Product Reviews

Want a scope that can set-up for your 6.5 Creedmoor handload at 2718 fps with a Berger 140 Hybrid and a G7 B.C. of 0.3110?

Click here for the FREE SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS for these scopes! Simply input the ballistic profile of your load into the Hawke Ballistic Reticle Calculator software (Mac, PC, Android and IPhone) or the even more flexible Hawke X-Act (PC, Mac) software and all the aim points are calculated. The reticles have such useful features as hollow posts that don't obscure targets, range finding brackets, illuminated central aim points and hold over aim points with windage bars and dots. There's a reticle for everyone!

Every so often it is said a blind squirrel finds a really nice nut. Even a Stocky one.

It will come as no surprise to those with whom I shoot that I'm a serial scope switcher. I've just always had a thing for them.

Maybe they already know, but dammit, I'm finally admitting it. But while I'm at it I'd also like to confess that, at least up to this point in my 50-plus year shooting career I have been a scope snob. (I believe the two may go hand-in-hand but I can't be sure.)

Now, a serial scope-switcher you can most likely understand if not identify with. I mean there's a number of uses for various rifles, especially the ones we call "pets." We put them to use at one point hunting pigs from a stand in the Carolinas, then turn right around and haul them to Wyoming for a 685 yard poke at a prairie goat. Which such varied usage it's rare to find one set of telescopic optics that'll find a permanent home on such a rig.

Anyway, back when I was a more normal person - it was also a time so long ago that there wasn't nearly as much selection available, and rarely enough money, so the usual operating procedure was to pick one of the new variable power riflescopes in one of four basic power ranges; 1-4X; 2-7X; 3-9X or 4-12X. If we were really feeling intrepid or owned a 22-250 or Swift, there might even be a 6-18X with an adjustable objective in our collection at some point.

My how times have changed.

As one might expect of one being a gun-nut for so long, I've accumulated a lot of really nice (and some not-so-nice) glass over the years. We're talking Swarovski, Zeiss, Nightforce, Leupold VX-3's and 6's, 30mm tubes and one-inchers, including  lots of Bushnell's, Tasco's, Weaver's, and on and on and on.

That's where my snobbery erupts for all to view. When all those Chinese scopes began hitting the market 20 or so years ago I wanted no part of them. I would have nothing to do with a Tasco after I had one on a 10/22 fail miserably, so I lumped everything together and roundly dismissed the whole mess of them.

In the later years rarely could I be seen with anything other than one of the commonly-accepted optical brands, up until a year ago that is. That's when I found myself staring right down the tube of a Hawke, wondering why it was such a well-kept secret.

To say I was impressed would be an understatement. When I found myself reading their reviews online, I knew I had either lost the marbles altogether, or just maybe I was on to something... inspiration!

I've hunted with a Hawke or two for 13 months now, and taken everything from whitetail, through African game (including a cape buffalo) while peering through a Hawke. Yeah, the glass is bright and clear, the adjustments repeatable and reliable (I keep using them when I switch loads) but the real source of my glee is in the form of the aiming point, more precisely the series of aiming points we call a ballistic reticle. .17 M2 / HMR, .22 LR / SUBSONIC or Magnum, .308 / .223 (and any cartridge for that matter) reticles, you name it.

Hawke's are among the best, no-brain, easy to use I've ever found. Especially when you plug your loads into their X-Act or BRC software, both free downloads.

They have reticles for everything from crossbows, air rifles and rimfires, all the way through programmable 1000 yard reticles for the most demanding hunter or target shooter. Sure, if you can afford one of the scopes on the market for literally 5 or 10 times the price of the comparable Hawke or more, go for it! But if you want a solid value in optics suitable for the most demanding conditions, give Hawke a go.

We now have them in stock. All of them. In the unlikely event we happened to sell out of the exact one you want, it only takes us a week at most to get you another one.  All at prices that won't put a serial scope switcher or any other kind of gun nut into the poorhouse...

The origins of the current crop of vertical grip riflestocks can be traced past the AR-15 all the way back to John Browning's .45 Auto.

John Browning designed 1911 .45 ACP so that the grip would naturally be at the angle from the barrel that most American soldiers would use to throw a punch. This was an evolutionary development from the earliest handguns that were assembled with stocks with far more rearward rake. The same may be said of American long arms, early black powder rifles had little or no pistol grip, indeed a straight hand gripping area that required some rather interesting contortions of the wrist for a modern gunner to even shoot.

Over the course of the past 100 years this has evolved. No longer must the shooter contort his structure to the rifle, the rifle has been sometimes radically redesigned to fit the shooter. Although some shooters required more convincing than others, nowhere has this become more evident than in the design of the modern AR-15 rifle as well as long range sniper rifles developed following the Vietnam war. As with many new firearm developments, the US Military has led the way, eventually with the rest of the country's hunters and shooters in tow.

This trend in vertical grip bolt action rifle stocks is now gaining momentum. Nearly every stock designer is incorporating a more vertical grip into their designs, for good reason. Not only is the vertical gripped rifle more comfortable to shoot, but it also comes to the shoulder more naturally, settles on to the target more quickly, offers greater trigger control and faster recovery from recoil for follow-up shots. Even though it sometimes takes an older shooter a little time to "get used to" it is time well spent, lets take a few moments to look at what you may have been missing...

Tactical Stocks

As mentioned above, American military as well as police are often leading the world in the use of new and improved firearm designs. Here's a few examples, all available at Stocky's webstore:

Bell & Carlson 2092 Series

The Vertical Grip Varmint / Tactical stock (fits Savage 10, Howa 1500, Remington 700) was the first model introduced by Bell & Carlson to address the need for a reasonably-priced stock of this design. It remains one of the best selling models in today's market.

Bell & Carlson 2094 Series

For those requiring the full-adjustment of the comb and butt, Remington introduced this best-selling version of the vertical grip stock on their M700 Target / Tactical as well as Weatherby on their Mark V Tactical. It is also available as a drop-in stock from Stockys.

Bell & Carlson 2956 Series

For those desiring a more traditional appearing rifle stock on their 700 with the bells and whistles of a long-range tactical, the 2956 is an excellent choice. This is also the lightest stock in the bunch.

H-S Precision M24 Series Fixed

The H-S Precision M24 Series is available in both adjustable (below) as well as standard versions for Remington 700 and Winchester 70 actions. Experience proves it to be one of the easiest to shoot, most inherently accurate stocks on the planet if you like the proprietary palm swell.

H-S Precision M24 Series Adjustable

Available for the Savage 110, Winchester 70 as well as Remington 700 bolt rifles, the H-S Precision M24 Adjustable is possibly the single most popular stock for law enforcement agencies worldwide.

Coming Soon: Vertical Grip Varminters & Sporters