MTC Cobra 3-9x50 AO Mil-dot

[Sam Vimes]

As many of you are aware I quite like a budget scope that performs beyond it's price point. A previous hobby horse of mine was the Nikko Stirling 3-9x42 AO Airking which is still a fine scope for those on a sub-fifty quid budget.
For hunters with a slightly bigger budget there's a new contender to consider.
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The Cobra is the latest and lowest cost addition to the MTC range. This particular model is aimed squarely at the hunters among us with it's large 50mm objective. In the box you can expect to find, as well as the well wrapped scope, flip up lens covers, lens cloth, instructions and mounts. In this instance the review sample didn't have mounts which lead to the only real drama of the day, 1" mounts. The vast majority of my scopes are 30mm. I don't usually have 1" mounts lying around, panic! Luckily I'd found a bargain set of BKLs about six months ago and bought them just because they were a steal. I didn't actually remember that fact when I was frantically scrabbling round my box of bits though. First impressions were good. The scope is well put together and feels solid and well finished. Finger adjustable turrets are very positive and clicky without being stiff. AO ring was smooth without displaying any sloppiness. However, a minor fly in the ointment, the zoom ring seemed a little tight. My suspicion was that this would improve when mounted and given time and use. Time would tell. Last but by no means least it has a mil-dot reticle. Happily I'm talking proper mil-dots not the too widely spaced to be any use dots that we've seen from some brands. The reticle seemed to be a smidgen thicker than I'm used to but I knew that this was likely to be no bad thing in a hunting scope that I'd expect to be used in low light situations.
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To test the scope I set aside a full day split between several hours at the club to set up, take some pictures and generally play to get an idea of the scopes capabilities. In the afternoon I planned to take the mounted and set up scope out for a hunt. This would also allow me to see how the scope performed as the light faded into the evening.
At the club I zeroed at 35 yards with my favoured JSB Exacts. The scope was set at 9x magnification and PX set to correspond the the range. At this point I altered both the PX and magnification settings to see if I could upset the POI. I'm happy to report that neither function appeared to alter POI in any way. One thing to note was, as I suspected, the mag ring did feel a little easier with the scope mounted. Next step was a brief check and noting of POI in relation to the mil-dots at various hunting ranges. Once done it was time to try to get an idea of the optical quality. I had my Nikko 3-9x42 Airking on hand for direct comparison. I noted that the Cobra's lenses have a coating which gives the glass a green hue when viewed off centre. Despite this obvious colouration the scope showed a very natural image. Colours were bright and clear without being altered in an obviously artificial way. If I'm being picky, very minor optical aberrations were noted at the very extremes of the sight picture but I've seen worse on scopes costing significantly more and without looking for it I'd not have noticed. All in all the Cobra showed a significantly better optical performance than the Nikko for the relatively minor price difference. Depth of field on full mag isn't huge, not surprising with that 50mm front end, but it was better than I anticipated. If you are a one rig hunter and wanted to dabble with HFT I can see no reason at all that this scope couldn't be pressed into service. However, If you are thinking to use it primarily for HFT then you may wish to look at it's smaller sibling the Cobra 3-9x42 AO Mil-dot.One thing that did surprise me was that the marked PX ranges on the AO were pretty damned close, quite unusual in the vast bulk of scopes in my experience.
Onto the field test. In a hunting scenario I tend not to think about my gear much. If I do it's either because something has gone wrong or I'm making a conscious effort. Happily, until I did make the effort to evaluate the scope just faded into the background as I got on with the business at hand. The only minor irritation at this point was with the objective lens cover. I tend to use the scope to spot at range, this necessitates the adjustment of PX. Flip up covers and front AO scopes don't mix well. This is no criticism of the flip up, just an observation of someone that tends to favour side wheel PX scopes and is set in his ways. I removed the flip up to negate the irritation.
In the next few hours five rabbits fell to my set up without any incident by which time the light was fading enough for me to start consciously looking at scope performance again.
The scope that I had taken off my rig to test the Cobra was a Nikko 6-24x42 Diamond Sniper. I'm well aware that it's not the greatest scope for low light shooting. What did surprise me was how much better the Cobra performed in low light. On full 9x it was fractionally brighter in poor light than the Nikko Sniper on 6x. Whilst I did have to reduce the magnification toward the end. As suspected that slightly thicker than I'm used to reticle helped immensely in low light and I'd suggest it would be a boon in a lamping scenario for the same reasons. I'd estimate that the Cobra extended my evening session by a good ten minutes. To this end the Cobra stands comparison to the Simmons 3.5-10x50 Whitetail Classic that I used to own with the added bonus of AO, a mil-dot ret and a fair old cost saving.
Budget scopes are coming on leaps and bounds in my opinion and for a grand total of £69.99 you really can't fall off. I showed a few club mates the scope without telling them the price and not one guessed at less than £100, there were a few guesses at significantly more. That alone tells a story.

Chris

[Davestate]

Good review, Chris.
I too have a 3-9x50 to test this weekend, an initial quick look-over left a good impression for such a budget price...

[C3PO_1]

Very good review.

[OLD JUD]

Sounds ideal. Can't find them on BARS website though, who has them in stock? any technical info such as field of view and weight?

[Sam Vimes]

Sounds ideal. Can't find them on BARS website though, who has them in stock? any technical info such as field of view and weight?

You won't find them on the MTC website just yet either.
I have no technical info and I'm sorry but I'm not taking the scope off to weigh it for you. If you are prepared to wait a few weeks until I can work up the enthusiasm to place a tape measure on a fence line at eactly 100 yards I may be able to provide FOV info.
As suggested already, I'd recommend you contact MTC Optics

[Gary C]

sorry chaps, recent events have put us behind. I'll get onto this as soon as possible

[Graeme.C.177]

Chris showed me this scope at the club last week and I was most impressed.
I use a Merlin 10x42 mostly and it compares very well against that and in some ways better. The picture is clear and gives good defination with the thicker cross hairs and mil-dots being ideal for low light.
The finish and feel overall make this scope a steal for the price.

[OLD JUD]

George I can't give you any technical details (I'm not good at that ) But having looked through both the 42 and 50 mm and used the 50mm on a hunting trip, I can say they offer excellent value for money. They are one piece tube with front PA. A budget scope or a scope if your on a budget? - Depends how you see things (Clearly through a Cobra )

If you PM Gary C he will be able to confuse you with techno babble but will be able to answer your questions mate.

HTH.

You won't find them on the MTC website just yet either.
I have no technical info and I'm sorry but I'm not taking the scope off to weigh it for you. If you are prepared to wait a few weeks until I can work up the enthusiasm to place a tape measure on a fence line at eactly 100 yards I may be able to provide FOV info.
As suggested already, I'd recommend you contact MTC Optics

sorry chaps, recent events have put us behind. I'll get onto this as soon as possible

Cheers guys, this sounds like just the scope for me, my main concern is weight though.

[Gary C]

weight is very light !

[OLD JUD]

weight is very light !

Please let me know when you get some in stock Gary!

[Gary C]

now

[Davestate]

Prior to mounting mine I weighed it with the wifes kitchen scales, (Salter brand and quite expensive so I expect very accurate), and it weighs 585 grammes or 1lb 4.63oz. Overall length with the supplied flip-up lens covers is 13.5", so its quite a compact scope.

[Sam Vimes]

Gary,
when are the Cobras due in the shops?

[Gary C]

Gary,
when are the Cobras due in the shops?

When the shops order them

We are tending to send one out FOC to the shops with each Viper / Mamba order. The hard part with the Cobra is getting the shops to stock them. Quite rightly many feel that they will have difficulty selling them, budget buyers tend to be more inexperienced and will go for a bigger brand even though the glass is inferior.

[Sam Vimes]

For those interested, I saw both the 3-9x50 and the 3-9x42 in stock and for sale in Pickering Airguns this morning.