MTC Optics Mamba Lite 4-16×42 riflescope review

These days, buying a telescopic sight can be a little daunting – even if you’re au fait with confusing nomenclature like PA, SFP, FFP, BDC, AO, SF, MOA, MRAD and IR! 

To tempt us airgunners to part with our cash, scope manufacturers like to throw on every conceivable “extra” onto what was hitherto a simple sighting aid, albeit an upgrade from open sights.

The truth is, we don’t need half of what most scopes come adorned with as standard, so we end up splashing out a lot more cash than we really need to. Which is why I’m focusing on MTC’s Mamba Lite this month. I’ve chosen the 4-16×42, but there’s also a 3-12×42 that’s identical in all but its magnification range.

How much does the Mamba Lite cost? 

Pricewise, they’ll set you back just £281 or £270, respectively – so they’re both very affordable. And given they’re badged with the prestigious MTC logo, you also know that they won’t be “cheap” in terms of build quality and performance.

Indeed, the 4-16x Mamba Lite returns an impressive score across the sight picture. Not that I’m surprised. I’ve been a fan of MTC Optics since it launched onto the airgun scene back in 2007 with its original Viper-X Series.

MTC’s mantra, “Designed by Shooters, for Shooters”, is spot on in my book. The Mamba Lite’s expert construction caters for airguns — both recoiling springers and recoilless pneumatics — as well as rimfires.

Most of my testing of the review sample was undertaken on an HW97K, with the scope’s mount “pinned” into one of the arrestor holes on the Weihrauch’s receiver. Anchored like this, the scope didn’t “creep” under recoil, nor did its zero ever shake loose.

Does the Mamba Lite come with mounts? 

Like many top scope brands, MTC supplies the Mamba Lite without mounts. But as its body tube is 25mm (1in), you’ll probably already have a set to hand. MTC recommends its BluePrint range, but any 1in ringmount is generally easy to get hold of in whatever guise you want; high, medium, low, adjustable, one- or two-piece, 11mm or Picatinny clamp. In keeping with the scope, they’re always affordable, too.

While many of us will have managed perfectly with 3-9x zoom scopes in the past, I think it’s fair to say that the accuracy improvements seen in modern air rifle design now justify stepping up the power a tad. So, 3-12x and 4-16x is now the “new” 3-9x and not, therefore, overkill.

Of course, magnifying an image upwards of 12x requires decent lenses if the quality of the sight picture isn’t to suffer. Good glass is even more important when paired with a “traditional” 25mm body tube, rather than the bulkier 30mm. I’ve already mentioned how well the Mamba Lite performed across its magnification range on the test card. However, this also translated into real shooting scenarios.

My test period spanned summer into early autumn, where lighting was particularly harsh in the field. Nevertheless, even for a scope with no option to screw on a sunshade, I could easily home-in on targets with the Mamba Lite. Yes, there were times when I needed to adjust the magnification to get the best view, but I could always see enough detail to take precise aim.

While the coatings applied to the slightly-larger-than-normal 42mm objective lens helped ensure a bright sight picture at even the highest magnification, I think the reticle is the key.

It’s MTC’s own SCB2 design — the second variation of its Small Calibre Ballistic crosshair. 

Glass-etched and “hanging”, it’s designed around the milliradian (MRAD) system. With plenty of stadia in all quadrants, you’re presented with a multitude of spacings subtending quarter, half and full mils (where one “mil” equates to 1cm at 10m). This not only provides for practical range-finding using the “bracketing” method, it offers plenty of aimpoints if you use the “holdover” system.

The Mamba Lite reticle

The SCB2 reticle is in the Mamba Lite’s second focal plane, so be aware of two things:

Firstly, for its mil system to be “true”, the scope’s magnification ring must be set to 10x. 

Secondly, as you zoom through the magnification range, the relationship between the target and the reticle subtends will alter. Put another way: zoom up and the target will appear larger in relation to the crosshair’s stadia spacing; zoom down and the crosshair’s stadia will span across the target much more widely.

The Mamba Lite’s SCB2 crosshair is illuminable in red at the push of a button, situated on the left turret , which also houses the CR2032 button battery. A long press switches the central section of the cross on (or off), while continual pressing cycles through seven brightness levels. The last-used setting is “recalled” each time you switch it on.

The centralised illumination area of the SCB2 really helped me concentrate on my aim. It might sound best suited for only lamping scenarios, but I used it on many occasions in the daytime. As testament to the versatility of MTC’s crosshair, I didn’t really need to use the Mamba Lite’s finger adjustable elevation and windage turrets, either.

These live under low profile, screw-off dust caps and click very positively. Oddly, given the MRAD design of the reticle, the turret adjustments are 1/4MOA — equating to a quarter-inch (or 6mm) at 100 yards. However, MOA offers finer POI adjustment per click compared to an MRAD turret, which are 10mm at 100m. Their verniers are also resettable; you use a coin to loosen and reset them to “0”. 

Parallax adjustment 

I conducted my usual “walking the zero” test on the HW97. Even spinning the turrets a full turn up, then right, down and left, the original POI always returned to the starting point. As stated, I have no worries about how well MTC builds its scopes.

If I didn’t use the top and right-hand adjustment turrets much, I certainly did the turret that’s on the left-hand side! That’s the Mamba Lite’s sidewheel parallax adjustment (P/A). Primarily, its use is to eliminate parallax error, which especially occurs at closer distances.

MTC’s P/A eliminates errors from infinity, right down to just 10 yards away. Just set it to the distance at which you’re shooting and you don’t ever have to worry about missing your intended target because of poor eye alignment.

However, as many shooters will know, P/A can also be used as a handy ranging ready-reckoner on higher-magnification sights because it fine-focuses the sight picture (see the Range-finding with P/A panel). With my scope set to 16x, I could confidently estimate target distances, though airgunners will probably want to add their own marks. Ex-factory, the wheel is rather sparse when it comes to closer distances, showing just 10, 25 and 30 – then it’s 75 yards!

Primary focus on this scope is easily set at the ocular lens thanks to a quick-focus ring. This is oversize and rubberised and, once set, you can position the flip-up lens cover to open at the angle you prefer and lock it there. Aside from these covers being position-lockable by way of a threaded locking ring, they have a magnetic hinge that allows you to open them in 90◦ increments, too.

For the eyepiece cover, this is particularly useful because it incorporates a 2x magnification viewing pane through which you can view the turrets’ vernier markings. I’ve never seen this outside of an MTC-branded scope, but I cannot tell you how useful it is.

It’s clearly another mark of a scope that, the more you use it, the more you come to appreciate its shooter-inspired design brief. 

Hidden in a market crowded with scopes featuring all manner of paraphernalia that’s not totally relevant to airgunners, the Mamba Lite is a hidden gem in my opinion. It offers the perfect balance of practicality, performance and price — with the bonus that it’s backed up by MTC’s lifetime warranty. 

Technical specifications for the MTC Optics Mamba Lite 4-16×42

Magnification: Variable, 4x to 16x (stepless)

Objective: 42mm diameter, coated

Tube diameter: 25mm

Mounts supplied: None

Reticle: SCB2. Glass-etched (hanging type), second focal plane

Illumination: Red illuminable central section, with push-button on/off

Parallax adjustment: Sidewheel, 10m to infinity

Turret adjustment: 1/4MOA clicks

Elevation: 60MOA (48 clicks/revolution), resettable. Screw-off turret cap

Windage: 60MOA (48 clicks/revolution), resettable. Screw-off turret cap

Focus: Quick-focus

Eye relief: 100mm

Field of view @100m: 8.2m (@4x) / 2.3m (@16x)

Length: 334mm

Weight: 580g (excl. mounts)

Extras included: Screw-on flip-up lens covers (with magnetic lock and 2x magnifier pane in rear), lens cloth, CR2032 battery, user manual and lifetime warranty

SRP: £281