Optics are a tough purchase. Buy a scope priced 20% below the median for quality optics and you end up with a scope assembled in the evenings by the residents of a fishing village in a remote country. Buy one of the really cheap scopes and you’ll end up with the equivalent of a paper towel tube, filled with magnifying glass lenses sourced from Toys R Us.
At the other end of the price spectrum are the products with obscene price tags, that offer no more in performance or reliability than scopes priced hundreds or thousands of dollars less. Sold by companies with hyperactive marketing departments, they target customers who feel most comfortable wearing the contents of their wallets pinned to the outside of their hunting jackets. I believe the line between knowledgeable sportsmen and fiscal dilettantes is drawn where an increase in cost no longer tracks to identifiable increases in performance.
A good gun needs a good scope, not an expensive scope
I don’t own any expensive custom rifles. I own custom rifles, just not very expensive custom rifles. The thing is, after a rifle is made accurate and reliable… maybe even a little presentable, I’m not much interested in anything else. Yes, I can appreciate presentation grade walnut stocks and fanciful checkering and masterful metal work, just as I can appreciate 17th century Dutch painters, but you won’t find Willem Kalf hanging on the walls of my home. The nice scope vs. ostentatious scope delineation is $1,000. The nice versus lacking in features, performance and /or durability line is, arguably, $400. Below that price point there will be a penalty in durability, eye relief, field of view, light transmission, preciseness and retention of adjustment, weight, size, etc.
What constitutes a good scope? Pictured above is a Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5x16x42mm. It had just been removed from a 378 Weatherby Magnum that was being used to develop handload data. I’ve also had other models of the same family on a: lightweight 375 Ruger, hot loaded 45-70 Guide Gun, 416 Weatherby, and a thumpin’ 500 Jeffery. A 30x version has seen duty on an AR10, a 220 Swift Varmint rifle and a 300 Ultra Mag Sendero. They all looked the same way coming off as they do going on, slick, and I have never had one lose zero or break. Below is a decent overview of how good stacks up against ostentatious.
| Attribute | Bushnell Elite 6500 |
Swarovski Z6 |
Schmidt & Bender A7 |
Leica ER |
| Typical Retail Price | $735 | $2,219 | $1,799 | $1,499 |
| Magnification range | 2.5 -16 x 42mm | 2.5-15x44mm | 3-12x42mm | 3.5-14x 42 |
| Objective Bell | 55mm | 58mm | 50mm | 50mm |
| Objective Lens | 42mm | 50mm | 42mm | 42mm |
| Side Focus | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Tube Diameter | 30mm | 30mm | 30mm | 30mm |
| Click Adjustment Increments | .25 MOA | .36 MOA | .36 MOA | .25MOA |
| Weight oz. | 17.3 | 21.0 | 20.0 | 18.1 |
| Length | 13.5″ | 14.1″ | 13.5 | 13.4 |
| Field of View + – Magnification | 41′ – 7′ | 48′ – 8′ | 32′ – 11′ | 34′ – 9′ |
| Minimum Eye Relief | 3.9″ | 3.7″ | 3.7 | 3.9″ |
| Eyepiece Diameter | 42mm | 46mm | 43mm | 46mm |
| Exit pupil | 16.8 – 2.6 mm | 9.5 – 2.9 | 14.0 – 3.5 | 12.9 – 3.2 mm |
| Range of Adjustment | 78“ | 65″ | Not Listed | 50″ |
All listed scopes have multi-coated optic sets. They all have a rangefinder type etched reticle. They all have a bright, high contrast, sharp image. They are all fog and water proof. They are all inert gas purged. They all are listed as being of magnum proof construction. They all carry a life time service warranty. This particular Bushnell scope has their proprietary Rain Guard® HD coating on external lens surfaces and the extension of a “Bullet Proof” money back guarantee.
Conclusion
Bushnell is not the only brand of scope on the market that can fit the application defined, but this is a price range to look at when you’re in search of a good scope. If you look through the pages of Real Guns, you’ll find similar products from Burris, Leupold and Minox. It is definitely worth the effort to line up the scopes that are of interest and to work through the details of the specifications to fully understand what is bring offered.
Very low end scopes, under $200, are fine for some applications, mostly the ones that don’t reach beyond a shooting range and won’t be used in critical defensive situations. Very expensive scopes, frequently purchased with lots of federally delivered tax payer dollars, bring little to the party in the way of extended performance for the average person, or for a purchasing government agency.
Other application projects with Bushnell scopes: Bushnell’s Elite 6500, Bushnell’s Elite 4200 1.25-4×24 and Bushnell’s 1.25-8×32 Elite 6500, Bushnell’s Elite 6500 4.5-30 x 50mm, and Bushnell 2-6x32mm Elite Handgun Scope.
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