Problems with yet another Hawke scope

I have had a Hawke Sidewinder 30 8x32-56 SR Pro since July 2014 and finally had to send it to Hawke for service two weeks ago for the following reasons:

• Rheostat stopped working
• Parallax turret was loose and had too much play making it impossible to adjust
• Chromatic Aberration kept getting worse
• Both Elevation and Windeage turrets wobbly and loose

After two weeks of waiting to hear back, I finally emailed them to find out what was going on. They replied a day later saying my scope was defective and that they would be sending me a new scope. I got a tracking number shortly there after and should have the new scope delivered tomorrow. I can/t complain really as I'm getting a new scope which is nice so I'm happy.

In my opinion, Hawke makes a decent entry level scope with quality about what one would expect for it's price point. There are definitely much better scopes out there and the old saying "you get what you pay for" holds true in the case of scopes. If one wanted to take a step up from Hawke, I would say SWFA, Sightron, Leupold, and Vortex (excluding Crossfire II model) would be the next level up. Costs would be between $700-1300.

Firstly, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that any scope on a magnum springer such as a Diana 350 would develop problems. I wouldn’t offer a warranty on any scope used on such a rifle. For me, with rifle chambers/pistons/structure suited to high power, 22-24ftIb is about the maximum power level (assuming rifle internals are tuned correctly) that I would consider it safe to put a scope upon; for long term use.

Straightshooters list scopes they are prepared to sell onto customers using high recoiling air rifles, and that even they recognise there are differences within brand are individual model (and likely batches of models). I remember that the Youtuber “Tiborasaurus Rex” did a review of a SWFA scope and specifically referred to the problems of high recoiling air rifles and the FN SLR. Some of their scopes cost $300-$400 USD. I haven’t used the SWFA myself, but their reputation is very good.

Scopes are very complex/technical, and are expensive to produce to high standards…..especially to cope with double recoiling air rifles. We get such scopes as Hawke’s at budget prices because they sacrifice on quality/standards of the top end manufacturers. My experience is that Hawke have a high percentage of faults. If you get the Hawke replaced then keep it on the PCP and it should be fine. Not that I would presently recommend Hawke scopes, but if you want a practical/cheap solution for the Diana that always gives you a working scope, and Hawke still offer a lifetime warranty where you live, then buy two cheap scopes for the Diana and assuming one is damaged from recoil you can use the second while you’re waiting for a replacement to the first.

Guys, guys, guys. I have had an Leupold VX3 6.5 x 20 x 40 EFR an a Weihrauch HW 97k, about 8 to 9 years (goes by other names here and there, but is a powerfull springer, approx, claimed, 960 fps in .177) for getting towards 60,000 rounds and no hint of a single problem. Had an Air King (nikko) on a Diana 460 Magnum (1150 fps, .177, claimed) for about 60 rounds, would not hold zero, replaced under warranty, WILL NOT place on a spinger, restricting it to .22lr RF. Have a Sabre on Diana, shifts a bit, but not as bad as nikko. Take good advice guys, with the prices you pay for Leupolds, compaired to the extortionate retail mark ups here in Aussie, dont mess with chinese made branded rubbish.
Guys on this forum talk about having to access warranties with this hawke and that hawke, and 2 hawkes, would you not prefer to not have to access warranty at all? And if you do it is a genuine waranty that covers the scope not the original purchaser!

Here again. Friend purchased airmax hawke 6/24 x 50 for a Weirhauch 100 (pcp in .22). Very busy reticle. However thats not the issue. Friend has zeroed scope, and is using bars and dots withing scope to adjust for elevation when shooting at silhoette targets at air rifle and rimfire distances. When we shot at the rimfire Turkeys at 77 metres using the internal bars (4th bar up in bottom box on reticle) all was fine. We then adjusted the elevation only, to bring theoretical crosshair zero at Turkeys, the rifle shot nearly 3 inches high and right. I will not ever purchase a hawke scope, obviously internals, erectors etc. are poor quality.

G'day all,

I'm new here, but am having my own problems with both Hawke [4-12x44?] and Bushnell scopes. Both my Hawke scopes have been sent [hopefully] back to Hawke with 'dislocated' reticles. That is, at the centre junction point one of the reticles was no longer intersecting. The same with a Bushnell 4-12x40 XLT supposedly springer rated as are all Bushnells I believe. These three were on an English .25 Patriot, a Diana .177 350 Magnum and a .20 Theoben HW90. All these rifle are firing at very high power, yet another Bushnell broke after just three shots mounted on a .22 FWB 127 and this rifle is not a super-magnum by any means

In contrast a cheap and old 4x32 Norinco is lasting on the Diana and the other two have a cheap Barska and an equally cheap Nikko Sterling respectively. How is it that these really basic and low power scopes last on such powerful guns, yet springer rated and more expensive sights do not? I am about to try an Arctic Fox and also basic BSA. I cannot see paying high amounts for fancy scopes that break.

Jim
Via Ballarat
Australia

I find these comments very interesting. I have a couple Hawke scopes (AirMax with AO and a Vantage with AO) and the only issue with either is that the reticle seems to move in both the elevation and windage direction when adjusting only the windage or elevation knob. Still, the scopes hold their zero on my .177 HW95 and R9 tuned to about 13fpe once adjusted.

Well, "the bloom fell off the rose" recently when I learned that Hawke has this official "origional user with sales receipt" warranty.......

http://www.hawkeoptics.com/service.html

From the above.........
"Who is Covered
The Hawke® Limited Lifetime Warranty is non-transferable and limited to original owners who can provide proof of purchase."

I had no idea that the Hawke warranty wasn't transferable or that the purchase receipt was required to make a claim since I bought a Hawke 4-12x40 Airmax a few years ago and the scope would shift the poi horizontally simply by focusing. There were no such warranty requirements when I called Hawke, got a RMA number and returning the scope for replacement, all without the original receipt. Has Hawke changed their warranty policy in the last few years or do they generally ignore the current policy when a scope is returned>

Oh well.......guess Hawke has changed their warranty policy and I'm kinda miffed that I bought a 4-12x50 Hawke Vantage to replace the AirMax because the Vantage has an "illuminated reticle feature", plus I really wasn't too pleased with the "too fine and busy for me" Airmax reticle. LOL....the Hawke Airmax "features" is the reason it wasn't used more than a few weeks before ordering the Vantage.

I was planning to sell the Airmax due to "lack of use" but I'll simply keep it as a backup scope just in case the Vantage "barfs" since Hawke won't honor the warranty without the "original sales receipt".
I'll be crossing off Hawke for any future scope purchases since reselling that brand can be a "hard sell" without an official warranty! LOL....guess that Hawke (and others) are only warranty the buyer who "spent the coin" instead of the hardware. For me this isn't a big issue with a $100 "disposable scope" but I would think better of a $200 on sale scope!

SWFA best value for the price on the market today.

Hi NCED,

I am the original owner of my Hawke scopes but doubt that I will ever see my scopes or hear from the dealer or Hawke, partly because I live in Australia and the dealer was not really interested in my issues. As far as I'm concerned I'll play with cheap scopes for a while. The only brand of note that I would be prepared to try is Leapers, but they cost a lot more over here and I am retired and on a budget. My wife is going home to the US in a few weeks and I hope she can pick up a couple of Leapers at reasonable price as well as other airgun bits like BKL mounts.

As you wrote "For me this isn’t a big issue with a $100 “disposable scope” but I would think better of a $200 on sale scope!" If the attitude of certain manufacturers is to treat purchasers of more expensive scopes in a casual manner, then they will find that they lose custom fairly quickly as have Hawke and Bushnell with me. Since I only shoot for target practice, hunt bunnies when they are around and do not compete I can do with cheap scopes and lose money at half the rate!

Jim

While "heavy as a brick" I'm currently using a relatively cheap (about $130 US) 3-12x44 UGT Compact SWAT scope with wire reticle. So far it's holding up on my .177 HW95 tuned to shoot at about 13 fpe and the glass is actually pretty good considering the cost.
http://www.opticsplanet.com/leapers-utg-3-12x44mm-swat-ie-ao-mildot-ez-tap-water-proof-riflescope.html

Even cheaper is the Leapers UTG 30mm SWAT 3-12x44 Illumination Enhancing Rifle Scope SCP3-U312AOIEW at less than $110 US........
http://www.opticsplanet.com/leapers-utg-30mm-swat-3-12x44-full-size-adjusted-objective-mil-dot-rgb-rifle-scope-sc.html?image=cb965333de

At the field target matches I attend I've even seen some hunter class shooters score very well with the Leapers scopes with etched glass reticle such as this.....Leapers UTG 3-12X44 30mm Riflescope, AO, 36-Color Glass Mil-Dot at about $170 US........
http://www.opticsplanet.com/leapers-utg-3-12x44-30mm-riflescope-ao-36-color-glass-mil-dot-qd-rings.html

Scopes from the US may have export restrictions.

Humm.......I shoot hunter class field target which relies on "scope rangefinding" by marking the side wheel or AO with distances based on sharp focus. I even use scope rangefinding when squirrel hunting to determine when holdover needs to be used. A while back I saw the SWFA fixed 12x listed and was interested until I noticed that the "focus ring" was at the rear of the scope in front of the ocular lens, plus this ring was rather small in diameter. With such a small diameter "focus ring" there is no way I could get a satisfactory sharp focus and still have room to mark the "holdover points"!

Here is an example of holdover marks on a 50mm Hawke front AO.................
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Here is the side wheel marking on my 3-12x44 UTG Compact.........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

Anywhoo....the SWFA scopes aren't useful for my shooting so they were passed up.

Hi NCED,

Thank you for the scope references. I will look them up. I suspect my wife could bring a couple of Leapers scopes through customs back from Wisconsin as a 'gift' to me on her return. After all many models are available in Australia already, but at a much higher price due to distance and exchange rates. I'm not too worried about weight in the scope, just longevity. Several of my rifles are pretty heavy, e.g. the .25 English Patriot and the two HW90s in .20, but I am not bothered by that.

Many thanks,

Jim.

Hi guys. Have seen a few leapers, very heavy reticles, gimic

Try again. Hi guys. Have seen a few leapers here, very heavy reticle, gimicky 30+ colours (what a crock, all the more to go wrong, not really 30 odd colours anyway). Too expensive for what they are. The blokes who purchased them are not that enthralled. Even a half decent scope should only shift in the direction you shift it, and not by simple focus adjustment or elevation/windage change, reference hawke. The hawke my friend purchased was listed at $750aud he got it for a tick over $600aud, I would not give you 1/3 of that after seeing his. Looks nice, better finish than chinese garbage in the past, but the fact remains, very poor where needed most, in true function, being able to track around the box. Nced mentioned fine and busy reticle, true, reticle features/bars get lost in front of targets, particularly black/dark silhouettes. Do not really see the ponit of purchasing many cheap scopes, and replacing them, when if save/spend a bit more you make a one off purchase with true warranty backup. Jim, the mark ups here are not just exchange and transport, (I recently arranged sea transport for 2 containers, one 40 foot and one 20 footer from Adelaide, Australia, to Botswana, Africa, and from our door to theirs, all transport and fees, including insurance was a tick over $3kaud),(how many scopes could you fit in 60 feet of container? They fit 100, 15 foot kayaks in one 40 footer) so do not believe merchants b____hit about transport, retail markups are starting at 4 to 500 percent, that is starting markup, and you had better believe it. I witnessed one retailer purchase an item for $0.45c aud, and put it on a shelf with a sticker on it at $16.50aud, some spectacle frames at OPtical SuperMarket are 11000% markup, yeah you read that correctly. Good advice, do not buy your bride any diamonds or jewellery, the starting markups are even greater than 500% more outrageous. Trust you receive your gifts. Go Amazon, I hope they shake up the retail sector in Oz, get consumers some value for dollar.

I have no knowledge of "international shipping" but I agree with you 100% concerning the "silly 30 (whatever) color rets" since I'd be content with only one color, or at most two (red &green). Some of the features listed for my 3-12x44 UTG Compact SWAT scope are like fishing lures that are designed to catch FISHERMEN $$$ instead of fish.

One of the issues I find when trying to buy a scope for US style field target shooting is the fact that only a select few will focus sharply at 10 yards at high magnification and focus crisp enough to sharply snap in and out of focus when trying to find the distance to a target by focusing the scope. My favorite score for my hunter class field target shooting was a rather pricey (compared to the UTGs) 4-16x40 Bushnell Elite 4200 that did all things well for me at a reasonable weight. The only thing it lacked was reticle illumination and a "dotted reticle" of some sort. After several years and 10s of thousands of shots from my spring piston air rifle the "guts let go" so off to customer service under warranty. After a couple weeks I received a note from Bushnell that my particular scope was discontinued so parts were no longer available. Bushnell sent me a brand new 4-16x40 Elite 4200 however the newer model was side focus instead of AO focus. At first I was pleased till I found that the new Elite 4200 would focus sharply no closer than 20 yards at 12x.

Anywhoo.......suitable optics for spring piston shooters tend to be rather scarce when the criteria contains "spring piston rated", "not weigh much over a pound", not cost over $200 USD, "snap in and out of focus crisply", "have a suitable reticle", "incorporate an illumination feature" (for aiming at dark killzones on dark targets set on dark shady lanes), all with a great hassle free warranty!

LOL....if any here know of a scope fitting the above features and currently available...........please speak up!

Here is a pic of my favorite 4-16x40 Bushnell Elite 4200 mounted to my HW77k during the 2010 National field target competition at Damascus, MD.....
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

Hi nced. I have extremely poor eyesight, even corrected vision is on cusp of losing my drivers licence, (keratoconus, with associated astigmatism etc.) however my night vision despite all the other difficulties is reasonable, why do I say this? I use an Leupold VX3 6.5-20x40 AO EFR, 1 inch tube (new model VX3i) on springers, see past posts, Weirhauch HW97k .177 and Diana 460 Magnum .177, and after nearly 60000 rounds, no hint of problem. The scope focusses sharply at 10yds (and a bit less) @ 20x, no problems, for 10 metre targets, International, BR30, SSAA 10 metre. I also shoot Metallic silhouette @ night, outdoors under lights (and not very bright ones) with no illum reticle, I can still see the fine cross hair and targets, even Rams @ 45 yds. These scopes are available standard with fine cross hair or target dot, there are a lot of these scopes amongst my local group, one bloke has at least 5. The light transmission etc. seems to be first class, 40mm lens 1 inch tube, looked through a 40+mm sightron under lights, still looking to see something, hawke is marginal better, 50mm lens, 30 mm tube, but other huge problems, DO NOT buy any hawke.

Here again, I meant the hawke was marginally better than the sightron NOT the Leupold, neither of them are a patch on Leupold vision. Just for interest the bloke who had the sightron gave it away, even though several hundred dollar purchase here in Oz, and then purchased the hawke for more dollars, and greater problems.

@MarkAussie, I also have a couple of Leupold EFR's but would put them above a Sightron for clarity, brightness whatever you want to call it, no.My Sightron SIII is almost the equal to my Nightforce, as for tracking repeatability all 3 are very reliable, personally the only Hawke I would own is the new 10-50 with the ED glass

Hey Strikey, how do you do? I thought I made that clear, that the sightron and hawke are not a patch on the Leupold. Even if people were to purchase (do not even consider) a hawke, new, old whatever, the vision may be clear (that is the only good thing with friends 6/24x50, 30mm tube airmax hawke) they will still get the atrocious internal quality, lack of ability to track correctly, shift point of aim just by focus etc.etc.

@MarkAussie, G'day mate, I think we might have some crossed lines here mate, I would put a Sightron SIII ahead of Leupold EFR's for clarity, light transmission and all the other technical things, they really are an underrated scope as are the SIi Big Sky series. I shoot a lot of Rifle Metallic Silhouette so a scope that has reliable repeatable tracking is a must, Leupolds are and most likely always will be the benchmark that other scopes are measured by. However in the world of Air Rifle Field Target the SIII's have made a name for themselves and after looking through the new Hawke 10-50 ED ( unsure of exact model name, Sidewinder?? ) they are a very nice bit of kit and probably should be for the money.