Rifle Scopes Bushnell BTR-MIL - VS - Vortex EBR-1 illumination

[Davis]

Looking at the Vortex PST 2.5-10x32 FFP VS the Bushnell T.E. 3-12x44 FFP illum. brt-mil

I need opinions on how the illumination compares on these two scopes for low light shooting. The Vortex seems to be accepted as very nice illumination, but the Bushnell seems to be in question. I like the increased power of the Bushnell, and the larger objective, but the only illuminated pics I have seen of the BTR-mil reticle have left me unimpressed. Can anyone help me out with some solid information or some good pics? I am considering just getting the G2 reticle with no illumination if the BTR-mil is not well executed.

 

[MMAJunkie]

I have the Bushnell 3-12x-44 FFP G2 and am really happy with the entire setup. I have some other g2s on the 3.5-21x Bushy so going from one to the other is easy for me. Mine is on a 20" Flat top AR and the slightly smaller size of the overall scope is nice too. Check with Scott at Liberty Optics that is where I got mine. He is a stand up dealer and is great at answering questions too

 

[Davis]

I have a deal in the works to purchase an illuminated BTR-MIL version from a member here. There is an obvious void of info on this reticle, so my intention is to try and get some good quality photos taken and posted so anyone else who is considering this scope will have a little more to go on then I did. I just sent the money today, so hopefully next week sometime I should have it.

It is pretty irritating to me to have such poor info available from Bushnell, but it looked like the reticle was about perfect for my needs so I decided to roll the dice on the quality of illumination.

 

[rayrevolver]

I was hoping that Elite Tac 3-12x wouldn't sell until I sold my ACOG! You beat me to it. I am very interested to see your pictures and get your opinions of that BTR-MIL.

 

[Jethro80]

I placed an order for a Bushnell ET 3-12X44 BRT-MIL on Saturday. I should have the scope by end of this week. When I spoke to Scott he helped me choose this reticle over the G2 because I will be using the scope for hunting purposes a lot of the time. I think it will be a great scope based on the specs.

 

[scudzuki]

Sounds like you are buying used.
If it doesn't work out, you should be able to sell it with little or no loss... you could always PM rayrevolver...

I have an ET 6245F (6-24x50 FFP illuminated mil dot reticle) and the green illumination is pretty good, although it may be a little too bright on its lowest setting for night use. The entire reticle is illuminated.
I also have the SMRS (1-6.5x24 SFP illuminated mil hash reticle) and the red illumination is very good for its purpose, with settings from NV to daylight bright, although only the center dot and broken circle ("horseshoe") are illuminated.

Joe

 

[Davis]

Just got the scope today and I don't know if there is a lot of point in posting pictures. The illumination looks pretty much like the other thread that had pictures of the illuminated reticle. It appears to me that they never intended for the mil scale to be illuminated.....it's more just a byproduct of the illuminated doughnut in the middle shining light across the cross hairs. A very nice scope in all other regards. I am curious if there actually is a newer version that illuminates the reticle properly....or if folks are just mistakenly calling this a fully illuminated reticle.

The brightness seems to be nicely done in terms of low light use, but it doesn't get bright enough to see the illumination in bright daylight. In my opinion they focused on the correct end of the spectrum, but it wouldn't have been that hard to have made the brightest setting super bright for daytime use on low power settings (for those that want illumination to make the tiny reticle more visible in the day time). If all you plan to use is the center of the reticle in low light, the illumination should be quite useable.....but if you are wanting to use the mil scale for hold-over reference points in low light it will be more of a challenge.

If anyone has specific things they want to see, let me know.

Took it outside to see what it looks like in low light....just light from a dusk to dawn yard light, the illumination shows no sign of washing out the field of view until you get to "8" on the scale. The very top (brightest portion) of the adjustment creates a green haze over the image, but the only reason I would turn it up that far would be in brighter light, or if I was trying to make out the mil scale against a dark background. The circle and dot are very nicely illuminated....the scale is hard to see clearly.

 

[Jethro80]

Thanks for the review Davis. I should have mine tomorrow! How would you describe the quality of the optics in regard to clarity? Do you think this scope and reticle will be well served as a dual purpose hunting and target scope?

 

[Davis]

Thanks for the review Davis. I should have mine tomorrow! How would you describe the quality of the optics in regard to clarity? Do you think this scope and reticle will be well served as a dual purpose hunting and target scope?

So is yours a new one? I will be curious to hear if yours is center illuminated with some bleed over to the crosshairs, or if the crosshairs are properly illuminated. I have a feeling the full illumination may be a myth. The center circle and dot on mine comes on, and are visible in low light at "1", but the crosshairs don't show significant illumination until you get to the upper 1/4 of the scale. At that level you are running into flaring issues in low light because the circle is so bright.....and the crosshairs are still not quite bright enough to have good definition of the horizontal bars.

I think this scope will be useable for hunting. At low power the reticle becomes something close to a fine-medium plex, but you can still see the mil hash marks if the background is light enough....and in lower light you can light up the center to help out. I haven't really looked at it with that in mind, so I'll have to take another look this evening after work just to be sure, but I think it will be useable for hunting....and if you can use it around 4x or so, it will make a significant difference.

 

[Jethro80]

I hope I can answer your question about the scope being the "new" one this afternoon!

 

[Jethro80]

I think it might not get here until tomorrow though

 

[Jethro80]

Well the scope is here. I haven't had it in the field yet. Here are my first impressions. Glass is very clear. Reticle is more usable at lower power settings than my vortex pst 2.5-10X32. The illumination is good. I have noticed that beginning at 8 power on the illumination the green starts to bleed noticeably into the rest of the reticle. I'm not sure if it is supposed to do that or not. Either way I think the scope has great potential and I'll know a lot more when I finally get a chance to shoot behind it.