Leapers is best known for the UTG brand of high-quality accessories and budget tier optics (my UTG Bugbuster is not awesome but for the price, one of my favorite scopes). Last year I was introduced to their Integrix brand made with German and Japanese glass and sporting premium features. They released their LPVO but delayed the launch of their PRS/ELR targeted scopes until now.
On Industry Range Day, I was surprised to stumble upon a small UTG booth at the end of the firing line. There I ran into our old friend Kiyo who set me up at the bench with an Accuracy International precision rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum, the same rifle used by the Canadian sniper who scored the worlds farthest confirmed kill at 1.3 miles! Atop this rifle was Leapers new Integrix 4.5-27x56mm FFP scope.
Dealing with a 20-30mph crosswinds and intermittent rain and hail, I managed to get at least 1 solid hit on a gong over 900m downrange. The scope brought the target sharply in focus and the image was bright and clear from edge to edge. And I’m told all of Integrix scopes are tested to withstand the recoil of .338 Magnum rounds.
Theis new ELR scopes contain premium components and are expected to have a commensurate price with an MSRP over $1500. This year I hope Kiyo and Leapers comes through with a sample model that I can test and review at the range.
Hawke Optics is the UK’s biggest maker of airgun and hunting scopes. With the popularity of LPVO (Low Power Variable Optics) in the AR and sporting rifle market, Hawke has expanded their scope lineup with 3 new LPVOs. You have 4 different reticle options, including their new Fiberdot LPVO utilizes a fiber optic illuminator. It claims to be truly daylight bright with a super fine pinpoint for precision shooters. The Vantage Fiberdot scopes are due to be available in Q2 or Q3.
Riton is an Arizona based optics company founded by an Army veteran and Law Enforcement Officer. In honor of their 10th Anniversary, they debuted a revamp of the design of all of their rifle scopes at SHOT Show 2023. I met with Jerimiah Alexander their head of Product Design who walked me through his work.
While a product “facelift” may sound superficial, I thought they were smart design choices which improved usability and ergonomics. I was one of those guys who at first blush thought Riton scopes didn’t have an ocular fast focus because it was completely smooth and flush to the tube; so the knurling is a 100% improvement.
They also introduced a refined Christmas Tree reticle to their 5 and 7 series. The thicker line weight and distance the T-cross makes it more usable at low magnifications to for hunters wanting to get a snap shot. Also notable is the switch to Warne, who make excellent QD mounts.
Last year, Riton dropped the ball in sending me scopes to review. But Jerimiah assures me they won’t make the same mistake this year. I hope he’s right.
Hawke is one of the top hunting optics makers in the United Kingdom and the largest maker of precision airgun optics in the world. But chances are, unless you shoot competitive or hunting airguns in the U.S., you’ve never heard of Hawke scopes. You should.
I meet the folks at Hawke at Shot Show this year and they showed me some of their newest products. The Sidewinder caught my eye because it had an unusual temperature gauge like window in the elevation turret, to indicate how many revolutions you turned. I wanted to get my hands on one to test at the range and Hawke was kind enough to send me a Sidewinder 30 6-24×56 FFP model.
The box had a clean, white design indicative of in high end European brands. Inside was a scope, sun shade, parallax focus wheel, throw leaver, cleaning cloth, allen wrench, and instruction book. The scope came with a modern update of old-school see-through caps, kept in place with an elastic band.
On close inspection the scope was of excellent build. The 30 in the name denotes the tube dimension which offers it a wider range of reticle adjustments from their older 1″ tube designs. My first impression was that the scope felt light and its stated weight of 27.3oz is approx 6oz lighter than my Athlon Helos Gen2. The tube has a smooth matte black finish and all the nobs and turning surfaces are well checkered and treaded to aid in manipulation for wet or gloved fingers.
The parallax focus and ocular fast focus turned smoothly. The parallax ranges from 10yrds to infinity. The eyepiece ocular/reticle focus has locking ring, an uncommon feature nowadays but a welcome one for hunters.
It’s most striking feature, and which originally caught my eye, is the elevation turret. At the base of the turret there is a witness window showing a red-on-white gauge numbered 0-4, which rises or falls with the turn of the turret cap. The turret clicks are clearly audible and tactile positive. Both turrets are locking, with a pull-to release allowing the cap to turn freely.
The elevation turret had a noticeable wobble when released. This concerned me enough to contact Hawke which suggested I send it back to have a Service Tech examine it. Hawke was a no-fault lifetime warranty, so this was done easily, with them sending me a mailing label to ship it back to them.
A few weeks later, I followed up and their Tech assured me that there was nothing wrong with my scope. The wobble is an unintended side effect to the unique design of the elevation turret. They shipped it back to me that same week.
I would like to note that the “wobble” did not effect the function of the scope in my testing. The windage turret, of a traditional design, had no wobble. Both turrets are resettable by unscrewing the cap.
The scope has an illumination dial on the parallax turret. The center third of the reticle illuminates red when activated. The dial has settings from 1-6 in intensity with an off-setting between the numbers. At its highest setting at 24x magnification, the reticle is bright enough for daylight use.
The reticle itself is exceptionally fine/thin to a fault. It is a cruciform, Christmas-tree style with MIL sub-tensions. At 6x it floats in the center of the field of view without touching the edges. As a First Focal Plane (FFP) reticle, it thickens up considerably at 24x to a weight more typical of a SFP reticle.
This reticle may appeal more to target shooters rather than hunters? At 6x it is so thin as to be easily lost in heavy foliage. Then again, some hunters may want a clearer field of view when wide scanning at 6x.
Most MIL or MOA target reticles (especially Christmas-tree style) have a few reference numbers along the reticle sub-tensions to indicated MOA or MIL radiant from center. The Hawke Sidewinder lacks any numbers or letters and is as naked as a duplex reticle. This has the advantage of offering the user a much less cluttered sight picture even for a Christmas-tree reticle but with the added challenge of carefully reading their user manual and remembering the size and distance each sub-tension mark.
As a primarily Precision competition shooter, this thin and simplified reticle very much works for me. The Christmas-Tree employs mini cross-hairs instead of dots to denote its holdover positions which makes shooting at paper much easier. But for an ELR or NRL22 shooter, you’ll have to devise your own cheat sheet and get very used to remembering and counting your marks.
The scope has a generous 4″ and the eyebox was better than most even at 24x. Looking at my reference targets at 24x at 100yrds, there were noticeable chromatic aberration but the image was evenly sharp from center to edge. The image was bright, though slightly warm in tinge and lacked a bit of contrast compared with Vortex and Leupold scopes I’ve tested.
Where this scope shines is in sharpness and resolution. You can easily make out .22 caliber holes on paper at 100yrds. On the USAF-51 optical resolution chart, I could make out the Element 1 / Group 0 element bars with my naked eye (my phone camera could only make out Element 6 / Group -1). This puts it on par with a comparably priced Leupold Mark 3HD and almost as sharp as much more expensive Leupold Mark 5HD.
This Pinty scope is the epitome of Tacticool tropes, featuring a decent 4-12×50 rifle scope but tacking on both a full-sized reflex sight and a green laser designator to create a top-heavy scope/optics package. This is an example of the whole being less than the sum of its parts. Any one of these three accessories would be fine on its own but together it is ridiculously unnecessary.
Still, if you buy the package you can detach and use each part separately for good effect. The scope isn’t bad optically; well not great. It held zero with a .22. Will it hold zero on a .308? Who knows, but would you expect it to?
A big shortcoming about the scope is when you attach the reflex sight, you can’t read the elevation knob. And the reticles is the generic Chinese “range finder” that was common in the 70’s and 80’s for buck hunting but that never adequately explains how you use it to determine the range to your target for other applications.
Purchased separately the various pieces would cost more than buying this package. Is it a “bargain” well… my daughter won this in a fun match so yes, I guess it was since it only cost $10 for her to enter the match. Your milage may vary. This scope is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/30k8GdE
Riton lent me one of their X1 Primal 4-16×44 rifle scopes to review. The X1 Primal is an intro level 1 scope in their product line. It is one of the least expensive 16x zooming premium scopes on the market; a good value in a hunting scope. Its unique RUT reticle features a semi-open central dot which I found well suited for long-range target shooting with a 22LR as it allows for clear visibility of small bullseyes.
If it does have a fault, it is the quality of the image at 16x magnification. The scope loses a lot of sharpness and contrast at full magnification. Worst yet, its eye box gets very small making it almost unusable for hunting at 16x, when targets of opportunity are mobile and require rapid change of aim. Still, it’s a quality scope at under $200, where its competition only boasts 9x or 12x power.