Hawke Scope - Out of Zero - How it works and how to fix it

Hello all,

A couple weeks ago, I had an issue with my Hawke Vantage 4-16x50 scope. I was trying to find out how much adjustment I still had on my turrets, so I adjusted it all the way down, and as you get to the bottom, you can feel that you are torqueing something down inside the scope, and then the windage adjustment got numb. It turns out that Hawke actually recommends that you turn the turrets all the way UP to find the end. The reason why is that you are tightening the screw down on the erector tube. Here is a diagram of how it works:
ErectorTubeCrossSection.jpg


Here is the page on Hawke's site where that diagram can be found.

Finally, the response that I got from Ben at Hawke gives a brief little "rule of thumb" to get you started. Here is what he said:
"You should be able to get the reticle reset to center, then re-zero with no issues. When you adjust all the way the end of the adjustment range in some direction, you'll start restricting movement along the opposite axis (we have an article at the link below with some diagrams that may help explain that). Also, trying to count clicks can actually get you a little farther off track than you might think, so again just resetting the reticle to center should be all you need to get back on track.

To reset the reticle, first simply adjust both windage and elevation turrets counter-clockwise until they stop. Then adjust both turrets clockwise 3-1/2 full rotations. This will ensure the reticle is positioned in the normal operating range and relatively close to center. Once you've done that, you can reference the article at the link below again and perform the further, more precise procedure to reset to optical center, involving a set of 'v-blocks' (or from resting loose in the bottom half of your ring mounts)."


The link he was referring to is above.

My take away here is that you want to adjust the turret all the way up, and bring it down, rather than the other way around.

Anyway, hopefully this will help someone if they have the same problem that I did.

Cheers!

Jonathan
 
This isn't that much different, really. It says to start by rotating them both CCW, which is the same as mine. Why yours says to then crank the windage the opposite direction is beyond me. On my scope 60 clicks (or 15MOA) is a full rotation, and it is rated for 80MOA of adjustment. According to your instructions, half of that is 40MOA, or 160 clicks. This would be 2.67 rotations where my e-mail said 3.5. I think that the guy who answered me just gave me a rule of thumb, and when doing the "spin" test, I did have to bring it back up to get to the natural zero.

So, @Sanctify7 , if you disregard the part about cranking the windage turret back and forth, I believe that these are pretty much the same. Agreed?
 
Bottoming out the adjustments is always bad as described because it does not usually have a hard stop and it crushes the erector tube spring.
I found it simpler to use the mirror method on my scopes to set optical center. I've checked new out of the box scopes with the mirror and so far it has always matched the delivered optical center. It's very very close to the v-block method as well. Yes if the objective bell isn't square with the lens it can shift the center but I haven't encountered that yet.

I frequently have to adjust Weihrauch barrels for droop and drift so I need to use good rings and centered scopes to do that. As a side note scopes last longer and hold zero better when run as close to optical center as possible. Especially on springers
 
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This isn't that much different, really. It says to start by rotating them both CCW, which is the same as mine. Why yours says to then crank the windage the opposite direction is beyond me. On my scope 60 clicks (or 15MOA) is a full rotation, and it is rated for 80MOA of adjustment. According to your instructions, half of that is 40MOA, or 160 clicks. This would be 2.67 rotations where my e-mail said 3.5. I think that the guy who answered me just gave me a rule of thumb, and when doing the "spin" test, I did have to bring it back up to get to the natural zero.

So, @Sanctify7 , if you disregard the part about cranking the windage turret back and forth, I believe that these are pretty much the same. Agreed?
I honestly am not sure, StreeterHawk. Steps 2 and 4 make a big difference, I think.
And to the comment by Mycapt65, it seems to me the Hawke manual implies that you must count clicks. No? Once one applies steps 2 and 4, how else would one get to the 'middle'? Now I admit, I am as raw as they come regarding these matters. I do recall following the Hawke manual and realizing that over turning once the range is maxed was a call on my part. That's why Hawke says to not overtighten. I hope I recognized in time that when traveling the distance clockwise (correct?) there is no hard stop. This must be what HS means by 'crushing' the erector tube. Bear in mind that the Hawke manual advised to max the travel out with the elevation turret and not just the windage: Number 5, "Repeat steps 2 and 4 with the elevation turret."
One thing this after-the-fact conversation did for me was to make me aware of the differences between going counter-clockwise and clockwise; the former has a hard stop/wall and the latter does not. Correct? In any event, I am now alert to things I did not fully know about when I did this. I will be ever so careful in future zeroings.
For the record, I believe Element Optics told me to do essentially the same thing for my Helix as my Hawke manual did. They said to remove the zero stop first, however, which I did, and the problems I was having with zeroing that scope vanished. I went from being about 7 inches high for my first shot to just over one inch high. Again, I am very new to this stuff.
Thanks. S7
 
Mirror method for me always. I’ve found every brand new scope out of the box was never perfectly centered using the mirror method. At least up to 12 clicks off, which isn’t a big deal.

Using the illuminated reticle function makes the mirror method quick to center up a scope. The UTG’s with the mitered objective ends, well, those don’t work with the mirror method so I have to count clicks
 
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