I got my first Hawke last month (Frontier 5-30 FFP) and I'm really happy with it. Maybe the Vantage line simply isn't comparable.

 

Thoughts? Anyone have good luck or satisfied with hawke?

Send it back.

 

Made in China.
I wouldn't expect much.

 

I cant testify on a rifle but have a hawke on my crossbow that i think is darn good compared to a vortex when made the comparison of vortex crossfire not sure what hawke i have but was for my crossbow

 

There is something wrong with that scope. The Vantage AO is a good scope at the price range and should give decent performance. The airgun scene in the UK is awash with Hawke scopes with very few complaints. As has been said, send it back. Hawke warranty is excellent and if there is an issue they will replace it.

 

I have a couple of Hawke Vantante IR 4-12x40 AO with the Rimfire 22 WMR reticle and have been pleased with them thus far. I liked the etched reticle in these as it can be illuminated in red or green or used without. I purchased these when a LGS started carrying the product line and haven't had any issues with either one. They also made one setup for the 17 HMR, but I do not believe they ever made one specific for the 22 LR. I'm obviously not going to shoot out to 300 yards with my 22 WMR but I liked having the option for yardage markers to make up dope sheets for various ammo types.

Per the Hawke description - Designed for .22 WMR. Zero on 12x magnification at 100 yards and the bullet drop compensating reticle provides accurate aim points in 25-yard increments out to 325 yards. Ideal for 33gr ammunition at approx. 2000fps. Can also be accurately calibrated for ammunition between 30-40gr and approx. 1875-2200 fps.

I have one other - Hawke Vantage SR 4-16x44 Mil-Dot Reticle that has not had any issues but I don't care for the reticle design as much. I liked the Side Focus and additional magnification and for the money has certainly performed ok. It provides the ability to hold-under as well as windage.

Per the Hawke description -The classic Mil Dot features multiple aim points for hold-over and hold-under. Accurate mil spacing on 10x, featuring 4 Mil Dots in each direction.

These are at the low end of their product line for sure - I think I only paid $125 at the time, but for the money, they provided the magnification and side focus desired for that specific rimfire application.

 

I recently purchased a hawk scope for my pellet gun. I have been really happy till today. IT went blurry after I shot and I have several rounds through it. I usually leave it on 4power but now it will only be clear on 9 power. Also seems to be changing its clarity. Sucks I really liked it going to call them. Its not a parallax thing it went south...

 

I’ve mentioned a few times about a little disappointment in a hawke scope I bought for one of my 10/22’s. It’s a vantage 4-12x50 AO. ....... Anyone have good luck or satisfied with hawke?

Gee, I have 3 or 4 Hawke scopes and like all of them. Are you sure you didn't get a lemon?

They all 'play' better than expected for the 'lower end' price I paid for these. In some cases, much better.

Their US branch is in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Gotta think you could get somebody there on the phone tomorrow and see what can be done.

 

I’ve no experience with the brand. I’m curious about your 10/22’s. Are any of them plain jane, or all upgraded stocks, triggers, barrels?

 

Lol, which one? I have 9. None of them are untouched. They either have bx triggers, volquartson trigger kits or a hornet trigger. One has a fine looking lbjennings stock that I clear coated with automotive clear, most have carbon barrels, Boyd’s at-one stock, two magpul x22, takedown with magpul backpacker and carbon barrel.

 

I have a Hawke on a Marauder PCP pellet rifle, no problems. Parallax adjustment is excellent for shorter ranges (my back yard ground squirrels are at 15 to 25 yards. Good scope.

 

My parallax adjustment does literally nothing.

anyone saying they are satisfied with theirs, have you directly compared it to anything else of quality? Side by side comparison. The situation I was in was it was dark outside and I was shooting 25 yards. I had a spotlight on the target. The target was legible but not crisp and clear, that was made evident when I grabbed another rifle with a bushnell legend on it. There was a remarkable difference in clarity. I wish I could take a picture through both to show the difference. I’m going to try it again tonight and see how far down in magnification I have to go to for it to be clear. I know that the bushnell was crystal clear at 9x and the hawke was blurry at 7x. I adjusted the AO up and down along with the eyepiece.

 

I have been using a Hawke Sidewinder for 10 years (+-) and have not had any issues. I've used it on 223, 20 Vartarg and now 17 HMR. The only reason I removed it from the other two, they ended up with Nightforce scopes. I plan on leaving it on the 17 HMR. It went with me on a prairie dog trip in June '22 and it was great. It's going with me again this coming June.

As others have mentioned, send it to Hawke. When you do, be sure to give them a detail description of the issues. Just saying it doesn't work the way I thought it should will not do.

 

Im thinking with a little luck if you can talk to someone at Hawke and use your line,"I really wanted to like this scope, it has the features I want" you may do well

 

Imo, no sense in messing about any more with your obviously faulty Hawke scope, I just know you have better things to do with your free time

 

Probably right. I’ll just take the loss and leave it on the (crappy) gamo varmit hunter. It’s better than the bug buster I had on it. I rarely shoot it anyways. Thinking about getting a pcp air rifle to take its place. Springers (well I converted this one to gas piston) have so much recoil they are just hard to shoot with from some positions and from a rest.

 

I have about half-dozen Hawke scopes including a Vantage, as well as one go their high-end binoculars. All are excellent. Yours sounds defective!

 

Set up a target at 25 yards. Small dot. Adjust the parallax to that distance. See how clear it is(nt). Then get a quality scope, (bushnell, burris, leupold etc) and compare. At 25 yards with parallax adjusted to that distance, I still have parallax and the clarity is on par with maybe a bottom of the line Walmart Simmons scope. Which is trash. Grabbing another rifle with a cheap burris, bushnell or a leupold rimfire is a remarkable difference. Not just a little. Huge. The hawke causes so much fatigue because you can adjust it to have the reticle clear and the target clear at the same time and the AO is supposed to go down to 15 yards.

 

Send it back, it does sound like a defective scope.

 

Even if you wont ever like it why not get it fixed/replaced (if they will under warrantee) and get rid of it after?

It's more fun crabbing about it than sending it back? Al wondered to himself.

 

Even if you wont ever like it why not get it fixed/replaced (if they will under warrantee) and get rid of it after?

 

I guess I feel like I'd be pawning some junk off on someone else, which I don't agree with. But it seems like people are ok with paying $150-$180 for a scope that looks nice but is about as clear as an $50 walmart simmons scope. Heck, my simmons .22 mag scope is probably clearer. Honestly I don't think anything is wrong with it, its just clarity isn't what i'd expect at this price point when comparing to other scopes in this price range. Truth be told, I am comparing it to what some people refer to as "hidden gems" for the price point. I have several of the cheaper bushnell scopes (rimfire, legend, banner etc) and when comparing them to a leupold rimfire, they are side by side in clarity. MAYBE the hawke just isnt good in "low light" conditions, but the other I mentioned are coated specifically to be goo in low light conditions. Maybe i'm just expecting too much? Being too picky? I do tend to do that sometimes.

 

If you don't like it, you don't like it, nothing complex about that. It night not suit you optically. But with the parallax adjustments doing nothing AND a pisspoor image, something ain't right. Make 'em fix it. (Or replace). Then you can know for sure whether or not If it's defective or just low quality. But it's your money.

 

I'll email them and see what they say. maybe i can upgrade to something better.

 

I emailed them. I HOPE its a problem with my scope, I was on their website and I see a dew more scopes I'd like to add to my collection..... But I have to resist the temptation until I find out if what I'm experiencing is typical of their vantage line. I like their illuminated 3-9x40 with the LR4 dot and the 2-7x32

 

I have a Vantage so I can tell about an example of one only. It's a 4-16x44mm side focus. Optically it's excellent from 4x to 14x then the image washes out past that point, losing contrast and darkening quickly. In good light 16x is okay. There is no color fringing and the image is sharp with very slight distortion at the edges. The parallax adjustment is on the left hand side, adjusting with a firm resistance as it should. At max power it makes for a decent rangefinder, with the image coming into focus matching the distance on the knob. Mechanically, the adjustments tracked exactly as they should have and have stayed put without shifting. The clicks are not highly distinct, they are on the soft side but not what I would call mushy. The reticle focus is the quick focus type and it turns with firm resistance too and stays put without play. The scope is on my Weihrauch HW100S PCP air rifle so I can't make any comment on holding up under recoil. I would put the scope on par with other similarly priced scopes.

 

So as I adjust parallax up or down, it does not change the clarity at all. Sounds like I got a defective one? I emailed, they responded with some questions and I just responded. I’ll see where this goes. Honestly I don’t want this scope anymore because the rifle I bought it for now wears something I like far better. Hopefully they allow me to choose something else and pay the difference. I’d really like another illunufot(<<<< what the heck autocorrect!) illuminated. Illuminated. scope. Lol.

 

He just sent a Burris back twice. I believe the optic companies have it in for him🤔

 

WHO?

 

Involuntary product tester?

 

I guess so. I do like testing products for companies but not on my own dime. 😂

 

I was just looking at the Hawkes at Pyramyd Air, prices are way way up, the Vantage 4-16x44mm SF that I bought is thirty bucks higher now.

 

I have the Hawke Vantage 2-7 mil dot, it is awesome and the glass is good for a $125
the Parallax numbers do not line up with the distances but it is repeatable.
it on a Hard hitting HW95 air rifle with a couple thousand rounds thru it.
I would call Hawke or just return it if possible.

 

Fwiw, my eyes changed.....
I went through each scope's set up afresh one nice day, all good again.

 

I'm generally a Vortex guy but got a Hawke Vantage 30 WA 4-16 a few months back in a used FX airgun purchase. I was impressed enough with it that I've since added two sidewinders and two more Vantage 30 WA's. Good clear glass, side focus, good mechanics and smooth controls on all of them. That said, I've looked at the specs on some of the lower end /basic 1" tubed Vantage line and am not tempted to try. ( Side focus is a MUST have for me these days). IMHO, Hawke provides a good value in the $300-$800 range. Similar to Vortex actually.

 

I wanted to update this thread. I posted I sent it back, took me a few days to pack it up and get it going to them. Took them a few days to look at it and see if there was a problem. Well turns out they did find a problem. I feel better now. I did request a different scope for replacement because I really didn’t want anything that big anyways. I’ll post the email I received below, and I’ll also say their customer service was great. At this point, my mind has been changed and I think I’d buy another. Which I plan on buying one of their illuminated scopes soon.

Email:


Travis,

Upon inspection, we identified the problem you were experiencing. The AO was stuck and simply not adjusting with adjustments to the dial. The AO mechanism is extremely simple, with the objective lens just moving under spring tension as the dial is adjusted. Due to the tight tolerances and permanent lubrication used, it's not uncommon for the lens assembly to stick in place after being assembled, until it's first used. This usually goes unnoticed, but adjusting the dial back and forth along the full range of motion a few times will distribute the lubrication and set the lens properly.

So the scope is focusing as normal now and good to go. We'd normally return something like this, but in this particular instance I'm happy to send the model #14139 in exchange. This should ship in the next few business days.

Thanks,