What happened to Elite scopes?

No one has mentioned it, but the rainguard that they use on the elites is pretty functional.

That said, all my elites have gone down the road except a 1.5-5 with firefly on my slug gun. The firefly was a pretty good concept also.
 
Remember Bushnell has a record for excellent warranty and are in the GTA and usually send you back a new replacement vs repairing and will upgrade from an older model if it’s no longer available and warranty is transferable or not an issue who bought it as I have experienced.—Dieseldog!

True, I have had two Bushnell scopes replaced with no questions asked. I may have been the cause of one failure.
 
Nikon Prostaff 2, Sightron SIH for Philippines.
Elite 3500 for Japan.
Leupold Freedom for US.
All in 3-9x40, 4-12x40 are a few bucks more but nothing major. They are better then anything Chinese in the same price bracket or even the Chinese stuff twice the price. That carries through the entire price range of optics, you will pay more for inferior glass if it's made in China vs the 3 mentioned above.

There should always be a spare in camp.

There is always a spare rifle or two in camp. Doesn't mean I wouldn't rather have my primary.
 
There is only one reason to move manufacture from Japan to Korea or China. It is done to increase profit margin and if it is at the expense of quality, they couldn't care less. I won't buy a scope made in China or Korea but that is my personal choice. I won't buy a vehicle or OHV made in Mexico either lol.
 
Learned this when I was looking for a scope last fall. Picked up a discontinued 3500 3-9x40 DOA 600 for a pretty good price for my Remington 7400 .280 Rem, did notice it fog a bit in hunting season, not enough not to be able to see, but enough to notice! Wiped it off and it never did it again. Bushnell has always been good, they have replaced a couple banners for me, and a banner for my dad that was probably 35 years old! Never had an issue with fogging with the two 3200's I've had. Will keep an eye on this one and if it does it again it will hopefully get warrantied.
 
Bushnell has always been one step above Tasco for me. I owned an Elite or two. Mushy turrets, narrow field-of-view and poor eyebox did not fail to disappoint. Even their expensive "tactical scope" was a letdown. Not sure about the new stuff now but if it's Chinese, forget it.
 
China is very capable of manufacturing good optics, it all comes down to how they're spec'd by the scope company. Athlon has been pretty successful at it.... even the new TS series from U.S. Optics are made in China. Not everything coming out of China these days are ZOS/Scorpion/Barska/etc quality.
 
Bushnell has always been one step above Tasco for me. I owned an Elite or two. Mushy turrets, narrow field-of-view and poor eyebox did not fail to disappoint. Even their expensive "tactical scope" was a letdown. Not sure about the new stuff now but if it's Chinese, forget it.

Haven't found the eye relief to be any kind of issue, have a 3-9 on this 9.3x62 that kicks like a mule and I still have my eyebrows lol
20161009-152904-zps8uqmijrq.jpg
 
Haven't found the eye relief to be any kind of issue, have a 3-9 on this 9.3x62 that kicks like a mule and I still have my eyebrows lol
20161009-152904-zps8uqmijrq.jpg

I have a bushnell elite on my 458wm. Over a 1000 rounds thru it. Still flawless. Couldnt get a hyped up vortex to last 5 shots without coming apart
 
I have a bushnell elite on my 458wm. Over a 1000 rounds thru it. Still flawless. Couldnt get a hyped up vortex to last 5 shots without coming apart

I must admit that the erector mechanisms of the Japanese Elites are good and the lenses are planted firmly. Reliability is certainly not the issue, even on heavy recoiling rifles.

I just don't like the view compared to others in the price range. Although eye relief isn't bad, the lens arrangement gives a tunnel view with a black edge all around, something that just turns me off.
 
We recently purchased a number of discontinued Bushnell Elite series scopes that we have on sale. Send me a PM with what models you are looking for. Phil.
 
Back in the day, these scopes started out as Baush and Lomb 3000. Did bushnell always own B&L or did they buy them and transition to their brand?

I bought a 6500 4.5-30 years ago. Once I realized in had it was 2lbs, and the eyebox was horrible near the top end, I sold it.

6-24x50 4200 was a great scope
 
Back
Top Bottom