What’s up with Bushnell?

[Heavyweight]

I can’t figure this company out. Seems like every time I try out some truly outstanding offering from them they get discontinued a year or two later. I’m not talking about their high end offerings like their Elite Tactical line. There are a lot of fine scopes to choose from if you’re willing to spend $2k. And I have, but I can’t afford that kind of optic for every rifle. Plus I don’t always need a 3lb. scope with a 56mm objective. But their plain old Elite line is gone now. The Elite 4500 and 6500 are some of the best scopes I own. All Japanese construction.....much lighter....simple reticle....unbelievable brightness and clarity.

When my club started holding rimfire competitions I spent weeks researching scopes for my Ruger 10/22. Most of my buddies were running Leupold and Nightforce BR scopes. A few Weaver 36s. But I’m not a fan of fixed power scopes. Then I came across a Bushnell 4500 8-32x40. Amazon had it for under $400 and for that price I was willing to roll the dice. Glad I did because it has proven to be amazing glass. So when I needed a new hunting scope for Texas white tails I went with the 6500 4-16x44. Weighs 17 oz.....and that’s with a 30mm tube. Light transmission at dawn and dusk are amazing.

That’s all been replaced with these new Engage, Forge and Nitro lines. Based on prices I’m betting that the Engage and Nitro are Chinese. The Forge line looks interesting but they run $800 and up. Again I think Bushnell did amazing things in a truly mid priced package. Not so much now.

Is anybody moving in to fill that gap? Any other brands worth watching.

Be safe!

Heavyweight

[Tx_Aggie]

I have no idea why Bushnell discontinued the old Elite series of hunting scopes, but I agree it's disappointing. They're still floating around in some new retail inventories, but otherwise you're pretty much stuck with the used market.

Tract Optics is selling a wonderful line of scopes that are assembled in Japan using Schott glass, and since they sell direct to consumer, without going through distributors or a dealer network, their prices are extremely competitive.

https://www.tractoptics.com/

Some of their binos have also gotten great reviews for overall quality and value.

[Heavyweight]

This may be a historic event. A Texas Longhorn is gonna take advice from a Texas Aggie. That Toric line looks interesting to me. Pricing looks extremely reasonable. Thank you for passing that along!

When the first round of Athlon scopes started showing up I was able to get one of their 4.5-27x50 Midas scopes for under $600. It’s good glass but prices have been climbing. And their Chronos line is excellent....but I’ve been very unimpressed with their other stuff.

[Tx_Aggie]

This may be a historic event. A Texas Longhorn is gonna take advice from a Texas Aggie. That Toric line looks interesting to me. Pricing looks extremely reasonable. Thank you for passing that along!

Haha, no problem.

They also periodically have sales, I think most scopes were 10% off or more over Christmas. I'm having a hard time not pulling the trigger on a Toric HD myself.

When the first round of Athlon scopes started showing up I was able to get one of their 4.5-27x50 Midas scopes for under $600. It’s good glass but prices have been climbing. And their Chronos line is excellent....but I’ve been very unimpressed with their other stuff.

I have an early Athlon Ares BTR, basically a FFP version of the Midas, and I agree that it's not bad for what I paid (also around $600, though I haven't seen one for that in a while). It has a small over-adjustment error, but it otherwise tracks fine and has been a good fit for my little cz455 PRS trainer. Before it found a home on the 22 it lived on a 6.5CM RPR and was fine out to 6-800 yds as long as the light was good and there wasn't much in the way of mirage. It really struggles at the longer ranges, especially compared to some of the Japanese stuff.

The Cronus is absolutely a heck of a deal, probably a nicer scope than the Gen 1 Vortex Razor (though not in the same league as the Gen 2).

[imaguy3]

The Forge replaced the Elite line. I have the Forge 3-18 on my Grendel, it's a sweet scope! It tracks true (took my grendel to 1050 yards) and is every bit as clear as my HDMRII on my bolt gun. I also snagged a pair of their 10x forge binos... a neighbor and I compared them to 10x swaro slc, 12x razor, 15x swaro slc, and some shit diamondback 12x... They were every bit as clear up to last semblance of twilight with the SLC.. they just lack the edge clarity of the razors and Swaros...

I used to be a vortex whore but aside from my Razor binos, I've swapped all my scopes over to Bushnell over the last cple yrs.

If anyone is near Tucson and wants to see them I'll gladly let you.

This is a paper target at 300 yards last fall when I got my scope... the blurriness is from mirage (it was almost 100 that day)..

the small red targets and grey squares are 2" across