bushnell red dot question

[original]

Hello.  I just got the sale email from natchez and saw a bushnell red dot sight.   I was looking for something to put on my sks with tapco stock and thought this may work.  Does anyone have any experience with these   http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=BH730132A&lsrc=NZ&utm_source=NZ&src=BE837&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01262012RedDot?    I was thinking about mounting it to either the rail on the stock or getting the reciever mount bracket.   thanks

[Lloyd Smale]

nothing id want to trust my familys life to. If you just want it to plink with your gun it would probably be fine. Dont expect it to take much of a beating though. My advice is to spend a bit more and look at a vortex strikefire.

[LanceR]

original, I have the same scope without the auto on-off feature.  I've had it for 9-10 years and since we raised 5 boys on our farm it has been swapped back and forth between 12 gauge 3-1/2" turkey guns and 12 gauge slug guns twice a year and it has taken a heavy pounding without complaint or problems.  Other than during the run up to deer season and the season itself the scope lives on a 3-1/2" shotgun in the barn for dealing with groundhogs and other critters around the buildings

We do a lot of deer and turkey hunting here since we only need to walk out of the kitchen door to be hunting so the scope has been switched on for quite a few hours each year.  I have changed the battery every two years but have never had one go dead in the filed.  I have kept an extra battery in the back tag pouch of whatever hunter was using the scope but have not yet had to replace one in the field.  I will note that we usually have the reticle brightness turned down fairly low since where we hunt we are a lot ore likely of be picking out a target in shadows than bright sunlight.  Out in bright light you may need to crank the brightness up more than we do but I think you'll still get pretty darn good battery life.

For hunting purposes I don't like the idea of an on-off feature, especially given the very long battery life, but for you purposes it might not be an issue.  The Natchez price is very high.  If you search for the part number using the keyword Bushnell you'll find them in the $90 range.  The Bushnell part number is BH730132A

With the scope my Mossberg 835 slug gun holds roughly 2 to 3" three shot 100 yard groups (from a rest) with Remington 2-3/4 or 3" Copper Solids.  When the size of the aiming dot is taken into account the scope will get all the performance out of the slug gun that the gun, ammo and I are capable of.  My 12 gauge (pre-accutrigger) Savage slug rifle would shoot 2" or less with the scope.

I can see no obvious displacement of the groups of slugs at 100 yards or patterns of shot at 50 yards when switching between the four available reticles.

Given the year-round use and the pounding it has taken from heavy shot shell loads and slugs I can't imagine that your SKS will ever pose an issue for the scope.

I hope this helps.

Lance

[Glanceblamm]

I looked at that model back in 2008 but did not trust the auto on\off feature in a cold deer blind so I bought the Red/Green model instead.
 
This was put on my .44 mag three times because the tube slipped back within the rings (.040 then .015) but was cured on the third installation by putting a thin bead of the red locktite on the ring half's.
 
I have taken several deer with it and it makes for some comforatable and accurate shooting out to 100 yds. The Battery life can be measured in years.
 
When I purchased mine, I read over 50 good reviews and under five bad ones that spoke of the light blinking out. One gent here at gbo, and on a diff forum, spoke of destroying six of these bushnell Trophy's with six shots. This happened within the last 12 months and when I rechecked the reviews there were 30 good and none that were bad.
 
I personally think that improper installation might be the culprit in the case of the ones that do go bad quickly. In short, do not crowd the turrent or the lens with the rings. I purchased a Weigand mount specific for my firearm and had no problems with the spacing.
 
The cons on Bushnell are that they draw a lot of fire when it comes to Warranty as theirs is a Limited lifetime. This is not a problem if you either register your product or keep the original reciept, but if you buy the optics second hand you may be out of luck on repairs.
 
My bottom line would be the same as the many who bought the Bushnell Trophy as an entry level dot, but then simply saw no need to upgrade because it works great! I would recommend your purchase with my only dislike being that auto on\off feature. There is not any bad reviews on this but will it work reliably in the field?...if so, are you going to have to remove the battery each time you store the sks in the gun safe?...it could be that it has a master switch of course.
 
 

[shvlhead.45]

Got one on a .45-70, no problems.  Only dislike is that I wish the lens size was a little larger, like 40mm.  The sale price is very good.