Best sub £400 dialling scopes 

Finally someone who knows what is what and is honest

Wow, thank you so much for continuing with yet another great video. Particularly helpful for us newbies with slim wallets this time around.

Thanks for the info, recently back into shooting and I really appreciate the direct details of spec and cutting through the baggage / gimmicks. Cheers. Hope to see more of you.

Good video Richard. I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate it. Great to see products that more people can afford. Great effort!

On the strength of your review I bought the Optisan here in Australia and was a little disappointed with the focus. I contacted their support and in under a week the Australian agent had a new scope at my door and it is perfect!! Thank you very much for your review. I love this scope. My Sightron SIII is three times the price and the Optisan gives it a run for it's money. (Local Aus prices)

Thank you sir for a great review. Feel VERY good about the Hawke I just ordered....

Brilliant :) great to finally see the face of the person who put me onto my absolutely awesome Delta. Lovely comparison!

enjoy that brew you have definitely earned it. and thank you. I respect your opinion and appreciate the time spent.

Richard thank you for so many great reviews.

I have just bought the optisan ffp 2nd hand for £200! Excellent scope, crosshairs is superb at all mags

Thanks for all your hard work. I have shot with low end scopes for years. I want to scale back to one or two good rifles with great scopes you have done all the home work for me and the rest. Thank you great videos.

Very informative ...great review and dare I say educating...well for me . Thankyou Richard.

Many thanks for great video! I am just searching for optics for my Weihrauch 97 and this video helped me a lot. Although there were some claims regarding Hawke Sidewinder sold here, I think I will I will go for it.

Another insightful and really useful review.... great job!

Hello sir, good comparisson, I wanted the optisan myself, it had everything i wanted, first focal, mils with mils reticle, unfortunateely once mounted the turrets didn’t want to click as smooth anymore, like the mounts put some pressure on the mechanisme, brough it back to the store where they tested it themselves, pretty sure I did not overtighten the mounts, they even tried the with the 4-16 version and it showed the same problem. I always use the same brand of mounts Recknagel, never had a problem with them.

A pleasure to have you back! Quick question: are you testing the V6 with the dial turrets, or regular capped? Would be interesting to see how it does compared to the V8/x5 test

Great video Richard as always, if it’s a budget scope to dial with on say a Rimfire take a look at the sidewinder 10 x 42 the fixed power is just that bit sharper than the variable and even cheaper I have had one for years on my 17 hmr I use Zeiss sightron and meopta on my center fires but can’t fault the hawke after 7 years of abuse ha!

must agree with your comments re Hawk scopes. you forgot to add they come with a lifetime warranty which Hawk do stand by. I have been using Hawks for some time.

Yes I agree, someone ow nows what there talking about, great video,going to be looking at the hawk and optisan, it's only for me air rifle.lol

As usual Richard another flawless vid to help people make decisions with class info unlike others

Hi Richard great video mate. What's your opinion about Element Optics Heliks 6-24x50?

Thanks Ricky, I'm waiting on a sidewinder arriving and was originally going for the mtc

Interesting report Richard. You are fortunate in being able to review a top range of kit.I use the HAWKE range which are pretty good. The Nikko Stirling I have in 4-16 x 44 seems an excellent scope and perhaps does not suffer like the higher mag' 50mm Optics. In FFP with a Nato type ret' I do feel is excellent for the money . All markings are in MILS but then the focus is in Yards. Perhaps for the American market ? Glad you have at least evaluated the lower price range for the average Joe Bloggs at shorter ranges.

About two years ago I bought a Weihrauch HW80 air rifle for my nephew. It had (removable) open sights but since he wanted to have a scope mounted on it, I decided to throw in a couple of hundred extra euro’s for a scope. Surely I wasn’t going to buy a Vixen or a Meopta (my preferred brands)so I had a look at the scopes in the shop and the Nikko Stirling seemed to have the most decent glass for the buck...so, I went for one of those. When I was zeroing the setup I already started to suspect that the scope was a bit fishy in regards to alignement and reliability. After a few dozens of shots the rifle was shooting spot on reliably...and kept doing so for about 3 weeks, than the scope was broken. Got another one under warranty....same story. In the end I got my money back and I bought a Hawke Airmax....that scope is still holding (although I have to say the rifle got a nice Maccari-tuning wich makes it considerably much more smoother to shoot) but every time I have a look through it... I just can’t shake the feeling that these scopes are a waste of money... once you had a look through decent glass, there is no way back.

Hi Richard, I'm curious to now your views on First Focal Plane to Second Focal Plane, which would you say is best?

nice review have you had a look at the element nexus and is it worth the 1300 price tag

Rare footage of the moors monster doing face to camera....priceless !!

Hawke Varmint sf (discontinued model) works well for me. Been dialing up to 35 moa and returns to zero spot on. If I remember rightly the Hawke was just over £100 about 5 year ago.

Interesting that both of those pass muster, having used both I would have to agree though i prefer the FFP Optisan. I hope in the near future Hawke get into the FFP market as they really are producing some lovely scopes these days. I would love to see you review some of the bottom end FFP scopes too for those of us who feel SFP is a waste of mental effort!

I made the mistake once of buying one of those Nikko scopes. Just as you described it was diabolical at any mag. My current search for my next scope which will also be suitable for use with night vision add on is pushing me towards Optisan or Sightron S-tac. I would prefer an FFP over an SFP just have to see how far the pennies go.

how bout doing a uttings run down of the element optics,as u say it as is & give good detail of good & bad👍

Wow. Excellent explanations. Thank you. novice shooter here

Finally someone to tell me about my biggest pet hate, and as a beginner Ive watched a dozen videos and still didn’t even know the term... a fussy eye box. Drives me up the wall.

I respect your honesty..👍

Good review. Here in the USA we don't know what 400 pounds is in the USA unless we Google it lol. Try Arken scope review. It's from $350 to $600 in USD. I think you will be very impressed!

Good job Richard .

Is that the Hawke, Airmax, Sidewinder, Frontier or Vantage?

Very informative video, it's opened my eyes.... 👍

I would like to know what you think about the SWFA super sniper scopes? When you get time to look in to them I like your reviews very detail I've learned a lot from you thanks you doing a great job

I have a question regarding the Swarovski X5 and X5i 5-25x56 scopes. I had recently purchased and received a X5 5-25x56 rifle scope. While mounting the scope to my rifle I noticed that the crosshairs and the top of the elevation turret were not level with each other. Upon further investigation I noticed that the crosshairs were level with the flat surface on the bottom of the scope, but the elevation turret was not level with either the crosshairs or the flat surface on the bottom of the scope. I did some research online which suggested that if the elevation turret is not level with the crosshairs, it can have a bad effect when dialing the scope for long range shots. Not satisfied with the scope and thinking it was a fault from factory, I sent it back to the dealer to receive another scope. After a week I was sent another scope which was the X5i 5-25x56. Straight away, while mounting the new X5i to my rifle I noticed it had the exact same problem as the previous X5 that I had sent back to the dealer, which was the elevation turret was not level with the bottom of the scope or the crosshairs. So my question is, is this just the way these scopes are designed and put together? Or have I received two different scopes with the same fault from factory?

Hello Richard. I am very interested in the Hawke Frontier 2.5-15x50 LRDot . I will use it as a overall hunting scope that will cover 400m bipod-shots down to 40m semi fast driven shots . That I wonder is about the LrDot Reticle ? If it's usable at 40m or if its to tiny ...? Can you pleas do a review on that scope and film the reticle, and also ofcourse your thinking of the new lock-stop-turrets on the Frontier .

Hi which model Hawke scope is it ?

Thank you for the review's They are flawless......

Great scope review, nice to see something suitable for those of us on a budget. But what’s with the Pot Noodle? :-)

This is great, I am trying to get a rifle that will shoot 1000 yds that you can shoot deer with too. The scope is so important but wading through the volume of info out there is impossible. Having this is a great way to know where to start looking.

Thanks Richard, at the other end of the scale have you had any experience of the new PM11 ultra brights yet?

Great video and a good web site. What do you think if the Hawke ED 10x50x60. I am tempted it seems good value for money I've got Airmax 8-32x50 just need something with a bigger Mag

I was really hoping you would mention the SWFA SS scopes. I haven't had the chance to look through one yet but the specs seem really juicy. 120 minutes of elavation and windage, matching mil turrets to a really nice looking mil ret, well built and optics warehouse has them for £395. For one who is willing to make the compromise of a fixed power scope I was hoping you could get around to testing them and giving some input on the glass quality and how they stack up against other scopes in that price range. I'm seriously considering getting the 12x because i feel that the FOV on the 20x might not be so good and I'm still not sure about the glass quality. Thx for the great vids keep it up.

Hi Richard, great vid. I am just about to invest in a Zeiss V6 and would be very interested to see your review comparing it to the GPO thats in this vid. Any updates as to when this will be ready to post?

Good review, it would be interesting to hear how they compare with Athlon Argos 6-24X50 BTR

No swfa fixed?? Best budget scopes by a mile

Which hawke scope is that, they have various 6x24, had a look at the northern shooting show, think it is probably a sidewinder, but just wanted to check. Had a look at the optisan as well, build quality seems just a bit better on the Hawke, but as they we demo models probably not a good indication.

I have a hawke vantage ir 4-12x50 its glass is flawless for the price bracket but the only let down is the turrets there are no numbers besides 0 but the turrets very repeatable

Wish I watched this video before I ordered my mtc viper pro 5 to 30 scope , at full zoom with infinity parallax adjustment it's so fuzzy it's not good where as my Hawke 3 to 16 is far more sharp and bristle clear

Nice video Richard, very helpful. Would you swap a Zeizz Duralyt 3-12 for the Optizan / either on your rifle?

Have you had a chance to check out the new ATN X-sight 4K yet? It looks like it has been improved a lot.

Richard, I see a lot of reviews for the Optisan on air rifles, will these optics stand the recoil from a .308 Win? looking to mount on a Tikka M595 Master Sporter that has sitting in my safe. I purchased in 1998 for target shooting, looking for something I can Elk hunt with that wont break the bank.

Would you go for the 6-24x56 in sfp or the 6-24x50 in ffp for the Optisan? It’s for use on rimfire an with the pard nv007 add on night vision? So basically which is best, a 56mm objective over the 50mm or the ffp over the sfp? Cheers

What's your thoughts on the hawke 4-16-50 ffp? Just ordered one and it was between the one your reviewing here and the one I've mentioned. It's for my sub 12ft/lb air rifle. Thanks.

Thanks for the videos... one of my favorite channels! but what about the SWFA fixed power scopes for 300 usd??

How about the sightron s-tac 4-20x50 for this price range. The review of the s-tac 2.5-17x56ir was great and seems like a very fine scope but how does the 3-16 and 4-20 hold up for half the price.

Richard what's the best low light rifle scope in your opinion? Is the Docter 7x56 still in the top tier these days? Thanks

Iv had problems with the hawk .and iv noticed my optisan 4-16×44ffp reticle leans in the direction you zoom ???? .. uttings have got it back .

Are the Hawke and Optisan First Focal Plane ? Im looking for something under £400 for a FAC .25 air rifle. I like the Optisan here but getting a good reticle is also important if and when using hold over etc. but I would also like to have the option of a turret adjustment and windage adjustment rather than zero the scope and then relying on hold overs. Any thoughts or have you came across the Athlon Argos BTR 8-34×56 FFP Illuminated scope 30mm tube? Also what model was the Hawke you reviewed here. Thanks for your comments in advance.

great vid as all ways Richard

Richard, have you encountered the budget SWFA fixed mag scopes?

Absolutely excellent!

Hi Richard, Informative video as always, If I remember the Theoben AMT has a Douglas match barrel fitted iirc . Yours has the rarer fluted barrel option.Try rws subs through it Regards Neil

Optisan make the MTC scopes and it's a shame to hear the MTC did so badly. I have a MTC Viper 4-16 x50 irs with the scb reticle and it's well worth the money. Only trouble is the windage adjuster is insanely stiff but hopefully over time will become looser.

This is the first time I have seen the man behind the camera. Very good review.

Would you choose an optisan ir the or the cortex diamondback tactical in ffp?

How do you rate the sightron s-tac 4-20×50 against the meopta meopro zd 6-18 any reply much appreciated

What’s the best low light scope you have tested? Docter 8x56 still hold up to today’s best tactical scopes?

What's your thoughts on the original bushnell legend ?

I dont know if i missed it but what model is the hawke and optisan?

Richard, did you get a chance to take a look at the Athlon Argos BTR 6-24x50? I'm not sure what that costs there in the UK.

What about the Aztec scopes?

Hi. Is that the sidewinder ?

Test a primary arms... They are supposed to be very high quality, even the $250 range.

Great video!

Bought a Hawke 8.5 -25x42 scope few months ago, everything fine until the illuminated reticule gave up (not the battery) so sent it back for a replacement. Replacement scope had what I would call a clear residue around the crosshair which was very off putting, so that went back for another replacement. Third replacement scope (made them check this scope before sending ) all well for about 4 weeks and the illuminated reticule packed up (again not the battery at fault as tested with new battery each time) so ended up sending it back for a full refund. Got in touch with Hawke who told me I had been extremely unlucky in having 3 faulty scopes as they sell thousands and very few are returned, they even offered me a 30% (if I remember correctly) discount on any Hawke product which would have saved me £100+ on another 8.5-25x42 scope but by this time I had lost faith in this companies product. I'm now seriously looking at buying the Optisan 6-24x50 F1 FHM24 reticule. A first focal plane scope with true mil dot reticule (no MOA) they also do a 6-24x50i (illuminated) but in the second focal plane. I'm not knocking Hawke scopes, I'm just passing on my unlucky experience with this company.

What is the full Name of the Hawke? and it is MIL?

How many RPA rifles do you own, looks like a few?

awesome as usual dude.

what do you think of the new Hawke 10x50x60

Zero stop elevation has become a major factor in my scope choices.

Can you do some FFP scopes like Falcon Cheap scope and not to bad

Spend another 100 or so and get a Vortex HST and will have a resale value, who buys second hand Hawke Small amount for a scope 10x better, just sayin

What about Swfa?

Did you look at a Falcon optics m18+ by any chance?

Honestly everything I've seen in this price range that is worth anything is fixed power only. Good video though

Falcon m18+?

Cheers Too Good

Tried Arken Richard

Any ATHLON tests coming?