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jimineecricket · Member

Looking for hands on feed back on the hawke scopes. Do the adjustments work like they should (no sticking) , hows the glass. Price in line for quality. I need a nice good reliable repetable scope. I have been looking at high end and middle end scopes such as zeiss ,swavorski, leupold,and nikon. The Nikon monarch was very nice the swavorski stood out as the best optics. I cant find a hawke to look thru. Nikon and hawke are in a price range that i like with features I like. I just have no experience with the Hawke. So any fedback would be nice thanks!

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

What are you going to put it on? A springer, a co2 or a PCP? That would be my first consideration. A CO2 or PCP, you can put anything on, but a springer will kill just about any scope if it isn't labelled springer safe. My personal choice would either be a leapers or a crosspoint. That's just my $.02 worth.

cactusrat · Member

I have two different Hawke scopes. The glass is clear, knobs work smooth, focus is sharp.

I have own a Leapers, and the last scope I bought was the second Hawke. Nothing wrong with the Leapers, Hawke's are just a little better scope.

Like Oddtodd said, on a CO2 or PCP gun, you can’t go wrong. For a spring gun, I would go with a TS Leapers.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Just for some background information- I have sold Hawke scopes for about a year.

The optics are clear, and the adjustments precise- and the higher-end products (Sidewinder and Eclipse) are very very nice.

BUT- they have had a number of issues with the "Airmax" line of scopes in my experience and opinion- some of them have not held up behind magnum-class springers despite being "airgun" rated. A couple of models that could not hold up disappeared from the 2011 Hawke catalog, so it's obvious they knew/know the problem with these units existed. What bothered me as a dealer is that they didn't tell me- they waited until the failures occurred and then said nothing about this being an issue generally (obviously it was when every unit of a specific model breaks when put behind a powerful springer and then they discontinue that model without a word to anyone- possibly leaving people still selling these lesser units without knowing).

This is not to suggest there are problems with all their scopes, but as a precaution, I would suggest avoiding older, discontinued models of "Airmax" scopes that might be offered at some stores (i.e. if you can't find a specific model on the Hawke website- it's likely one of the ones pulled/discontinued because of failures). Any reputable dealer that is aware of the affected models has likely stopped selling them- but dealers who sell primarily to powderburner people, or who have not sold alot of a/the models now discontinued, may not be aware.

packrat · Senior Member

There's a LOT of posts concerning Hawke scopes that you might want to read...use the "SEARCH" feature .

jimineecricket · Member

jimineecricket · Member

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Slavia · Moderator

I like to search for posts instead of topics because it gives me the first few words of the post - I can see if it's chit-chat or something useful.

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

packrat · Senior Member

DUD !!! I was simply trying to help you..I saw that you have very posts so far, and that you might not be aware of the "search" feature. I wasn't trying to belittle you at all. You didn't mention that you had used search, so thought I'd mention it WTF?

jimineecricket · Member

packrat · Senior Member

No sweat... it's just that a lot of times newbies don't notice or think about using "search"....can't help with your original ???,as I 've never owned one..I've read some really good reviews about them..BUT I believe the "AIRMAX" model has had some problems...I'm sure someone around here knows more about it than I.....