The Burris SixX™ 2x-12x-40MM Rifle Scope

OK, it’s 5 AM, two feet of snow is covering the ground and I just finished clearing three hundred feet of driveway with the trusty tractor/snow blower. The anticipated faceoff with the town plow truck was a little exciting, but I did manage to save the mailbox and I did prevent the plow truck from using the driveway as a dump off location for road snow. While victorious, I am now cold, wet and soggy and I have a winter cold… a sneezy, hacking cough, drive your wife crazy from all the whining kind of cold. With a red nose, a thought process slightly impaired by cough medication and a flat panel computer screen with 90% visibility… Achoo!… OK, 87% visibility, I’ll just crack open this box and find out what going on with this Burris SixX scope inside.

When did this exciting scope tale begin, Joe? Glad you asked…

I was looking for a scope that would be application suitable for a number of firearms in the Real Guns project queue. The firearms are all upper mid range production pieces with longish range capability, all deserving of quality optics. The shop had recently received scopes from a number of manufacturers, however, we unfortunately found within this population: poor optical performance, marginal mechanical design, substandard quality of assembly, short eye relief and/or narrow field of view, and inconsistent increments of adjustment. The scopes were nicely packaged, however, what appearances suggested, internals didn’t deliver.

While researching a better fit for our requirements, I noticed Burris was marketing some newer models. Based on prior positive experience with the company and its products, it seemed like a good time to take a closer look. Ultimately, the Burris SixX™ proved to be a welcome and notable standout from the other scopes we examined. And, yes, it is pretty spiffy looking. 

So how do we know this isn’t just the NyQuil talking?

The SixX is a lightweight, 30mm tube, wide magnification range 2x-12x scope with very bright, sharp and high contrast image optics.

Burris is so confident in the design and performance of their products that they provide a detailed look at their products, internal and external, from design details to manufacturing and assembly processes in illustration and video presentation right on the Burrissite. It’s pretty gutsy to subject every aspect of a product to public scrutiny, even if the company has exceptional products.

I like the idea that a Burris scope housing begins life as a big ol’ chunk of cylindrical aluminum stock that is then precision CNC machined to its finished external and internal contours from objective bell to eye piece. Then, after all necessary optical and mechanical assemblies are added to this thick wall outer housing in concert with intense inspection, the scope is nitrogen purged twenty four times, quad sealed and backed by a “Forever” warranty.

External surfaces are attractively and durably finished. Controls are easy to operate with non-slip surfaces strategically placed. Index markings are easy to read. This particular model has hunter knobs, low profile, and comes with flip up objective and ocular lens protectors.

Why the bright, sharp and high contrast images?

Quality variable magnification scopes require multiple lens, something on the order of five to eight, and they must contain mechanical assemblies that precisely control the movement and location of these lenses. Proprietary Burris internal mounting and adjustment systems affect precise control of movement and position, but these designs also also allow room for larger diameter lenses which means, potentially, greater light transmission.

Burris lens are made from high purity, precision ground, optical glass. All lens surfaces are HiLume multicoated. When manufacturer’s post a light transmission percentage, the value typically represents transmission through only one coated lens surface. Where a scope has five lenses, there are ten lens surfaces to consider.

The theoretical light transmission of the scope is the aggregate light loss through all of those surfaces. So  Burris scope with 99.5% light transmission per surface extrapolates as 99.5×99.5×99.5×99.5×99.5 = 95.1% overall theoretical light transmission. For context, a more typical variable scope may be rated at only 82% overall theoretical light transmission, and lenses are only single coated.

Quality optics are only as good as the mechanism that keeps them in alignment throughout range of movement and under the stress of field use. Burris has taken exceptional measures to keep lens surfaces square and parallel by maintaining a very tight tolerance fit of all parts and by applying mechanical designs that precisely and consistently control all necessary movement. Steel on steel adjusters with double spring shock dampening control windage and elevation and close fit, tough nylon over stainless steel pins maintain tight control over internal cam surfaces.

Stray light, typically light that is caused by reflective surfaces inside of a scope, does a pretty good job of killing contrast. Burris has a very progressive system of internal baffling and antireflective surfaces to combat this type of image degradation. Looking through the SixX is more like looking through the lens of a quality SLR camera than looking through a typical rifle scope. Stop by the Burris site and watch the videos at the Burris University for further detail. Even if you are not buying a scope at this moment, if you’re a gun geek like me, you’ll appreciate the open presentation of rifle scope information.

Comparatively Speaking…
 

There are a number of scopes that fall into a similar price range with the Burris SixX, at least the range scopes can be found when shopping Internet discount retailers. Ultimately, image quality and usefulness of magnification range caused me to go with the Burris product. Zeiss lost me with its reference to “…And now, with the globalization of manufacturing processes, we are able to bring you all the desirable traditions of Zeiss optics at a price that many hunters and shooters find outright affordable.” Anytime there is the possibility of a water buffalo ride as an integral part of visiting a manufacturing plant, I pretty much sign off. Leupold lost me with the very narrow low power field of view and, for my purposes, way too high low power magnification. I also didn’t mind saving $70.

The scope is going to be mounted on a T/C Venture so we can see how it does under live fire and cold weather conditions.