Guns 2012-08.pdf - Jeffersonian

STORY: Jacob Gottfredson
Elite Tactical
Riflescope
Bushnell’s new DMR 3.5-21x50mm.
Bushnell has entered the tactical market, and the
result is surprisingly good. From the massive bubblewrapped
genre to the rigors of an upscale tactical
riflescope, is this a leap of faith or a change in the
manufacturer’s direction?
I reported some months ago on
Bushnell’s new Legend Ultra HD
binocular. It is a fine piece of glass and
goes well with my favorite carry laser
rangefinder, which Bushnell also calls
the Legend.
They then proceeded to blow the lid
off that combo by offering the Bushnell
Fusion 1600 ARC! No more having to
carry two instruments. And I found
the Fusion to work exceedingly well,
in many cases to a mile. The bino also
tells the rifleman his comeups to the
target. I used it during a recent hunt
in the Rocky Mountains and was not
disappointed.
Now they have entered the tactical
market as well. The last few tactical
matches over the past year and a half
have seen more and more of their
new glass atop expensive, competitive
tactical rifles.
Having seen them at matches, I was
excited to get one in my hands to do a
test and review. However, the exercise,
over a period of year, was unsuccessful
in getting exactly what I wanted. To wit:
they have several innovative reticles for
holdover as well as wind and moving
target holds. What I finally received was
a Mil-Dot scope of the Army variety,
i.e., big round balls in the front focal
plane.
I am a rear focal plane guy, which is
strictly a personal preference. There are
advantages and disadvantages to each.
In a front focal plane, the reticle
has little chance of changing point of
impact through power changes, and you
can still range and use the hashmarks at
any power. But the reticle becomes very
small at low powers and sometimes too
big at high powers. The rear focal plane
reticle does not have the latter problem,
but you can become confused and miss
a target because the hashmarks change
with different power settings.
I remember a befuddling range
session with a 7mm Remington
Magnum. I would pick a hashmark
and miss a shot at a known distance.
The rifle had always performed
perfectly. I finally decided something
was wrong with the scope and started
driving home, trying to sort out in my
mind what could have gone wrong.
Suddenly it dawn on me. I stopped
and looked at the power setting. Just
as I thought, the power setting was not
on max. I returned to the range, put
the power on max, and all was once
again well. That would not happen
with a front focal plane reticle. Still, I
can vary the hashmark subtension by
simply changing the power on a rear
focal plane reticle. If the standard is 2
MOA per hashmark on max power, it
is 4 MOA at half power, which presents
great flexibility.
The new Bushnell Elite
3.5-21x50mm Tactical scopes set
up on LaRue rifles for field trials.
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WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM • AUGUST 2012