The new Falcon T50 FT scope

[Artfull-Bodger]

Falcon optics are soon to release thier new T50 10-50x60 FT scope, I have been lucky enough to get my hands on a pre production model and took it for a field test last weekend!
the results were an eye opener and I though I would give you guys a heads up on this very promising scope! Current reticle is mildot but this may be refined on the production model.

Bear in mind these are initial impressions but if the production versions are this good they represent a viable alternative to the Nikko Diamond, and as Falcon are looking to price the scope under £500 it's of even more interest to those who cannot stretch to the Diamonds asking price!


Installation
The scope was fitted in a B-Square fully adjustable mounts on my HW100S using JSB 4.52 Exact.

Zero was at 35yds with the coarse adjustment on mount and fine tuned on the optically centred scope.


Conditions

We used our 100m FT range for this test as it is marked out in 5yd intervals and is level.
2 deg C still air with a low sun casting lots of shadow but good lighting due to clear cold air and no airborne dust or foliage.
For a benchmark we took along a new model Nikko Diamond and made direct comparison between the two.

Eye bell

To help with the test we had one 52 year old, one 28year old, one 43year old with glasses (myself) and my 13 year old son.

All of us were able to focus the rear lens onto the reticule with no problems and the eye relief gave no problems with finding a comfortable scope position.

Clarity/brightness

The sharpness of the image even at 50Mag in impressive, it is considerably better than a nighteater or Viper despite their 32x mag, it also beats the diamond on sharpness and equals it in brightness of image at all magnifications!

Sidewheel focus

The acid test if there ever was one for this kind of scope!

Test consisted of wrapping the sidewheel in masking tape then focusing the scope at each 5yd interval from 10yds to 55yds and including 8yds marking the sidewheel for each range, ranges were then re focused at random until every range had been repeated at least three times and checked to make sure the marks corresponded precisely each time, once the task had been completed new tape was applied and the test was repeated by each tester!

The result of this test was practically 100% repeatability by all testers and was able to match the diamond in rangefinding ability, the only noted difference between them was more movement on the sidewheel of the Falcon between ranges which is beneficial in marking the sidewheel as you have more space between marks, so we can happily state the scope has a slight edge over the Diamond but it’s a very close run thing!

The snap in is very precise, its either in our out of focus with zero backlash or “mush” in focus and as mentioned earlier during these test we all noted a sharper image than the Diamond.

The 100yd maximum focus on the sidewheel before infinite was noted by all of us and many comments were made as to why this wasn’t a common practice on FT scopes which regularly focus past this range before reaching infinite setting, the ability to focus down to 6yds even at 20x mag was also noted with enthusiasm!

To put the scope to a more stringent test we sub divided the ranges from 45 to 55 in 2.5yd intervals, then tested to see if we could repeatedly focus on each range, this was achieved with results as good as the diamond we used as a comparison!

Turrets

Three grub screw fixing is used and the turret can be reset to zero by slacking the screws and slipping the turret, the turrets are easy to use with a wide enough base circle so the graduations are clearly read, as are the vertical marks on the turret base.

The movement of the turret is precise with good feel (despite the use of gloves on a very cold day) and audible clicks, compared to the Diamond the turrets are easier to grasp but the diamond has a slight edge in feel possibly due to a heavier indent spring but then loses out on the clicks as you can barely hear them, both scopes have zero backlash and seem well engineered in this regard.

Tracking

This test was conducted in my workshop at 7yds taking advantage at the impressively short range the scope focuses down to, the rifle was fired off a bagged rest to eliminate shake by the shooter and consisted of a vertical line set with a plumb line with a 3mm dot in the middle as the aim point.

The zero was checked to ensure it was precisely on the line then a new line was drawn and a single shot fired, we then adjusted the turret randomly up/left/down/right two turns or so per adjustment to try and throw the scope off zero when reset to 00 on the turrets, the next shot fired hit the exact same hole as the first, this was repeated several times proving the scopes ability to return to zero!

Next test was to adjust the scope up and down in a set sequence covering 100moa on the turrets in 20moa steps with one shot fired per step, this was to see if the shot wandered offline during vertical adjustment, the test was completed with no deviation, the sequence was then repeated to see if the shots hit the same points second time round!

The result was 100% consistent confirming this is indeed a very accurate scope in terms of tracking reliability, it beat the Diamond in this test due to the Diamond not focusing clearly on the line at this range, but in terms of mechanics I suspect there is no difference between them!


Conclusion

the scope shrugged off every test we threw at it, its easily as good as a Diamond under these test conditions, and in some ways better

we were all highly impressed with the optical clarity especially given the price range Falcon have suggested, when I told the guys how much they are hoping to sell it for they all said “seriously?”

Would I buy one? Put it this way, it’s staying on my HW100 and I will be using it for the rest of the winter series and will let you know how I get on and how it holds up under comp conditions!

The lads are impressed and I will show the scope to the competitors at the comps to see what they think!

Oh and if the production scopes are this good I plan to order one for my son too