Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

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Handbrake
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Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:08 pm

Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#1 Postby Handbrake » Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:55 pm

Has anybody got any firsthand experience of this UK designed scope? I am led to believe that that it’s products are designed and developed in the UK and use components from Europe, Japan and assembled in China.

Gyro
Posts: 764
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 2:44 pm
Location: New Zealand

Re: Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#2 Postby Gyro » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:14 pm

The trouble is mate is if you're anything like me ya don't properly understand what goes on inside a rifle scope.

To give you an example I had a Weaver brand budget level scope on a rabbit shooting rifle I recently decided to play with and when i was sighting it in I adjusted it and I KNOW it did not move ie. the "point of impact" did not move. To me a scope like that belongs in the rubbish bin ...... what I'm saying is DON'T TOUCH CHEAP SCOPES.

And that's even on a play rifle. My reply is blunt I know but ........

Hangfire
Posts: 119
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 10:05 am
Location: South Oz.

Re: Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#3 Postby Hangfire » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:50 pm

I wouldn't say $1500-$1600 is a cheap scope, but if that is what your budget allows there are other proven scopes out there on the second hand market that you should consider. A quick search on a well known gun site revealed a NSX 8-32 X 56 with 1/8 clicks for $1600. If that is beyond your price range then a BR 8-32 X 56 could be had for around the $1100 mark.
You won't be handicapping yourself by not having a 50 X scope and depending on where you reside and if your local range is subject to heavy mirage you may find it too much magnification.
The main reason I suggested N/F is they have a proven track record, on the main repeatable click values, glass is good, reticle choice, lifetime warranty, hold their value if you decide to upgrade latter.
Last edited by Hangfire on Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

KHGS
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Location: Cowra NSW

Re: Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#4 Postby KHGS » Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:00 pm

Hangfire wrote:I wouldn't say $1500-$1600 is a cheap scope, but if that is what your budget allows there are other proven scopes out there on the second hand market that you should consider. A quick search on a well known gun site revealed a NSX 8-32 X 56 with 1/8 clicks for $1600.


Buy it!!!!!!!
Keith H.

Handbrake
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:08 pm

Re: Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#5 Postby Handbrake » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:08 am

Thanks for your replies, guys.
I am a newbie going into my second season of F Open and being over pensionable age suffer with clarity in low light particularly when in pennant matches that are still shooting at 4pm in the Winter.
Q - Does a NF NSX 8-32 x 56 give better clarity and/or ease of focus than NF BR 8-32 x 56?

Gyro
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Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 2:44 pm
Location: New Zealand

Re: Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#6 Postby Gyro » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:29 am

The glass in the NXS is the same as the BR model I believe. I only know that from watching a youtube clip from a Nightforce rep who told that story.

Just to add some perhaps useful advice : I'm age 60 with degraded vision and have a real need these days to be able to see the reticle cross hairs on the target just as much as the need to see the target itself. Beware, some cross hairs are very fine.

Hangfire
Posts: 119
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 10:05 am
Location: South Oz.

Re: Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#7 Postby Hangfire » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:58 am

Handbrake wrote:Thanks for your replies, guys.
I am a newbie going into my second season of F Open and being over pensionable age suffer with clarity in low light particularly when in pennant matches that are still shooting at 4pm in the Winter.
Q - Does a NF NSX 8-32 x 56 give better clarity and/or ease of focus than NF BR 8-32 x 56?

The NSX is a lot easier to adjust your focus/parallax than the BR scope as the adjustment is done on the side of the turret housing rather than having to make the adjustment via the bell of the objective lens. You can easily fine tune your adjustment without having to shift your body position.

At the club I shoot at we are orientated so the targets are North of the shooting mounds. This is not ideal as it makes sighting very difficult in the late afternoon, especially in the winter months. I am going to approach the committee to see if we can place white centers on the target to act as an aiming mark as it is near impossible at times to distinguish the rings. Even with an extended sunshade the glare is terrible. This may be doable as we shoot on electronic targets and it wouldn’t cause an issue with scoring, where some confusion may occur on manual targets in regard to score values.

As far as reticle choice is concerned that is a personal preference thing and you would be wise to view through as many different types as you can and ask the users what the pros and cons of each are. Personally I love my NP2-DD but I know some find the dot difficult to see.

Another nice feature of the NSX compared to the BR scope are the NSX has 10 moa revolutions on the elevation and wind turrets, the BR has 6moa per revolution. This can be handy especially if you are shooting F-Standard on ranges that are subject to windy conditions requiring 7 moa or more wind allowance. The extra clicks allows easy calculations when winding wind on or off beyond 6 moa. The turrets are also larger with an easy to read numbering system. Overall they are much more user friendly. The only drawback is the NSX is slightly heavier than the BR so be aware of this in case overall rifle weight is an issue.

Savage 7mm
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Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2017 4:00 pm

Re: Any experience of the Hawke ED Sidewinder 10-50x60

#8 Postby Savage 7mm » Sun Jan 07, 2018 6:04 pm

my thoughts, from when I owned an air rifle and was looking for scopes, from what I could gather the Hawke are primarily designed for PCP air rifles, I did consider one for my savage however I was concerned that it may not handle the recoil. I could not in my searching find any fitted to a centre fire rifle so that swayed my decision not to buy one for it and I bought a Vortex Golden Eagle.


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