Rifle Scopes Hawke Sidewinder Tactical 30 review

[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?" :lol:

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.

<more to come>

 

[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.

<more to come>

 

[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 Hawke Optics | BRC. 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 change 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. 100 Yard Dove Shot - Dove Hunting with Edgun Matador PCP Air Rifle (Nov 6, 2011) - YouTube 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. :ugeek:

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 Amazon.com: Orion 5338 SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount: Camera & Photo. 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.

 

[sulcop96]

Nice review. I have many, many high end scopes and as a total optics junkie I buy, sell, flip and trade at a rapid pace. I have a few favorites in various price points and in the $100-$400 range it is the Hawke Sidewinder 30 line hands down. I have run the 4.5-14x42 on a M4 I use quite a bit and it has held up great for years of abuse. This rifle gets bounced around the back of a cruiser, thrown around at the range and run through its paces all the time and the scope is holding up as good as any NF, USO, Premier or Steiner I own. Sure, MOA with MIL dot reticule is not the best, but hell we all ran that set up for years and years until everything started shifting to mil/mil and now moa/moa. Bottom line this is a VERY nice scope for the price and I would not hesitate getting another.

Sully

 

[Virginian]

Sully,

Thanks for the kind remarks. Hopefully this read will help someone if they are considering this scope.

Eric

 

[tt123]

Nice review, I've been wondering about these scopes.

May I ask what kind of animal it is in your photo?

 

[Virginian]

Nice review, I've been wondering about these scopes.

May I ask what kind of animal it is in your photo?

I'm very sorry for the late reply. It's a eastern groundhog found here in North America.

 

[vegas steve]

nice documentary

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

(not trying to poop on your thread) is it possible these are hit and miss? i tried two different ones in the 8-32 x56, from two different sources of supply, both to me had a clarity issue (maybe it's just the 8-32X's):

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...-sidewinder-30-8-32x-56mm-review-problem.html

 

[sulcop96]

(not trying to poop on your thread) is it possible these are hit and miss? i tried two different ones in the 8-32 x56, from two different sources of supply, both to me had a clarity issue (maybe it's just the 8-32X's):

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...-sidewinder-30-8-32x-56mm-review-problem.html

I would assume it is the higher magnification scopes but the only one's I have used are the Sidewinder Tactical 4.5-14 but I know that Mel over at Sniper Central has two review, one on the lower mag tactical and the other is the higher mag and one had a very decent review the other, not so good.

Sniper Central - Scope Reviews

Ilya also came up with the same conclusions.

Hawke Sidewinder Tactical 30 4.5-14×42 » OpticsThoughts

So as a line up I figure them to be lower end quality, but the Sidewinders are a nice value.

Sully

 

[Sir Ville]

The Sidewinder TAC´s are actually pretty good scopes for the money and as said very popular among Airgunners. Hawke also makes so-so scopes (The Varmint) and less than stellar (everythin below the Varmint line) and i had a Varmint on my EdGun .22 (a PCP air-rifle shown in the Video above) for a while before i drop-kicked it in favor for better Glass. I´m considering this Hawke SW TAC 8.5-25 for my other air-rifle (also a Russian Bullpup) Cricket .25 cal.
It´s true what the OP said about airgun "double recoil" being much worse on the scope than many powderburners but that only applies for scopes that are "AG magnum springer rated" - which many scopes made by Hawke are. PCP´s on the other hand have a recoil comparable to a wet fart ..

 

[Virginian]

(not trying to poop on your thread) is it possible these are hit and miss? i tried two different ones in the 8-32 x56, from two different sources of supply, both to me had a clarity issue (maybe it's just the 8-32X's):

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...-sidewinder-30-8-32x-56mm-review-problem.html

No pooping on my thread here at all. Sorry to hear you had such terrible luck with this brand. We are all hear to learn and make edjucated choice in this sport/hobby. So I welcome any comment good or bad. I can't say it's hit or miss but I can say that the Sidewinder TAC is a great scope for the money. Sir Ville nailed it with his comments below. Hawke has craptastic scopes and decent scopes. My review was merely meant to state this is a decent scope for the money.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review.

Eric

 

[Virginian]

The Sidewinder TAC´s are actually pretty good scopes for the money and as said very popular among Airgunners. Hawke also makes so-so scopes (The Varmint) and less than stellar (everythin below the Varmint line) and i had a Varmint on my EdGun .22 (a PCP air-rifle shown in the Video above) for a while before i drop-kicked it in favor for better Glass. I´m considering this Hawke SW TAC 8.5-25 for my other air-rifle (also a Russian Bullpup) Cricket .25 cal.
It´s true what the OP said about airgun "double recoil" being much worse on the scope than many powderburners but that only applies for scopes that are "AG magnum springer rated" - which many scopes made by Hawke are. PCP´s on the other hand have a recoil comparable to a wet fart ..

Well put sir! Thank you for adding to this thread and taking the time to read it.

Eric

 

[Sir Ville]

A good thread.


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[VYD]

Yep, love mine as well. Very popular scopes with airgunners. Thin reticles are great for small targets airgunners are spinning and killing. Hawke's CS is top notch btw.

 

[Sir Ville]

I second that! Hawke CS is of a high class. I had problems with my 6-24x Varmint and they send me a new one . They calibrated it at first to be sure it would work as it should.


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[Kiba]

I must be the unlucky one-- the one and only Hawke scope I tried (a 6.5-20 Sidewinder 30 Tactical) was disappointing.

A couple of years back I picked up an RWS 56 T/H air rifle and didn't want to spend >$500 on a scope for an air rifle; the air rifle guys then and still strongly recommend Hawke so I gave one a try. I knew a magnum .22 springer would be murder on optics but everyone I asked on the air rifle boards said the Hawke would have no issues.

Onto the scope itself... the knobs were mushy, tracking was so-so (it wasn't accurate but it was at least repeatable), and the glass was pretty good but a little murky at higher powers with some edge distortion-- not deal breakers at all as I expected issues with a sub-$400 Chinese made optic. Still, I had hopes it would at least zero, hold zero, and not be beat to death on the RWS since all the airgun guys seemed to hold them in high regards.

Unfortunately, the magnum springer RWS 56 T/H killed it in less than half a tin of pellets; POI started jumping all over the place and adjusting the elevation would also affect windage and vice versa so you could chase the point of impact around but never get it zeroed. It wasn't a mount issue, tried a different mount and finally put the scope on a different rifle (.223) to verify. Hawke was nice to work with and replaced it promptly but I sold the replacement after it arrived realizing I pinched pennies in the wrong area; that was the last time I ever went cheap on optics. IMO Hawke should spend less money on the fancy looking cases they ship the scopes in and spend more money on the scopes themselves.

Again, I'm a one time buyer & user so my experience with the brand is limited... but the scope failed in short order in an application that it was strongly recommended for. For a sub-$400 scope it was actually pretty decent overall-- while it had some issues I've been equally disappointed in scopes costing 3x more.

The one thing I do want to compliment Hawke on is the majority of their scopes offer 10Y parallax-- I wish more manufacturers would do the same! Gives us rimfire & air rifle guys more options.

 

[Sir Ville]

Hi Kiba! You´re here too ??
Anyway - the Diana/RWS 56 murders most scopes in short order. What the springer AG guys do here is they mount the scope - any scope on any Magnum springer - onto a Sportsmatch Dampamount which has inbuild dampers (d´oh) in it. The SW TAC is on the heavier side so it will take a good beating on a Mag springer like the 56.
Here´s a another good option for AG/RF use : MTC Optics Home Page - Riflescopes for the UK