Hawke RD30 Red Dot Sight

Red dot sights are highly versatile and, whilst they rarely offer magnification of the target, the wide field of view and wide screen style of shooting makes for an exciting and wholly different experience from that of a conventional telescopic sight.

With flexible eye relief they also have none of the restrictions associated with sighting a target with a scope, either. Indeed, this Red Dot 30 could be mounted on rifles, shotguns, pistols or even bows for that matter, and it can really transform performance over conventional bead and notch ‘open sights’.

The technical blurb states that the optics are 25 layer multi-coated, which sounds impressive, and the image in use is certainly crisp and clear. It offers multiple brightness settings too, with the red dot able to illuminate to 11 different brightness levels via the large, clearly marked rheostat on top of the unit. The battery (BA7800- CR2032) can easily be replaced by unscrewing the top cap of that rheostat with a coin, incidentally.

Mounting the unit is fairly simple courtesy of the twin slotted bolts which clamp on the reverse side, against a single rail, which helps give extra grip where spring powered airguns are concerned, for example. My only slight gripe concerns the way the bottom of the rail doesn’t quite mate-up satisfactorily when faced with slightly wider rails. It comes specified as suitable for 9 - 11mm rails, however, and my reservation is more with the aesthetics of the set-up, I hasten to add, since performance couldn’t be faulted. Tightening of the integral mounts can be done with a coin too, inserted into the slot, which makes for simple operation.

Wide view

Viewing feels unique with this style of sight, and the dot appears floating in the centre of the screen, overlaying the target. Like a scope, the shot can be taken with both or just one eye open, and the large field of view that results, is impressive. Out in the field, that means being fully aware of what’s in the vicinity. Hawke specify the dot’s size as 5MOA, where MOA relates to Minute of Angle. One MOA equals 1-inch at 100 yards, so 5MOA effectively equates to 5-inches at 100 yards. This means the dot covers 1.25-inches at a more relevant 25 yards.

I mounted the Reddot 30 to a spring powered Hatsan Striker that I happened to have on the test day, and after drawing a suitable target where I could get as confident an aimpoint as possible, 5 shots (in three ragged holes) measuring just 3⁄4-inch at 25 yards proved the point. I remember being amazed last time I used a red dot sight, and this one didn’t disappoint! As always, keeping everything central (dot centralised within the circular screen) whilst aiming, must help consistency, to minimise parallax error, but in use, this red dot system seemed fairly forgiving for a less than perfect approach.

Sight for…

All things considered then, I was impressed. Waterproof, shockproof, and fogproof is fairly standard fodder for sighting equipment, but it all adds to the impressive spec and performance of this neat and lightweight little accessory. As mentioned, I was blown away with the accuracy potential, and at just £39.95 it won’t break the bank either. It’s a pint-sized device that’s actually highly effective for informal target use, and for the sheer fun factor alone, it will take some beating.

PRICE: £39.95 inc. lens cap
CONTACT: Deben Group Tel 01394 387762 www.hawkeoptics.com www.deben.com