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I just wanted to put down my experience with the Falcon Optics 4x14x44 FFP scope which I just purchased. I've been searching the internet for this scope for awhile and was pleasantly surprised to find it in Monroe, Washington at Black Swan Arms. Not only did I save on shipping by picking it up in Monroe, but BSA has a great price on it. I'd owned the 10x42 for a few years and had good luck with it, so for my new .308 700 build I wanted to try the 4x14x44.
The Falcon Optics 4x14x44 FFP scope has a First Focal Plane mil-radian hash mark or line reticule instead of mil-dots. The FFP reticule stays at a proper or true size for ranging no matter what power you're on. I like the lines instead of the dots because they take up less room on smaller targets and less field of view. The stadia are hollow so you can see through them. This makes it a little tougher to pick up the reticule on some complex or confusing backgrounds like heavy vegetation when the reticule is zoomed to 4x. The reticule has 8 mil lines below and 4 above the cross hairs and four full lines side to side. Each full line has a shorter half mil line between.
The turrets are fairly large diameter and have knurled or slashed knobs. The knobs are easy to grab and solid. The left side parallax focus knob is the same size as the windage and elevation knobs. When turned they give a fairly audible click. A very slight amount of play is evident when you click into a setting but it's a solid click and not going anywhere. The knobs are mil-mil and not MOA which means they match the reticule. Each click is .1 milrad or 1 cm at 100 meters, 10 clicks per mil hash. Close enough to 100 yards for easy sighting in at the range. As a matter fact, I took my inexpensive laser collimator and after getting on paper with the first shot, I was able to look at the hole and just dial the setting by looking at the mil hash marks. I was grouping in my orange dot on the fourth and fifth shot
I put a TPS brand 20 moa picatinny rail mount on my 700 SPS Varmint, so low 30mm Burris XTR rings still gave plenty of clearance between the objective and the barrel. The eye relief is fairly critical and more so at 14x, but that's pretty usual for higher power scopes. The cone of light that comes out at higher power is a bit narrower. As long as you find the sweet spot when mounting, you shouldn't have any problem. The parallax focus was a little more critical at 14x also. But then again, I'm pushing 60 and my eye's exit pupil is a tad smaller than what it was at 25. Which means I have a tighter geometric tolerance for putting that cone in the hole. As far as the lens clarity, it was pretty good to the edge. I didn't notice any blurriness around the perimeter. The 44 mm objective is a pretty good compromise for light gathering and keeping the scope mounted low for a good cheek weld. The diopter adjustment at the ocular or eyepiece end was fairly solid. I was able to dial in a clear view of the reticule and it held for the 30 rounds I put through it. The power adjustment is just in front and it's a larger diameter tapered ring that matches the turrets. Again, a solid feel and stiff, but not too stiff adjustment.
I was using store bought 150 grain SP Remington basic cheap stuff, so the groups were not that great. I did a little experiment to see if the scope held zero with adjustment and shot a box pattern of 15 clicks to the left, 8 down then 15 right and 8 up. I came back to the dot, but it was barely on the dot. Most of my groups with this ammo is in the 1" plus or minus category, so that means something. When I shot the last 10 rounds of some Hornady 168 grain Sierra Match Kings I had, I got the 1/2 " three shot groups I was looking for. With reloads I was able to tighten that up with my last rifle. These .308's love 168 grain Match Kings.
The scope is nitrogen filled and billed as waterproof, but I don't know to what depth. I'm not a SEAL, so I should be OK, even in the PNW. The scope caps work OK, but I would eventually get some Butler Creek models. The front cap on my 10 x 42 kept coming apart at the hinge. The little metal bar in the hinge would come out. The other thing I did to the make this new .308 better, was to put a Bell & Carlson Light Tactical Stock on it. Nice stock.
All in all, I would have to say this scope met my expectations after owning another Falcon scope and having a good experience with it. I think that what you get for the money can't be beat. You would be hard pressed to find a FFP scope with this build quality for twice the price.
Last but not least, you would be hard pressed to find a better retailer for this scope. Stacy Swanigan at Black Swan Arms met me with the scope at a local coffee shop. They usually just do mail-order to keep cost and prices at a minimum. But he's willing to go the extra mile to give great customer service. Included with the scope was a warranty package made up by Stacy explaining a 90 day full money back satisfaction guarantee and a complete manual for the scope. A personal touch you don't see very often, unless you're buying a custom gun for thousands of dollars. I think I may have to talk to Stacy about the other Falcon scope he has, the 1.5 x 5 for my AR.
