Buying new bushnell today, which one, pd scope

[Sharps-Nut]

I am ordering a new bushnell varmit scope for my pd rig today.  Ye I know wait till the last minute.  I am thinking one of these 4   5x15x40 legend mil-dot 188.60.  Like the mil dot aspect.   6x18x40 trophy 220.  no mil-dot but is trophy a better line up,, better glass?    5x15x40 3200  elite  292.00 this is the one I am really looking at hard, heard great thing about the elite series, wish it had mil-dot.   5x15x40 3200 elite tactical, no mil dot but tartget turret knobs 336.00 and that is my top dollar to spend.     To clarify the best scope I own is a 70's vintage 6x18x40 redfield.  The rest are cheapo simmons and bsa, 100 dollar scopes.  I really think I would like the mil dot for hold over aid on longer shots but  hate to sacrifice glass quality to get it.   How much clearer would the 5x15x40 legend mil dot be over my 100 cheapies?  Or will it take at least the 2929 elite to get into good entry level glass.  I do have to order today to be ready to get it in for the shoot.  Thanks in advance for any help.  SN

[sscoyote]

Man if u haven't bought one yet take a look at the 6-18X Nikon Buckmasters mil-dot @ Midway--60$ off at 299, $310 delivered to my door. It's a side parallax model, comes with 2 sets of turret caps, and a sunshade. The mil-dot is cald. for 12X and at 18X it measures (subtends) 2.4 inch per hundred yds. The dot is also relatively smaller @ .5 IPHY too @ 18X. It's a sweet optic. Had it on my 17 Fireball XP-100 handgun couple days ago and we were making connections  at close to 500 yds. in 10-15 mph winds, using the turret for elevation and MD for windage. Fine system/optic for LR small tgt. shooting, IMO.

[Graybeard]

Dunno why I didn't see this earlier but didn't, sorry.

The Legend line is above the Trophy line. It is basically the same as the Elite 3200 minus the rainguard coating on lens.

I've owned the Elite 3200 5-15 and it is a really nice scope but really the class of the Elite 3200 line is the 7-21x40 and it comes with mil dot reticle. It is my personal choice and sits on my Model Seven Predator in .17 Fireball. it is a tad above your listed max price at $358 from Midsouth Shooters Supply but trust me if you've not seen it you'll gladly pay those few extra bucks to get your hands on one. There is no scope out there short of an Elite 4200 or Leupold VX-III I'd put above it.

My three prairie dog rifles wear the Elite 4200 6-24x40, the Elite 3200 7-21x40 and the Mueller APV 4.5-14x40 scopes.

[DalesCarpentry]

GB. Have you ever noticed point of impact change on the higher end Bushnell scopes. What I mean by this is if you change the power setting so will the POI. The reason I ask is I had a Banner I think it was a 6x24x40 and it would change with you changing the power setting by as much 1 1/2". This would not make much difference if you were using a 3x9 and hunting deer with it out to 300 yards or so because you would still hit them in the vitals but on a varmint rig it could mean the difference of a hit or not. I would just advise to stay away from the lower end Bushnells. Nikon really do make nice scopes and I did have a chance to look through one of those 6x18'S last year when I was out hunting Groundhogs with a friend. That is what he had on his rig and I have to say I thought it was pretty nice glass. Dale

[Graybeard]

No I have not and I suspect you just had a defective product.

I've tested the entire line of Bushnell scopes from the lowest priced to the Elite 4200s but not yet the new 6500s. I've had excellent results from all lines at all prices. I consider the Bushnell brand to be as good a buy as you'll find for the money spent. Whichever price range you're looking for Bushnell has a scope in that price bracket and from my testing of them all work as expected.

Clearly the Elites both 3200 and 4200 are the creme de la creme of their line and compare favorably to any and all out there in my opinion but the other lines are not to be ignored. The Legend and Trophy lines are really good sound scopes that will work quite well for most any hunting purpose to which they might be put. I might be a bit leery of them on the super hard kickers but then my shoulder won't allow those hard kickers anyway so for me it's not a matter of importance. The Banner line is an excellent value performing far better than the price point would suggest.

The one I had was one of the higher magnification ones I forget now which power range but it was the most powerful in the Banner line I'm sure and it worked great. It went around the box with no noticeable change in expected point of impact and did not shift POI when changing the power ring. Any variable can suffer from that but if it does these days on any but the very cheapest it is just a defective scope not a problem with the entire product line.

If I were looking for a low cost scope in that power range I'd not be afraid of the Bushnell Banner. The Mueller scopes come in at a similar price point I think and they too are excellent scopes that have performed well for me each time I test one. My single biggest dislike with the Mueller line is the selection. Most have the lighted dot and I just have no personal need for that feature and don't care for the added bulk and weight it requires when I don't feel a need for the feature to begin with. That and the selection of reticles is a bit limited are my only hang ups with them. I've mentioned these thoughts to Rich but clearly he feels the lighted feature is important to his sales so tends to stay with it on almost all his scopes.

For lower power range (say 3-9 and such) I prefer a standard plex reticle and for varmint/target scopes of higher power I prefer a mil dot reticle.

[sscoyote]

Graybeard--that's the exact optic i wanted to test--the 7-21X 3200 MD reticle. I really wanted to test this optic on some of our big custom handguns for PD shooting at L-R. The reason being is that i like the MD reticle in an optic where it's not cald. for the highest power. That way the dot and dot to dot subtension is smaller. That Bushnell is only 12.8" long and would've been perfect for the spec. pistols. The MD is cald. for 14 in that optic and has the same subtensions @ 21 as the Nikon BM 6-18X has @ 18 (.5 IPHY dot and 2.4 IPHY dot to dot subtension). I could've had 1 of those Bush. for testing and writeup at a great discount, but elected to go pay for the Nikon instead--just to have the side parallax, something i've come to appreciate on an optic for small tgt. shooting at L-R.

But your writing sure got me hankerin' for 1 of those Bushnells again.

Bushnell is also offering a couple of those lower-model scopes with an interesting ballistic reticle--looks to be a small tree reticle design that subtends 2 MOA between line stadia, i think. There's not much info on it in the catalog, but it does look like a nice system. Like to try that 1 too sometime.

[Sharps-Nut]

I had to order that day to get 2 day freight to make it in time so the advice was a little late.   But thanks to you folks you have made my confidence high that the scope I ordered will be fine.  I went with the 5x15x40 3200 elite.  Wish it had mil dot but  at 316.00 to my door 2nd day air included I cant complain.   My past experience with simmons was they  looked ok till you went up any in mag then the picture was real fuzzy, that was at the range and out on the prarie. The mirage made them parctically worthless aboce 9 or 10 power.  So my hopes is for a cleaner image both on range and at the pd town.  Thanks to everyone for the insightful information, I had been looking at 3200 elites for a year or so and finally decided this trip justified the better optic Thanks again.  SN