… While your inexpensive scope didn't break, you even say that it didn't work well at dawn and dusk. Where many of us hunt that is prime time.
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True enough, It wasn’t the best at dusk or dawn, and I did a lot of hunting during those periods over the 20 years that scope was on the 7mm RM. Number of animals lost/shots not fired during that time due to the scope? ZERO.
The scope wasn’t great but it was certainly adequate.
And again, I won't risk ruining a hunt over saving a few bucks on optics. It is not worth it to me. You need to do what works for you.
You might say I’m in the data protection business and one thing everyone agrees on is that two copies of your data is better than one – no matter how good the equipment is that the data resides on, things can and often do go wrong and data loss is often the result.
The same thing is true with rifles and scope combinations - there are any number of things that can go wrong that render the combination useless. The better insurance is NOT an expensive rifle and scope, regardless of quality, but rather having TWO rifle/scope combinations that are “adequate”.
I don’t buy Bushnell Sportviews or other cheapo scopes these days, but I don’t buy Swarovski or Zeiss, either. Most of my scopes are Leupold Vari-X III, Vari-X II and M8’s that I bought used. The new scopes I’ve been purchasing lately are Burris Fullfield II Ballistic Plex - three so far with another or a Nikon Buckmaster with a BDC reticle likely for my latest .30-06. Not “great” scopes by today’s standards, but certainly far more than “adequate”.
That said, the Bushnell Sportview provided excellent service for over 20 years so how can I complain? My choice at the time was to spend more of my limited money on the rifle and less on the scope and I have no regrets at all. It turned out the scope was very much like that Schrade knife I couldn’t break or even lose – it was always there and I could always depend on it. Not great, but “adequate”.
By the way, the Bushnell Sportview scope is long gone but the rifle, wearing a more than adequate Simmons Aetec 2.8-10x for the last 6 years or so, still goes hunting.
Speaking for big game rifles, the fact is that once you reach a certain level of quality in a scope, incrementally spending more money gets you less and less in terms of practical advantage. Zeiss glass on my 7mm RM would have resulted in ZERO additional game being taken over what I took with the Bushnell Sportview, although I could have seen some animals more clearly. These days reasonably good glass with a lifetime warranty and a relatively modest price tag works for me and if I ding such scopes up I don’t worry about it.
Like you, I don’t care to risk a hunt over poor optics, or even over good optics. That’s why I ALWAYS take a backup rifle and scope.
