So there I was, meeting some close family of my soon-to-be wife. As you will find in the south, this can often involve shooting and plinking, especially when men meet men. Not only that, but her family is an Army family, and I’m a Marine. There was a lot of the line, and a little AR 500 target sat 100 yards downrange held the key to making an excellent first impression. They had a small collection of ARs in various calibers topped with LPVOs. I brought my BRN 180 build topped with a Swampfox Trihawk.
This target was tiny, and the men had struggled to hit it throughout the day. They assumed various kneeling positions, supported positions, and the like. I decided to take my turn and didn’t get too fancy. I stood, shouldered my rifle, and let out my breath. I was looking at a shiny piece of metal, and the Trihawk got me a little closer with its 3X magnification. I positioned that little chevron on the plate and gently pulled the trigger.
DING! The target spun around its frame, and I scored the first hit of the day. I was pretty pleased with myself, and the impression was made. Now what occurred wasn’t my great and mighty skill with a rifle because I’m average at best. What did happen was a combination of sound fundamentals, a little bit of luck, and damn fine equipment.
Seeing Three with the Trihawk
Swampfox is a company that seemingly just appeared one day and then exploded into the mainstream. Swampfox produces a wide variety of optics, from simple red dots to 1-10X LPVOs and even more. I’m a fan of prism-style optics with their fixed magnification and small footprints. The Trihawk is one of two prisms and packs a three-powered fixed magnification.
The Trihawk comes with an MOA or BDC-style reticle and is illuminated with either red or green illumination. Shooters have ten brightness levels, including two-night vision modes. Battery life tops out at 3,000 hours and gets nice and bright.
As a bullet drop compensating model, you can pair the scope to your standard 5.56 carbine and quickly drop rounds at various ranges. With the MOA model, you can pair the optic to any caliber or barrel length and learn your ‘dope’ to learn your bullet drop at various ranges dependent on caliber.
The reticle is somewhat complicated but very useful. You can compensate for windage and elevation on the fly. This makes it easy out to the far reaches of 5.56 power or whatever else you might be shooting downrange.
At first glance, the Trihawk seems awfully chunky and rather large. It is more significant than most prisms, especially when you compare it to the Vortex or Primary Arms Micro Prisms. It’s 4.55 x 2.28 x 3.43 inches long, wide, and tall. At 15.4 ounces, it’s not all that heavy for its size.
Why so big? Well, it’s that big to give a massive field of view. Steiner used to be the industry leader, but Swampfox has blown them out of the water with the Trihawk. The Trihawk offers you a 52-foot field of view out to 100 yards.
Looking Downrange
That big field of view provides you with the best situational awareness you can get from a magnified optic. It’s huge, and huge is good. Being able to see more is always better than seeing less. The Trihawk also provides a very clear view through the lens that seems deceptively good when you consider the optic’s price point.
I could very clearly see that bright shiny target, regardless of how small it was. That little plate ate that 5.56 round because I could see it, and the tiny chevron reticle is finely tuned and make it easy to locate and place onto the target. At these moderate ranges, the Trihawk’s reticle shines and does so well.
At close range, it’s still completely useable. Above that chevron sits an illuminated three-quarter circle that’s also illuminated. At close range, that big circle makes getting on target quickly quite easy. A two-eyed open shooting method allows you to focus with your left on the target, and the reticle will superimpose itself onto your vision.
This makes it quite easy to hit targets at a variety of distances. This could be five to twenty-five yards. The etched reticle is complicated and provides plenty of hash marks for the ballistic drop. At close range, this ballistic drop compensating reticle also acts as a means to compensate for height over bore at close range. If you have to take a precise shot at close range, then this drop compensator is super handy.
Glass Etched Awesomeness
As an etched glass reticle, you don’t have to worry about the batteries or electronics failing. If they do, you still have a very useable reticle even without the illumination. That illumination is bright and can be seen in the daylight but don’t expect red dot levels of brightness. It’s just bright enough to work at high noon.
It is bright enough to use the Bindon aiming concept, which makes tracking targets and swapping focus between each eye easy to do. The wide field of view also drastically helps with tracking moving targets while focusing with your dominant eye.
The Swampfox Trihawk is perfect for a variety of tasks. It can be a tactical optic, a hunting optic, or something that helps you show off to your in-laws. Swampfox built it to last with an IPX7 rating and the ability to resist 800Gs of recoil.
That Wiley Fox
The Swampfox Trihawk has an MSRP of $329, and it’s tough to beat at this price point. The Trihawk does everything a Prism should do without a crazy high price point. (coughACOGcough.) Sure, it’s a bit big, but the tradeoff is a nice wide field of view. On top of that, the exit pupil is wide and allows you to have a rather nice and bright sight picture. It’s tough to beat and if you’re interested, check out Swampfox here.
Did I Miss the Eye relief on this? It’s set all the way back on the Pic Rail.