Bushnell scopes any good?

Sorry, I am an iron sight guy so far with my AK, SKS, Mosins. I know for a good rifle you should spend as much on the glass as the rifle itself, problem is I don't have the $$ for that yet, and with the current trend won't for a while. I saw 2 series of Bushnell scopes, Banner and Trophy series. Both 3-9x40 if I recall. If I sell more stuff I will step up to a Nikon, but just got done a roof storm repair, then the van is going into the shop. The rifle it's going on is a Remington 700 ADL in .308. Nothing but paper punching right now. I thought the Bushnell brand was supposed to be okay, but like everything they may have everything made my other Chinese companies. Thanks for any insight. (I plan to upgrade as finances improve, this is a starter scope).

Bushnell is ok for a budget optic. They are sort of like Leupold. They have everything from low end to high end stuff. Bushnell's parent company Bausch and Lomb has made some outstanding scopes, good enough to be adopted by the Navy Seals on the M25 sniper rifle.

Their 6500 series is very good.

A lot of their product line is Chinese made.

I represent several scope companies in the industry. Bushnell is not one of them and I really don't know much about their stuff, so I will first add a disclaimer that I have no comment on their products and none of the following comments relate to them. As far as I know their stuff is pretty good. I had a Trophy red dot that I carried on the PD and I banged the hell out of it and it never lost zero.

What I have seen is it's not really so much that a particular scope is imported any more, most are. It's the amount of attention that the scope company pays to the factory, and the amount of money they pay as well. Chinese factories can do good work, but you have to ride them and also pay them reasonably for the products. In other words, when a scope company gets an offer from a Chinese factory to build their new XYZ scope for $50 a unit, the first response from the scope company should be "what more can you do for $55?" Just like anything, you get what you pay for.

Some scope companies do bottom minimum dollar on everything they have made for them. Some don't even do their own specs and just buy generic products branded with their name. I won't say who. But like I said, they get what they pay for, and so do you, the end-use customer.

I will say up front I do have a business relationship with this company. But in my honest opinion, the best dollar value out there in scopes right now is Konus. The glass is just unbelievably clear, I mean clear like brands that cost 3-4 times as much. This isn't just my opinion, this is what I've heard from hunting equipment dealers who know a lot more about scopes than I do. And the lifetime replacement warranty is one of the best in the industry. No fault, no questions, just send in a broken scope and get a new one back. Freestate is a Konus dealer and so is The Gun Bunker if you want to look at some.

Just my .02.

sailskidrive said:

Their 6500 series is very good.

A lot of their product line is Chinese made.

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Chinese made doesn't necessarily mean it's crap, contrary to popular belief.

For sure, there are many cheap/low quality Chinese made scopes out there. OTOH, there are many mid price range and even relatively budget priced Chinese produced scopes that are excellent values for the money IMO. This is one of those situations where you really have to do your homework, and thoroughly research the product you're interested in.

I have a Bushnell on my Remington 30-06 and after about a year of range shooting and hunting one of the optic lenses inside the scope came loose. I sent it back to Bushnell and within 2 weeks I had a brand new scope for a replacement. I only paid shipping one way. I was pretty happy with the scope to begin with by the clarity of optics and how it held my zero, so this was just icing on the cake. My scope was not a high-end model but in the 150-180 dollar range.

The 6500 series are really good scopes. The other Elite series are also good. The older ones were 3200 and 4200. The 4200 are nice scopes for the money. In the new elite series (they got rid of the 3200 and 4200 and went to just elite) some of the lower power side focus ones are made in China but the others are nice and made in Japan. The 3x9x40 for about $200 is a lot of scope.

I know there are a lot of scope snobs on here that wouldn't agree but Ive had fine results with cheap Bushnells... even some walmart center point scopes do pretty well.

TO SIREX
One way to get an idea about the quality of a scope, is to go to a big box place, for instance, like OPTICS PLANET, and maybe some others, and read the reviews. But, make sure there are like more than just 2-3 reviews, and read between the lines of some. I swear every once in awhile, I will read one and it sounds like a factory rep wrote it..hahahahahaha, but, if they have 20-30+ reviews, than that is a good indicator.

I own a Nikon 1.25-4x but have checked out their Pro-Staff for rimfire, and that has been the brightest, cleanest glass I have looked through. With a rebate it was around $120. For the centerfire 3-9, I think they run around $200 or less, there was a guy selling one on here, but I do not remember the condition.

But,. try reading the reviews at Brownells, MidwayUSA, Optics Planet, Cabela's and such.

Thanks for the box of practice 7.62x54 again also....your right though, those things are DIFFICULT to find..hahahahah there was a can of them a few weeks ago, somewhere, but, didn't have the cash...... :-(

Thanks for te replies. I think I will aim for the Nikon, as the Nikon reviews are very good. Having trouble with my internet here, keeps kicking my computer offline, so I am doinf this from my stupid little Blackberry. If I don't make enough for the Nikon, I'll just grab a Bushnel until I get more practice time under my belt, and my eyes lasered. I just didn't know if Bushnells were decent or not. Believe it or not, even the little NC Star stuff gets good reviews on some places, but I am not going that route. We'll see how it goes with the sights set on Nikon. I am also going to check out Konus, so thanks for that one. I have never heard of them before.
Johnny, glad you like the training ammo. I am looking for more, and if I find some I will let you know. I just bought 250 training 7.62x51NATO rounds from Sportsmans Guide for around $50 with free shipping. Shipping code I think is SH1736? I am stocking up on the training ammo for the kids and wife someday. My 8 year old daughter has given a hint of interest after she caught me watching the Top Shots episode I had to DVR.

dlharsh said:

The 6500 series are really good scopes. The other Elite series are also good. The older ones were 3200 and 4200. The 4200 are nice scopes for the money. In the new elite series (they got rid of the 3200 and 4200 and went to just elite) some of the lower power side focus ones are made in China but the others are nice and made in Japan. The 3x9x40 for about $200 is a lot of scope.

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Absolutely agree! I wouldn't hesitate to put an Elite series Bushnell on that rifle. My last 2 purchases have been Elite series scopes. Most of what I own is Leupold, and I can honestly say I never thought I'd make this statement.

Bushnell makes nice stuff. There are better and there is worse out there.