Bushnell B&L question

[Sharps-Nut]

How long have bushenell and B&L been together.  I recieved a older bushnell banner 4x fixed on a 35 remington.  I first figured it to be another pipe.  But when I took it off I noticed B&L stamped on the bottom side and made in japan.  Its a super clear old scope so is it B&L made for Bushnellr?  Thanks for any input.  SN

[quickdtoo]

Bushnell

Bushnell started out with an excellent reputation for sturdy, clear Japanese scopes for affordable prices. Affordable back then meant $40 in the early 1950's, which would make it a several hundred dollar scope today. The ScopeChief line was their high-end model for many years (it has recently been reintroduced). Quality of modern Bushnell scopes are directly proportional to their price. The Sportview and Sharpshooter models of a few years ago represented the nadir of Bushnell quality.

Bushnell merged with or bought out Bausch & Lomb in 1973, and B&L stopped selling riflescopes within a few years. The B&L name was used by Bushnell Sports Optics for their Elite Series 3000 & 4000 rifle scopes through the Nineties, made by Light Optical Works. The old 4000 series 6.5x-24x40mm scope has an excellent reputation in benchrest competitions.

Somewhere along the line Bushnell became Bushnell Performance Optics and is no longer associated with Bosch & Lomb. When changing to the Bushnell brand around 2001 they added 200 to the Elite model number, added an anti-fog lens coating feature, and renamed them Bushnell. (I'm not sure who makes the new Bushnell 4200's).

Confusion also finds its way into Bushnell/B&L's marketing, who claimed that that the two extra lenses in the elite 4000 improved resolution. the confusion continued into the elite 4200 introduction but seems to have stopped recently (can't find it anymore on their web page). How anyone can think that any good (beyond refraction) happens when light goes through more glass, is beyond me. Recently Bushnell acquired Tasco, who had stopped operation due to cashflow problems.
Bausch & Lomb

Bausch & Lomb made very high quality rifle scopes in Rochester, New York through the 50's and 60's, with prices in the $100-$200 range when that represented a week's paycheck for a professional. These scopes all have the prefix Bal in their name and are usually external adjustment scopes (windage and elevation adjusted with the mounts). These models were discontinued after b&l merged with bushnell in 1973.

Bushnell has announced that their name has better name recognition to hunters (as a cuss word?), so the B&L elite models have been renamed to Bushnell. A more likely explanation is they just lost the rights to use the B&L name. Long a standard of quality amongst the hard to differentiate imports, it looks like the Bausch & Lomb name is now dead in the riflescope marketplace. 

http://www.charm.net/~kmarsh/brand.html#bushnell

[Sharps-Nut]

Wow thanks for all the information.  I would guess this scope is of late seventies to eighties vintage but that is only a guess.  It was mounted on a marlin 336 in 35 remington made in 1966.   It came up with the gun nice, very clear with heavy hunting style duplex crossairs.  I took it off because it was in a weaver mount that you simply pulled on the left side of the scope and it folded over via hing to allow the use of the open sights.  I saw no hope for that mount to hold zero.  But once off noticed the B&L marking on the bottom of the scope and the made in Japan, whiich explained to me why the optics were so clear.  My experience was with cheaper 90's vintage bushnell's and was not good.    Thanks again for all the data, gives me a perspective on buying used bushnells.   SN

[Graybeard]

Personally I question the accuracy of that information Tim found. I'm not certain but I think the connection between Bushnell and B&L goes back even further than that indicates tho I have no references to prove it. I also am pretty sure that Bushnell Performance Optics fully owns the B&L name and all rights to it.

They have just made a decision at corporate level to use Bushnell for sports optics and B&L has gone back to its origins in other optics fields such as science and medicine.

As I say I have no hard proof of it but that's my take on it.

[lonewolf5348]

Tim: who made the Bushnell sportview in the early 80's out of japan?

[quickdtoo]

I dunno, but my first guess would be Light Optical Works.

Tim