hawke scopes and scopes general

tool91 · Apr 5, 2011

I'm new to hunting and want to see what y'all think about hawke scopes since my friend tells me they're excellent. Any advice or useful information on scopes I should know?

motoman98 · Apr 5, 2011

Pretty good, for an economy priced scope, IMO

Scott · Apr 5, 2011

I have 2 of them and the only reason I bought them was because of the sniper central review of them. Mine are very nice and close to my Mark 4's. You get a very good deal with them and they track just as good as my Mark 4's and Nightforce.

For the money they can't be beat I think. They are made in Japan but under supervision of the UK owners and sent back to England and tested again then sent out.

I would buy another.

tool91 · Apr 6, 2011

I didn't know Hawke was a UK product, that's interesting. I have been looking at a couple other brands on the internet, and I think I see what you mean about the price. So which scopes do you own Scott? I think I will go with your advice

The Cheese · Apr 6, 2011

Not that it helps, but I have had good luck with the Viper line of scopes from Vortex. Clean glass, great features for the price, and they are typically lighter than some of the other scopes in their respective price range. With hunting weight is something to consider when looking at a scope. Nothing worse than packing around a boat anchor all day. With cheaper scopes they tend to be a bit heavier, not always, but enough to make me want to look close at them before buying.

tool91 · Apr 7, 2011

See, I'm looking at an <broken link removed> scope so vipers are too long range.

Blackbird · Apr 7, 2011

I would second the Vortex reccomendation. The Vortex Viper PST 1-4x24 is a lot like the Endurance that you linked to. I have the PST and it is great! Great glass. Extremely well built. I personally dont think it can be beat for the price. You should really give them a look.

tool91 · Apr 7, 2011

Okay how about this <broken link removed> and this <broken link removed>? The hawke seems alright for its price, and this is the last time I ask I promise, but is the viper really that much better?

The Cheese · Apr 7, 2011

If you want to spend around 3 bills on a 1-4x, get a Bushnell 4200 1.25-4x off of Amazon. I have tried a few scope in that price/mag range, and thats probably the best value under $400. The 1-4x viper would be my next choice, but its $170 more. Also another thing to look at is that the Hawke has an Eye relief of 100mm-110mm which means your cheek weld might be slightly different from low to high magnification. With the bushnell and vortex, the eye relief is constant which is a pretty big bonus in my book. Especially if you ever want to put the scope on something with limited real estate for your cheek like some bullpup designs.

Blackbird · Apr 7, 2011

tool91 said:
Okay how about this <broken link removed> and this <broken link removed>? The hawke seems alright for its price, and this is the last time I ask I promise, but is the viper really that much better?

Before I decided to buy the Vortex, I researched the **** out of all of the 1-4 scopes I could. I had a hard time finding many that I could actually get my hands on and I didnt want to just buy something that was online that I heard was good. I ended up being able to compare a Burris Tac 30, the Nikon M-223, a few of the different Leupolds, a Bushnell (cant remember exactly which model), and then the Vortex. The Leupolds were very nice, especially the VXR model. However I did not like the reticle as much and I didnt like the push button illumination. The Vortex really impressed me. These scopes are on par with a lot of the scopes that are in the $800+ price range. It really is the best 1-4 scope for under $500. If I didnt buy Vortex I would have bought the Leupold simply because the glass is better than the rest. I know that you were looking to spend around $300 (as was I when I started researching scopes) but I think once you start looking at different scopes in person I think you will see how much better the Vortex is than the rest.