Hawk 10x42 tactical (First Impression)

[poison dwarf]

Hawk 10x42 tactical from a HFT perspective ( First Impression)

In the box:
Scope, small tools, lenscloth, 2 screw on endcaps, pointer ring, mini sidewheel, and sunshade.
On the Range:
Let get the bad bits out of the way. Mildots are not true. At first I thought it was a metric scope but it says yards on the turrets. Mildot 1 is true (which is all I am interested in for HFT). The further down the mildot chain you go the further out they are.
Setting the parallax for HFT shooting ( I chose 25 yards) You can get the crosshair to move out of a 40mm kill at 10 yds by moving your head. So head position for shorter tartgets is critical.

Now the good bits:
Optics are very bright. The skeleton reticle is good especially for rangefinding. Reticle has dots (•)for full and little butterfly thingies ( ►◄) as half markers. It also has ladder type lines at the base of the ret so you can use this to measure targets
I think what makes this scope stand out is the depth of field. It’s very very good ( not like the last hawke I tested ) with parallax set to 25 yards I could see and hit the dreaded 15mm reducer at 13 yards as it was quite clear, still blurred but the killzone was discernable on a very splattered target. 8 and 10 yard 40mm were not a problem at all. 20 to 40 yards crystal clear and 45 very slight blurring
The day of test was overcast so couldn’t point in the general direction of sun to see whiteout effects.
I will be using it for HFT’ing at the weekend so will update when I have used it in anger. But so far it looks like hawke have got this one nearly right and it’s very promising indeed.
This could be a keeper

[poison dwarf]

Used the scope in anger today and I am still very impressed. Weather condtions varied from overcast to rain to bright sunlight. I could see into dark areas very clearly and didnt lose the ret once. It didn't fog or steam up when it got a soaking either
With the sun at 30° behind my shoulder and shining on my rear lense, again it was very clear, also with the sun above and directly above i had no whiteout effect ( the provided sunshade was fitted) I haven't tried it without sunshade yet though.
I am still impressed with the brightness of the scope and the reticle which works very well. Head position for the shorter shots is still critical though as you can get a lot of movement of the reticle. All in all I'm very happy with it and its staying on my Anschutz which is my HFT gun.

Get a look through one soon you wont be sorry

[NoWayNoHow]

My two boys have this scope for HFT. The scopes seem to work pretty well as you mentioned the glass is clear, apparently they use Hawke's top of the range 'Frontier' lenses and by and large there hasn't been an occasion that the scope has let them down (they are very inexperienced). They have no issues with normal HFT and used them at Quarry (extreme) again no issues. They may not be a 6500 Elite or even an EB sniper but they aren't that price either. One thing my boys find they can get crystal all the way up to 45 and little blurring at the closer ranges, maybe it's the eye relief thing, it does seem very important on the new Hawke scopes. One thing is for certain I won't be buying them new scopes to replace these anytime soon.

[deano]

i put one on my HMR, i think it's an awesome scope for the money, i've seen scopes that cost £100 more fail to offer the depth of field and clarity this does, and the package itself looks fantastic too, the sidewheel is a good size for me as i'm a hunter not HFT'er so medium size is better.

stick it on some sportsmatch mounts and they are hard to beat!

[Mutt]

If it is half as impressive as the 4.5-14x42 version I have on my hummer it will be a cracker, build quality etc is excellent, bright sharp optics, very good reticle with a very usable illumination, not sure about the necessity of the Box though

[Dave Ramshead]

I was really impressed with the 4-14x42 tac, but didn't get chance to compare it side by side against the fixed 10x - wasn't available at the time. Probably get chance tomorrow at Kelmarsh.

I'm using the Frontier this season, but from what i've seen would add a tac to the collection without hesitation.

[deano]

If it is half as impressive as the 4.5-14x42 version I have on my hummer it will be a cracker, build quality etc is excellent, bright sharp optics, very good reticle with a very usable illumination, not sure about the necessity of the Box though

it's got an even sharper image due to it being fixed mag, so it is truly astonishing!

tried them both side by side, found the 10 x fixed to be crystal clear and a little crisper at range.

but they are both superb for the money!!

[deano]

My two boys have this scope for HFT. The scopes seem to work pretty well as you mentioned the glass is clear, apparently they use Hawke's top of the range 'Frontier' lenses and by and large there hasn't been an occasion that the scope has let them down (they are very inexperienced). They have no issues with normal HFT and used them at Quarry (extreme) again no issues. They may not be a 6500 Elite or even an EB sniper but they aren't that price either. One thing my boys find they can get crystal all the way up to 45 and little blurring at the closer ranges, maybe it's the eye relief thing, it does seem very important on the new Hawke scopes. One thing is for certain I won't be buying them new scopes to replace these anytime soon.

yes the frontier glass is used for these.

[philc]

just received mine 10x42 fixed very impressed with the build quality and with the crisp bright optics going to try out on range tomorrow

not sure what to do with the pointer though

[deano]

i left mine in the box, no need for it, looks sh*te too.

[markha]

[QUOTE=poison dwarf;4136669]Hawk 10x42 tactical from a HFT perspective ( First Impression)


Setting the parallax for HFT shooting ( I chose 25 yards) You can get the crosshair to move out of a 40mm kill at 10 yds by moving your head. So head position for shorter tartgets is critical.

QUOTE]


Basically, if you do the 'head bob' and your reticle appears to move when you move your head/eye up and down and side to side there is one thing wrong, and it aint the scope.

Basically you have not matched the front lense focus with the eye piece focus correctly and the scope is not set paralax free at your intended range.

It is imperative when setting up paralax adjustable scopes that you get the eye focus right as the very 1st step, Ignore what they tell you about setting focus to infinity and pointing scope at the sky then getting a sharp cross hair image, that is not correct.

Point you scope at a target at 15yds, paralax set for infinity, now adjust eye piece focus until crosshairs are sharp, note: if you wear glasses you must wear them when looking through the scope as it will all go to #### trying to get rid of paralax if you dont!
Next start to use adjust the paralax until the target is sharp, forget about the crosshairs being sharp, once target is sharp then adjust eyepiece agin untill crosshairs and target are both sharp, this will now be paralax free at that range, do the head bob and side to side and if there is still movement of crosshair repeat or adgust paralaxe and eyepiece again, its the eyepiece focus that is the key to getting rid of paralax.

If I try this without mu glasses on I can get the yepeice focused up great, but once I adjust the sidewheel to get target in focus it al looks good untill I mofe my head around, then, like you say, the crosshairs move.
But if I do this with my glasses on, im short sighted, then I have no problems at all, target ans crosshairs all rock solid.

Cheers
Mark

[rogb]

[quote=markha;4470515]

Hawk 10x42 tactical from a HFT perspective ( First Impression)


Setting the parallax for HFT shooting ( I chose 25 yards) You can get the crosshair to move out of a 40mm kill at 10 yds by moving your head. So head position for shorter tartgets is critical.

QUOTE]


Basically, if you do the 'head bob' and your reticle appears to move when you move your head/eye up and down and side to side there is one thing wrong, and it aint the scope.

Basically you have not matched the front lense focus with the eye piece focus correctly and the scope is not set paralax free at your intended range.

It is imperative when setting up paralax adjustable scopes that you get the eye focus right as the very 1st step, Ignore what they tell you about setting focus to infinity and pointing scope at the sky then getting a sharp cross hair image, that is not correct.

Point you scope at a target at 15yds, paralax set for infinity, now adjust eye piece focus until crosshairs are sharp, note: if you wear glasses you must wear them when looking through the scope as it will all go to #### trying to get rid of paralax if you dont!
Next start to use adjust the paralax until the target is sharp, forget about the crosshairs being sharp, once target is sharp then adjust eyepiece agin untill crosshairs and target are both sharp, this will now be paralax free at that range, do the head bob and side to side and if there is still movement of crosshair repeat or adgust paralaxe and eyepiece again, its the eyepiece focus that is the key to getting rid of paralax.

If I try this without mu glasses on I can get the yepeice focused up great, but once I adjust the sidewheel to get target in focus it al looks good untill I mofe my head around, then, like you say, the crosshairs move.
But if I do this with my glasses on, im short sighted, then I have no problems at all, target ans crosshairs all rock solid.

Cheers
Mark

Good point but this review is mostly about using the scope for HFT (for which it was designed (IIRC) )where PA adjustment is not allowed after the first shot, so a middle ground PA is used, say 25 yards, so the close and far targets (8 - 45 yards) are blurred. Its all about depth of field

I looked through one last weekend and I was VERY impressed with the clarity DOF and the ret, VERY impressed. I couldn't get much PA error going at all