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Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR

Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR

I’m sure many agree that Hawke Sports Optics have become one of the most popular brands of specialist optical manufacturers in the airgun scene. Deben Group Industries Ltd built the brand from scratch, and over almost two decades of continued development, including the introduction of airgun specific reticle designs, they’ve now emerged to become one of the major ‘go to’ brands for a telly suited for airgun use. Their scopes are just at home on more powerful guns too!

This nicely brings me to the Vantage range and one that’s segregated into various categories but in my opinion for the airgunner the Vantage one-inch (non-illuminated) and Vantage one-inch IR (illuminated) models are the ones I feel most will gravitate towards.

Immediately, it’s noticeable that the company have taken a more traditional approach to both build and styling but although being built around a one-inch body tube and having the parallax adjustment ring (AO) at the front, the IR models do adopt the more modern trend for a side-mounted dual colour option rheostat.

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The zoom and AO rings operate very smoothly and are heavily ridged for ease of use – the former also having the ever-useful raised hub. Measuring 15.3-inches long and weighing 21.9oz, it’s obvious that the Hawke 4-16x50AO Vantage IR is a very well-constructed scope; it’s waterproof, shockproof and nitrogen purged, plus looks as stylish, as it is practical.

The relatively lengthy eyebell still manages to be quite a neat affair, holding a fast-focus ocular and the high torque zoom ring being so generously sized makes it all the easier to operate and so configured that you can easily see what magnification level it’s set to. The front AO ring is range marked for 15-, 20-, 30-, 50-, 75-, 100-, 200-yards and the (00) Infinity symbol. This in itself is a clever feature, as most optics are marked up to 300-yards, the lack of this indicates these models are very much ‘aimed’ (pun intended) at the airgun shooter, particularly as there’s plenty of room between the ranges of 15-75-yards to mark others you might find beneficial.

In the click

The low profile ¼-inch MOA cover capped turrets are finger adjustable and click audibly and very positively to each station, as you index them around. Both elevation and windage turrets offer five full rotations, with 60 clicks per turn. The rheostat that operates the glass etched reticle has 5-levels of intensity for both red and green illumination and is powered by a CR2032 button style lithium battery housed under the dial’s cover cap.

This model was supplied with a Mil Dot reticle of the usual time-tested design, having four dots above and below where the fine cross hairs intersect and four set either side. This results in approximately half of the full sight picture having aim points, as the thin crosshairs then stop just short of the slightly thicker stadia. The outer edge of these stadia obviously giving you an extra aim point at the top, sides and bottom. Also, when illuminated, only the fine crosshairs and dots ‘light up.’ The classic Mil-Dot features multiple aim points for holdover and holdunder and when the rheostat is turned off you have a solid black reticle

Conclusion

In use, the 4 -16x50 AO Vantage IR shows itself to be a very easy to operate and practically configured scope. Having a one-inch body tube means that it can sit lower to the action, is lighter and is far easier to mount on certain air rifles. The 11-layer, fully multi-coated lenses give a very bright and well-defined image right to the very edges of the sight picture and another bonus is although some may feel this quite a lengthy optic, in use this translates to a good length of body tube for both scope mounting and for adding an additional accessory, such as a light and/or laser. Yet another major plus point is that once you adjust the ocular for your particular eyesight, the reticle image is crisp and sharp in the sight picture; ‘lit up’ in either colour, there’s no blurring or distortion and is so well-defined and controllable, it’ll suit both day and night use.

  • Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR - image {image:count}

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  • Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Hawke 4-16x50 AO Vantage IR - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

gun
features

  • Model: Hawke Sports Optics 4-16 X 50 AO Vantage IR
  • Magnification: 4-16x
  • Objective: 50mm
  • Body: one-inch
  • Reticle: Mil-Dot
  • Length: 15.3-inches
  • Weight: 21.9oz
  • FOV ft. @ 100-yards: 23.6-6.2
  • Click values: ¼-inch MOA
  • Clicks per turn: 60 Full rotations
  • Windage & Elevation: 5
  • Price: SRP£139.99
  • Contact: Hawke Sports Optics, www.hawkeoptics.co.uk
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