont get confused altough since the mounts are close to the windage knob, i still have to lean alittle bit to check if the correct amount of windage has been dialed in.

all in all I am happy with all this but i have to spend some more time playing with it at long range to check its potential. the scope weighs 811grams, a little heavy but that doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't fail.

[verminhunter]

Very nice review Flims and a very nice scope. Glad you got everything in good condition and not late either from the post, good luck and have a happy shooting event.

[flims]

as i promised today i followed up with some more testing of the scope. the most two important things I am looking for are repeatability and dependibility especially to check if each click represents its true Value and if the reticle is truly synchronised with the Turrets. then i went on to convert my moa table into Mils and had some fun that way.

here is the box test each time i was adding 4 mils. then i decided to take a shot at the centre of the box and back to my starting point with another 2 shots to confirm zero.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314960391.jpg


i then went on to dial in sum elevation, 7Mils to be precise and i printed a very nice group at 131meters. I changed everything to meters and cm's now. i have to say that i love the fact that i can dial precisely the error without having to convert. some friends at the club had a go at it and the fact that they didnt have to convert anything made it a much more enjoyable thing for all.

here's a group at 131m. the last shot i centered using the reticle /turret system and it worked.
http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL888.../314959868.jpg

the system is a joy to use and the glass allows for some fine spotting. i didn't realy use it at anything above10x because at 11am the mirage was already bubbling here and trying to keep the crosshair on a definitive point was already challenging. in August the reticle will be floating on the mirage!

[pieter]

carry on as its very good to read

[flims]

hi pieter, thanks for your message. i have a couple of clay pigeons which i will take at 130-180m. so those are next on the list.

the only problem at the moment is finding time to get all this drop done as i have to convert the data i have which i already did, then do real world tests and if the wind is gusting, getting a correct drop at those ranges can be tricky. for each distance i fire 10rounds and i increase the distance by 5m evertime. this takes alot of time filling, reloading seting up etc..the good thing however is that essentially you only do it once then you do slight adjustments from summer to winter.
the reticle will save me some work though.

today i had a wind from 11 o'clock blowing from 3-5mph but it was constant most of the time and when i dialed 1/2mil for wind i was off the plate, removed the correction and i was dead on.

[joffy]

i've been looking at one of these scopes hows yours going ?