Scope Decision: Bushnell Elite 3200 Tactical or Burris FF II Tactical

utahpredator_7

utahpredator_7

New member
I am torn between these two scopes. Both have turrets, but are different from there. The Bushnell is a 5-15, and weighs 20 Oz. The turrets aren't covered, and the focus is on the bell. Costs 330 bucks. The Burris is OD green, a
3-9, the turrets are covered, and it only weighs 13 Oz. The focus is on the eyepiece. It only costs 250 bucks. It is for my browning 25 wssm, which is a light carry rifle, and I'd like to keep it that way. This will be a 500 yard rifle, for deer, antelope, elk (I know, that ain't what the post is about though), coyotes, and lots of varmint shooting. Maybe occasional pdogs, some rockchucks, and lotsa jackrabbits. Do I need the extra magnification, or will I be o.k. with the 3-9? anyone used the burris tactical? thanks.
 
Light weight carry rifle? That should answer the question. A 3x9 is all you need on the larger game. If you really want light look at the Leuopold ultralight 3x9, cost about $330 at SWFA, and only weighs 9 oz. matched with Tally lightweights at about 2.5oz you are all rigged up at 11.5oz. I use these on my backpacking rifles and love them. If weight is not that big of an issue I use the Bushnell Ellites.
 
One nice feature the Burris has is the Ballistic Mil Dot reticle. It gives you aim points for various distances and is fast to use at all practical ranges(I have one on my Rem 788 .308). You can use the horizontal mil dots for wind hold-off or moving target leads (I first used that system with my M40A1 Marine Rifle using the "ambush" method instead of sustained lead method).

I also have several Bushnell 3200 and 4200 scopes. I like them, too.

If you are hunting at long(ish) ranges, be sure to have a laser range finder with you. Estimating distances takes mucho practice (continuously) to get it within 10% correct. Learn to estimate wind speeds, too and their effects on bullet drift. Also, a 20 degree change in temperature from your zero date may cause a 1 minute of angle change in impact. (Example: Zero in summer and hunt in winter may cause a 3-4 MOA change in impact low.)

Oh, yes: the eye piece focus is for the reticle. The objective focus is for parallax adjustment.

Good luck,
 
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I do have a decent rangefinder that will read out to about 500 yards. Thanks for the tip on the temp. too, and the focuses. I do love carrying this rifle because it's so light, I'm really leaning to the burris now. I think I'm going up to Lehi to look at one today. I'll see how I like it. I really love the finish too.
 
I like the elite series the best, I say see if you can find an elite 4200 3x9 if you look around you might find one for less than $250, I don't like burris that much, the ballistic reticles is a gimmick, if you wanna shoot that far just get a turret, the black one I have the finish is very thin, actually no better than spray paint, the biggest dislike is having to move the entire stiff eyepiece to adjust the scope power. The elites are my favorite cheaper scope, zeiss is a little better glass, but I still like the operation and feel of the elites
 
I would recommend the Bushnell Elite series for sure from all the good things I have heard from friends of mine. I mainly have Leupold glass a few Nikon's, a Sightron and one Burris, was two Burris's but that is why I will be selling my last Burris and bidding that company a farewell for good product wise.

Burris has terrible customer service and are downright rude! I will preface this with the fact that I am only speaking for my experience with them, I bought their olive drab 4-14X42 Tactical and it was worthless, they of course blamed me and that I mounted it incorrectly and said that there was nothing they could do, long story short several phone calls later and a call to their VP who was equally as rude saying that the fix was to shim the base, I know this works but when you pay all that money for a product do you want to place a band-aide approach as a fix. I didn't and it was a long battle to get them to finally cough up a refund because I was not going to accept their approaches. Put a Nikon 4.5-14X40 with a BDC reticle and it was on the money once I got it sighted in so I personally will not do business with Burris ever again. Anyone looking for a Burris Fullfield II in a 3-9X40 RMEF edition? Good riddens, sorry to open pandora's box on this one but I had to let you know about my personal experience. Never have had any trouble with any of the other companies I listed and many others so they still have my respect and loyalty because of their great customer service. Good Luck and I hope you find what you are looking for.
 
I understand Bushnell's elite series has a warantee that you can send it back up to a year later and get your money back. I'm boxing one up right now to find out if they really mean it. I'm not excited about the 3200 series. Hopefully the 4200 is better. Personally I'll stick with something else. Good luck Denny
 
A few things to point out, the Bushnell has an adjustable objective so you can adjust the parallax for the distance of the target, this is a highly desirable feature for long distance shooting, if you want to hunt prairie dogs or chucks the Bushnell 5-15 is a great choice, it also has adjustable focus for the cross hairs on the eyepiece, similar to the Burris.

The Burris you mention doesn't have an adjustable objective, the parallax is fixed at 100 yards, fixed parallax is a compromise, for short range shooting it's nice since you don't have to fool with it, but it makes a very poor choice for long distance shooting.

The Bushnell Elite 3200 is a fine scope, it would be my choice for the multi task use you talked about.
 
its extremely diffacult to shoot at 500 yards consistantly without a parralax adjustment. that added to the fact that the rifle is a lightweight will make it that much harder to shoot accurately at 500 yards. you only need to pull off .00698" to miss a coyote at 500 yards. and a 3 or 4 degree cant will cause you to miss big also, so a level is highly advisable.
Not trying to discourage you, just want you to know what your up against. my lightweight long range rifle weighs about 9 pounds.
RR
 


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