Home Nikon Long-Term Look at Falcon M18+ Scopes: MOA vs MRAD, FFP vs SFP...

Long-Term Look at Falcon M18+ Scopes: MOA vs MRAD, FFP vs SFP Reticles

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The three Falcon scopes in my collection combine reliability, clarity, and precision. With the favorable US-Britain exchange rate, there has never been a better time to buy a Falcon.

The newest model is the M18 Plus (4-18x44mm). You can choose between First Focal Plane (FFP) or Second Focal Plane (SFP), and you can even pick your favorite angular measurement: Minute-of-Angle (MOA) or Milliradian (MRAD). Milliradian lovers can choose between an Enhanced Mil-Dot (EMD-2) or Brabant-20 (B20) reticle. I’ve used both, and they’re both wonderfully precise. I have a slight bias toward the B20.

In the past I’ve also tested the M18 FFP and the M14 IR FFP.

The Falcon M18+ uses a winning formula for targets, tactical precision, and even varminting. The glass resolution is surprisingly high. Low-light performance is quite good. Most importantly, the turrets and reticle track perfectly, returning to exact zero every single time. I can account for drop or wind using either the turrets or the reticle, and when it comes time to return to my 200-yard zero, I have utter confidence.

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26 COMMENTS

  1. A few of my scopes have illumination in a few different colors and brightness, but it came with a feature set that I was wanting. I do not use illum and I don't see myself using the feature, going forward.

  2. I know this video is several years old… Any chance that you may have some views on the newer Falcon S18i 3-18×50 FFP for a general plinking and NRL22 Base Class rifle scope?

  3. I've found illuminated reticles are super useful in high contrast situations – for example, where it's very bright outside and you're shooting into deep shadow. Same for silhouetted targets, especially in low light conditions (where there is a lot of light behind the target). In both scenarios the the cross hairs disappear. I find the best illuminated reticles are ones that have a lot of adjustable brightness; 10 settings is great. If the reticle is too bright, your low light vision will suffer, and the illumination will bleed too much and give you fuzzy cross hairs. Illumination is a useful feature, but personally I only consider it a bonus – nice to have but not a deciding factor. Clear, bright optics, and precision turrets that match the reticle etchings trump all other considerations. Can't blame Falcon Optics for taking the feature away in the newer scopes; in terms of cost/benefit its usefulness is probably too much of an edge case. Thanks for the video, I didn't know FO was UK made. May have to get one now 🙂

  4. Hi i have just purchased a Falcon Optics M18+ 4-18×44 FFP MOA and the sunshades dont fit the scope did yours fit straight on ! sunshade tube thread measures 48.5mm the inner scope thread is 45mm !

  5. If you like solid budget optics check out what athlon optics is doing. I've been running a talos 6x24x50 with very clear glass, side parallax, settable turrets, etched iluminated bdu retical, and the kicker …. Full life time warranty even if you accidently caused the damage. Cost was $200 to my door, the $300-$350 range is even more impressive with hd glass.

  6. I’m trying to decide between the Bushnell engage and this. I would prefer FFP to SFP. Which one would you say is better overall quality. Also considering SWFA fixed power.
    One thing I’ve noticed on some FFP scopes is the reticle seems to start at 75% or less of FOV at full zoom and shrink to almost unusable size at minimum zoom. It always seemed to me that it would make more sense for it to start at say 50% of total FOV at minimum zoom and zoom to where the reticle stretches beyond FOV.
    For example: if the reticle has 10 mils of sub tension and occupies 75% of FOV, when zoomed in you would only see 5 mils

  7. i have a optic with a illuminated reticle i prefer no illumination. i would like your opinion on the savage axis II in 6.5 creed. i saw it with a cheap weaver optic for just over 400 at cabelas now i havent looked into it much but it seems like a pretty good bargin minus the optic. just wanted someone to weigh in my wife just nods when i ask her questions like this.

  8. I took a similar approach with a Vortex Viper HS-T (6-24×50). It has been an excellent scope for my abilities and cost around $700. It raised my confidence in budget minded optics. Because of your review(s) I'm looking at the M18+ for my .22 Lr trainer.

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