BUSHNELL, a solid brand

6.5-300 BEE,
That B&L scope you have there with no turrets was meant to be mounted in Kuharsky mounts that DO have windage and elevation adjustment via elliptic cones that bear on the scope tube. This was "back in the day" before internal reticle adjustments via turrets were reliable.
These special mounts were made by Kuharsky Brothers, based in Erie, PA, my hometown. They had a name for precision and worked closely with Bausch & Lomb.

Yes, Bushnell absorbed Bausch & Lomb optics, eventually dropping the name from their high end optics and substituting the "ELITE" name.

Finally, I have to say that currently I am staying with Made in Japan Elite model Bushnell scopes only until I'm convinced the Made in China "Forge" and "Nitro" brands are really good quality. So far the reports I read are good.

Eric B.
 
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Finally, I have to say that currently I am staying with Made in Japan Elite model Bushnell scopes only until I'm convinced the Made in China "Forge" and "Nitro" brands are really good quality. So far the reports I read are good.
This has been my feeling as well, will wait till I hear how they are lasting and tracking for a while, did just buy an elite 4500 new and it works just like my older one.
 
Agreed, had two DMR scopes. Very nice, well built, and reliable. I traded them both for a NF ATACR F1. I managed to get the ferrari on a toyota corrola budget. ;)
 
6.5-300 BEE,
That B&L scope you have there with no turrets was meant to be mounted in Kuharsky mounts that DO have windage and elevation adjustment via elliptic cones that bear on the scope tube. This was "back in the day" before internal reticle adjustments via turrets were reliable.
These special mounts were made by Kuharsky Brothers, based in Erie, PA, my hometown. They had a name for precision and worked closely with Bausch & Lomb.

Yes, Bushnell absorbed Bausch & Lomb optics, eventually dropping the name from their high end optics and substituting the "ELITE" name.

Finally, I have to say that currently I am staying with Made in Japan Elite model Bushnell scopes only until I'm convinced the Made in China "Forge" and "Nitro" brands are really good quality. So far the reports I read are good.

Eric B.

Yup know all about B&L as I grew up in Rochester NY. Back in the day, it's said you would not be hired to work on the shop floor unless you spoke German.

Back when, B&L was the most expensive American scope made. They still hold up today. I have a pile including an experimental 2.5X mil dot made for the SMLEs retrofitted to 45 ACP with cans on them for jungle sniping.

Nobody seems to have noticed anything odd about the mounting on my 7x61. That BalVar8 has tapered CH and a dot, 1st I've ever seen ---- chuckle

IMG_2796.jpg


To avoid the clunky B&L or Kuharsky mounts was the Buehler Micro Dial mount show here with another BalVar8 on my upgraded 721. Stith also made a very solid if ugly mount for these and other scopes w/o internal adjustments. (2nd pic) That's a 722 244 which has undergone a transformation. (3rd pic)

IMG_2781.jpg
IMG_2791.jpg

IMG_2828.jpg
 
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6.5-300 BEE,
That B&L scope you have there with no turrets was meant to be mounted in Kuharsky mounts that DO have windage and elevation adjustment via elliptic cones that bear on the scope tube. This was "back in the day" before internal reticle adjustments via turrets were reliable.
These special mounts were made by Kuharsky Brothers, based in Erie, PA, my hometown. They had a name for precision and worked closely with Bausch & Lomb.

Yes, Bushnell absorbed Bausch & Lomb optics, eventually dropping the name from their high end optics and substituting the "ELITE" name.

Finally, I have to say that currently I am staying with Made in Japan Elite model Bushnell scopes only until I'm convinced the Made in China "Forge" and "Nitro" brands are really good quality. So far the reports I read are good.

Eric B.
You are quite right my friend and you beat me on your reply about that.
I had two of the Balvar 2.5x8s but B and L also made mounts for them.
However any mount with adjustments would work including the Buehler.
The one shown could possibly be a Buehler, otherwise id need to be told what it is.
As for the Kuharsky mount, they were pretty much a necessity on the otherwise excellent 6x24 balvar target scope. What many people dont realize is that all those old Balvar scopes were FFP.
Which was the reason for the tapered cross hair reticle.
The 6x24 target scope with the Kuharsky micrometer upgrade was popular among the older generation LR hunters. Much nicer to use than the more popular Unertle was. I only recently removed the one i had on one of my guns and replaced it with a Nightforce. And frankly im not all that convinced i improved myself with the switch. I had 500 usable 1/4 minit clicks from my 100 yd zero, along with everything else i needed.
Whats not to like about that?
 
Yup know all about B&L as I grew up in Rochester NY. Back in the day, it's said you would not be hired to work on the shop floor unless you spoke German.

Back when, B&L was the most expensive American scope made. They still hold up today. I have a pile including an experimental 2.5X mil dot made for the SMLEs retrofitted to 45 ACP with cans on them for jungle sniping.

Nobody seems to have noticed anything odd about the mounting on my 7x61. That BalVar8 has tapered CH and a dot, 1st I've ever seen ---- chuckle

View attachment 191242

To avoid the clunky B&L or Kuharsky mounts was the Buehler Micro Dial mount show here with another BalVar8 on my upgraded 721. Stith also made a very solid if ugly mount for these and other scopes w/o internal adjustments. (2nd pic) That's a 722 244 which has undergone a transformation. (3rd pic)

View attachment 191234View attachment 191235
View attachment 191237
Very nice guns you have there Bee, and thanks for clearing up the mount issue.
You are correct in your opinion of the clunky look to the B and L mount.
However the scopes were and still are excellant, and a good fit on classic guns like those.

Now Bee, dont go getting ticked off at me again over critiquing your equipment. lol
Most younger guys today arent aware of what it took to set those old Unertles up so you could actually use them properly for dialing. Back in the day, lots of guys had gun racks in the back window of their pickup.
And quite a few would be riding around with a Unertle scope on their (ahem) LR gun.
But one glance would tell you if they were actually using the gun, or if it was just window dressing. lol
Those scopes have no preset click value when you turn the dial. That is determined by the spacing between the mounts.
If you want to have a standard 1/4 minit click value, the mounts need to be placed at 7 and 1/4" center to center on the mounts. Otherwise it is whatever it is, based on whatever the spacing is.
Not to say that you couldnt shoot the gun at various distances and make a chart for whatever you end up with, but its best to have it correct if you plan on dialing the scope much.
Actually you might be surprised at how many well known people didnt know that, simply because they didnt need to.
Most of those scopes were used for short range target and varmit shooting.
Even ardent ground hog hunters werent dialing scopes properly in most cases.
In the early 70s i ordered a new custom Hart action and Hart barrel direct from the maker.
They did not do the chambering due to the wildcat cartridge i planned on using.
The barrel was screwed into the action and holes were drilled in both the action and on the barrel for Unertle scope blocks when i picked it up at Harts.
They were all wrong and needed to be redrilled by the gunsmith who chambered the gun for proper spacing.
 
BEE, that's an amazing lineup of old time scope mounts and B&L scopes. At the time (1960s) I was just beginning to learn about rifle shooting. Guess Is still am at the speed things are changing lately.

Eric B.
 
I've owned 5 Bushnell optics, 3 scopes and 2 rangefinders. only the "Yardage Pro 1000" let me down, but that was after falling off a truck roof to pavement!

So the point of this post is to say that I think Bushnell scopes can stand with (almost) any brand price for price.
Examples:
-> My hunting scope, an Elite LRTS 4.5 - 18 x 44 mil/mil with a G3 illuminated reticle has a lot of features for the $986. street price that I paid. Sure, no locking turrets but the scope is tough as nails with very good glass.
-> My friend's Elite XRS II 3.5 - 30 50 competition scope with an H59 reticle is as good as scopes costing hundreds more. ED glass and excellent turrets.

I said "almost" in price to price comparison for quality. One scope I have owned likely beats Bushnell's quality-for-the-money and that's SWFA.
And yes, certainly Nightforce makes about the most durable scopes as well as being of excellent quality - but you do pay for this excellence, much like Schmidt & Bendover.

Eric B.

I'm a big fan of Bushnell's Elite Tactical line. Mine have all retained zero, tracked correctly and returned to zero faithfully. Their glass is very good and their illumination well done. Much scope for the $.

John
 
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