Hawke Sidewinder30 4.5-14x38 sr6 first impression

[poison dwarf]

Hawke 4.5-14x38 sr6
I like hawke scopes ( I have 3) especially the frontier range so i decided to buy the new Hawke Sidewinder 30 - 4.5-14x38 sr6. It arrived today so I decided to go straight up the range and give it a try being as the rain had gone and the sun was shining.
I opened the package i received from opticswarehouse expecting the normal carboard box complete with polystyrene inserts. Instead you get a type of elongated aluminium camera case which contained cleaning cloth, scope, sunshade, scope ring pointer and a sidewheel. The scope had a screw in lense cover on each end. All packed in a nice foam lining. Overall scope looks solid and well made for a chinese scope.
I bought this scope for use in HFT so all but the scope and sunshade will never see the light of day again. A couple of butler creeks would have been much more useful.
Anyway to the test.
First thing was to look at how the line spacing compared to true mildots on the mildot board we have at the club.
Initial reaction when putting your eye to the scope:
Very bright clear optics.
head position is critical, move even slightly out of line and it goes milky.
Scope sunshade is a must, point it in the general direction of the sun and you get whiteout without it ( sun was about 30 degrees to me )
On 10x mag the first 2 full lines of the SR6 reticle are true, after that the rest of the spacing is hawkes own formula.
I used 2 x 15mm knockdown targets that had been shot at so i could simulate actual targets you would get half way round a HFT course. ie lots of misses around the killzone rendering it a fairly grey mess with about 50% of the paint still visible. ( i know you dont get 15mm @ 45 yards but i wanted to see how good the scope was)
I set parallax at 25 yds
Started the test on 10 mag
10 x mag @ 10 yards - Very blurred and could no way make out the killzone
10 x mag @ 15 yards - Blurred and still couldnt make out killzone
10 x mag @ 20 yards - Could make out killzone easily
10 x mag @ 30 yards - Could make out killzone easily
10 x mag @ 40 yards - Could make out killzone although slightly blurred
10 x mag @ 45 yards - A little more blurred but you just make it out
I then tried 9 x mag
I could'nt tell a lot difference from 10 mag exept the 40 and 45 were a little crisper
I then tried 8 mag
At 10 yards i could just see one killzone but not the one on the other target
At 15 yards i could see both. And all the longer targets were also very clear.

I cant really see where/who this scope is aimed at. It comes with all the FT bits but is deinitely not a FT scope with only 14x max magnification. For HFT i would have expected the depth of field to be better but my £50 leup clone from china is beats it easily ( not optically though )
Unless its aimed at existing sr6 owners looking for a brighter optics upgrade, in which case hawke would have done better to ditch all the extra bits that are not needed and reduce the price.

In summary

PRO's
Very bright clear optics with SR6 reticle

CONS
Overpriced

Would I buy it again? Unlikely, but I will keep you updated if I change my mind.

[philc]

very good review mate was thinking of buying pleased i did,nt

atvb phil

[poison dwarf]

i would recommend you get a look through one. You might be swayed on the clarity because it is very good. I would be interested to see another persons verdict as a comparison though.
Also note i only tried it on 25yds parallax. i will try on a lesser setting, say 20 yds to see what results i get.

In fact I will make sure its at the next CSFTA HFT round at North Oxon ground on the 13th so anyone who wants can get a look through it.

[Charlts]

Can I ask why you didn't drop the px any lower? From
what you've described it's set too far out.

Ryan

[poison dwarf]

I chose 25yds because thats the only mark on the side turret other than 10 or 50 and my other scopes seem to work well on that setting. I will be going back to the range today or tomorrow to carry out further testing with a lower parallax setting and hopefully find a better setting as i really wanted to use this scope. But as it stands i am sticking to the frontier i have on my HFT gun at the moment. I will of course update this thread with my results

[Charlts]

It doesn't have to be on a mark though and the chances are the marks will be a mile off! Be interested to hear how you go, would you mind focusing it so a 13y 15mm is shootable as well as a 25y 15 and a 20mm at 8. They don't have to be clear just shootable, if it can do that I'd like to know.

Cheers

Ryan

[Flashash]

If any one could test this on different PX settings, I would be very interested. The above review is a bit limited really as it is only done at one setting!

I don't shoot HFT, but would like a good depth of field. As an existing Sidewinder owner and a big fan of the SR6, I'd quite like something the same but smaller (if that makes sense), particularly as I'm getting a Verminator.

Thanks.

[poison dwarf]

Test part 2
After some of the comments about only doing the test at 25 yards I made an effort to get up the range today as it was a nice clear day.
I did the test on 2 magnifications 10 and 8 at distances between 8 to 45 yards as before.
I ignored what the sidewheel markings said was the parallax distance and just did it by focusing on targets. (saying that, all tests below fell between about 18 and 27 yards parallax (estimated coz of few markings))
NB. When i say focus i mean i re parallaxed so i could just make out the killzone to make a shot, no guesswork. parallax was then left untouched to check other targets
The Targets I used
http://img44.imageshack.us/i/targets010.jpg/

here are pics of the 15mm and 20mm targets so you can see i was focusing on
http://img98.imageshack.us/i/targets002.jpg/
http://img697.imageshack.us/i/targets001.jpg/
first i focused on a 20mm target @ 8 yds 10mag.
http://img44.imageshack.us/i/targets011.jpg/
I then checked the targets i was able to see to shoot by looking at targets 15,20,25 yards were good. Things started to blurr at the 30 yard mark but was still very shootable. When i got to 40 yards it was very blurred and at 45 it would be pull trigger and pray.
http://img207.imageshack.us/i/targets014.jpg/ (30 yards)
http://img691.imageshack.us/i/targets004.jpg/ (40 yards)
http://img26.imageshack.us/i/targets005.jpg/ (45 yards)

then i focused on 15mm target @ 10 yards 10 mag
http://img215.imageshack.us/i/targets013.jpg/
targets were clearly shootable to the 20 yard target, the 25 yard target was very slightly blurred and the 30 yarder was very blurred. 40 and 45 were unshootable
20mm @ 10 yds 10 mag
30 yards slight blurr, 40 yds very blurred, 45 no chance
20mm @ 13 yds 10 mag
up to 20 yds slight blurr, all clear to 45. anything under 13 would be total guesswork
Then i focused on the 45 yard target and took down the parallax until i got it slightly blurred
I got the same result as 20mm @ 13yds 10mag. Anything under the 13yard mark would be guesswork
I then did the same tests on 8 mag which were very very close to the 10 mag tests but i think you get the idea from the above pics
i also did a pic with sunshade on with sun low in the sky as it was getting late in the afternoon. The sun was about 20-25 degrees to me. the target is 45 yards
http://img177.imageshack.us/i/targets015.jpg/



I hope this helps you get an idea of the scopes capabilities. After doing these further tests my opinion of it hasnt changed at all. If in doubt get a look through one yourself before you buy.
I am not a pro reviewer as you can probably see. But i bet its going to get a wonderful review in the mags. Alledgedly they aren't biased in any way

PS. forgot to put a pic up of the SR6 reticle for those that havent seen it. http://img269.imageshack.us/i/targets009.jpg/
The scope is not specifcally focused at that target btw but the pic show you how bright the scope is

[Charlts]

Thanks for doing that.

Ryan

[tuco64]

[QUOTE=poison dwarf;3950144]I am not a pro reviewer as you can probably see. But i bet its going to get a wonderful review in the mags. Alledgedly they aren't biased in any way

I think you've done a great job with the review! A lot better than most of us could have done!

John.

[Rubi-tong]

So it's crap then! Think i'll go for a Falcon Menace FFP, cheaper too

[poison dwarf]

Get a look through one yourself. everyones eyes are different. It may be your perfect scope, well maybe not
I have just realised why they give you that fancy case. Its somewhere safe to keep it as its never gonna go on a gun

[NoWayNoHow]

I can't comment on your experience with this scope, what I can say is that this scope was designed with the help of a very capable HFT competitor (Ryan probably knows who I am talking about). I am going to buy two 10x42 scopes from the new range for my boys to start in HFT tonight. I don't doubt in any way what you have said but I would say to you exactly what I have said to the shop where I'm buying them from "If they don't work they will be back at the shop to send back to Hawke because they aren't fit for purpose" last time I looked they are covered under law to that degree, so rather than put it on here or try to sell it in the future use your statutory rights and complain, until you have either a scope that does what it is supposed too, ie HFT or you get your money back. If they work you get a cheap HFT scope with an illuminated reticle for the times you may need it.

[lloyd]

Quick heads up, all the first batch of these scopes are faulty, return the scope to your dealer . Deben only realised last night when they were testing them , evidently when they are working correctly they work perfectly for HFT

[poison dwarf]

Many thanks for the heads up lloyd. I will be contacting opticswarehouse in the morning. Cant wait for a good one back