Hawke Sidewinder Tactical 30 review

[The Virginian]

I've been meaning to get around to writing a review on this particular scope. I will try to be subjective and point out it's pros and cons for this review. The models in the Tactical Series offer variable power in 4.5-14x42, 6.5-20x42 and 8.5x25x42, with a fixed 10x42 to round it up. It’s a 30mm tube design with a 42mm objective lens so make sure you’ve got the proper rings and bases of adequate height. In my example I'm using on my Dtech AR Ruger .204 using model #HK4030 8.5-25x42 with the 10 1/2 mil dot reticle, illuminated in red or green.The eye relief is 3 1/2" but I'll comment on that more later. I presently own three of these scopes in various powers. One is on my .204 and the other is on my 6mmPPC, the third is on the shelf for a TAC 17 upper coming from Dtech next month.

What's in the box?

Well, for starters, it comes in a very nice hard case with cut out foam inserts. I was kind of surprised when I opened the box and saw this. Kind of nice touch in my opinion...

Inside the box, you see the scope, 4" sun shade, lens cleaning cloth, metal lens covers, a spare battery for the illuminated reticle, tools for turret adjustment, a removable large wheel for parallax adjustment, and owners manual. Again, nice accouterments with this scope for the price range.

Here's a close up of the removable parallax wheel and the second ring clamps to the scope as a dial indicator for the parallax wheel. My comments on this parallax wheel are a mixed bag. This particular design is a pain in the rump to install and get it set up right, but once it is installed, it performs flawlessly. These type of exaggerated parallax focus wheels are more common in the air gun world than the center fire cartridge shooters. With that said, now that I actually opened up mind and decided to give it a try, the daggone thing works really nice. I actually prefer it rather than fishing around for the small wheel or rotating the front ocular bell on my other scopes. When ever I pull this AR out and others see this, I get the same response, "what the heck is that?"

Here's a pic of the screw on lens covers. It comes with one for both ends of the scope. If you opt to use the 4" sun shade, it will not accept the lens cover. I thought that was rather odd and kind of wish it did.

OK, let's move on to the clarity and reticle. I'll try to explain my perspective on why I chose this particular set up. The reticle is very, very fine and could be a problem in low light conditions. It's so fine that I had some issues getting my camera to focus on the reticle. These pictures are not a true representation of the clarity of the reticle. The reticle is very sharp because it's etched into the glass. Here's a picture of the reticle against a light background. The view was crisp & clear across through the whole diameter of visible area. This picture is at 8.5 power at 100 yards and again, please don't judge the clarity on my pictures.

 

[The Virginian]

This is a great example of how fine this reticle is, take at this picture against a dark background. It was an overcast evening about 1/2 hour before dusk. You can see the reticle is has just about disappeared in the backdrop. This picture is at 8.5 at 100 yards.

Here's where the illuminated reticle kicks in and gets the job done nicely. Again, 8.5 power at 100 yards and I believe this picture illustrates how this scope works well in low light conditions with this fine reticle.

Same view at 25 power at 100 yards.

Here's the green illumination but it sure doesn't show up on my camera very well. I should mention that there's 5 power levels for both re and green illumination.

The scope adjustments are very 'tactical' if you will. They are large and their adjustments are somewhat click or fall into their detent well. I would not say they are as good as I would hope for but considering the price point of this product. I can live with it.

1/4 MOA tactical turrets, they offer push/pull locking and easy zero adjustment.
Locked
1/4 MOA tactical turrets. Besides looking exceptionally cool, they offer push/pull locking and easy zero adjustment
Unlocked

The cap is removed with the supplied tool and makes it a snap to set your turrets to zero.

 

[The Virginian]

Eye relief? I said I would comment on this later. The eye relief is truly 3 1/2" when on the 8.5x power, it drops to a tad under 3" when zoomed up to 20x power. The objective in the view gets a little tricky to see, meaning that you must be lined up perfect to see out the scope at max zoom. From my experience, this is typical for lower end scopes and you would have to spend 4 times the price to overcome this small issue.

Hawke BRC (bullet reticle calculator) is a free utility software that you can download here. here. You have the ability to enter in your caliber and ballistic to match your reticle for your scope. It even has software to print trajectory charts that you can tape into your flip up scope caps. Pretty cool! The software is available for both Windows and Mac users.

Here's an example of it.

A little about the company. Hawke has been primarily doing business in the UK for over 30 years and just recently entered into the US market in 2007. Their products are sold to over 40 countries globally and they continue to expand their product line.

Where is it made? The short answer is China. Lake many Americans we are sometimes overwhelmed with products that are made in ROC and this is sometimes viewed as a negative. The reality of modern globalization is you have to do it to be competitive at all. If you don't and these products were produced in the UK, it's likely that the price would double. On a side note as I sit here and write this review, my iPhone next to me, the television on in the background, my Nike sneakers, and many other products within arms reach are all made in China. Welcome to the new millennium. Just my .02¢ as we all adjust to a changing economy.

With that said, Hawke's target audience is me. You, the guy or gal that wants a scope packed with lots of options at a reasonable price. Sure I would like to have high end scopes, i.e. Nightforce, Zeiss, Swarovski, Schmidt & Bender, etc. but I'm not in a position to put thousands of dollars on every one of my rifles. I have tried some of the other brands that come from Asia like Vortex, Konus, Meuller and they are all just OK. Vortex has made some FFP high end Vipers that I've read good things about. Dollar for dollar or £ for £, I'll put this scope up against any of the Asian brands in the same price range. I've heard most of the negative comments about scopes made in Asia. Some of these remarks are warranted and earned the bad reputation. Questions like "why would you put an airgun scope manufacturer on your rifle?". Actually, most people don't realize that many of the airguns are spring loaded and the recoil is worse than most center fire cartridges.

What turned me onto this brand and particular scope? Actually I was looking at a youtube video of a young man using one and taking amazing shots with his airgun. If you have time, take a look at this one video of the many that he has posted.

He takes over a 100 yard shot using the 10.5 mil dot on this very scope using the BRC charts from Hawke. That EdGun that he's using by the way is a mere $2,500 that's made in Russia. Watch some of his other videos if you get a chance, incredible shooter! Sold me on this scope.

In closing here are my thoughts in no particular order:

Pros
- Clarity is excellent
- +++ options
- Value for the money
- passed the box test with flying colors
- Great dial system that works
- Etched reticle that is sharp
- Low light shooting with a fine reticle
- Easy to use mil dot with software support
- Coil erector spring supports internals during violent recoil

Cons:
- Weight 29.1 oz.
- Clicks on turrets are not as crisp
- It's big! 16"
- Some won't like the tacticool look
- At max zoom 20x, a little tricky getting a perfect view

Parting shots (pun intended)

Head shot at 549 yards

I usually get a lot of questions on how I take pictures through the scope. I use a devise called the Orion SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount here. . I take a lot of scope cam film clips in slow motion and this set up works great for most bolt rifles, ARs the slide interferes. The price is about $50 bones delivered. When attached I use the view finder on the camera to take the shot. Kind of cool actually.

I hope some may find this review helpful and as always, thanks for reading.

Eric

 

[bruce_ventura]

Thanks for a very thorough review.

I first evaluated the Hawke Sidewinder 30 and Sidewinder Tactical series at the SHOT Show three years ago. I recently ordered a few samples and have started going through them, focusing on optical performance first.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the resolution, contrast and crisp sight picture. I haven't completed my optical evaluation yet, but I can share a few early observations. The resolution and contrast are definitely above average for this price point. The image is good out to a wide field of view. The range marks on the focus wheel are accurate. These characteristics suggest to me that Hawke has invested a lot of effort optimizing the optical design.

One unique feature I've noticed in these scopes is that the reticle is offset vertically so that there is more up adjustment from the optical zero and less down adjustment. Typically there is at least 5 MOA of offset. If the reticle is mechanically centered (to the mid point of the adjustment range), the crosshair will be 5 MOA below that of other scopes. On the 6.5-20x40 scope, for example, there is 45 MOA of up adjustment and 35 MOA of down. The up adjustment is what allows long range shots. In terms of bullet up adjustment range this scope is equivalent to other scopes with 90 MOA of total reticle adjustment.

 

[The Virginian]

Bruce,

Thanks for the great insight on some items that I didn't know existed. I expect very little response to this review on this particular forum. I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[tnshootist]

Good review.I also have a Hawk scope and agree with what you say.They are a good scope for the money.Maybe you even get more scope for the money than better known scopes.It is not as good at sunset quite as my Zeiss,but I can have several of them for more rifles for the same money and hardly notice the difference in shooting.

 

[Gman757]

I have 2 Hawke scopes for my PCP air rifles and I am very happy with them. Also, the BRC and ChairGun software is spot on as long as you plug in good data.

This Hawke model is the one I sometimes use on my hunting rifles. It's no longer in their line but was considered a pretty good scope with Japanese glass:

http://www.snipercentral.com/hawke416.htm

It may go in the classifieds soon as I am sort of interested in purchasing a FFP scope.

 

[pyscodog]

I've had two Hawke scopes. First was a varmint model, TOTAL POS. Had several major problems. The second, was one that came on a rifle I bought. It was an out dated model. To bad, it actually was a pretty good scope. Pretty clear, knobs worked like they should, took adjustments like a scope is supposed too. I didn't even have to beat on it with a screwdriver to make it take adjustments.
Good review but don't plan on running out a buying one now. Did make for good reading.

 

[The Virginian]

Thanks for the positive remarks and I appreciate you taking the time to read my review.

Eric

 

[pyscodog]

Eric- Reviews are what makes the difference in a "maybe I'll try it" to a "man what a waste of money, why didn't I do some research". I have heard the upper end Hawke's are pretty nice. I just haven't got a chance to see for myself. Thanks for the review and the time it took you to do it!!