falcon merlin 4-14 x 56 ir review

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Average Ratings

Value for Money	10/10
Overall rating	9/10

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By C3PO on 8th Mar 2007

C3PO's Ratings

Value for money	10/10
Overall value	9/10
C3PO's recommendation

Good Points

Optics -- superb
Build Quality -- unmatched
Features -- excellent

Bad Points

None really.

General Comments

Packaging:

The packaging the product arrived in is high quality with a well designed cover. Inside I found the scope, the sidewheel, a small instruction booklet, two sunshades, a cleaning cloth and a spare battery. All were extremely well packed. Verdict: 9/10

Build Quality:

Wow -- this is one well built, solid scope. It weighs in a little under a kilo and feels much more more substantial than my old Hawke Airmax SR6 3-12 x 44AO scope. The zero-ing dialling-in turrets are "sniper" style on this Merlin and work extremely well. I was at first wondering whether you had to "lift, move and then snap into place" the turrets but these aren't that design. You simply move the turret manually. Will this mean that the clicks might get moved in the bag or accidentally? In short, no. There is a very positive force required to move the turrets and activate the clicks so I cannot see how this could accidentally happen in the field or in the bag. The front and rear lenses have screw type metal covers which are well designed. One good example to me of the quality was that the threads on the covers were very smooth and had that sound of "solid running", if you know what I mean. Now, for me I prefer the quick Butler Creek pop-up covers and I've ordered a set which I'll place on the scope. Verdict: 10/10

Optical Quality:

Excellent optical quality in this area and where it really shines is during the "full zoom" of x14. At four to eight the quality was on a par somewhat with the Hawke. But at twelve the Hawke was showing signs of optical stress. There was no such sign at x 14 with the Merlin. The large, 56mm objective lens combined with the 30mm tube size and the lens' quality and coverings means that in low light conditions this scope is bloody superb (about 60% better than the SR6 in low light conditions, with my eyes). I do remember looking through a £1,200 scope at the CLA Gamefair last year in daylight and I'd say the Merlin is 80% of the quality of that scope (purely judging from memory and highly unscientific). Verdict: 9/10

Reticule:

I opted for the "mil dot" style because that's what I wanted. I did enjoy the Airmax's specialised reticule and that works extremely well (good job Nick!). But I don't do HFT -- just deplete the population of bunnies where I live. The reticule is slightly "thinner" than the Hawke's but it allows me to see more of the target. I do not feel that I have to strain the eye to see the reticule (so it's not that thin) but it is a good compromise between functionality and the ability to see the target. I haven't full investigated the different mil dots but I understand their separation equates at x10 to 3.6 inches at 100 yards. More than good enough for me. Verdict: 9/10

Accuracy:

Well, when I first fitted the scope and set up my 30 yard target I wasn't even hitting the A4 sized paper target! Whether this was my scope-mounting inexperience, I would think this is highly likely. Anyway, (and a top tip here for newbies) I got right up close to the target to actually find out where the pellets were roughly going. Once I determined they were going five o'clock low I pulled back and re-adjusted the turrets accordingly. Within 15 shots I was getting half inch groupings at 30 yards ... and a better still after another ten shots. I tried it at different zoom levels too and didn't notice any "zero-shift" errors. One thing I did have problems with was holding the crosshairs steady at x14. I could not rule out pellet spread at that magnification being due to my inability to hold the gun steady enough. I need to follow up here with a very steady, cushioned benchrest style set up to eradicate human shake error. Verdict 9/10 (could be 10 / 10 but I need to remove my human error factor called shake and decide for certain after that).

Parallax Adjustment:

What a joy! The SR6 was always a little stiff and turning it on the objective lens wasn't the ideal solution. But the little side wheel is smooth and the yard-age is accurate. I have not tried the larger wheel yet. One concern I had was that the parallax wheel would interfere with the insertion of the AA S410's magazine. This is NOT a problem at all with the smaller adjuster, but the bigger one will not allow the magazine to be removed with it in place. This does not worry me personally. BTW, I have Sportsmatch 30mm High mounts and these provide ample clearance to use parallax adjustment absolutely fine with the standard wheel. Verdict 8.5/10

Illuminated Reticule:

This was the main motivation for me getting a new scope. As I have explained elsewhere on this forum, one area where rabbits have infested is inside a shed on my shoot. And one of the areas the rabbits emerge from is between bales of hay. At around 1730, the SR struggled to pick out the rabbits because of the smaller lens but more importantly because of the dark reticule. I have tried both green and red IR with the Merlin and each performs equally well. I opt for "3" setting which is the right brightness for me at low light levels in the shed area. I did. however, notice that at "5" setting their was a very slight reflection. Not very noticeable, but just a little noticeable. Verdict: 8.5/10

Conclusion:

I paid £219 for this scope and I am amazed at the quality of optics for this price. As a complete package, it cannot be beaten at this price, IMO. I went with the Merlin because of the price and the x56 objective size. I am overall delighted with the purchase. Conclusion rating: 9/10

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