This is the one we are looking at because it suites the price, but are they any good?
Hawke Varmint SF 4-16x44mm AO Matte Black Riflescope - Hunting and Outdoor Supplies.
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This is the one we are looking at because it suites the price, but are they any good?
Hawke Varmint SF 4-16x44mm AO Matte Black Riflescope - Hunting and Outdoor Supplies.
They used to be in the air-rifle market when I was in the UK 10 years ago. I haven't had much to do with them, but dirt cheap scopes are usually a false economy.
Weaver Superslam, Nikon Monarch, Leupold VX3...etc...these are all proven to do what they say they will and are about the lowset price range I'd buy into for dial-up scopes, sure they will cost double the Hawke's price but IMO worth the little bit extra. You're better off having one rifle set up really well, than having 6 rifles but of dubious quality (especially in regards to scopes).
kj
ok, cheap scopes cant be all bad I mean it has a nikko stirling on atm and at 100m the bullets on the wsm still all touched.
it's when you start dialling etc that the issues show themselves Toby. the cheaper scores can still function but clarity and reliability (especially regarding adjustments) are what typically suffer
Yip, for ''set and forget'' you don't need an expensive scope to shoot 100m groups. But your WSM is a 1000y capable calibre, so you’re only using 10% of its capability...but to get the other 90% out of it you'll need something better than a Nikko Stirling sitting on top of that rifle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toby
There are many old sayings about scopes - ''you can't hit it if you can't see it'' or ''buy the most expensive scope you can afford, then fit a rifle to it'' both spring to mind.
kj
Ok, so whats the cheapest scope that you think is still good enough for it?
As above (Weaver, Nikon, Leupold) these scopes would be the lowest priced ones I'd consider. If you have a little more coin, then some are enjoying great success with Sightrons and then you jump up quite a lot for Nightforce and S&B etc...
We've all been through this, every shooter I know has brought a cheap scope at some stage in their life hoping that their one will not suffer from any issues...but these cheap scopes all shit themselves eventually. Then you end up buying a $1000 one in the end, but it really cost you $300 for the cheap one + $1000 for the better one (total $1300). Save yourself $300 right now and buy the more expensive scope right from the start.
I'm a fan of the Weavers (Superslam's) for the money they are hard to beat.
kj
I've had two faulty Hawke scopes, so I won't go there again. But to be fair one of them lasted about 5 years of real rough use on my 22 before it started losing zero. So I think it had a real decent run considering it was on a semi auto and getting bashed around.
Buying a cheap scope and putting it on a nice rifle is like buying a V8 commodore and putting $80 Malaysian tyres on it... it's not going to perform anywhere near what it should.
Look at it this way. What's another few hundred bucks over the ten or more years it'll last? My Leupolds and Weavers have a lifetime warranty. A Hawke probably wont.
The problem is that its a commodore :D
This pretty much sums it up Toby.Quote:
Originally Posted by kimjon
You might be better to sell one of the other guns to fund good optics for your best one.
Is that nikon monarch 4-16x42 any good?
sure I was getting these cheaper than this last year but mAybe I'm mistaken
Weaver 3-15X50 Super Slam Riflescope Side Focus Dual-X Reticle Matte - Natchez Shooters Supplies
Some real good advise there Toby!
I know it's hard to part with what seems like a lot of money at the time or have to wait longer because you need to save more, but it will be worth it...and save you money in the long run.
Just take a look at what's around second hand on here and other sites that people put up for sale, you'll soon notice a lot of good second hand rifles but not a lot of good second hand scopes.
When you buy good scopes, they will last and you will probably keep hold of them even longer than some of your favourite rifles.
Yup, all of the above
Sell a rifle to get a decent lr scope.
Look at Internet, optic zone etc, even with customs fees, GST and the rest it works out cheaper than local
I've said it before, and once you get your head and heart around it, it is quite simple... Spend as much money on the scope as you've just spent on the rifle. The are fixes like bedding, crowning etc for poor performing rifle, I'm not aware of fixes for poor quality optics.....
Toby, another way of getting more bang for your buck with optics, is to go for a higher quality fixed power scope rather than a poor quality variable.
Get a mildot reticle, learn how to use it for holdover
Fixed power will also teach to to get a consistent check weld, they dont tend to have paralax adjustment.
6x should be good out to further than most people can shoot, and more practical than 10x
A couple of Hawke-scopes are apparently made in Japan, and are 'ok'..Endurance is one, I think, maybe. (best check) Rest are Chinese. I dont know of any Chinese scope that has metal pivots (they all use O-rings ) and therefore POI can be a lucky-dip, combined with 'round' inner-tube,where elevation adjustment affects windage, and visa-versa, combined with crap-quality leaf-spring, whose job it is to return everything back to 'ground-zero, after the recoil and resultant shock-waves...and the 'Glass' in them, isnt glass, its flash plastic..surprising that any of them work really...and most Do..for a while..but you'll never no for sure...maybe the Tooth-Fairy telepathically makes me put money under my kids pillows......
I run cheap scooes on my rifles nikko stirlings mainly never had a problem with them cheap bushnells never had a problem with them low end old weaver never had a problem arctic fox the same the most expensive one would be a low end sightron never had a problem with that either i must be the only person out there thats been so lucky had a hawke it was a nice scope bought it from youngs it did crap out after about 6 years but took it back and got a free replacement no questions asked i mainly shoot targets and bush hunt i dont piss arse around with dialing as you dont have time for that in the bush and its usually close range stuff i just learn my hold overs i was planning on upgrading my budget scopes ad they shit themselves but 15+ years later im still waiting
Good old Toby keeps popping back up :)
Thread revival from 2012, great effort :thumbsup:
GoldQuote:
Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg
He brought a fucking great big mueller in the end
Dam thing was bigger than a submarine
Apparently the secret to cheaper scopes is to never adjust them once they're on, and use 'hold-over' when needed, as northdude says. I too,have a couple of really old Nikko-stirlings still going strong, I suspect they were better-made than modern cheap ones tho. Also have a Japanese Simmons wide-angle thats great (again I suspect its made right) plus an old steel-Weaver and an old Pecar-these last three are all equal and my favourites. I splashed-out on my first flash scope 2yrs ago; Leupold 3-9 vari, the reticle is too fine, and it appears less, optically, than the last three. It would be ironic, if it claps-out first. I bought it for my "Flash-rifle'' (sako 6.5x55), but have since gone back to the old Simmons 4x wide-angle.I would love to try some of these 2k-4k scopes you hear about, just to see what they're about, have to 'hit' them with a matt-black spray-can I'm guessing,cos the gold-plating would surely scare the game
I looked through a z5 at dusk. It shat all over my old red field. The amount of light it gathered and how late it was was amazing.Quote:
Originally Posted by rewa
youd be totally pissed if it wasn't better probably easy 3x the price to the one your comparing it toQuote:
Originally Posted by Russian 22.
for me after being around for a long time now what it comes down to is the warranty service the only scope ive had that failed got replaced straight away no questions asked and to me that's good service some might say it shouldn't of failed but it the real world if a human has anything to do with it theres a chance it will fail and its not only the cheap scopes that fail a look through here and as far as ive read vortex wins the failed scope comp so far and they aint cheap ive read quite a few leupolds sorry guys failing as well so no brand is immune