MTC 3-12X44 SCB Reticle

[jamie g]

We have so many reviews of this superb scope, but one more won't do any harm .

We start this journey in May's of London, Buckhurst hill where I am as usual trying to find a decent topper for one of my rifles.

After much bad experience of other brands it was time to try something new, so £200 lighter I left with the MTC.

Opening the box we find not only a scope, but large sidewheel, sunshade, low mounts, flip up covers, and silk bag. It also includes the usual hex keys, and manual.

Clarity: Class-A in every sense!, very clear indeed with excellent light transmission even in lowlight.

Finish: This one is matte black. The finish is perfectly even, and quite tough, although it's surface could be a little smoother IMO.

Reticle: Really the jewel in the crown of these scopes are the famed SCB reticle, it has innumerable aim points, and is perfect for a .22 were the amount of holdover really does make, or break accuracy.

Field of view: Really quite large, even on higher magnification it still shows well, and aids target acquisition wonderfully. Of course it isn't to the same level as my Leupold VX-L, but I'm very happy with it in comparison.

Turrets: Large sniper style which simply pop up, or down to unlock/lock into position. Easy to use, and very smooth. Make sure you remember to lock them in place properly however as they do catch, and bump things easily due to height.

Magnification ring, & parallax sidewheel: The mag ring is slightly stiff, but nothing awful. Plenty of options in terms of what magnification you wish it set to. Parallax adjustment is located on the left side on the centre of the tube, smooth, an easy to read correctly.

Objective eye bell: Good scope for adjustment to your eyes, more than I usually find on most scopes, again slick, and easy to move.

Parallax: Comes down to 10 yards easily while still having decent magnification available, it seem very accurate too which is a pleasant change from Hawke's dreadfully miscalculated settings.

Used on a Weihrauch HW100S .177.

I think that covers everything!, I'm afraid I'm not much of an expert on the optical side of things, but this gives the general idea hopefully .

The best scope for the money, and beyond, 9.8/10

Pictures up soon with any luck!.

great write up couldnt agree more. great scope for the money and if you didnt no there price. you would think they where in the 300 to 400 + pound league

[hendrickotto]

Hello dear all,

did anyone do a "box test" (shooting a square) to check true adjustment of the reticle and with what results ?
Thanks very much for sharing your exp,

Hendrick

[hendrickotto]

MTC Viper 3-12 x 44 scope indoor range test; results after 4 sessions so far (31.10.2008).


I. Plus points:

1. The reticle is just very, very good. MTC informs me that it is even etched into the glass ! It is my first mil based one and not cluttered at all and very easy to get used to.
2. At 10, 25 and 50 meters, the focus marks in yards (!) are spot on for me in METERS!
3. The scope does allow to focus sharply at 10 yards at 10 power which is great.
It jumps in and out of focus quite crisply.
4. The image clarity is quite all right for me (at this power range).
5. The total (up and down) adjustment range is about 75 MOA which is great. The knobs are quite grippy.
6. It is a sturdy, solid looking and feeling scope.
7. A very complete package with many accessories.

II. Minus points:

1. The "box test" with my scope gave problems sometimes. A few times, after adjusting the reticle by turning the windage turrets, the point of impact jumped ahead a bit farther than chosen on the adjuster knob. Maybe one should not "spin" the turrets around too fast but rather turn them slowly and very intentionally so that clicks remain audible. The Reticle adjustment does not result in the same value change on the target horizontally and vertically; the vertical change is a bit greater than the horizontal.
2. The windage adjustment knob on my scope is stiff to lock and unlock. It looks as if it will wear in with use, however.
3. Without the bigger side wheel supplied, the focus ring does not have an even, smooth resistance over the whole range; it seems to hang up a bit in certain positions, but this may wear in over time. It's now smooth with the big wheel.

III. Some Question Marks

1. When carrying hearing protection (at the range, when surrounded by big bore brothers) and one cannot hear the clicks, relying on feeling them only sometimes results in a "mushy" feeling.
2. The Objective flip-up dust cover does not close completely but has some, but very minor, play.
I wonder if these covers are sufficiently waterproof for hunting and HFT.
3. The Turret bezel numbers ring lock must be gripped very well in order to lock/unlock; a bit too fine to me.
4. The Battery compartment cover has a very tiny sealing ring which I hope is water tight enough for FT/HFT use in the rain. The closing area is in the vertical plane and could collect some rain drops (also mind the capillary effect here).

IV. The Wishlist.

This scope is so good that it deserves a wish list of items to be incorporated into the future versions. Some desirable features that MTC might consider for follow- up configurations of these Viper scopes are the following:

1. Number one and very important: I would like the adjustment increments to be in MILS and not in 1/8 minutes of angle. It seems Falcon Optics did understand that logic by making this feature an option. One tenth of a mil per click would be just fine and give a bit more room in the system to have an even larger adjustment range in total. This would be of great advantage in daily use and eliminates one more mistake factor (no mental conversion necessary for making the right amount of adjustment).
2. Although apparently impossible to combine with the present "loose" turret bezel ring system, I would like some means of seeing the number of turret turns made by way of vertical vernier type of marking.
3. On the Reticle, I would like at least one more horizontal (5th) "Christmas tree branch" below the four available now, so that the mil marks of the lower one would wind up even in stretch with the fine cross hairs in the centre.
This would in my opinion not make the reticle too busy and still be of great additional use for full bore and 22 LR use on longer range.
4. I would like to have the 4 outer heavier lines of the cross hair to be just a fraction thicker to make them guide the eye more easily in dusk (without having to resort to the illumination feature).
5. The outer 10-mil marks on the four main cross hairs are a tad too short even in the present configuration with the thinner outer lines.
6. I would like the "zero" or "0" marks on the bezel rings on the turrets to stand out more from the other numbers by colouring them red and/or making the hash mark red/thicker and/or longer.

Conclusion for now: I have not finished testing yet, but like this scope a lot !
I still need to do the field (FT) testing also.

But one thing is already quite clear: to me this is not an entry level scope !



november 2008

[C3PO_1]

Hi Hendrickotto: superb last post! Compliments too on your use of the English language. A lot better than some "Britons" who post on the bbs!

[hendrickotto]

Thanks for the compliments on form C3PO, but how about your opinion on substance ? Would like to have some additional views from other users.

TIA,

Hendrick

[C3PO_1]

I cannot comment directly on the substance as I don't have a Viper.