Panamax Power!

Dave Barham gets acquainted with the Nikko Stirling Panamax AO 3-9x40 IR scope

- Dave Barham

I can remember my first scope on my first air rifle, it was a Nikko Stirling Silver Crown, which sat proudly on top of my Webley Eclipse springer. Fast forward some 34 years and here I am reviewing one of the latest additions to the Nikko Stirling range. It’s a strange old world!

Rather ironically, the test rifle for this scope is also a Webley, in the form of last month’s ‘Big Test’ Webley Raider Classic.

.

TRIPLE TURRETS

The Panamax features a three-turret set-up with elevation on top and windage on the right, both of which are housed under removable, screwfit dust caps. The third turret on the left is where the illuminated reticle is operated from, and this offers both green and red illumination with five different brightness levels for each. It’s a simple click-per-twist mechanism and very easy to use.

As you would expect from such a good quality scope, the action of these turrets is positive and firm, and each ‘click’ represents 1/10 mil.

PARALLAX AND OCULAR FOCUS

The parallax adjustment is situated on the objective bell of the scope in the form of a twistable ring. It’s extremely smooth in operation, albeit slightly stiff to begin with, but after a little use it turns easily from 10 yards to infinity.