falcon scopes?

[deth502]

i got my christmas present to myself the other day, finally got a scope for on top of my long range ar. i have about $1200-1400 into the gun, topped it with a $80 20moa riser, and a $60 set of rings, so i figured id go all out and pop for the $50 bsa sweet 223 scope.

aaaaaaaaaanyway.... ordered it from swfa, and they threw in a catalog. i was flipping through it yesterday and came across their falcon brand scopes. the specs look very very nice to me (other than the mil rad turrets) especially the ffp reticle, and the price is half or less of other brands with similar features.

anyone have any experience with these? any good? or is the low price an indication of the quality?

[Schuetzenman]

By reputation they are supposed to be quite good. I do not own one, but have considered them.

[vit]

I hope you are being sarcastic about the 50 dollar scope on a rifle that costs north of 1k.

[FunkyPertwee]

I hope you are being sarcastic about the 50 dollar scope on a rifle that costs north of 1k.

Here is one for $44.95.

http://swfa.com/BSA-3-12x40-Sweet-22...pe-P46656.aspx

[deth502]

I hope you are being sarcastic about the 50 dollar scope on a rifle that costs north of 1k.

no, actually. its not like its being welded on there.

Here is one for $44.95.

http://swfa.com/BSA-3-12x40-Sweet-22...pe-P46656.aspx

pfft, 3-12 is for quakers. i got the 6-18

[deth502]

i actually have others already. i have a sweet 17 on my 17hmr and another sweet 223 on a remmy 700 bolt gun in 223. (i have the 3-12 on that one, but back when i got it it was much more than $45)

actually, i have no complaints at all about their function. of course, the glass isint the best, its not going to be as clear as a $3k nightforce scope, but im not going to be taking low light, life or death shots with it. i do shoot in the weather, so theyre not babied, but other than that, they do what i need them to do every time. the only complaint i have would be the sweet 17 scope. apparently ( i dont remember that far back, but i believe it to be) it had some sort of rubberized coating over it. it was in the rack for a year or 2 (dont shoot it much, 17's not easy to come by here) and there was a horrible coating of shit on it. idk if it was something i put on it (would likely be wd40 or breakfree clp) or what, but it completely turned to a sticky hard goo. it took me about 2-3 hours of scrubbing it with steel wool and wd40 to clean it up. it was horrible. other than that cosmetic issue, i havent had any functional issues with them.

[deth502]

but, to continue rambling on, like i said, its not being welded on there. before 2 weeks ago, there were NO sights on it, and i dont have a spare $300-400 to drop on one, so this was better than nothing. when i am in a better situation financially, one of those falcon scopes are looking good.

http://swfa.com/Falcon-Menace-55-25x...pe-P47576.aspx

http://swfa.com/Falcon-Menace-4-14x4...pe-P47573.aspx

leaning to the 4-14, but either way, nice power range, the mil dot reticle (not real "mildot", but its got dots and measures in mils, same damn thing) ffp reticle, 30mm tube, large objective, lifetime warranty, and the reticle is NOT illuminated (seems like they all are anymore, i cant stand that)

only thing im not liking is the mil turrets. im too used to ranging and calculating with the moa turrets. not a big deal either way, but personally, id rather moa.

ive never seen these features on any scope under $800-900 at least.

[Schuetzenman]

Having used a 6.5 x 20 EFR Leupold I can tell you that I seldom used it past 10X in competition. I was very clear at that power, didn't pick up a ton of mirage at that magnification. More power equals darker image, less light transmission in your filed of View, (FOV). You see mirage worse at higher magnification. Distance was 600 yards slow fire High Power matches. Bottom Line I would recommend you stick with the lower power scope, the 4 to 14x model.

[skorpion]

Check out the AR MOD 1 line from Leupold. $300 and Leupold makes quality stuff with great glass.

http://www.opticsplanet.com/leupold-...tte-black.html
http://www.opticsplanet.com/leupold-...tte-black.html

http://www.opticsplanet.com/leupold-...iv_gridSize=40

[deth502]

Having used a 6.5 x 20 EFR Leupold I can tell you that I seldom used it past 10X in competition. I was very clear at that power, didn't pick up a ton of mirage at that magnification. More power equals darker image, less light transmission in your filed of View, (FOV). You see mirage worse at higher magnification. Distance was 600 yards slow fire High Power matches. Bottom Line I would recommend you stick with the lower power scope, the 4 to 14x model.

thats what i was thinking as well. i like to go up to 16x, maybe 18x max, which why i even contemplated the 5.5-25, but i agree 25x is just overkil at any range.

i can easily hit a torso sized gong every time at 300yd open sights, ( i cant identify the target, thats what the higher magnification is nice for) so to put that into perspective, that translates to i can just as easily sight a human torso sized target at 3000yd on 10x. im sure neither i nor any rifle i have (with the possible exception of the 50) are capable of going that distance.

[Schuetzenman]

You'd be surprised what a quality scope can show you at only 10x. With the light conditions favorable I could see my .224 bullet hits on the 600 yard target. I could see the lines between the rings and read the score number on the ring. This was with the 6.5 x 20 EFR Leupold scope. I still have it on my match AR.

[Helen Keller]

same boat, looking for glass for a 18.5" 6.5 AR .




Dont knock the BSA scopes, theyre actually decent for what you pay for.
I've also had luck with the Kronus line

[Starvin]

I have a 4-14 Falcon Menace on my CZ452 (.22lr) and like to compete with my friend with a similarly equipped rifle as we shoot clay pigeons out to 225 yards at the local range.

It's a good price for a FFP Mil/Mil scope (by the way you want the carpet to match the drapes as far as reticle goes, I had a Mil/MOA scope back in the day and it was no fun, adjusting to Mil/Mil is easy). My biggest complaint are mushy clicks (common for pretty much all scopes less than $1000), somewhat limited FOV, and a parallax adjustment that doesn't do well at 25 yards and requires you to set it slightly out of focus to remove all parallax at any range (I remember this being a complaint with Leupolds around 10 years ago, not sure if it's still true). I will also note it's sat on top of rifles with drastically higher recoil and it held up just fine.

Bottom line is that it's a competitive scope for the price range but won't hold up to the big boys (that cost substantially more).

[vit]

I had a BSA scope once. Long time ago. It was one of their Contender scopes. Put it on a heavy barrel 22LR, didn't last 60 rounds. The reticle fell over.