Bushnell Elite 3200 scope any good?

MD

MD

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I was helping my buddy sort through his storage lockers yesterday and he gave me two scopes. One is a vintage Redfield 3-9 and the other a newish Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9.

The Bushnell is just SO much brighter that the Redfield it is remarkable. To think that Redfield was considered top of theline in its day too is interesting.

I was wanting to know what your experience with a Bushnell Elite 3200 rifle scope is.

Are they reliable? Durable?

Can they take a little bit of normal knocking about? I don't mean abuse, but being put in and out of a vehicle, surviving a fall in the bush, normal hunting activity kind of thing.

I have Leupold fixed 4-power scopes on my main rifles now but I'm thinking that the 270 would definitely benefit from a 3-9 on it.
 
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I've used one for about 10 yrs now, no problems with it. The rain-guard lens coating does repel water good enough so you can see to shoot ok. You could do a lot worse than the 3200 with the scopes that are on the market today.
 
I've used them for years. Very decent optic for the price! Unfortunately, with Bushnell's re-org of it's product line, they are no longer made...

Cheers
Jay
 
we have the 3200 on my sons .308 for 6 years now and not a problem with it, was not abused but its rode around on the 4 wheeler, been in and out of the truck lots, was dropped 1 or 2 times nothing major once was my fault in the kitchen (no damage) and has always held zero. he has just upgrade to a 6500 as he want more power on the top end.
 
I've had a few 3200's in 3x9 and 2x7 config over the years.
Nice durable scope, and yes they are very bright. Maybe it's just me but I've always had issues with eye relief on them, I can never seem to find the sweet spot and it seems to very a fair bit when adjusting the power setting.
 
Thanks for your comments. My good rifles are sighted in and ready to go with their Leupold fixed 4-powers scopes already and I'm too lazy and cheap to go through mounting a new scope and re-sighting a rifle in anyway. I guess that means I have to get a new gun.

Or put it on my old 243 just for fun.
 
Ar180shooter said:
Care to elaborate? My experience has been that they're great for the money. Sure, they're no match for a good Leupold or Zeiss, but for $200ish, you can't beat them.
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The 3200 has better quality glass than a similarly-priced Leupold (i.e. VX-1 and VX-2) IMO.
 
Last deer season, my .270 had an Elite 3200 3-9x while my brother's .30-06 wore a Burris Fullfield 3-9x. Three of us traded rifles back and forth one afternoon and all agreed the Burris was superior for brightness and clarity.
 
3200 is a workhorse. I have used them exclusively and had never had one fail. They are not a high end scope but then again a lot of us don't want to or do not have the funds to drop $500- $1500 on glass. IMHO they were one of the best buys out there. Too bad they are no longer made. I just put an newer elite on a new rifle and we'll see how it holds up.
 
The fact is, Dogleg, that many of shoot on a budget and are looking for decent value for money. We don't all go gallivanting around the world on exotic hunts, apparently with a big budget. So it feels like a slap in the face to some of us when you speak so harshly.
Spoken as a blue collar family man with other commitments, who loves shooting and hunting. And yes, I own a Bushnell.
Tim
 
Dogleg said:
I've broken more Bushnells than most of our members have owned scopes.
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Not only is it this an arrogant follow up comment to an already unhelpful comment. But mind if I ask why you kept buying Bushnell if you broke so many of them?
 
timandkimandshea said:
The fact is, Dogleg, that many of shoot on a budget and are looking for decent value for money. We don't all go gallivanting around the world on exotic hunts, apparently with a big budget. So it feels like a slap in the face to some of us when you speak so harshly.
Spoken as a blue collar family man with other commitments, who loves shooting and hunting. And yes, I own a Bushnell.
Tim
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If you scrubbed hard you might get enough drilling mud, grease and dirt off my collar to see what colour it is.:p I also have a wife of 25 years (next month, don't let me forget) and 3 kids, all in their teens. If you think I sound harsh you should have been the bushnell distributor that I ragged on both ways of a Trans-Atlantic flight. Chances are he owned your scope before you did.

When far more experienced shooters told me I was looking for trouble I dismissed it because I didn't want to hear it. Neither do you. That's probably normal.
 
GMC403 said:
Not only is it this an arrogant follow up comment to an already unhelpful comment. But mind if I ask why you kept buying Bushnell if you broke so many of them?
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Didn't have to keep buying them, I was too busy breaking the ones I already had and the warranty returns. It took 2 years to replace every scope I owned. In case you haven't noticed I'm still mad.
 
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