Hawke SideWinder 30 Tactical Series REVIEW

[300rum]

Hi,

I appologise if already somebody in this forum already did a review about this scopes, but I has fortunated enough to get one scope Hawke SideWinder 30 Tactical Series 6.5-20x42mm Half MIl dot.
I have to thank to Jamie - the owner of Wolverine Gun & Tackle - Red Deer for his generosity of let me do a review on his brand new line of scopes what he cares on store.

I was asked few mounth ago from Jamie to do a review on his new line of scope, and at the moment I was very sceptical about them. So .. after few days I stoped at his store (Wolverine - Red deer) and he bring from the shelf a brand new box with one of the Tactical series of Hawke SideWinder 30 Mil tube with half mil reticle.

I have to be honest I owned few scopes up end from Leupold, IOR, Nightforce, specialy with tactical reticle due to my applications.
At the first I was impressed by the new look of this New Brand Hawkee - looks somehow close to Nightforce, IOR line, robust scopes in 30mil tube or 1 inch tube, with 42mm exit or 50mm.
The one in particular What I got for review was the SideWinder 30 Tactical 6.5-20x42mil HalfMil dot.
I mounted the scope on my very accurate rifle 7mmRem Mag in Weatehrby action - this rifle with 168vld is very accurate in 0.25MOA up to 1200yrd.

I remove my NSX and installed the Hawkee scope (30mil ring - Leupold Heavy Duty tactical rings) on 20MOA Picatinny Rail, and headed out for the range test.
After I sightened the scope, and make sure it was level, I start shooting in low light in day light.
At dask in low light the scopelenses are bright enough even for an older eye shooter.
I crancked up the power from 10x to 20x (max power on this scope) and up to 18x i have a bright view, and then at 20x the limage get litle bit (10%) darker.
I can compare this glases with leupold.
I did a box test at 100yrds - I crancked 20MOA up shot 1 round, 20moa left - fired one round - 20moa down - 1 fired round and come back 20moa right and the bullet hit the first round.
The scope PASSED THE BOX TEST
- Second test was to do a check on all power marks and the reticle to see if factory settings matches the field value.
This scope comes with 1/4 MOA clicks and MIL Dot reticle.
I see this as a downside because you can get mixed if you are used both of them in the same time. It was very nice if this was comming in MOA - MOA for reticle and click, or MIL - MIl (The same as Nightforce)
Even with this handicap, if you use just one system at the time, you will be fine.

I printed one square at 1.047in and one with 3.6in and set the target exactly at 100yrs.
I set behinde the rifle, and just rotating the power ring up and down till I got perfect match to bracket the 3.6in square between 2 line.
This was right on the nose 20x as the factory specifications.
Then I cranked down at 10x and again bracked perfectly on 1/2Mil hashlines
Again the reticle matches factory specific.
Now I used the Clicks.
I shot one round and then dial up 4click. loose another round and the bullet impacts on the 1.047end of the square.
So - CLICKS AND HOLDOVER - RIGHT ON SPOT.
Very surprised for a scope under $600.00CAD.
Now comes the endurance test.
I setup at 100yrd, 300yrds, 500yrds, 700yrd, 950yrds, 1100yrds.
Punched the numbers on Exball, and let loose one round at the time at each target, using just the holdover reticle.
All of the shots was on the target, on elevation plan, and with some fluctuation on windage.
Now I let the rifle cool down, and get the next test.
I used just the cliks to get on the targets as per Exball, and target after target I hit them all.
I cranked down to zero and get loose one round to see if holds the zero.
YES IT DID.
The technician from Hawkee come up with very intuitive system for quick knobs.
Instead of using cover knobs, they came with the ideea of just using the same knob, but before turning the knob you have to pull up (unlock) and then click, and at the end just push the knob down to lock position.
Very easy and fast, adn vey handy when you are hunting in dense brush, without getting concern about loosing your zero hold.
This scope have 64MOA or 256Click on elevation, enough to give lots of room for up to 1400yrd (with 20MOA base) on 7mm Rem with 168VLD bullet pushed at 2960fps.
Clicks are crisp, not as clear as Nightforce, more like Leupold scopes, the knobs are big, and you have a nice feeling when using them.
The locking mechanism is very nice and handy.
Lots of elevation and windage clicks, to get you close to 1400yrds(depends on your bullet and caliber).
Hawkee SideWinder is a nice looking scope, nice build and very tactical look, robust, outstand very well bumps, from handling, jumping, and even droping the rifle down by mistake, less then 20in.
After finishing the shooting session, I came back to clean the rifle, and by mistake I droped the rifle on the scope on the floor (hardwood)
I was devastated. I was thinking I ruinned this scope. So Next day I headed back to range and shot 3 cold bore shots to see how bad was shifted...
To my surprised, the sscope didn't change the zero. PASSED ANOTHER TEST (DROPING DOWN 12LB RIFLE ON THE SCOPE TO THE GROUND) and due to the locking mechanism of the knobs and very rugged reticle, the scope holds, very Well. So I start dialing up and down, left and right and the scope returns back to zero all the time.
Uffff... i was really happy, It saves me $600.00 backs (for repairs and passed all the test with success)

Positve sided.
- compact
- rugged
- nice looking scope (tactical look)
- nice elevation and windage knowbs
- nice and very handy and money saving with the loking mechanism on knobs
- half MIL dot reticle
- Clear clicks on dialing
- 30mil tube
- tracks and hold zero all the time - flawless
- illuminated reticle with 2 colors (gren and red) with 5 grades of intensity
- paralax knoks
- 64MOA elevation
- very affordable price
- lifetime warranty
- you can choose the reticle style - MIL, Varmint - Plex, etc
- scope comes with free ballistic software for PC

Negative sided.
- Clicks and Reticle Gradation are in 2 different units (MIL-MOA)
- at max Power the glasses get litlle bit darker 10%
- the glasses are in the same level as Leupold/ Nikon
- will be nice to have 100MOA
- nice to have rings with scope as one package

This scope is medium level scope with outstanding tracking and shock resistent, at affordable prices.
I will recommand this scope to every hunter, or paper puncher guy, as a very rugged and trusted scope under $600.00 CAD.

For more detailed, please call Jamie at Wolverine Gun & tacke Red Deer (Gasoline Alley)


Thank you
300rum

The Japanese Weavers (Microtrack systems) have been excellent value. The Grand Slam is a very good scope. I have beenc considering bringing these scopes in as well and it is good to see they are working out well.

[schimmel]

Great review, nothing left out after the accidental drop of the rifle. Thank you.

[300rum]

Thank you,

They are really nice and very rugged scopes. I think with a little time, letting the market and shooting communities to diggest this type of scopes, they can go a long way due to their performances and lifetime warranties.
Plus they came on a wide variety of reticles, accomodating almost all the market.
I'm looking forward to see if Hawkee will come out with a new HD lenses scopes.

[lclund1946]

Originally Posted by 300rum

Thank you,

They are really nice and very rugged scopes. I think with a little time, letting the market and shooting communities to diggest this type of scopes, they can go a long way due to their performances and lifetime warranties.
Plus they came on a wide variety of reticles, accomodating almost all the market.
I'm looking forward to see if Hawkee will come out with a new HD lenses scopes.

Thanks for the great review. The scope I referred to in a post on another thread was the Pro Stalk 5-20X50mm with the HT lens. Glass was superior to Leupold VXIII in all respects. Here is a review that I found, online, that mirrors my thoughts. Perhaps you could pass this on to your Hawke Distributor.


HAWKE PRO-STALK 5-20X50 MILDOT

Thought i'd post a review of this scope mainly because it's one scope i regret selling. I bought mine just as they were going out of production a couple of years back and because of this i got it in a clearance deal for £100. I used the scope for about a year before i decided to sell it and upgrade to a sidefocus model. The reason i went for a sidefocus scope was because the A/O on this scope is'int that accurate and mine was quite stiff to turn but it was ok nothing too drastic and you can live with it., Now the reason i regret selling. The glass on these scopes is simply superb, I did'nt realize at the time just how good they are. Since owning this scope i've bought others costing up to 3 times the price but they have'nt come close to having the same image quality. I've since found out that the lens on these scopes Hawke called HT Lens, A process they no longer produce. Basically each lens had 11 layers of coating before they were Heat Treated. The end result was a crystal clear image through-out the magnification range with no glare or white-out. The current range of Hawke scopes have either the CLS or HD lenses which to be quite honest are no-where near as good as the old HT lens but probley cost less to produce. If you own one of these scopes i'd seriously suggest you hold on to it, You'll pay out alot of money to get the same quality glass. If your looking to buy a relatively cheap scope, Try and get a decent used one of these, You wont be disappointed.

[300rum]

Yes, I noticed at max power the image gets 10% darker, just because I owned some high end scopes with superb glasses.

But for the money they are a great deal.
I just want to clarified, I'm not selling this scopes, I do not have nothing related with selling them, or with any dealer, and my review was just impartial review, as a totally stranger.

After this review I ended up purchasing one of the scope, due to outstanding tracking and rugged reticle.
I trust all scopes who holds, and return to zero without POLKA STEPS (as leoupold scopes), taking lots of punishments without changing POI.'