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Hawke optics field report |
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1911man
Optics Apprentice Joined: May/17/2009 Location: NW AR Status: Offline Points: 165 |
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Posted: July/24/2009 at 07:07 |
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I have had two Hawke Endurance 30mm scopes in tough service for a little over a month now. Here's what I have experienced:
Hawke Endurance 30mm 3-9x42 is mounted on a custom Ruger m77 MK II in 9.3x62. So far it has been shot between 50 and 60 rds with full charge 286gr loads and bounced around in a hunting vehicle approx half of my 26 day hunt in S Africa. No change in POI or any issues.
Hawke Endurance 30mm 2.5-10x56 is mounted on a CZ 550 9.3x62. I has been shot 60+ rounds and also beat around in a hunting vehicle approx half of the 26 day hunt. Again no change in POI or issues.
Clicks are very positive and the optics seem very good to me for the price range. Optically I think they compare to a Leupold VX III and are not quite as good as a Bushnell 4200. Personally I really like the reticle, except for my comments below.
My only complaint with these scopes is that the illumination is too bright for very low light or night hunting. With the illumination set on 1, I still get a fair amount of "flaring" inside the scope which affects your view and night vision. Hawke customer service tells me the version sold in europe is dimmer, sure hope they will start importing them here too???? Why anyone would want the illumination to be bright enough to see in daylight is a mystery to me. I never turn the illumination on until the last 30 min of shooting light.
Bottom line, overall I'm happy with these two scopes and feel they are good products for the money.
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Bill Wilson
www.wilsoncombat.com |
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300S&W
Optics God Joined: January/27/2008 Location: Burlington,WV Status: Offline Points: 10592 |
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THANKS,Bill!
Got a thing for 9.3x62's don't ya?
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"I ain't got time to bleed!"
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safariarms man
Optics Apprentice Dolphin Overton Joined: June/28/2009 Location: K67BB Status: Offline Points: 111 |
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Great report. Just what I would have expected from Hawke with respect to endurance and optics.
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ti-force
Optics Apprentice Joined: August/28/2008 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 195 |
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So, I take it the 1.5 volt battery doesn't dim the illumination as much as it needs to be dimmed?
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ti-force
Optics Apprentice Joined: August/28/2008 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 195 |
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I am glad to hear they're holding up well though.
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1911man
Optics Apprentice Joined: May/17/2009 Location: NW AR Status: Offline Points: 165 |
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I don't know I have not been able to find any 1.5V batteries?
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Bill Wilson
www.wilsoncombat.com |
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xposo
Optics GrassHopper Joined: May/01/2008 Status: Offline Points: 21 |
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I've been using Hawke scopes now for 2 years now and have 7 of them in 4 different models. Granted they're not on powerder burners but on air rifles, they can handle the double recoil better than most of the optics manufacturers out there. I've broken, or rather my guns have broken Bushnells, Simmons, and Weaver. Since I've switched to Hawke, no problems. I know many of you reading this will laugh at this, but believe it or not, a spring piston air rifle will break more scopes than a powder burning rifle because of it's forward/reverse recoil. A lot of scopes aren't rated for airguns because of this. That's the biggest reason why I switched over to Hawke scopes. And for the money you can't beat the quality of glass. And customer service at Hawke is simply the best out there. I had to Wait 3 months for a replacement Bushnell scope once, not anymore. Brad and Mike at Hawke will take care of your problems that day if you call them early enough. Many people will be surprised at how good these scopes are once they try one out, I was.
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safariarms man
Optics Apprentice Dolphin Overton Joined: June/28/2009 Location: K67BB Status: Offline Points: 111 |
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1+. I too own about 5 Hawke scopes and all have been nothing but excellent on all sorts of caliber rifles. Brad is great and I am about to purchase another.
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ti-force
Optics Apprentice Joined: August/28/2008 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 195 |
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Lately I've been working on a way to dim the reticle in illuminated reticle scopes. It might not work, but we'll find out. I'll keep everyone posted. Here's the link: http://www.opticstalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=18862 |
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danjojoUSMC
Optics Journeyman Joined: August/20/2009 Location: NE Ohio Status: Offline Points: 329 |
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Trying to figure out the order of best to worse when it comes to Hawke scopes.
Does it go - Frontier Side Focus, Sidewinder 30, Endurance 30, and Eclipse 30 which are then followed by the others? The Endurance 3-12x50 has some awesome field of view if it really is as listed - 40ft at 3x and 13ft at 12x. Best I have seen for those magnifications I think... Sounds great for $338.95 |
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xposo
Optics GrassHopper Joined: May/01/2008 Status: Offline Points: 21 |
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It goes,
Sidewinder 30
Endurance 30
Eclipse 30
Frontier side focus
Then the rest of the scopes. All in all, you can't go wrong with Hawke Optics. A great deal for the money. I've been using them for over 2 years now and can't find anything to complain about.
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Drifter
Optics GrassHopper Joined: February/27/2010 Location: Illinois Status: Offline Points: 17 |
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Hi, just registered.
Anyhow, not sure if you can do this with their scopes, and I only suggest it because I've heard and read that you can. I also suggest contacting Hawke before doing this. But you can, sometimes putting a lower voltage battery in will reduce the brightness of the illumination, therefore not making it as bad ad night? Example, if it uses a 3 volt battery you can sometimes use a 1.5 volt battery. Or if it takes two button size you can sometimes only use one. But you have to find and put something in in place of the one button battery you took out. It's worth looking into and asking Hawke if it's possible. If it works it'll obviously then help making the complaint no more. And please, if you do check and they say you can, let me know if you did and if it worked and if you no longer have the complaint? I have no clue what battery these scopes take. But it might be worth contacting Hawke and asking if you can and if so what battery to use to do this. I'm currently looking at 3 different Hawke scopes but at this point I'm not sure. Reading you post did make me feel a little better but I'd sure like see and hold and check one out for myself. Thanks for the review. |
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"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." "Edmond Burke"
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ti-force
Optics Apprentice Joined: August/28/2008 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 195 |
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Hey Drifter,
Welcome to Optics Talk . You can find most of the information you seek, right here: click me
You can also click this same link about 3 posts up.
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Drifter
Optics GrassHopper Joined: February/27/2010 Location: Illinois Status: Offline Points: 17 |
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Thanks for the welcome and the link. As soon as I post this I'll be clicking on it and checking it out. |
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"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." "Edmond Burke"
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stickbow46
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: January/07/2009 Location: Benton, Pa Status: Offline Points: 4678 |
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Let me get this straight,are you telling me that the glass made in China is better then the glass that came out of Japan[Frontier versions]I purchased my Frontier scope 2yrs ago just as the Hawke USA opened.I've always thought next to the SS these were the best bang for the buck on the planet.The only complaint I had was that I couldn't find a sun shade to fit & they didn't sell one.
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Pearls of Wisdom are Heard not Spoken
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300S&W
Optics God Joined: January/27/2008 Location: Burlington,WV Status: Offline Points: 10592 |
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Recently read SOMEWHERE (I'll NEVER remember where) that some decent glass (not meaning optics,but maybe) is starting to come out of China.
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"I ain't got time to bleed!"
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xposo
Optics GrassHopper Joined: May/01/2008 Status: Offline Points: 21 |
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For the Hawke line of scopes, they're all made in China now. Don't let that trun you off about them. If you ever looked through the Tactical line of scopes, you'd be very, very surprised at how good the optics of these scopes are. They're not to compete with the upper Bushnell's or Zeiss or Leupold scopes, but they will give all of these manufactureres
a run for their money at a cheaper price, they're that good. I've been told by many shooters that try them that they weren't expecting the optics to be as good because it was a Hawke and because of the cheaper price. Yeah well, cheaper dosen't always mean cheap, and don't judge a book by it's cover until you try it.
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doublechaz
Optics GrassHopper Joined: March/02/2010 Location: AZ Status: Offline Points: 19 |
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As to the reticle being too bright, here's a link to my solution. The scope involved is a bit embarassing now, but the reticle is nice. It's a pretty hard core fix, though.
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=326795 A better solution might be to find a thin film or disc that you can layer in with the battery which has a resistance of about 1k ohm. That was my plan at first, but I wasn't coming up with anything durable and consistent. |
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ti-force
Optics Apprentice Joined: August/28/2008 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 195 |
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Like this? Click here It's less invasive, so the warranty won't be voided. But, if warranty isn't an issue, your solution would work great.
Edited by ti-force - May/26/2010 at 08:54 |
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