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I have had bad luck in the last year. I have had 4 scopes go bad on me or were bad out of the box. This week end while working up some slug loads in my 12ga, the focus of the scope went completely blurry. I had 12 rounds of slugs over this scope when this happened. It is a Bushnell 1.5-4.5x32.

I tried to contact Bushnell to send it in. I did their contact form but all I have got back was 2 emails that said thanks for contacting us. So tomorrow I will try to call them.

The last time this happened with one of their scopes, it took almost 3 months to get a replacement and then they sent back a completely different scope I did not want. I ended up just selling it.

So what have you guys had good luck with? I was looking at the Burris E1 shotgun scope. It is a 3x9. I don't want a Leupold.

I've got a Mossberg 500 and 835 but I've used the Pentax turkey scope on for many years. it's a two and a half power circle Plex would work with slugs or the circle makes a nice pattern area at a certain yardage for turkeys.. it's been flawless even use the 835 with a slug barrel for a short time. in that time was shots a number of three and a half inch slugs and it held up to that..
the scope was called a Pentax light seeker Plus don't know that they're even made anymore. the Scopes were a lot like some of the Burris lineup exactly which line is been debated years ago signature or signature select seem to be the correct answer but I'm not positive about that.

but thinking by these Pentax Scopes are probably now 15 plus years old..

Leupold used to make a nice 2-7x shotgun scope with a heavier duplex reticle . When we gave up shotguns for deer and went to rifle( thank God !) I sold the shotgun and put the scope on my TC Omega muzzleloader. I love it. Probably still not made.

I've had good luck with a Leupold 4X on my 12ga slug gun. Only thing I'd change is for it to have a heavy duplex reticle instead of the standard duplex.

I've got two Bushnell Prime 1-4X32 scopes, both on slug guns, and they have held up very well to the punishing recoil. And they hold zero. So that is what I would recommend.

I've had several Burris E1s and never really grew to love them and ended selling all but one, and that one I won't sell because it has died under recoil and will not hold zero - a 2-7X32 E1 scope.

I have an Aimpoint T2 micro red dot on another slug gun, a semiauto, and it has performed well, too.

Well, I've had great luck (as has my father) with the brand you don't want.

Leupold VariX-III's in 1.5-5x20 for 25ish years.

I have A Vortex Venom on mine

Yep. They have worked for me.

I have a pair of first generation Nikon ProStaff 2-7x32 shotgun scopes on my 20 gauge slug guns with cantilever bases. I haven't shot either of them a lot, many 50 rounds in total, but those scopes have maintained their zero.

Well if I was to hunt big game with a shotgun I'd go with a straight 2 3/4xscope. The range of the shotgun is gonna limet ya and and anymore than maybe 4x just a waste of time. My elk rifle is a 30-06 and it has a 2 3/4x on it and I've never felt I needed more. I don't plaan on ever hunting big game with a shotgun.

Simmons pro diamond. I kid you not.

Find a used 4X Burris Mini. I have 2 of them on slug guns. They can be found for around $200 used.

Also important for a slug gun good eye relief. They have a life time warranty and can be sent back for repair rather than being thrown away.

Hawke Vantage: 1-4x slug scope, or 4x AO, 2-7x AO

https://us.hawkeoptics.com/vantage-riflescopes.html


Good ol' Weaver micro-trac k2.5 / k3 / k4 or the Burris 4x mini (already mentioned, great little scope)

UltraDot red dot

Me as well had mine on a dedicated Turkey shotgun for years now.

Good luck and shoot straight y'all

Pickup a used Schmidt and Bender 4x used. Can’t beat them. I have a S&B 6x42 that I’ll be selling but think that’s too much.

2-12x Athlon lit ret should be a dandy

The Bushnell Prime 1-4X32 is a gem. Not expensive, well made, made in Korea. They hold up to very heavy recoil and they hold zero. At 1X, there is slight distortion around the edges, but at 1.5 and above, it's gone.



I used to have a Leupold FX-II 2.5X on this Rem 870. The Bushnell serves me better. The overall feel is better. It has very distinctive ajustment clicks. I far prefer the focus adjustment. Very good glass. And sometimes even 2.5X is too much. I did have to move from a low to medium hight side mount that very slightly puts the scope off center on this gun, but its inconsequential when it comes to accuracy.




And make sure to use your Polish Me Silly to lock it all down.

Had one for decades. Benched boxes & boxes of shells with it. Still going strong.

I've had good luck with the two Leupold 2.5x 20mm scopes I own. First one's been on a Remington 870 12 ga. "Special Purpose Deer" model since 1987. Never a problem, never lost zero, ( even when the gun fell out of a tree in the early 1990's). Still in use for a couple spots where rifles are a no-no. The other one's been on a 12 ga. Mossberg 500 turkey gun since 2001. It has the "turkey ranger" reticle that I don't think they offer anymore. Never a problem with that one either. So between those two guns that's a lot of 12 ga. slug & turkey loads. Over the years I have discovered that 2.5x is suitable for any shotgun hunting that I do, even with a fully rifled barrel shooting sabot slugs. Perhaps the durability is because they are both fixed power? Seems that when I hear of a scope crapping out, it's usually a variable.

This is also what I've had on my 12-gauge slug gun for years. It's worked fine.