Scope test: Wulf Defender 4.8-26×56 (sub-£400 scope!)

A new, reasonably priced dayscope from Wulf gets a thorough workout from Paul Austin when he tests the Wulf Defender 4.8-26×56 FFP MRAD illuminated

Hot on the heels of their 4K night-vision scope, Wulf are now offering an all-new day optic – the Defender. It’s basically Wulf’s attempt at an affordable long-range day scope. Wulf have once again done an impressive job in terms of packaging and included extras, and my only complaint is that this 34mm tubed optic doesn’t come with any mounts.

The scope does come with an accessory mount and a bubble ring, an extended sunshade plus the rather odd addition of a small torch. That’s all well and good, but an accessory mount and rings would have been a better selection in my opinion.

A whistle-stop tour from ocular to objective starts with a fast dioptre adjuster and the first of the two plastic covers, which snap into place with the aid of embedded magnets. There’s a decent amount of tube space both before and after the saddle, so there are no issues adding accessories, even when using six-screw mounts.

The windage and elevation are typically chunky (but not lockable) for what is intended to be a longer-range dialler. The clicks are pretty good but the parallax adjustment is extremely stiff – uncomfortably so in fact. To be fair, the adjustment range is good, ranging from 10m to infinity, which is perhaps a nod towards its intended audience. 

Wulf have done their homework in terms of technical finishing touches, with R/L direction indication on the windage turret plus six levels of illumination to the fully illuminated reticle. They’ve also added on/off between each setting, which is handy when you want to return to your preferred power level. 

There’s a basic zero-stop providing one rotation on the elevation turret, plus 5mrad left or right on the windage. A simple pin can be removed from either turret to provided unrestricted rotation, but obviously this will disable the zero-stop function.

The amount of available adjustment is limited for what is meant to be a dialler, with the Defender only offering 23mrad, this would be fairly typical on a 30mm tube with a similar mag range. A 34mm tube in the same spec would usually deliver 29-32 MRAD, and surely this is the whole point of using a 34mm tube, which provides the erector tube with more room to manoeuvre.

Optically it’s pretty good up to the last quarter of the mag range, at which point the contrast begins to drop off at around 17x, with increasing milkiness beyond 20x. To be fair this is a £399 scope, so you can’t realistically expect £1,000+ performance at the high end. In fairness, it’s still very shootable at higher magnification but the image quality does degrade.

The Defender is not a bad scope, but it’s something of a triumph of form over functionality in a few key areas. It certainly looks the part and would serve very well on an FAC air rifle or a .22 LR. It’s very affordable for an FFP scope with illumination, but for longer-range centrefire shooting it wouldn’t be my first choice. 

Tech specs
Power: 4.8-26x
Objective (mm): 56
Focal Plane: First
Tube Diameter: 34mm
MRAD adjustment: 23
Reticle: W-MIL3
Lens Coating Material: Fully Multi-Coated 
Fast Focusing System: Yes
Illuminated Reticle: Yes
Light Transmission Percentage (%): 90
Clicks: 0.1mil
Clicks per Turn: 120
Elevation Adjustment (MRAD): 23
Parallax Setting: 10m-Infinity

Supplier: Elite Optical
Web: www.eliteoptical.co.uk
Price: £399.95