Scopes

With all that Bushnell has done for its professional-grade lines, you might think they had forgotten the hunters. Well, you would have thought wrong. This week, we got down and dirty with a new product from the Bushnell Prime line. If your Christmas missed the mark, fear not. These bad boys won’t.

In spite of the desert winds gusting over 18 mph, some of us were making contact with the plate, at 1,760 yards – one full mile – with a 6.5 Creedmoor.

One persons “ultimate” very well may not be another’s, but I think this build should spark more than a little interest. The greatest drawback to trying to do an ultimate build is that ultimate will probably cost more than many are willing to spend at one time on an AR, but that’s the beauty of an AR platform, all the upgrades can be done one at a time due to the modularity of AR parts.

Recently, Leupold has been dropping a bunch of new products that are a direct effect of listening to what the their consumers want. This new VX-5HD 4-20×52 CDS-ZL2 is yet another great scope that many of you have been asking for.

If you’re willing to buy a scope without the Made in the USA sticker, what are your options? What kind of features, quality, and price points can you expect from scopes made in China, South Korea, or the Philippines? To get a sense of the market, I chose three scopes to test…

Bushnell had a wide variety of their three scope line offerings (PRIME, NITRO, and FORGE) on display at SHOT 2019. Each of the three lines includes an assortment of riflescopes, binoculars range finder and/or spotting scopes.

Bushnell has been at the forefront of rifle scopes for many years now, largely after a successful move into the tactical market. Considering the name Bushnell had a decade in the past, that was no small feat. I laughed the first time it was suggested that my Counter Terrorism force try the then-new HDMR. But I wasn’t laughing at the end of the training day. Bushnell did the impossible, they transitioned from a cheap hunting scope to a world-class sniper option.

There is a popular saying that many gun enthusiasts know, “Buy once; cry once.” Basically, this means that it is generally worth the extra pain and expense to buy a high quality, expensive product instead of many budget options. Vortex’s new optic, the Diamondback Tactical 6-24×50 destroys this mantra with its quality construction, many features and high optical clarity all while maintaining an itty-bitty price tag.

On a recent South Texas hunt with the Nosler M48 Handgun, the Burris 3-12 let me see well enough to shoot right up to dark and then several minutes beyond. It took some good bouncing around, in hunting blinds and vehicles, and held zero.